At the time οἱ the rebuilding of the temple the district of Mizpah and men of intiipal are spoken of, and it is alluded to as ‘the seat of the governor on this side the river’ (Neh 37. The account (in Jer 41) of the pilgrims who were met by Ishmael out of Mizpah on their way southward from She- chem, Shiloh, and Samaria with offerings to the house of the Lord, shows that Mizpah was on the high road from Shiloh to Jerusalem.
n the time of the Maccabees, Mizpah (Μασσηφά) appears again as a place of solemn conclave, ‘ where the Israelites assembled themselves together and came to Mizpeh over against Jerusalem, for in Mizpeh was ee aforetimes a place of prayer of Israel’ (1 Mac 3.5. The expression ‘over against Jerusalem,’ taken in conjunction with the fact stated in Jer 41° that Mizpah was on the north road leading from Shiloh to Jerusalem, seems absolutely to fix Mizpah to a spot immediately north of and close to Jerusalem, as will be seen also to have been the view taken by Josephus. For the relation of Mizpah to Nob, and the view held by some that the two places are identical, see art. Non
4. 5. The land of Mizpah (a=y20 px, τὴν Μασεύμα, terra Mispha, Jos 11’), The valley of Mizpeh (πὰρ neyo, A τῶν πεδίων Μασσηφά, campus Masphe), Jos 115,—These two places, which, according to Dillm. (Jos. ad loc.) and Buhl (GAP 240), should perhaps be regarded as one and the same, are mentioned in connexion with the battle which took place at the waters of Merom, when Joshua led Israel against Jabin king of Hazor and the northern tribes. Joshua chased them (Jos 118) unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward. On his return he burnt Hazor, which, though not identified, is generally supposed to have been situated somewhat to the north of the waters of Merom (Lake Huleh). Joshua would thus, on going eastward from Zidon, have gone into the valley between the two Lebanons and have arrived at the buka or valley (δέκα) of Lebanon under Hermon. We read (Jos 11”) of Baal-gad in the valley (4ikah) of Lebanon under Hermon (Jos 117 127), and the Hivite lived under Hermon in the land of Mizpah (Jos 11%). At the present time the only dikah or buka' (Arabic) of any extent in the neighbourhood is the great plain between the two Lebanons, reaching from the foot of Hermon to Baalbek. It would therefore appear that, whether these two places are identical or not, they
MOAB, MOABITES
are both near to Hermon. If the land of Mizpah may be taken to be all the country around Hermon, then the valley (bikah) of Mizpeh may be the southern portion of the valley of the Lehanon. For other conjectures see Dillm., Jos. ad loc.
6. Mizpeh (n5ypp, Μασφά, Ph py a city of Judah (Jos 15%) in the Shephélah or lowlands, in a group of sixteen, some of which have been identi- fied both in the north and south of the Shephélah. It is given together with Dilean and Joktheel, neither of which has been identified; and there is no clue to its position, and no account is given. Tell es-Safieh, the Blanche Guarde or Alba Specula of the Middle Ages, has a name equivalent to Scopos or Mizpeh, but it has been suggested that this is Gath (so G. A. Smith, HGHL 227). Robin- son (BRP ii. 31) suggests that the valley of Zepha- thah, 2 Ch 14” (same root as Mizpeh), may have been near Tell es-Sdfieh.
7. Mizpeh Moab (ax\r asso, Μασσηφὰ τῆς Μωάβ, Maspha que est Moab) is mentioned only once (1S 228), as the place where the king of Moab was staying when David consigned his parents to his care. At this time the territories of Moab did not extend north of the river Arnon, the whole of the old Moabite country beyond having been allotted to Reuben. As Mizpeh means a lofty place where one can see far and wide (Gesenius,
ex.), the only suitable position in Moab appears to be the fortress of Moab (Kir of Moab), which commands the passes going down to the Dead Sea (Luhith and Horonaim). David probably brought his parents from Adullam down by the pass of Ziz to En-gedi, and thence round by the southern end of the Dead Sea up the pass οἱ Horonaim to Kir of Moab (now Kerak). here can, however, in the absence of further information, be no cer- tain clue to the situation of Mizpeh Moab.
LitgraTurRE.—BRP i, ii.; Stanley, S. and P.; SWP ii.; PEFSt, 1875-1877 ; Schwarz; Lightfoot, Syrian Stone Lore ; Conder, Heth and Moab, 175; G. A. Smith, HGHL 120, 586, 689; Buhl, GAP (Index); Poels, Hist. du sanctuaire de l Arche, 1897; the Commentaries of Dillm. on Genesis and Josua, of Moore and Budde on Judges, and of H. P. Smith on Samuel, ad U.citt. C. WARREN.
MIZPEH.—See preceding article.
MIZRAIM. — See EaypT in vol. i. pp. 653", ον.
θ
MIZZAH (π|0). --- A ‘duke’ of Edom, descended from Esau and Basemath the daughter of Ish- mael, Gn 36:17 (A Moté)=1 Ch 181 (B ᾽Ομοΐέ, A Moxé). The clan of which he is the eponym has not been identified.
MNASON (Μνάσων [Ὁ Cypr. spelling of Attic Μνήσων---Β] 855]; δὲ Ἰάσων), of Cyprus, with whom St. Paul and his companions lodged on the occasion of the apostle’s last visit to Jerusalem (Ac 2115. He is described as an ‘early’ (ἀρχαῖος) disciple, b which we may perhaps understand one who had been a disciple from the time of Pentecost (ef. ἐν ἀρχῇ, 11"). Nothing further is known of him, though from his Greek name he was _prob- ably, if not a Gentile Christian, at any rate an Hellenist, with whom it would be natural and prudent for St. Paul to lodge, looking to the eelings which existed among the Jewish Christians against him (vv.”?!, and see Meyer). For an interesting address on Mnason, in which the utmost is made of these scanty notices, see M‘Laren, Week-Day Addresses. G. MILLIGAN.