Iron (5773).—Though iron ore is more extensively diffused in the rocks than any other, it seems to have come into general use later than cop er, bronze, and tin. Iron ores are unknown in Dales tine, except at the southern base of the Lebanon (Porter in Smith’s DB ii. 87) and near Beirit ; erhaps it was from these deposits that the cele- irate Damascus steel was manufactured. The
ore is scarce in Egypt, but one mine of rich
hematite, discovered by Burton in 1822, was worked in ancient times in the eastern desert at Hammami (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptians, iii. 246). Iron ores were mined, also, in the Wadis Nasb and Khalig, and in the mountain of Sarabit el-Khadim, associated with manganese and copper ; also in Jebel Hadid, all in the Sinaitic region (Holland, Ord. Surv. Sinai, p- 230). It is prob- able that these mining operations were carried on at the same time as those in search of turquoise
376 MINIAMIN
MINISTER, MINISTRY
stones during the early Pharaonic occupation— about B.C. 2500. Cf. also art. IRON.
Turquoise Mines.—Of all the ancient mines of which we have any knowledge in the countries we are dealing with, the most remarkable are those of Jebel Sarabit el-Khadim, and Wadis Sidreh and Magharah in the Sinaitic apenas; from
which turquoises were extracted by the early Egyptians. Amongst the lofty and precipitous cliffs of the Nubian sandstone, extensive galleries were opened out by colonies of slaves presided over Ly taskmasters, in the time of Sneferu of the 4th Dynasty of Manetho, and of Amenemhat I. of the 12th Dynasty, and his successor. The numerous inscriptions and cartouches on the walls of the mines, the steles and ruined buildings scattered over a considerable area of this moun- tainous region, indicate extensive mining opera- tions at this early period, c. B.C, 2500. From recent examinations of these galleries, it appears that the turquoise stone (‘mafka’) occurs in thin threads and pockets in an ochreous matrix. But, notwithstanding the extent of these ancient works, the turquoise is a gem almost unknown amongst the Pharaonic ornaments in the tombs of Egypt, from which it is inferred that the stones have decomposed and crumbled away to powder. These old mines were reopened a pulp bor ago by ne Macdonald, who employed Arab labour. he ruins of a church indicate inhabitants in early Christian times.* E. HULL.
MINIAMIN (j>:3>).—4. A Levite, 2 Ch 31 (Bena- pelv).—2. Neh 127 (Β πὲ" A om. ; N° * Βενιαμείν) Ξε Mijamin of 1 Ch 24°, Neh 107 195, 3, A priest who took part in the ceremony of the dedication of the walls, Neh 12" (B δὰ" A om. ; N°" Βενια- μείν»).
MINISH (from Low Lat. minutiare and Lat. minutia smallness, through Fr. ménuiser to make small, extenuate) has been displaced in mod. Eng- lish by its derivative ‘ cami It occurs twice in AV: Ex 5” ‘Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task’ (37208), and Ps 107® ‘ They are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow’ (ν᾿). Further erennles from the older versions are: Wyclif, 1K 17. ‘The stene of mele shal noght fayle, ne the vessel of oyle shal not be mynushid, unto the day in the which the Lord is to gyue reyn upon the face of the erthe’ (1388 ‘schal not be abatid’); Tindale, Ex δὴ ‘the nombre of bricke which they were wont to make in tyme passed, laye unto their charges also, and minysh nothinge therof’ ; Cov., Ezk δ᾽ ‘I will encrease hunger, and mynish all the provysion off bred amonge you’; Great Bible, Ps 12' ‘For the faythfull are mynisshed from amonge the children of men’; Rhem., He 2? ‘Thou didst minish him litle lesse then Angels.’ As the same Heb. verbs are frequently translated ‘diminish,’ it does not seem that the Revisers were justified in retaining this obsolete form in the two passages quoted. The Amer. Revisers
refer ‘diminish’ in both passages. But RV urther introduces ‘ minish’ into Is 19°, Hos 8".
J. HASTINGs.
MINISTER.—In modern English this word is applied either ecclesiastically to the servant of God, or else politically to the servant of the crown or state. he eccles. use has come from the practice in the early Church of translating διά- xovos by Lat. minister, and then making the title
* For a description of these mines, see Ordnance Survey of Sinai by Wilson and Palmer (1869), with notes by 8. Birch and F. W. Holland; Lepsius, Briefe aus gypten, p. 336
852); Bauerman, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. xxv. 31, 32; Maspero,
wn of Civiliz, 354 ff., 473 ff. Bauerman believes that flint implements were used in cutting the rock.
apply to all under the order of the presbyter.* See Smith and Cheetham’s Dict. of Ant. s.v. But in AV, though the translation of διάκονος as well as of other words, ‘ minister’ has always the primi- tive sense of ‘ servant,’ ‘ attendant,’ or ‘ officer,’ as in classical Lat. minister had.
Thus Joshua is called Moses’ minister (Ex 24'3, Jos 1'), being first of all his personal attendant ; and John Mark is called (Ac 135) the minister of Barnabas and Paul. The ministers of Solo- mon, at whose ‘attendance’ the queen of Sheba marvelled (1 Καὶ 10°, 2 Ch 94), were not officers of state, but household servants; and the minister to whom Jesus handed the book (Lk 459) was the hazzan or attendant in the synagogue. St. Paul speaks of Christ as ‘a minister of the circum- cision’ (Ro 15%), in conformity with the Lord’s own words that He was sent to be a servant to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; he also asks if Christ can be the minister of sin (Gal 217), by which he means its agent ; and when he speaks of being himself a minister of Christ (Ro 15!*, 2 Co 11”, Eph 37) or of the gospel (1 Col 1%-*5), he does not use the word in any other sense than the absolute sense of servant. The word ‘servant’ in AV means commonly modern ‘slave,’ and so ‘minister’ is modern ‘servant.’ The minister in biblical language is always a ‘waiter on,’ as Sir John Cheke translates the word in Mt 20% ‘ Whoso- ever will be great among you, let him be your minister.’