ed by Kiepert (in his iifap, 1856) as the modern repre- sentative of Menois, and therefore of Madmannah. A more plausible identification, however, is that of Yan de Yelde {Trai'els, ii, 130) of the modern ruined viUagc Mirkih, west of the south end of the Dead Sea, as a rep- resentative of the ancient Beth-marcaboth,
Mad'men (Heb. Madmen', "{O^'Q, dunghill; Sept. Tvavaic V. r. Macai[3)]fid, Macaixtj^id, and MaSn'r][3('i; Yulg. silens), a IVIoabitish town, threatened with de- struction by the sword from the Babj-lonian invasion in connection with the neighboring Heshbon (Jer. xlviii, 2). Some (as Hitzig, after the Sept., Yulg., etc.) regard it as an appellative ; and in some editions of the Auth. Yers. it is actually printed " O madmen /" The slight notice only affords an approximate location opposite the northern extremity of the Dead Sea. See Madmenah.
Madme'nah (Heb. Madmenah', nS^S'ir, dunghill; Sept. Ma^ilii]vd,\\3\g. Medemend), a town named in Isa. X, 31, where it is placed on the route of the Assyr- ian invaders, in the northern vicinity of Jerusalem, be- tween Nob and Gibeah. It has been confounded by Eusebius and Jerome with Madjiann^vh, which is much too far southward to suit the context. " Gescnius {Je- saias, p. 414) points out that the verb in the sentence is active — 'Madmenah flies,' not, as in the A. Yers., 'is re- moved' (so ahoMichaelis, Bibeljlir Ungeleh7-fen^. Mad- menah is not impossibly alluded to by Isaiah ( xxv, 10) in his denunciation of Moab, where the word rendered in the Auth. Yers. ' dunghill' is identical with that name. The original text (or Ketkih), by a variation in the prep- osition (^^S for "1^"), reads the ' waters of Madmenah.' If this is so, the reference may be either to the Madme- nah of Benjamin — one of the towns in a district abound- ing with corn and threshing-floors — or, more appropri- ately still, to Madmen, the Moabitish town. Gesenius (Jesaias, p. 786) appears to have overlooked this, which might have induced him to regard with more favor a suggestion that seems to have been first made by Jo- seph Kimchi" (Smith).
Madness. The words rendered by " mad," " mad- man," ■• madness," etc., in the A. Yers., vaiy considerably in the Hebrew of the O. T. In Dent, xxviii, 28, 34 ; 1 Sam. xxi, 13, 14, 15, etc. (f^iavia, etc., in the Sept.), they are derivatives of the root "SlU, shaga', " to be stirred or excited ;" in Jer. xxv, 16 ; 1, 38 ; li, 7 ; Eceles. i, 17, ' etc. (Sept. Titpiipopa), from the root PStl, halal', "to flash out," applied (like the Greek fXiyiiv') cither to light or sound; in Isa. xliv, 25, from 320, saJd-cl', "to make void or foolish" (Sept. fiaipaiviir) ; in Zech. xii, 4, from i^'':P, tamah', "to wander" (Sept. iKaramc). In the N. T. they are generally used to render /.laiviaSrai or jxcivia (as in John x, 20; Acts xxvi, 24; 1 Cor. xiv, 23); but in 2 Pet. ii, 16 the word is 7rapa(fiporia, and in Luke vi, 11, (ivoia. The term is used in Scripture in its proper and old sense of a raving maniac or demented person (Dent, xxviii, 34; 1 Sam. xxi, 13; John x, 20; 1 Cor. xiv, 23), and may be medically defined to be de- lirium without fever. Our Lord cured by his word sev- eral who were deprived of the exercise of their rational powers, and the circumstances of their histories prove that there could neither be mistake nor collusion re- specting them. See LfXAXic. How far madness may be allied to, or connected v.ith demoniacal jiosscssion (as implied in one passage, John x. 20), is a very intri- cate iniiuiry ; and whether in the present day (as per- haps anciently) evil spirits may not take advantage from distcmperature of the bodily frame to augment evils endured by the patient is more than may be af- firmed, though' the idea seems to be not absolutely re- pugnant to reason (see Thomson, Land and Book, i, 213). See D--EMON1AC. The term '-mad" is likewise applied in Scripture, as in common life, to any subordinate but violent disturbance of the mental faculties, whether springing from a disordered intellect (as by over-study,
MADON"
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Acts xxvi, 24, 25 ; from startling intelligence, Acts xii, 15 ; from preternatural excitement, Hos. ix, 7 ; Isa. xliv, 25; from resistance of oppression, Eccles. vii, 7; from inebriety, Jer. xxv, 10 ; li, 7 ; or simple fatuity, 2 Kings ix, 11 ; Jer. xxix, 20), or from irregular and furious pas- sion (e. g. as a persecutor. Acts xxvi, 11; Psa. cii, 8; from idolatrous hallucination, Jer. 1, 38 ; or wicked and extravagant jollity, Eccles. ii, 2). In like manner, "madness" expresses not only proper insanity (Deut. xxviii, 28, and so "madman," 1 Sam. xxi, 15; Prov. xxvi, 18), but also a reckless state of mind (Eccles. x, 13), boniering on delirium (Zech. xii, 4), whether in- duced by overstrained intellectual efforts (Eccles. i, 17; ii, 12), from blind rage (Luke vi, 12), or the effect of de- praved tempers (Eccles. vii, 25 ; ix, 8 ; 2 Pet. ii, 0). Da- vid's madness (1 Sam. xxi, 13) is by many supposed not to have been feigned, but a real epilepsy or falling sick- ness ; and the Sept. uses words which strongly indicate this sense {tntirriv ini TUQBvpac). It is urged in sup- port of this opinion that the troubles which David un- derwent might very naturally weaken his constitutional strength, and that the force he suffered in being obliged to seek shelter in a foreign court would disturb his im- agination in the highest degree. A due consideration, however, of the context and all the circumstances onh^ serves to strengthen the opinion that it was feigned for obvious reasons (see Kitto's Daih/ Bible Illustr. ad loc). '• It is well known that among Oriental, as among most semi-civilized nations, madmen were looked upon with a kind of reverence, as possessed of a quasi-sacred char- acter (see Lane, Mod. Eg. i, 340). This arises partly, no doubt, from the feeling that one on whom God's hand is laid heavily should be safe from all other harm, but partly also from the belief that the loss of reason and self-control opened the mind to supernatural influence, and gave it therefore a supernatural sacredness. This belief was strengthened by the enthusiastic expression of idolatrous worship (see 1 Kings xviii, 20, 28), and (occasionally) of real inspiration (see 1 Sam. xix, 21-24 ; comp. the application of 'mad fellow' in 2 Kings ix, 11, and see Jer. xxix, 20; Acts ii, 13)" (Smith).