stel/cr (Augsburg and Leipsic, 1824) ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirrhen- Lexikon, S. v.
Mich'mas (Heb. Mikmas', &'2Sp, something hid- den; Ezra ii, 27, Sept. MaxfiaQ v. r. Xa^f^idc ; Neh. vii, 31, Maxffif'ic), or Miciimasii (Ileb. Mikmash', "QiZZiZ, id. Neh. xi,31, Sept. Max«At«e, i" pause 'C'^Z'C, 1 Sam. xiii, 2, 5, 11, lO, 23; xiv, 5, 31 ; Isa. x, 28;'sept. M«x-
fiac, and so in 1 Mace, ix, 13; Josephus, Ma\;/"" [Ant. \ them. The steep and precipitous Wady es-Sinreinil, a xiii, 1, C]), a town of Benjamin (Ezra ii, 27 ; Neh. xi, 31 ; valley into wliich the two ravines on the low ridge be- comp. vii, 31), east of Bethel or Beth-aven (1 Sam. xiii, ! twoen wliirli the village is situated run, is probaldy the 5), and south from jMigron, on the road to Jerusalem | "passage of jNliclimash" mentioned in Scripture (1 Sam. (Isa. X, 28). " If the name be, as some scholars assert j xiii, 23 ; Isa. x, 29). " In it," says Dr. Robinson, '"just (Fiirst, Handu-h. p. OdOi. 7o2/>), compounded from that of at the left of where we crossed, are two hills of a con- Chemosh, the JMoabitish deity, it is not improbably a ical, or rather spherical form, having steep rocky sides, relic of some incursion or invasion of tlie ]Mi)abites, just with small wadys running up between each so as al- as Chephar-haammonai, in this very neighborhood, is of most to isolate them. One of them is on the side to- the Ammonites. But though in the heart of Benjamin, j wards Jeba ((libeah), and the other towards Jlukhmas. it is not named in the list of the towns of that tribe These would seem to be the two rocks mentioned in (comp. Josh, xvii)." The words ofl Sam.xiii,2; xiv,4; connection with Jonathan's adventure (1 Sam. xiv, 4,5). and Isa. x, 29, show that at Jlichmas was a pass where See Bozez ; SENiiii. They are not, indeed, so sharp as the progress of a military body might be impeded or op- the language of Scripture would seem to imjily; but posed, since it was held by the Philistines while Saul they are the only rocks of the kind in this vicinity, and the Israelites were at Gibeah ; it was also on the line The northern one is comiccted towards the west with an of march of an invading army from the north, and the eminence still more distinctly isolated"' (Bib. Ihnearch- Assyrians are represented as depositing their baggage es, ii, IIG; comp. new ed. iii, 289; see Thenius. in the there on their way to Jerusalem, just before reaching Sachs, cxeejet. Stud, ii, 147 sq.). "Immediately facing- Gibeah (Isa. X, 28). It was perhaps for this reason that Mukhmas, on the opposite side of the ravine, is the Jonathan Maccaba-us fixed his abode at Michmas (1 modern representative of Geba; and behind this again Mace, ix, 73); and it is from the chivalrous exploit of are Ramah and (iibeali — all memorable names in the another hero of the same name, the son of Saul, that the long struggle which has immortalized ISIichmas. Bethel place is chiefly celebrated (1 Sam. xiii, xiv, 4-10). "Saul is about fimr miles to the north of Michmas. and t lie in- was occuining tlic range of heights above mentioned, terval is filled u|) by the heights of Burka, Deir Diwan, one end of his line resting on Bethel, the other at ]Mich- Tell el-IIajar, etc., which appear to have constituted mas (1 Sam. xiii, 2). In (ieha, close to him, but sepa- ; the Mount Bethel of tlie narrative (xiii, 2)." In the rated by the wide and intricate valley, the Philistines j Talmud {Mciiac/ioth, viii. 1 ; comj". Schwarz. J'aUat. p. liad a garrison with a chief ollicer. The taking of the | 131) the soil of ^Michmas is celebrated for its fertility garrison or the killing of llie ofhcer by Saul's son Jona- ^ (Reland, Pahtat. ji. 897). " There is a good deal of cul- thau was the first move. Tlie next was for the I'hi- tivation in and among groves of old olives in tlie broad, listines to swarm uji from their sea-side plain in such shallow wady which slopes down to the north and east numbers that no alternative was left for Saul but to re- , of the village ; but Mukhmas itself is a very poor place,
MICHMASH
231
MICRONESIA
and the country close to it has truly a most forbidding aspect. Huge gray rocks raise up their bald crowns, completely hiding every patch of soil, and the gray liuts of tlie village, and the gray ruins tliat encompass them, can liardly be distingui.shed from the rocks themselves. There are considerable remains of massive foundations, columns, cisterns, etc., testifying to former prosperity greater tlian that of either Aiiathoth or Geba" (Porter, Hamlbl: p. 215, 216).
Mich'mash (1 Sam. xiii, 2-23 ; xiv, 5, 31 ; Neh. xi, 31 ; Isa. x, 28). See Michmas.
Mich'methah (Heb. Mikmethath' , t^rpari, perh. hiiU/iff-place ; Sept. MaxS'w^, Vulg. Machmethatli), a town on the northern border of Ephraim (and the south- ern of Manasseh), situated eastward of Shechem and southward from Asher, in the direction of Tappuah (Josh, xvii, 7), also not very far west of Jordan, but be- yond Taanath-Shiloh (Josh, xvi, 6 ; where part of the verse appears to have become transposed from its proper location at the beginning of ver. 8 ; see Keil's Comment. ad loc). These notices appear to fix it not far from Wady Bidan, north-east of Salem. See Thibe. This position corresponds to the location assigned to the as- sociated places by Eusebius (Schwarz, Pdlest. p. 147) ; and M. de Saulcy found a little village in this vicinity, called el-Makhna, which he thinks may be a vestige of the Biblical locality {Xarratice, i, 93) ; but Dr. Robin- son, who passed through this region during his last visit, speaks only of "several villages" visible in this vicinity (Researches, new ed. iii, 298), and applies the name el-Makhna to a large fertile valley south of Na- blus (ibid. p. 132, etc.) ; which, however, according to Van de Velde's Map, runs into Wady Bidan.