MONTH.— See Time.
MOON. -In the NT the moon {(reK-qv-r)) is part of the established natural order. So when Christ prophesies the end of the world, ' The moon shall not give her light' (Mt 2429, j^j^ 1334). Twice in the Gospel of Matthew (4-'^ n^^) aeX-nvid^ecrdat. (liter- ally to be inoonstnidc) is used to describe mental derangement, as in our ' lunacy,' ' lunatic,' from Lat. luna, ' the moon.' See above, pp. Ql'', 9(5^'.
The Passover always took place at full moon, for it was held on the 14th of the month Nisan, and it was the lunar month that was used, as it is still used by the Jews (Jos. Ant. III. x. 5 ; cf. Col 2^^). Thus there was moonlight in Gethsemane when Christ went there with His disciples, and Avhen He was betraj'ed. Also, the darkness which lasted for three hours during the crucifixion could not be due to an ordinary eclipse of the sun by the moon. See also art. Time. T. Gregory.
MORALITY, MORAL LAW.
Law.
See Ethics, and
MORNING.— Mt 163 20^ 27^, Mk IP" 13^3 162 ; cf. Mt 28\ Lk 241, Jn 20'. There was no exact division of the day into parts among the Jews until after the Exile. The broad di\-isions current were 'evening,' 'morning,' and 'mid-day,' which followed this order usually, after the Jewish method of reckoning the day prevailed ' with the triumph of the Law.' The Roman division of the night into
MOSES
MOSES
203
four ' watches,' extending from six oclock to six o'clock, is brought into striking view in Mk 13^\ ■where oxpe (in the evening), ixeerovvKTiov (at ruiil- night), and oKeKropocpwvias (at cock-crowing), are given in connexion and contrast with wpuit (in the morning). Tlie passages in the Gospels in Avhich ■Kpun (morning) plays the most interesting and puzzling part are those connected with the visit of the women to the sepulchre after the resun-ec- tion of Jesus (Mt 2S\ Mk 16-, Lk 24i, and Jn 20'). Here Mt. has 'late on the sabbath' (RV), while Mk. says ' very early on the hrst day of the week,' and Jn. ' while it was yet dark. ' No explanation will prove satisfactory to all. But Mt.'s 'late on the sabbath ' may be taken as reckoning the following night as a part of the Sabbath — a dejjar- ture from Jewish usage (Meyer). In short, we may suppose that the Babylonian method of adding diurnally the night to the day, rather than the day to the uigiit (Israelitish), had come at this time, more or less, into common use among the Jews, so that there were two ways of reckoning complete astronomical days : namely, hrst, by ' night-days,' and, secondly, by ' day-nights.' Then we need only to suppose ^It. to be tliinking of the 'day-night.' and the difficulty vanishes; for 'late' in that ' day-night ' would mean about the end of the night which followed the end of the Sabbath. This would accord perfectly with Mk.'s note of tmie, ' very early on the first day of the week.' Another solution of the difficulty is suggested by J. II. Moulton {Prolegomena, p. 72), that, according to the usage represented in the papyri, Mt.s words rendered in RV 'late on the sabbath,' should be rendered 'late from the sabbath,' which is equivalent to saying 'after the sabbath.' This, too, would bring the words into haraiony with those of ]\Iark and John. GEO. B. Eager.
MOSES (Heb. n^'3 in accordance with the deriva- tion from nra ' to draw,' given in Ex 2'" ; LXX and NT usually Mcouo-^s [Vulg. Moyses'], following the derivation adopted by Philo and Josephus from the Coptic mo ' water ' and ushc ' saved, occasion- ally, however, Mojcr^s in conformity to the Hebrew. On its declension see Blass, Grammar of XT, § 10). — For an estimate of the position occupied by Moses in the Gospels, and his relation to the Person and work of Christ, a good .starting-point is atl'orded by the words of He 3-'®, which may be parajjlirased thus : Moses was intrusted by God with an influence which was to attect and permeate not only his own generation but the whole of the Old Disjiensation ; and he proved himself worthy of the trust. Christ was similarly faithful, but in two ways He far transcended Moses. — (a) Mose* for all the influence which he exercised, was '^et a member, a portion, of the ' house ' throughout which that influence extended ; but Christ is God, the Builder and Maker of the ' hoiise.' (h) Moses had a delegated authority in the house ; he acted under orders as a trusted servant in the early stages of man's spiritual evolution ; but his author- ity vanished wlien the Son came into possession. Closes may thus be considered under two aspects, which, however, are not entirely distinct, but blend into one another. (1) He is not so much a person as an instrument. He represented the Old Dispensation because he was the instrument through which the Law was given. (2) He is an historical personality. But, because he represented the Old Dispensation, many of his acts, and of the events of his career, and of the characteristics of his person, prove to be types — inferior and pro- phetic counterparts — of various factors in the Kingdom and the Person of Christ.