‘More’ is really a double comparative, already formed in Anglo-Sax., mara. It is at least prob- able that it was originally confined to greater bulk or importance, but even early examples show that ‘noe’ and ‘more’ were used almost indis- criminately. Wright (on Shaks. As You Like It, p. 135) thinks that, as far as Shaks. and AV are concerned, all that can be asserted is that ‘moe’ is used only with the plural, ‘more’ with both sing. and plural. Modern editors of Shaks. (chiefly Rowe in 1709) and of AV (chiefly Paris in 1762 and Blayney in 1769) have changed ‘ moe’ into ‘ more.’ Scrivener restored ‘moe’ in his Camb. Paragraph Bible, but nothing seems to be gained by it. In Shaks., on the other hand, the form ‘ moe’ is some- times required by the verse. Thus in Much Ado, 0. 111, 72—
* Sing no more ditties, sing no moe, Of dumps so dull and heavy ;
The fraud of men was ever so, Since summer first was leavy.’
Examples of ‘more’ in the sense of ‘ greater’ are Ac 19° ‘the more part knew not wherefore they were come together’; 27 ‘the more part advised to depart thence also.’ Cf. Mt 11}, Wye. ‘Trewly I say to you, ther roose noon more than Joon Baptist amonge children of wommen ; forsothe he that is lesse in the Ἰεσία of hevenes, is more than he’; Ro 9", Wyc. ‘the more schal serve to the lasse’; Tind. Lzpos. 228, ‘ Locusts are more than our grasshoppers’; Shaks. K. John, Π. 1. 34—
Ὁ, take his mother’s thanks, a widow’s thanks, Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength To make 8 more requital to your love !’ J. HASTINGs.
MOREH.—1. OAxk(s) or, RVm ‘Terebinth(s),’ AV [wrongly, with Targ. Onk.] PLAIN(s) OF; Gn 128 ai jidx, τὴν δρῦν τὴν ὑψηλήν, convallem illustrem; Dt 11% amb ‘idx, τῆς δρυός (so Sam.) τῆς ὑψηλῆς, vallem tendentem et intrantem procul ; Svr has the impossible ‘oak of Mamre’ in both places. A sacred tree near Shechem, mentioned Gn 12° as the scene of a theophany to Abraham, in consequence of which he built an altar there (J ; but according to Ball, SBOT, ‘unto the Oak of Moreh’ is RJ). In Dt 11® (late R) the Oaks of Moreh are named amongst other landmarks given to fix the position of Ebal and Gerizim.
Moreh is the participle of hérah, ‘ to give (divine) direction,’ ¢.g. Is 915 nabi’ moreh sheker, ‘a prophet who gives a false direction.’ The oak, therefore, was connected with a sanctuary, whose priests gave oracles on questions asked by worshippers.
MORESHETH-GATH
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According to Dillm., ‘Gilgal’ in Dt 115 is to ba taken as ἃ common noun, ‘a circle of sacred stones’ or ‘cromlech,’ which was another feature of this sanctuary. There is nothing in the con- text, either in Gn or Dt, to tell us anything more of the position of the Oak of Mare than that it was in the neighbourhood of Shechem. Buhl (GAP 202f.) identifies ‘Gilgal’ in Dt with Jélejil, some little distance to the east of Shechem, and concludes that the Oak(s) of Moreh were not close to Shechem. But, even if the identification be accepted, Gilgal and Moreh in Dt may be inde- endent landmarks for Ebal and Gerizim, and ilgal not defined by Moreh. Sam. adds in Dt after ‘Oak of Moreh,’ ‘opposite Shechem,’ a gloss suggested by Gn 12%, It is not likely that Mabortha, according to Pliny and Josephus (BJ Iv. viii. 1), the native name for the Greek city Neapolis, which replaced Shechem, has any connexion with Moreh. Morthia also occurs on coins as a title of Neapolis (cf. Smith’s DB, s. ‘Moreh’), but is probably connected with the Aram. martha, ‘mis- tress.’ On the suggested identification of Moreh with Moriah, and with the sacred trees in Gn 354, Jos 24%, Jg 9° 87, cf. MEONENIM (OAK OF).
2. Hint or, Jg 7! only (720 ny23; A τοῦ βωμοῦ τοῦ ᾿Αβώρ, B Γαβααθαμωρά, Luc. ἀπὸ βουνοῦ τοῦ "Auwpé ; collis excelsi. Targ. for 720 gives ¥}287>7 ‘that faces’). Mentioned in describing the posi- tion of the camp of the Midianites on the eve of their defeat by Gideon. RV translates MT of v.1» ‘and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley’ (RVm ‘from the hill of Moreh onwards in the valley’). The text is prokebly corrupt. Moore proposes to read, ‘ While the camp of Midian was north of Gibeath ha-Moreh,’ but suggests as a yossible alternative, ‘was north of him in Gibeath na-Moreh.’ Budde proposes, ‘was beneath him north of Gibeath ha-Moreh.’ Neither the well of Harod, mentioned as the site of Gideon’s camp, nor the hill of Moreh, can be certainly identified. If Τὶ and 6" are referred to the same source (E; so Kautzsch, Budde), probably the ‘valley’ in 7! is the ‘valley of Jezreel’ in 6%, and the hill of Moreh is Jebel Nabi Dahi, sometimes called the Little Hermon, to the N.W. of the plain of Jezreel (G. A. Smith, HGHL p. 397; Buhl, GAP p. 202). Moore refers 7! to J, and 6083 to E, and is inclined to connect the Hill of Moreh with the Oak of Moreh. The LXX seems to have read ‘Hill of the Amorites.’ See MorrAn. ‘Hill of Moreh’ suggests that the hill was the site of a sanctuary ; ef. 1, See HAROD. W. H. BENNETT.