+ Neither ἘΠῚ: nor 75sD is necessarily a watch-tower; ‘D= ‘place of watching,’ which may have been merely a hill.
Mizpeh of Gilead, Shiloh, Benjamin, and Moab, are given under the names of Mac¢d, Μασσηφά, and Μασσηφάθ. But Mizpah of Gilead is once translated as ‘the watch-tower,’ and Mizpah of Benjamin is given (in 2 Ch 16°) as Μασφά, and in an identical passage (in 1 K 1633) as ‘the watch-tower,’ The inference may be drawn that, according to the view of the LXX there was a Mizpeh or ‘ watch. tower’ in Gilead, not far from the meeting-place of Jacob and Laban, and this may have given rise to the play upon the word in naming ‘the heap οἵ witness’ Mizpah. As Mizpeh was a watch-tower over the land of Gilead, so the Lord was ‘the watch-tower’ or ‘witness’ to the covenant at Mizpah ; and thus the two names would be bound together; and when the ark of the covenant in after-ages was stationed at Shiloh, Gibeah, the meet- ing-place of the people before the Lord, would be the Mizpah, while the nearest high place or ‘ watch- tower’ which for military purposes they would constantly have in use would be Mizpeh. The Rabbins took a similar view as to the word ‘ Rama- thaim-zophim,’ to which they gave the impossible translation ‘ Ramotha of the scholars of the pro- phets,’ regarding the prophets as watchmen.
There are at least seven distinct places alluded
to under the names of Mizpeh and Mizpah, namely— Ἅς Mizpah (assop, Samar. 7as07, t.e. mazzébah= the pillar).—One of the names of the pillar (mazzebah) and heap of stones (gal) put up by Jacob and his brethren in the mountain of Gilead in token of God being a witness to the covenant made that day between Jacob and Laban (Gn 31**-5?),* The other names were Jegar-sahadutha (which see) and Galeed, the former being the western Aramaic for the ‘heap of the testimony,’ the latter being the Hebrew equivalent of the same (see GALEED, GILEAD).
The name Mizpah, if it had the sense of a place where the Lord watched between two parties to a covenant, may have come to be applied to the
laces where the people held solemn assembly or deliberation in time of ΤΠ ΝΥ near the sanctuary of Jehovah, and it thus would be likely to be found near every place where the ark of the covenant or tabernacle remained for any time in addition to its original position in Gilead. It appears in connexion with the battles between all Israel and the Benjamites a few years after the death of Joshua, and is then evidently near Bethel and Shiloh, and again it appears in its original
osition some 150 years after in the time of ephthah.
There is no record showing to what extent this ancient sanctuary in Gilead was used during the times of the Judges, when the ark and tabernacle were at Gilgal and Shiloh, but at the time that the children of Israel were oppressed by the chil- dren of Ammon, and in their misery put away their false gods, the Ammonites were encamped in Gilead and all Israel at ee (Jg 1017. It is apparent from the context that this was the original Mizpah of Gilead and not that of Shiloh or Benjamin, and from the expression ‘ before the Lord in Mizpah’ it is surmised that the ark was present with the host of Israel (Speaker's Comm. on Jg 1)"). If this were so, it was sent over without the consent of the tribes of Israel on the western side of Jordan (Jg 12'), as Jephthah’s action in fighting the Ammonites without the assistance of western Israel was called in question by them. The whole account would lead to the
* On this passage see Dillmann’s note. The name ‘Mizpeh comes in very strangely. It is plain that there is an allusion te the ἘΞ ΠΣ ΩΣ of the preceding context, as well as a desire te explain the origin of a Watch-Tower in the neighbourhood. See art. Jacos, vol. ii. p. 529.
MIZPAH AND MIZPEH
inference that the eastern tribes assembled as a solemn conclave at the ancient scene of the cove- nant between Jacob and Laban at Mizpah, and then elected Jephthah as their captain-general to lead them to victory Sree the Ammonites,
without any recourse to Shiloh. He then in the spirit of the Lord passed over Gilead and Man- asseh, and over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead to the children of Ammon (Jg 11”). The LXX give the term ‘watch-tower’ both for the Mizpah where the eastern tribes of Israel encamped (Jg 107) and for the Mizpah over which Jephthah passed. On Jephthah’s return from his victory over the Ammonites he came to his house at Mizpah, which the LXX render Μασσηφά, as they name the spot near the sanctuary where the tribes gathered before the Lord. here would thus appear, in the view of the LXX, to have been the Mizpah adjoining the sanctuary where the tribes
athered before the Lord and where Jephthah
welt, and the Mizpeh on high ground near where the tribes encam and where Jephthah passed over with them.
The topographical indications as to the position of Mizpah of Gilead are meagre. It was in the mountains of Gilead (Gn 31%), and it was north of the Jabbék, because Jacob crossed that torrent after parting with Laban. It was a well-indicated boundary, to be used in succeeding ages between the Hebrews and the Arameans (Gn 31%). It was in the vicinity of a Mizpeh, watch-tower, or commanding situation (Jg 115). Beyond this there can be little but conjecture. There is one indication, however, which seems to limit the line of Jacob’s journey east and west: he was coming from Padan-aram in the north-east, and with his herds and flocks would naturally travel along the level tableland to the east of the broken country falling towards the Jordan Valley, near the line of the present Derb el-Hajj, which avoids crossing the Jabbék by making a little detour to the east. Whether he came by Damascus or by Bozrah, he would arrive north of the Jabbék by passing through the vale in which Jerash is situated. It is suggested that this is the site of the meeting of Jacob and Laban. From the abundance of its waters, enough for an enormous city, this site must from the earliest times have been a resting- place for herds and flocks on their travels. Near to these waters (1960 ft.) are the commandin situations or Mizpehs, Neby Hid (2400 ft.) aaa Jebel Hakdrt (3480 ft.), and to the west are dol- mens near the village of Sdf. Sir George Grove has suggested that the site of Mizpah at Jerash is also identical with those of Ramath-mizpah and Ramath-gilead (which see); and this seems to be the most satisfactory identification.