notion of its reference to the 'covering' (i. e. atonement) of sin. See Atonement. But in any case the notion of a ' seat,' as conveyed by the name in English, seems superfluous and likely to mislead. Jehovah is indeed spoken of as ' dwelling' and even as ' sitting' (Psa. Ixxx, 1 ; xcix, 1) between the cherubim, but imdoubtedly his seat in this conception would not be on the same level as that on which they stood (Exod. xxv, 18), and an enthronement in the glory above it must be supposed. The idea with which it is connected is not merely that of ' mercy,' but of formal atonement made for the breach of the covenant (Lev. xvi, 14), which the ark contained in its material vehicle — the two tables of stone. The communications made to Moses are represented as made ' from the mercy-seat that was upon the ark of the tes- timony' (Numb, vii, 89 ; comp. Exod. xxv, 22 ; xxx, 6) ; a sublime illustration of the moral relation and re- sponsibility into which the people were by covenant regarded as brought before God" (Smith). It is not without significance that the mercy-seat was above the ark and below the symbols of the divine presence and attributes, as if to foreshadow the supersedence of the law of ordinances contained in the ark by the free grace of the Gospel. See Pratenius, De Judcea area (Upsal. 1727) ; Werner, Be Projntiatoria (Giessen, 1695). See Shekinah.
Me'red (Heb. id., T^^, rehelHon, as in Josh, xxii, 22; Sept. MwpaS and Mwp?/5, Vulg. Mered), a person named as the second son of Ezra (or Ezer), of tlie tribe of Judah (1 Chron. iv, 17). See Ezrah. Great confu- sion prevails in the account of his lineage and family, and indeed in the whole chapter in question. Yer. 17, after mentioning the four sons of Ezra, immediately adds, " and she bore Miriam," etc. ; where the Sept., by an evident gloss, attributes these children to Jethro, the first named of Ezra's sons ; the Vulg. has genuit, re- ferring them to Ezra as additional sons, in defiance of the text ^ilW, which is undoubtedly feminine; while Luther renders this word as a proper name, Thahar, equally at variance with the text, which joins the fol- lowing -word by the accus. particle S"iX, a construction that does not here allow the resolution by the rendering with. In ver. 18 we find several sons attributed to "his wife Jehudijah," and the statement added, "And these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took :" the Sept., Vulg., and Luth. follow the Heb., which yields no intelligible connection. Yer. 19 : "And the sons of his wife Hodiah, the sister of Naham, the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maachathite ;" where, however, the Heb. text would be more naturally rendered " the sons of the wife of Hodi- jah," nj'lin nrx ^33, the form nrS being rarely absolute (see Nordheimer's Ilch. Cramm. § 604); the Sept. renders: "And the sons of the wife of liis Jewisli sister [uioi yvvaiKOQ Ti]Q 'lovcaiai; ((I'tA^i/c] were Na- chem, and Dana the father of Keeila, and Someion the father of Joriam. And the sons of Naem, the father of Keeila, were (iarmi and Jcsthemoe, Machatha" [various readings, "of the Idumivan sister" (or "of Odia the sis- ter") of Nachain, the fatliir oi' Keeila, were Garmi (oth- ers "Hotarmi" or " Hugarini ") and Eshthaimon, No- chathi] ; the Yulg. and Luther are like the Heb., ex- cept the ambiguous renderings, " Et filii uxoris Odajae/' " Die Kinder des Weibes Hodija." The Syr. and Arab, omit ver. 17 and 18 (Davidson's Jievis. of the Ihh. Text, ad loc). The corruption of the text is evident. We suggest a conjectural restoration by transposing the lat- ter part of ver. 18 to the middle of ver. 17, and the whole of ver. 19 to the end of ver. 17; these simple changes will supply the manifest incongruities as fol- lows : "And the sons of Ezra [or Ezer] were Jetlier, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon. And these are the sons of Bithiah (the daughter of Pharaoh), whom Mered [first] married; she bore Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah (founder of Eshtemoa) : and the sous of his
MEREDITH
112
MERES
[second] wife Hodijah (the sister of Naham, father [founder] of Keilah the (iarmite [? strong city] and of Eshtemoa tlie Maacbatlilte) — this Jewish wife hore Jered (founder of Gedor). and Ileber (founder of Socho), and Jokuthiel (founder of Zanoali)." This essentially agrees with Bertheau's rectilication of the passage (A>- Jclar. ad loc), adopted by Keil (Comment, ad loc).
" It lias been supposed that Pharaoh is here the name of an Israelite, but there are strong reasons for the com- mon and contrary opinion. The name Bithiah, 'daugh- ter,' that is, 'servant of the Lord,' is a))propriate to a convert. It may be observed that the INIoslems of the present day very frequently give the name Abdallah, 'servant oV God,' to those who adopt their religion. That another wife was called the Jewess, is in favor of Bithiah's Egyptian origin. The name Miriam, if, as we believe, Egyptian, is especially suitable to the child of an Egyptian" (Kitto). See Bitiiiah. I'haraoh, whose daughter Jlered espoused, was therefore undoubt- edh' some one of the Egyptian kings, and hence Jlered himself would appear to have been a person of note among the Israelites. As his children by his other wife (who was also highly related), were recognised as chief men or rebuilders of Canaanitish cities, and hence must have lived soon after the conquest and settlement of Palestine by the Hebrews, Mered himself will be placed i!i the period of the exodc, and he may be sup- posed to have married the daughter of the predecessor of that Pharaoh by whom the Israelites were detained in so cruel bondage; perhaps his Egyptian wife refused to accompany him to the promised land, and the later children may have been the fruit of a subsequent mar- riage during the wanderings in the desert with a He- brewess Hodijah. B.C. cir. 1658.