AVas this tree also the "oak of the sorcerers?" There might at first seem to be a positive reason against the identification, because (1.) The name "sorcerers," or "en- chanters," would not be particularly suitable to the tree, which Kalisch also thinks might with more propriety have been called the " oak of idols," or of " witchcraft," than the oak of enchanters (^Genesis, p. 586) ; and (2.) Because Gaal evidently points to the EIon-Meonenim at a distance from the city, whereas Jacob's tree was in it. Of this second argument we have already dis- posed ; and besides, Gaal's expression may merely mean that one company was on the road which led by " the sorcerer's oak." As regards the first argument, the Elon- Meonenim may have been the same as Jacob's tree, and yet not have received its name from the idols and amu- lets which Jacob buried there. The close connection of ear-rings with talismans and magic arts is well known, and in the Chaldee the word used for ear-ring is X^'^'HiTi, so that it does seem reasonable to suppose that there is a connection between the name and the event. But if not, may not the name have originated in some use made of the tree by the jjriests and necromancers of the neighboring shrine of Baal-Berith? (Judg. viii, 33 ; ix, 36). If it be asked how it was that a tree so sacred as this could have received an ojiprobrious name, it must be borne in mind that this name onlj' occurs on the lips of Gaal, who in all probability was an aboriginal Ca- naanite of the old royal family (ix, 28 ; comp. Gen. xxxiv, 2, 6), and who would therefore be likely to call the tree by a name derived from its associations with idolatrous rather than with Jewish worship. See Gaal.
Meon'othai (Heb. Mednoihay', "irbisp, my habi- tations ; Sept. Mai'aSri v. r. Maiovaiii), the father (? founder) of Ophrah, and apparently the brother of Hathath, the sou of Othniel (1 Chron. iv, 14). B.C. post 1612.
Meph'aath [some Mepha'ath} (Ueh.Meypha'ath, !^"S"^p, prob. splendor ; once defectively written Ti' S'2, Josh, xiii, 18, and once [Kethib] n> Sio, Jer. xlviii, 21 ;
Sept, Mr](pda^ in Josh., <Paa^ v. r. Maf^Xa in Chron. _, and Mafdg v. r. Mw(pd^ in Jer.), a Levitical (Merarite) city (Josh, xxi, 37 ; 1 Chron. vi, 79) of the tribe of Reu- ben (Josh, xiii, 18), doubtless originally (like Heshbon, of which it formed a dependency) in the hands of the Amorites (Numb, xxi, 26), but afterwards belonging to Moab (Jer. xlviii, 21) ; probably situated near Kede- moth and Jahazah, in connection with which it is al- ^^'ays mentioned. Eusebius (Onomast.) calls it Mephath (M))0aS), and states that it was still occupied by a Ro- man garrison as a defence against the Arabs of the neighboring desert. As the name implies a conspicu- ous position, the site may possibly correspond with tliat of the modern village with ruins on an eminence marked as Urn el-Weled on Van de Velde's Jlap, east of Mede- ba. "The extended, and possibly later, form of the name which occurs in Chronicles and Jeremiah, as if Mey Phaath, ' waters of Phaath,' may be, as in other cases, an attempt to fix an intelligible meaning on an archaic or foreign word" (Smith) ; although the fuller form appears to be radical (so both Gesenius and Fiirst, from S'S'', to glitter, be eminent),
Mephib'osheth (Heb. Mephibo'sheth, niyn'^Sp [twice defectively Ddnsp, 2 Sam, xix, 24; xxi, 8], exterminator of the shame, i. e. idols or Baal, see Simo- nis Lex. V. T. p. 160; Ewald, Isr. Gesch. ii, 383; Sept. Mf0i/3o(Tf5 V. r. Mip<pLj3oaSrs, Yulg. Miphiboseth, Jose- phus Mfju^('/3o(T^oc), the name of two of king Saul's descendants. " Bosheth appears to have been a favor- ite appellation in Saul's family, for it forms a part of the names of no fewer than three members of it — Ish-bo- sheth and the two Mephi-bosheths. But in the gene- alogies preserved in 1 Chronicles these names are given in the different forms of Esh-baal and Merib-baal. The variation is identical with that of Jerub-baal and Jerub- besheth, and is in accordance with passages in Jeremiah (xi, 13) and Hosea (ix, 10), where Baal and Bosheth appear to be convertible or, at least,. related terms, the latter being used as a contemptuous or derisive syno- nyme of the former. One inference from this would be that the persons in question were originally named Baal ; that this appears in the two fragments of the family records preservedin Chronicles; but that in Samuel the hateful heathen name has been uniformly erased, and the nickname of Bosheth substituted for it. It is some support to this to find that Saul had an ancestor named Baal, who appears in the lists of Chronicles only (1 Chron. viii, 30 ; ix, 36). But such a change in the rec- ord supposes an amount of editing and interpolation which would hardly have been accomplished without leaving more obvious traces, in reasons given for the change, etc. How different it is, for example, from the case of Jerub-besheth, where the alteration is mentioned and commented on. Still the facts are as above stated, whatever explanation may be given of them" (Smith).
See ISHBOSHETH,
1, Saul's son by his concubine Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah (2 Sam, xxi, 8), He and his brother Armoni were among the seven victims who were surrendered by David to the Gibeonites, and by them crucified in sacrifice to Jehovah, to avert a famine from which the country was suffering. There is no doubt about this being the real meaning of the word 'S'Q'^, translated here and in Numb, xxv, 4 "hanged up" (see Michaelis's Supplement, No. 1046; also Gesenius, Thesaur. p, 620; and Fiirst, Handwb. p. 539 6). Aquila has di'mrriyvvpt, understanding them to have been not crucified but im- paled. The Vulgate reads crucifixerunt (ver, 9), and qui affixi fuerant (ver. 13). The Hebrew term is en- tirely distinct from tlbri, also rendered "to hang" in the A. v., which is its real signification. It is this lat- ter word which is employed in the story of the five kings of Makkedah ; in the account of the indignities practiced on Saul's bodj', 2 Sam. xxi, 12; on Baanah and Rechab by David, "2 Sam. iv, 12 ; and elsewhere.