Mered's wife Bithiah "is enumerated by the rabbins among the nine who entered Paradise (Hottingcr, Smeg- ma Orientale, p. 515), and in the Targum of H. Joseph on Chronicles she is said to have been a proselyte. In the same Targum wc find it stated that Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, was called 3Iered because he withstood or rebelled against ("T^ v) '^^ counsel of the spies, a tradi- tion also recorded by Jarchi. But another and \ny curious tradition is ijreserved in the QmnsHones in libr. ParciL, attributed to Jerome. According to this Ezra was Amram; his sons Jether and JMered were Aaron and jMoses; Ephcr was Eldad, and Jalon Medad. The tradition goes on to say that Moses, after receiving the law in the desert, enjoined his father to put away his mother because she was his aunt, being the daughter of Levi: that Amram did so, married again, and begat Eldad and Medad. Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, is said, on the same authority, to have been ' taken' by Moses, because she forsook idols, and was converted to the worship of the true God. The origin of all this seems to have been the occurrence of the name '^lir- iam' in 1 Chron. iv, 17, which was referred to Jliriam the sister of Moses. Kabbi D. Kimchi would put the first clause of ver. 18 in a parenthesis. He makes Bith- iah the daughter of Pharaoh the first wife of IMercd, and nuilhcr of :\Iiriam, Siiammai, and Ishbah ; Jchudi- jah, <ir • the .Jewess,' being his second wife" (Smith).
Meredith, C. G., a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Baltimore County, JId., May 5, 1820; was converted at eleven, joined the Ohio Conference in 184G, travelled with usefulness eight years, and died at Leba- non Station, Ohio, July It!, 1854. Jlr. Meredith was amiable and serious from childhood, was full of good works, and by his own efforts acquired not only a fine general English education, but read Greek and Latin fluently. He was a sound theologian, and a dignilied, instructive, and usefid minister of the Gospel. — Miiiuks
Meredith, Thomas, a Bajitist minister, was born at Warwick, Bucks County. Pa. After graduating (.Ian. 4, l.SKJ) in the University of Philadelphia, he began the study of theology, was licensed Dec. 30, 1816, and two
years after he was ordained at Edenton. In 1819 he was settled as pastor of the Baptist Church at Xewbeni. In \H1-1 he accepted a call of the Baptist Church of Sa- vannah, and finally settled in 1825 as pastor of the Church at Edenton, N. C. where he remained for nine years. He commenced the publication of the liaptist Interpreter, the first Baptist paper printed in North Car- olina. In 1835 he returned to the Church of Newbern, where he publisheil the Jiiblirul Recorder. In \XM he removed to L'aleigh. where he continued to issue the paper, though his health was too feelde to allow him to take a pastoral charge. He died Nov. 13, 1850. He published a pamphlet entitled Christianili/ and Slavery in 1847, which had previously appeared in the Biblical Recorder.
Mer'emoth (Ileb. Meremoth' , Ti'Z'yZ, exaltations), the name of two men at the close of the captivity.
1. (Sept. Mfpo/dii^, Mflpf/iwc, Mo/j/iwS-, avo 'Va- fiio^ V. r. MapifxioSr, etc.; Vulg. Merimut/i). A priest, son of Urijah, and grandson (descendant) of Koz. who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Neli. xii, 3), B.C. 536, and to whom were afterwards consigned the bullion and sacred vessels forwarded by Ezra (l->.ra viii, 33). B.C. 459. "After the statement in Ezra ii, 62, re- specting the exclusion of the family of Koz from the priesthood, it is puzzling to find one of this family rec- ognised as a priest ; but probably the exclusion did not extend to the whole family, some being able to establish their pedigree" (Kitto). He repaired two sections of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. iii, 4, 21), B.C. 446, and lived to join in the sacred covenant of fidelity to Jehovah (Neh. X, 5). B.C. cir. 410. In Neh. xii, 1 5 he is mentioned by the name of MEKAiOTir, as the father of Ilelkai.
2. (Sept. i\rrtp(^uJ^, Vulg. Marimuth.) An Israelite of the "sons" (V inhabitants) of Bani, who divorced his Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra x, 36). B.C. 459.
Mererius, a French prelate, flourished in the latter half of the (iih century as bishop of Angouh'me. He was originally count of Angouleme. At that period of history the civil government diff'ered so little from the ecclesiastical that, without any change of habits or al- teration of moral life, the appellation of count was not unfrcquently exchanged for that of bishop, in order to transmit to a son, or perhaps a nephew, the title thus relinquished. In this way the prerogatives of both ti- tles were retained in the same family. But it was con- sidered an abuse of authority to have any one person invested with the combined privileges and distinctions of a count and of a bishop. The count ^lererius was canonically settled in the see of Angouleme by St. Ger- main, bishop of Paris, and St. Euphrone, archbishop of Tours, with the consent of king Charibcrt. Nantin, the nephew of Jlererius, inherited the immunities and pos- sessions attached to the title of count. This occurred about 570. After seven years of episcopacy Mererius was poisoned by Erontonius, who seized the bishop's mitre, and was apparently rect)gniscd without opposition as the bishop of Angouleme. It is worthy of notice that in those troublesome times it was not uncommon through such crimes to reach the highest offices. The authors of L'Hixtoire Lilteraire and the Gnllia CfiruHiava have fancied the identity of ilererius, bishop of Angouleme, with one ]\Iaracharius, who, according to Fortunitus, at- tended the dedication of the church at Nantcc in 568'. but father Lecointe woulil rather believe that this Mar- acharius Pomacharius was the bishop of Coutanccs, Yet neither the bishop of Coutances nor the bishop of Angouleme was a fellow- provincial of the bishop of Nantes. It is much more likely that the Maracharius mentioned by Fortunatus is the same with Maclianus, bishop of Valines, who died probably in 577. It is said that some writings by Mererius were deposited in the library of Cluni, but they seem to have been lost. — Hoe- fcr, Xonr. />/".'/. Htnerule, s. v.