Mib'sam (ll^h. Mihsam' , ^'^'Z'Z, fragrance), the name of two men.
1. (Sept. Mo(T<Ta/i v. r. in Chron. Mrt/3ffdv.) The
although most mistakenly, formed in honor of Jehovah, whom tlicy thus sought to serve by means of a local worship, in imitation of that at Shiloh (see Kitto's />ai7y liible lllustra. ad loc). This was in direct contraven- tion of the law, which allowed but one place of sacrifice and ceremonial service ; and was something of the same kind, although different in extent and degree, as the service of the golden calves, which Jeroboam set up, and his successors maintained, in Dan and Bethel. The previous existence of Micah's establishment in the for- mer city no doubt pointed it out to Jeroboam as a suit- able place for one of his golden calves. — Kitto. See Jkroboaji. The preservation of the story here would seem to be owing to Micah's accidental connection with the colony of Danites who left the original seat of their tribe to conquer and found a new Dan at Laish— a most happy accident, for it has been the means of furnishing
fourth named of the twelve sons of Ishmael, and head us with a jncture of the " interior" of a private Israelitish cf an Arabian tribe bearing his name (Gen. xxv, 13 ; family of the rural districts, which in many respects 1 Chron. i, 29). B.C. post 20G1. ''The signification of | stands quite alone in the sacred records, and has proba- his name has led some to propose an identification of blyno parallel in any literature of equal age. But apart the tribe sprung from him with some one of the Abra- ' from this the narrative has several points of special in- hamic tribes settled in Arabia aromatifera, and a con- ! terest to students of Biblical history in the information
nection with the balsam of Arabia is suggested (Bun-
sen, Bibda-erk ; Kalisch, Genesis, p. 483). The situation of Mekkeh is well adapted for his settlements, sur- rounded as it is by traces of other Ishmaclitish tribes; nevertheless the identification seems fanciful and far- fetched" (Smith). See Arabia.
2. Sept. Ma(iaaav v. r. Mrt/^acro/i.") The son of Shallum and father of ^lichma, apparently the grandson of Sliaul, a son of Simeon (1 Chron. iv. 25). B.C. ante 1058.
Mib'zar (Ileb. Mihtsar', ^'S'Z'Z, fortress, as often; Sept. in Chron. Maftaap v. r. Ba/jcrop, in Gen. M«^op). The ninth named of the petty Edomitish chieftains de- scended from Esau contemporary with the Horite kings ! norant is he of the law of Jeliov
which it affords as to the condition of the nation, of the
members of which Jlicah was probably an average spec- imen.
(1.) We see how conipletely some of the most sol- emn and characteristic enactments of the law had be- come a dead letter. Mieah was evidently a devout believer in Jehovah. While the Danites in their com- munications use the general term Elohim, "God" ("ask counsel of God," Judg. xviii,5; '-God hath given it into your hands," ver. 10), with Micah and his household the case is quite different. His one anxiety is to enjoy the favor of Jehovah (xvii, 13) ; the formula of blessing used by his mother and his priest invokes the same aw- ful name (xvii, 2; xviii, 6); and yet so completely ig-
that the mode which
(Gen. xxvi, 43; 1 Chron. i, 53). B.C. long post 19U.5. " These phylarchs are said to be enumerated ' according to their settlements in the land of their jjossession ;' and Knobel (Genesis), understanding Mibzar as tlie name of a place, has attempted to identify it with the rocky fast- ness of Petra, ' the strong city' (1^?^ '^"'^', '''" mibstar, Psa. cviii, 11 ; comp. Psa. Ix, 11), 'the cliff.' the chasms of which were the chief stronghold oi the Edomites (Jer. xhx, 16; Obad. 3)" (Smith).' See Iux.m.
Mi'cah (Ileb. Mikah', n2"'^ [in Judg. xvii, 1, 4, the 1 in .longed form Miku'yehu, HH^^'^'S, is used], a con- tracted form of the name Micaiuh; Sept. M«x«) hut M ixnia in 2 Chron. [ xviii, 14, where the name is for that of " ^licaiah," and is so rendered in the Auth. A'ers.] xxxiv, 20; and Mix«'«C i"i Jer. xxvi. 18; ;Mic. i, 1), the name of several men. See also ^Iuaiaii; Mi-
ClIAH; MlCIIAIAH.
1. An Ephrairaite, apparently contemporary with the elders who outlived Joshua." B.C. cir. 1590-1.580. He secretly appropriated 1100 shekels of silver which his mother had saved ; but being alarmed at her impre- cations on the author of her loss, he confessed the mat-
he adopts of honoring him is to make a molten and a graven image, teraphim or images of domestic gods, and to set up an unauthorized priesthood, first in his own family (xvii, 5), and then in the person of a Levite not of t lie priestly line (ver. 12)— thus disobeying in the most flagrant manner the second of the Ten Connnand- ments. and the provisions for the priesthood— laws both of which lay in a peculiar manner at the root of the re- ligious existence of the nation. Gideon (viii, 27) had established an e]>hod ; but liere was a whole chapel of idols, "a house of gods" (xvii, 5), and all dedicated to Jehovah.
(2.) The story also throws a light on the condition of tlie Levites. They were indeed "divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel" in a more literal sense than that prediction is usually taken to contain. Here we have a Levite belonging to Bethlebem-judah. a town not al- lotted to the Levites, and witli which they had, as far as we know, no connection; next wandering forth, with the world before him, to take up his abode wherever he could find a residence; then undertaking, without hesi- tation, and for a mere pittance, the charge of Jlicah's idol-chaiiel ; and. lastly, carrying off the property of his ter to her, and restored the money. She then forgave 1 master anil benefactor, and becoming the first jiriest to him, and returned him the silver, to be aiJiilied to the ! another system of false worship, one. too. in which Je- use for which it had been accumulated. Two hundred hovah had no part, and which ultimately bore an im- shekels of the amount were given to the founder, as the portant share in the disruption of the two kingdoms, cost or material of two teraphim, tiie one molten and It does not seem at all clear that the words -molten the other graven; and the rest of the money served to | image" and "graven image" accurately express the cover the other expenses of the semi-idolatrous estab- original words J\sel an<l Massikah. See Idol. As the lishment formed in the house of Micah. of which a wan- . Hebrew text now stands, the '• graven image" only was