The spoil taken in both the war of Moses and that of Gideon is remarkable. On the former occasion, the spoil of GTo.OOO sheep, 72,000 beeves, and 61,000 asses, seems to confirm the other indications of the then pas- toral character of the Midianites; the omission of any mention of camels has already been explained. But the gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead (Numb, xxxi, 22), the jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, ear- rings, and tablets" (ver. 50)— the offering 1o the Lord being 10,750 shekels (ver. 52)— taken by Moses, is es- pecially noteworthy; and it is confirmed by the booty taken by Gideon; for when he slew Zebah and Zal- niunna he " took away the ornaments that [were] on their camels' necks" (Judg. viii,21), and (ver. 24-20) he asked of every man the ear-rings of his prey, "for they had golden ear-rings, because tliey [were] Islnnaelites." "And tlie weight of the golden ear-rings that he re- quested was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold; besides ornaments and collars, and jmrple raiment that [was] on the kings of ^Midian. and besides the
chains that [were] about their camels' necks." (The covered therein" (Ahotfi, rendering of the A. V. is sufhciently accurate for our pur- ]K)se here, and any examination into the form or char- acter of these ornaments, tempting though it is, belongs more properly to other articles.) We have here a wealthy Arab nation, living by jdundcr, delighting in finery (especially their women, for we may here read " nose-ring"), and, where forays were imiiossible, carry- ing on the traflic southwards into Arabia, the land of gold if not naturally, by trade— and across to Chalda;a, or iiilii ihc rich iilaius of Kgvpt. See AltAl'.lA.
194; Fosbrook, British
ton, Bibl. Ilistorico-Sacra. Monachism, p. 61.
Midnight (^^^, ni^ht, vvKj ''i connection with ri^n, ''^n, or '^'^n, fitaog, middle; (ikjovvktiov sim- ply. See IS'itiiiT.
Midrash (Ileb. tlJI'li:) is a word applied to the oldest Jewish exposition of the Scriptures — a peculiar, somewhat wild mode of interpretation, which appeals more to the feelings than to the reason.
I. Title and its Signijication, f/c— The term f1*n3, which is strangely rendered in the text of the A.'V. by story (2 Chron. xiii, 22; xxiv, 27), is derived from the root 113"^, to search into, to examine, to investitjate,
and primarily denotes the study, the exposi- tion of Jloly Scripture, in the abstract and general sense. Thus it is said, " Not the study of it (win^n), but the doing of the law is the chief thing" (.4 both, i, 17). The study or exposition of Holy Writ (C~"1 -) was effected in earlier times through public discourses, de- livered on Sabbaths, festivals, and days of assembly, by the priests, Levites, elders of Israel, and prophets. Dur- ing the period of the second Temple, when the ca- nonical books and the written discourses of the older prophets became unintelligible to the mass of the peo- ple, who spoke Hebraized Aramaic, these public exposi- tions became more formal, and were delivered on a large scale by the lawyers, or Scribes (CIBID), as they are called in the N. T., the directors of schools (■j;-'"), grad- uated rabbins (r'lSI, only with suflT. i;'^ri3'"0) or learn- ed men in general and members of societies (C^"!;;!!).
II. Design and Classif cation. — The design of the Mid- rash or exposition varied according to circumstances. Sometimes the lecturer ("U^'n, Trill) confined him- self to giving a running paraphrase O'CS^ir^) into the vulgar Aramaic, or the other dialects of the countrj', of the lessons from the Law and Prophets which were read in Hebrew (see IlAriiTARAii), thus gradually giv- ing rise to the Chaldee, Syriac, and Greek versions, so that these Targumim may be regarded as being the re- sult, or forming part of the Midrash. The chief design of the IMidrash, however, was to jiropouiul the Script- ures either logically or homUeticully. Hence obtained that twofold mode of expression called the legal or Jla- lachic exegesis, and the homiletic or JIagadic exegesis, and their respective literatures.
1. The Legal or JIalachic Exegesis. — The object of this branch of ex])Osition is to ascertain, by analogy, combination, or otherwise, the meaning of the law re- specting exceptional cases about which there is no di- rect enactment in the Mosaic code, as it was the only rule of practice in the political and religious govern- ment of the Jews under all vicissitudes of the common- wealth, and as the motto of the expositors and admin- istrators of it was " Turn it (i. e. the inspired code) over and over again, for evervthing is in it, and will be di . )_ - - ■ ■
Midlent Sunday (or Mothering Sunday),
iilMrfectly exi)lained in the Antiquitatts ]'itlgarcs, is
The laws thus ob- tained, either by deduction from the text or introduc- tion into it, are called IIaluch»th {^^zh'^, sing, nz^n, from "bn, /() go), the rule by vhich to go, the binding precept, the authoritatire lau; being equivalent to the Hebrew word n'^:;E"i'"2 (comp. Chaldee Paraphrase on Exod. xxi. 9). and this mode of exposition, which is chiefly confined to the Pentateuch as the legal part of the O. T., is termed Halmhic exegesis. These Hala- choth (rilbn), some of which are coeval with the en- actments in the Pentateuch itself (Deut. xvii, IH. while some are the labors of the Great Synagogue or the So-