Mesobaiah. See Mesobaite.
Meso'baite (Yleb. Metsobayali', il^'^^l'O^ garrison of Jehovah, being apparently the name of the place it- self, used for a gentile, the preceding noun being re- garded as in the construct ; Sept. Mfrrcj/Jirt v. r. Mfo'a- (Siia, Yulg. Masobia), a dcNi-nation of Jasiel, the last named of David's body-guard ( 1 ( liron. xi, 47), proba- bly meaning oj' Mesobaiah, aj being his place of resi- dence ; but, no other clue being given to its locality there is no room even to conjecture its position. Pos- sibly it is rather the name of a person from whom he was descended; but the form and construction are equal- ly difficult as a patronymic. Perhaps we should point n^nkSSln, and thus refer to ZoBAii as the place of his nationality. Kennicott's conclusion {Disseiialion, p. 233, 234) is that originally the word was " the Metso- baites" (C^-il^in), and applied to the three names pre- ceding it.
Mesopota'mia (MfffOTrora/u'o, Acts ii, 9; vii. 2; so called as lying between the ricers ; see Tzchucke, Mt fa, iii, 335 sq. ; the Akam, Dj!S!, of the Hebrews, usually rendered "Aram," or "Syria," in the Auth. Vers.), the Greek and Roman name for the entire region lying be- tween the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and bounded on the north by Mt. Taurus, and by Mt. Masius on the north-east (Ptol. v, 18; Plin_v, v, 13;, vi,,9; Philostr. Apol. i, 20). It never formed a distinct state, and the Greek name, which does not appear to extend back be- yond the time of Alexander (comp. Arrian, Alex, vii, 7; Tacit. Annal. vi, 37), applies rather to its natural than political geography, but was generally employed by the Romans, who (under the emperors) joined it with
]VIESOPOTAMIA
132
MESOPOTAMIA
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Map of Mesopotamia.
Syria (Jlela, i, 11, 1 ; Pliny, vi, 13) ; and hence it ap- pears in Acts ii, 9. In the Old-Test, geography it is des- ignated as a part of Aramsea, under the names Padan- Aham (Cns 1'ia, the plain of Aram, Gen. xxv, 20 ; xxi,18; xxxiii,18; comi). the Jield of A i-am,^"^^ ""O'"^, Hos. xii, 12 ; and so cavipi Mesopotamm, Curt, iii, 2, 3 ; iv, 9, 6) and Aram-Naharaim (B7~r!!3 t'nX, Aram of the ttco rivers, Gen. xxiv, 10; Dent, xxiii, 5), for whicli the Sept. has Mesopotamia, or Mesopotamia of Si/rin; the Syriac renders house of the rivers (Pesliito at Acts ii, 9 ; vii, 2 ; see Assenoani, Bihlioth. Orient, i, 462), and the Arabs call it the island (i. e. peninsida : see Abulfeda, Tab. Mesopot. ed. Paulus ; and Tuch, A biil- fed. desa-iptionis Mesopot. spec. [Hal. 1830]). In this early -inhabited land, the northern portion of wliich was an uncommonly fertile plateau, rich in fat cattle (.Strabo, xvi, 747), and not destitute of forests (Dio Cass. Ixviii, 26 ; Ixxv, 9), dwelt the nomade ancestors of the Hebrews (Gen. xi ; comp. Acts vii, 2), From hence Isaac obtained his wife Kcbecca (Gen. xxiv, 10, 19; xxv, 20) ; here Jacob served as a herdsman for Kachel ((Jen. xxviii sq.), and here most of his sons were born (Gen. XXXV, 26; xlvi, 15). The principal cities, situated not only on the two main rivers, but also along their tril)u- taries, the Chaboras (Habor) and Mygdonius, were Xi- sibis, Edessa, Cana; (Haran), and Circcsium (Carche- mesh) ; in the interior were onh' villages (Philostr. ApoU. i, 20). The inhabitants were of Syrian origin (Strabo, xvi, 737), and spoke a dialect of the Arama-an (Strabo, ii, 84; comp. Gen. xxxi, 47). Southern IMeso- potamia, on the contrary, is a flat, uncultivated, and poorly-irrigated steppe, a resort of lions (Ammin. Marc, xviii, 7), ostriches, and (formerly) wild asses, and roam- ed over by predatory hordes of Arabs (see Strabo, xvi, 747, 748; comp. Xenoph. Anab. i, 5, 1). Only on the banks of the two principal rivers is it susceptible of much tillage. Yet through this barren tract from the earliest ages passed the great caravan route for com- merce from the shore of tlie Euplirates to Seleucia and Babylon (Strabo, xvi, 748), as it still does to Bagdad. Sec generally Cellar. Notit. ii, 602 sq. ; Olivier, Voyaye, iv, ch. xiv, p. 372 sq. ; Ainsworth, liesearches ; Heercn. Ideen, I, i, 183 sq.; Bitter, /wyM. xi, pi. 36 [1844] ; Forbiger, Handb. ii, 625 sq. ; Southgate's Tour ; Buckingham's Travels ; Layard's Nineveh and Bab, ch, xi-xv.
Of the history of this whole countrj' we have but little information till the time of the Persian rule. "According to the Assyrian inscriptions, Mesopotamia was inhabited in the early times of the empire (B.C. 1200-1100) by a vast number of petty tribes, efich un- der its own prince, and all quite independent of one another. The Assyrian monarchs contended with these chiefs at great advantage, and by the time of Jehu (B.C. 880) had fully established their dominion over them. The tribes were all called ' tribes of the Nai- ri,' a term wliich some compare with the Saharaim of the Jews, and tran>late ' tribes of the stream^ lands.' But this identilication is verj- uncertain. It ajijiears, however, in close accordance with Scripture, iirst, that IMesopotamia was independent of Assyria till after the time of David; secondly, that the !Mesopota- mians were warlike, and used chariots in battle; and, thirdly, that not long after the time of David they lost their independence, their country being absorbed by Assyria, of which it was thenceforth commonly reck- oned a i)art" (Smith). The ]\Iesopotamian king Chu- shan-Kishathaim, who for eight years (B.C. 1575-1567) held the (trans-Jordanic) tribes of Israel in subjection (Judg. iii. 8, 10), was probably only the petty chieftain of one of the principalities nearest the Euiihrates. In the time of David (B.C. 1040) the kings of Syria-Zoba appear to have had dominion over the Mesopotamian clans (2 Sam. x, 16). Sec Zobaii. In the beginning of tlie 8th centur}- B.C., Shalmaneser of Assyria had brought the difTerent states of IMesopotamia under his sway (2 Kings xix, 13) ; and in afler-times the ^Icsopo- tamians shared the conquest of the other Asiatic na- tions under the successive empires of the Baliylonians, Persians, and Macedonians. After Alexander's death, tliis country fell under the Syrian rule of the Seleucidae (comp. .Ie)sephus, Ant. xii. 3. 4); and after the fall of this dynasty it iiecame the arena for the Pariliian, Ar- menian, and tinally the Koman arms. In Xew-Test. times many Jews had settled in Jlesopotamia (Josephus, Ant, xii, 3, 4; comp. Acts ii, 9\— 'Winer, ii. 86. The Ro- mans under LiicuUus and Pompey began to disturb Mes- opotamia ; and, somewhat later, Crassus was there de- feated and slain. Trajan wrested the whole province, with several adjacent territories, from the Parthians; and although Hadrian had to relinquish these con- quests, Lucius Ycriis and Severus again subdued Meso-