On the other hand, there has been an influence on the word (perhaps on the Gr. word itself, certainly on its trans.) of efkw to yield. Thus Moule, though he says (Camb. Bible, in loc.) that the connexion with τὸ εἰκός ‘the equitable’ is more
robable, allows efkw a place, and in his Philippian
tudies, Ὁ. 228, he translates by ‘yieldingness,’ le it to mean ‘selflessness, the spirit which will yield in anything that is only of self, for Christ’s sake.’ This trans. is represented in Tin- dale’s ‘softenes’ (followed by Cov., Cran., and Matt.), as well as by RVm ‘ gentleness’; Luther's Lindigkeit (followed by Weizsiicker) leans too
* Perhaps this is also the idea contained in Vulg. modestia, if that word is used in its earliest classical sense of ‘sobriety,’ ‘moderation.’ But the Rhemish ‘modesty’ is a mistranslation (no more than a transliteration, perhaps), for ‘modesty’ was never used in English in this sense. Sir Thomas Elyot uses it so in The Governour, i. 267, but be explains that he is adopting the classical sense of the word: ‘In every of these thinyges and their sermmblable is Modestie ; whiche worde not beinge knowen in the englisshe tonge, ne of al them which understode latin, except they had radde good autours, they improperly named this vertue discretion.” Wyclif did not adopt ‘modesty,’ but used * temperaunce or pacience’ (var. lect. * tholmoundness").
414
MODERN VERSIONS
MOLE
much in this direction, and even the RV ‘ forbear- ance,’ which is the favourite rendering since Light- foot adopted it. ‘Gentleness’ and ‘ forbearance’ are too passive. The ‘considerateness’ of the Bible, whether applied to God or man, is an active virtue. It is the spirit of the Messiah Himself, who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, and it is the spirit of every follower who realizes that ‘ the Lord is at hand.’ J. HASTINGS. MODERN YERSIONS.—See VERSIONS.
MODIN (Μωδείν or Μωδεείν ; but also Mwéeelu, 1 Mac 2% ete., Jos. Ant. XII. vi. 1, ete., Onomast. Euseb.—rendered by Jerome, Modeim; Mwéaelu, 1 Mac 164; Μωδιείμ, 2 Mac 13%: Talmud o'yno and nmyno— Neubauer, Géog. du Talm. 99).— This was the ancestral home of the Maccabean family (1 Mac 2'7-7°), and its interest is derived solely from its connexion with their illustrious history. Unable to endure the outrage upon Jewish faith and feeling perpetrated by aac Epiphanes in Jerusalem, the priest Mattathias re- tired hither in B.c. 168. But the emissaries of the persecutor followed him; and at last, stung to action alike by the insulting orders of the king’s officer and the shameful compliance of a renegade Israelite, he raised his hand on behalf of religion and fatherland. The blow he struck initiated that struggle for freedom which, under the leadership of his heroic sons, forms such a brilliant chapter in the closing history of his people (1 Mac 2!: *- 3; Jos. Ant. XU. vi. 1,2; BJ1. i. 3). When Matta- thias died he was buried in Modin (1 Mac 2”), and here also each of his sons, with their mother, was finally laid to rest (1 Mac 9% 13% ; Jos. Ant. XII. xi. 2, XIII. vi. 6, etc.). Judas encamped by Modin the evening before his successful night-raid on the army of Antiochus Eupator (2 Mac 131%); and here John and Judas, the sons of Simon, rested over- night before going forth to the defeat of Cende- bzeus (1 Mac 164).
Simon, the last of the five brethren, built at Modin a splendid sepulchral monument, to per- petuate the memory of his heroic emily ‘It was a square structure, surrounded by colonnades of monolith pillars, of which the front and back were of white polished stone. Seven pyramids were erected by Simon on the summit for the father and mother and the four brothers who now lay there, with the seventh for himself when his time should come. On the faces of the monument were bas- reliefs, melee the accoutrements of sword and spear and shield, ‘‘for an eternal memorial” of their many battles. There were also the sculp- tures of ‘“‘ships”—no doubt to record their interest in that long seaboard of the Philistine coast, which they were the first to use for their country’s ery A monument at once so Jewish in idea, so
entile in execution, was worthy of the combina- tion of patriotic fervour and philosophic enlarge- ment of soul which raised the Maccabzean heroes so high above their age’ (Stanley, Hist. of Jewish Ch. iil. 318).
This famous structure continued in a state per- mitting recognition down to the 4th cent. of the Christian era (Williams, Holy City, i. 96), and so long there could be no question as to the site of Modin. Then all trace of the tomb seems to have been lost, and for many centuries the situation of the town was unknown. At different times the home of the Maccabees has been sought at Latrin, at Soba, and even away to the S. of Anathoth. It is unnecessary to discuss the arguments in fayour of these proposed identifications. The ancient Modin is certainly represented by the modern el-Medyeh, a village standing on the E. of Wady Mulaki. about 13 miles W. of Bethel, on one
of the lower ridges by which the mountain ran lets itself down towards Lydda. Struck by the resemblance between the ancient and modern names, and also by the name Kabir el-Yehid, ‘Tombs of the Jews,’ given to a remarkable series of tombs near by, the late Dr. Sandreczki, of Jeru- salem, called attention to the place in 1869; and subsequent investigation has gone to confirm his suggestion. The identification has been opposed by le Camus (ev. Biblique, i. 109 ff.) on insutlicient grounds (cf. Buhl, GAP 198).