Merlin, Pierre, a French Protestant theologian, the son of Jean-Raymond, was born about 1535. After having been a disciple of Theodore de Beza, according to De Thou, he became religious adviser to the prince de Conde. D'Aubigne, however, maintains that he M'as a minister of the Gospel under admiral de Chatil- lon. The latter version is the likelier of the two. Cer- tain it is that he was with admiral de Chatillon dur- ing the St. Bartholomew massacre. Through a for- tunate circumstance he escaped the slaughter and fled to Geneva, where he formed the acquaintance of J. J. Scaliger. In process of time, however, he returned to France, and then became the pastor in ordinary of a nobleman named Laval, residing at Vitre. He was highly esteemed by his co-religionists, and presided at the general synods held respectively at Sainte-Foi, in 1578, and at Vitre, in 1583. As a delegate from the churches in Brittany, he also attended the Synod of Saumur in 1596. Pierre de L'Estoile relates that the ini.: petuous Covenanter, Jean Boucher, in a sermon preached in July, 1591, represented that IMerlin was really the father of Henry of Navarre (Henry IV). From this singular fabrication likewise sprang the other story that he had clandestinely married Jeanne dAlbret,,.the queen of Navarre, and that the celebrated D'Auliigne was the issue from that union. Prosper Marchand, in his Dictionnaire, took great pains to refute all tliese al- legations made by the Covenanters, or opposers of Henry IV. Merlin died about 1603. He wrote : Vingt Sermons sur le livre d'Esther (La Rochelle, 1591, 8vo; Geneva, 1594, 8vo) : — Job Commentariis illusti-atus (Ge- neva, 1599, 18mo) -.—Sainctes Prieres recueillies de plu- sieur passages de VAncien et du, Nouveau Testament (Geneva, 1609, 8vo) : — Discours theologiques de la tran- quillite et vrai repos de Vdme (Geneva, 8vo). See Haag, La France Protestante. — Hoefer, Nouv, Biog. Generale, s. V.
MERO
118
merodach-balada:n^
Mero. See jrEROTir. |
Mer'odach (Heb. Merodalc' , "t?""?' apparently a syncopated form of "nX""?; Sept. Matpwccix v. r. Miuodx anil Maiwcax; Vul^;. Merodach) occurs in Jer. 1, 2, in such connection with idols as to leave no doubt that it is the name of a Babylonian god. In conform- ity with the general cliaracter of Babylonian idolatr}-, Merodach is supposed to be the name of a jilanet ; and, as one of the Tsabian and jVrabic names for !Mars is Mirrich, "arrow" (the latter of which Gesenius thinks may be for Mhdicli, whicli is very nearly the same as Merodach), there is some presumption that it may be Mars, but ill other respects he more closely resembles Jupiter. As for etymologies of the word, Hitzig has suggested {Comment, on Isa. xxxix, 1) that it is the Per- sian marduk, the diminutive of mard, " man," used as a term of endearment ; but more probably it is from the Persian and Indo-Ciermaiiic mord, or mort (which means death, and is so far in harmony with the coiicej)- tion of Mars, as the lesser star of evil omen), and the attix och, which is found in many Assyrian names, as Nisroch, etc. ((iesenius, Thes. Ihb. p. 818). The bloody rites with which IMars was worshipped by the ancient Arabs are described in Norberg's Onomast. Codicis Na- sar. p. 107. Of the worship of this idol by the As- .syrians and Babylonians, besides the passages in Isa. xxxix, 1 ; Jer. 1, 2, we have testimony in the jtrojjcr names of the liings of Assyria and Babylonia, which are often compounded with this name, as Evil-^Ierodach, and Merodach-Baladan, who is also called Berodach- Baladan (see Gesenius, Comment, zu Jesa. i, 281). In the above passage of Jeremiah, " Bel and Merodach are coup- led together, and threatened with destruction in the fall of Babylon. It has commonly been concluded from this passage that Bel and Merodach were separate gods ; but from the Assyrian and Babylonian inscrip- tions it appears that this was not exactly the case. Jlerodach was really identical with the famous Babj'- lonian Bel or Behis, the word being probably at tirst a mere epithet of the god, which by degrees superseded his proper appellation. Still a certain distinction ap- pears to have been maintained between the names. The golden image in the groat temple at Babylon seems to have been worshipped distinctly as Bel rather than JNIe- rodach, while other idols of the god may have repre- sented him as Merodach rather than licl. It is not known what the word i^Ferodach means, or what the special aspect ol' the god Avas, Avhen Avorshipped under that title. In a general way Bel-Merodach may be said to correspond to the Greek Jupiter. He is ' the old man of the gods,' 'the judge,' and has the gates of heav- en under his especial chiirge. Nebuchadnezzar calls liim ' the great lord, the senior of the gods, the most ancient,' and Neriglissar ' the first-born of the gods, the layer-up of treasures.' In the earlier period of Baby- lonian history he seems to share with several other deities (as Nebo, Nergal, Bel-Nimrod, Ann, etc.) the worship of the people, but in the later times he is re- garded as the source of all power and blessings, and thus concentrates in his own person the greater (lart of that homage and respect which had previously been divided among the various gods of the I'antheon" (Smith ). See Kawlinson, lh'rodvtus,\, 207 sq.; Ancient Momtrclnes. i, It)',).