]VIERON
120
MEROZ
monarch of the mountains, the mighty Hermon, dark and shaggy to its shoulders with the forests that clothe its sides, and with its double summit covered with per- petual snow. The lake itself in form is not far from a triangle, the base being at the north and the apex at the south ; and, though no exact measurement of it seems ever to have been made, it is about four and a half miles in length by about three miles in breadth. According to Josephus ( W'ai; iv, 1, 1) it is sixty stadia long and thirty wide, and full of tish (Burckhardt, Trciv. ii, 554). Kobinson states {litsvarches, iii, 339 sq.) that its size varies somewhat according to the season, being ■when he saw it (in summer) about two miles long, but in the northern jiart bounded by an extensive marsh, which explains the length sometimes assigned of eight or ten miles (Seetzcn. in Zach's Monall. Corresp. xviii, 3 14). It is surrounded on all sides, and especially on the south, west, and north, by broad morasses, and by such im- pervious brakes of tall sedges, reeds, and canes, as to be all but unapproachable. It is the receptacle for the drainage of the highlands on each side, but more espe- cially for the waters of the Merj Ayun, an elevated pla- teau which lies above it among the roots of the great nortliern mountains of Palestine. On the north-west- ern side of the lake the morasses extend almost to the very base of the Kedesh-Xaphtali liills. The Ilasbany river, which falls almost due south from its source in the great Wady et-'l'eim, is joined at the north-east cor- ner of the ^Vrd el-IIiileh by the streams from Banias and Tell el-Kady, and the united stream then flows on through the morass, rather nearer its eastern than its western side, until it enters the lake close to the eastern end of its upper side. From the apex of the triangle at the lower end the Jordan flows out. In addition to the Hasbany, and the innumerable smaller water- courses which filter into it the waters of the swamp above, the lake is fed by independent springs on the slope of its enclosing mountains. Of these the most con- siderable is the Ain el-Mellahah, near the upper end of its western side, which sends down a stream of forty or fifty feet in width. Though this name signifies "the fountain of salt," neither is the water brackish, nor is there any saline incrustation in its neigborhood, to ac- count for such a designation. This spring gives to the lake one of its names, ^^'illiam of Tyre calls it Laciis Melcha {Hist, xviii, 13) ; and the name now frequently given to it by the neighboring Arabs is Bahret el-JIel- idhuh. The water of the lake is clear and sweet ; it is covered in parts by a broad-leaved plant, and abounds in water-fowl. The only inhabitants of the plain are a few tribes of Arabs who dwell in tents. There is not a single village or house in any part of it. Its soil is sin- gularly fertile, and where cultivated, as it is partially to the south and east of the lake, yields luxuriant crops. Its rich, swampy pastures are covered with large herds of buffaloes. This cultivated district is called the Ard el-Khait, pcrhaps"the undulating land"' (otherwise "the land of wheat," from its fertility), el-Khait being also the name which the Arabs sometimes call the lake (Thomson, in the Jiihl. Sacra, iii, l'.)9; Robinson, Bib. lies, iii, App. p. 135, 13G). In fact the name Iluleh ap- pears to belong rather to the district, and only to the lake as occupying a portion of it. It is not restricted to this spot, but is applied to another ver\' fertile district in northern Syria lying below Ilamah. A town of the same name is also found south of and close to the Kasi- miyeh river, a few miles from the castle of Iluniu. Sec Pajlestine.
Meron. See Shimhox-merox.
M^ron, Pmi.iri'E van, a Dutcli visionary and doc- tor of theology, was l)orn at (loude in 1435. He was a member of the Brethren of the Conference, and distin- guished himself by his eloquence. He Avas sent iis a mis- sionary to Sweden, and died in l.^(l(i. His works are of a mystical character. The most important of them is Historic van den lltiliyen Patriach Jusej)h, hniyde</om
der Magh Maiia, ende opvoeder 0ns Heeren J/iesu Christi (Goude, 149(;, 8vo). In this work Meron narrates a revelation which he claims to have had in Sweden, when he ascertained by divine intuition that Joseph "became the foster-father of Jesus Clirist on the 19th of January." In consequence of this revelation he ex- horted all good Christians to fast on that day, and to keep the festival of St. Joseph. But this alleged reve- lation did not in any way alter the custom of the Church to honor the memory of Joseph on the 19th of March, See Walvis, Btsihr. v. Goude, ii, 144 ; Prosper Marchand, iJivtloiiiiiilre. p. 106. — Hoefer, Xouv. Bior/. Generate, s. v.
Meronoth. See Mekoxothite.
Meron'othite (Ileb. Meronothi', "^riir, gentile from ri:T2, Meronoth', signif. uncertain, a place else- where unknown; Sept. U Mfpojwj/ or MapaS-oJi', Mjj- |0wvuj3iVi)c,Vulg. Mcronothites), an epithet applied to Jehdeiah, the herdsman of the royal asses in the time of David and Solomon (1 Chron. xxvii, 30), and also to Jadon, one of those who repaired the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. iii, 7) ; apparently as being natives of some town called Mekoxotif, of the position or existence of which no other notice is extant, but from the latter passage it may be conjectured to have Iain not far from (Jibeon and Mizpah, and appears to have been inhabited after the captivity.