MAMNITANAIMUS
687
MAN
word. There is no reason to suppose that any idol re- ceived divine honors in the East under this name. It is used in Matthew as a personification of riches. The derivation of the word is discussed by A. Pfeiffer, Opera, p. 474" (Smith). The phrase "mammon of unright- eousness" as used in Luke xvi, 0, probably refers to gain which is too often unjustly acquired (as by the publi- cans), but which may be sanctified by charity and piety so as to become a passport, in some sense, to final bless- edness. See Grlinenberg, De mummona iniquitatis (Jen. 1700) ; Wakins, De na/x. dSiKiag (Jen. 1701). In Rab- binical language the word is used to denote confidence.
Mamnitanai'mus (Ma/ii'trafaijuof v. r. Manra- vaaijUOf.Vulg. Mathaneiis), given (1 Esdr. ix, 34) by corruption for the two names "Mattaniah, Mattenai," of the Heb. list (Ezra x, 37).
Mam(o)un, Al, Abbas -Abdallah, a celebrated Mussulman ruler, was born at Bagdad in A.D. 78G ; was the son of Haroun-al-Raschid ; and ascended the throne as the seventh Abasside caliph in 813. By his deter- mination to enforce the heretical doctrine that the Ko- ran was created and not eternal, he became very unpop- ular among the Moslem doctors and gave strength to the house of Ali. See Mohammedanism; Mohamme- dan Sects. Mamoun was a patron of science and liter- ature, and is praised by Eastern writers for his talents and liberality. His capital, Bagdad, was in his day the great centre of the world of learning and science. He died in 833. See Weil, Gesch. d. Chalifen, II, chap, vii ; Hammer-Purgstall, Literaturgescli. d. Araher.
Mam're (Heb. Mamre', N'np'2, fat ; Sept. Ma/i- /3pt/ ; Josephus Mrt/t/SpT/c, A nt. i, 10, 2 ; Vulg. Mambre^, the name of an Amoritish chief who, with his brothers Aner and Eschol, was in alliance with Abraham (Gen. xiv, 13, 24). B.C. cir. 2080. In the Jewish traditions he appears as encouraging Abraham to undergo the pain of circumcision, from which his brothers would have dissuaded him, by a reference to the deliverance he had already experienced from far greater trials — the furnace of Nimrod and the sword of Chedorlaomer (Beer, Leben Abrahams, p. 36). Hence (X'l'pp "^Si^X, Sept. j) ^pvg i) lMn/t/3n»;), in the Auth.Vers., "the oaks of Mamre," "plain of Mamre" (Gen. xiii, 18; xviii, 1), or simply " IMamre" (xxiii, 17, 19 ; xxxv, 27), a grove in the neigh- borhood of Hebron. It was here that Abraham first dwelt after separating from Lot (Gen. xiii, 18); here the di- vine angel visited him with the warning of Sodom's fate ((Jen. xviii, 1) ; it was in the cave in the corner of the field o|)posite this place that he deposited the remains of Sarah (Gen. xxiii, 17, 19) ; where he was himself buried (Gen. XXV, 9), as was likewise .Jacob (Gen. xlix, 30; 1, 13). In later times the spot is said to have lain six stadia from Hebron, still marked by a reputedly sacred terebinth (Joseph. War, iv, 9, 7 ; p^usebius, Prcep. Eranrj. v, 9; Sozomen, Ilist.Ei: i, 18; Eusebius, Onomast. s. v. 'Apyw, Arboch) ; and later travellers likewise (Sanutus, Secret, fidel. iii, 14, 3, in the Gesta Dei per. Franc, ii, 248 ; Troilo, Trar. p. 418) speak of a very venerable tree of this kind near the ruins of a church at Hebron (see Keland, Paltvst. p. 712 sq.). Dr. Robinson found here, at a place called Rcimet el-Khulil, one hour distant from Hebron, some ancient remains, which he regards (in ac- cordance with the local tradition) as probably marking the site of Abraham's sepulchre {Researches, i.318). He saw the veneral)le oak near Hebron which still passes with the Mohammedans for the tree under which Abra- ham pitched his tent (Researches, ii, 429), but which he states is not a terebinth (ib. 443). See Oak. Accord- ing to Sehwarz, " North of Hebron, and sideward from Halhul,is a plain about two and one half miles in length, whicli tlie Arabs call Elon. no doubt the ancient dwell- ing-place of Abraham" (Palestine, p. 109). See Hk- Buox. " :\Iamre is stated to have been at Hebron, for we read that ' Jacob came unto Isaac his father, to Mam- re, to Kirjath-Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned' (xxxv, 27). The relative positions
of Machpelah and INIamre are also described with great exactness. Five times Moses states that INIachpelah lay ^before Mamre' ('^;3~b" ; Sept. air'tvavTi ; Vulg. quoi respiciebat) ; which may mean either that it was to the east of Mamre, or that it lay facing it. The latter seems to be the true meaning. Machpelah is situated on the shelving bank of a little valley, and probably the oak- grove of Mamre stood on the other side of the valley, facing the cave, while the town of Hebron lay a little farther up to the north-west (comp. xxiii, 17, 19 ; xxv, 9; xUx, 30; 1, 13). The identity of Machpelah with the modern Ilaram being established [see Machpe- lah], there can be little difficulty in fixing the posi- tion of Mamre; it must have been within sight of or ' facing' Machpelah, and so near the town of Hebron that it could be described as at it. The Jerusalem Itin- era rf/ places it two miles from Hebron (p. 599), and Soz- omen (//. E. ii, 4) says it lay on the north towards Je- rusalem. It is evident that all these notices refer to the above ruin, Ramet el-Khulil. The Jews of Hebron call it ' the house of Abraham,' and regard it as the site of Mamre (Porter, Handbool; i, 72 ; Stanley, ^S". and P. p. 141). The position, however, does not accord with the notices in Genesis, and cannot, therefore, be the true site of Mamre. The sacred grove and the place of the pa- triarch's tent were doubtless on the face of the hill facing