MIELK
19, "lively," is also in rabbinical Hebrew " midwives,"' an explanation which appears to have been had in view bj' the Vulj;., which interjirets chuyoth by '• ipsic obste- tricandi habent scientiam." It is also rendered "living creatures," implying that the Hebrew women were, like animals, quick in parturition. Gesenius renders " vivi- dse, robustie" (T/ies. p. 4()«). In any case the general sense of the passage Kxod. i, 19 is the same, viz. that the Hebrew women stood in little or no need of the midwives' assistance. I'arturition in the East is usu- ally easy. See Wojiax. The office of a midwife is thus, in many Eastern countries, in little use, but is per- formed, when necessary, by relatives (Chardin, V'ot/. vii, '23 ; Ilarmer, Obs. iv, 425). See Child. It may be for this reason that the number of persons employed for this purpose among the Hebrews was so small, as the passage Exod. i, 19 seems to show ; unless, as Knobel and others suggest, the two named were the principal persons of their class. In the descriifcion of the trans- action mentioned in Exod. i, one expression, •' Upon the stools," receives remarkable illustration from ancient as well as modern usage. On the walls of the palace of Luxor, in Upper I'^gypt, there is a grand painting, which i.s faithfully copied in Lepsius's Z>CT(i-»ia7f r, representing the birth of the eldest son of Thothmes IV, anil very possibly the "first -bom" of the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Ked Sea. Queen INIautmes is repre- sented as receiving a message through the god Thoth, that she is to give birth to a child. The mother is jilaced upon a s/ool, while two midwives chafe her hands, and the babe is held up by a third (Sharpe's History of Eyypt, i, (if)). Gesenius doubts the existence of any cus- tom such as the direct meaning of the passage implies, and suggests a wooden or stone trough for washing the new-born child. But the modern Egyptian practice, as described by IMr. Lane, exactly answers to that indi- cated in the book of Exodus. " Two or three days be- fore the expected time of delivery, the Loyeh (midwife) conveys to the house the kursi elicilddeli, a chair of a jieculiar form, upon which the patient is to be seated during the l)irth" (Lane, Mod. F.tjypt. iii, 142). See Stool. The moral question arising from the conduct of the midwives does not fall within the scope of the present article. The reader, however, may refer to St. Augustine, t'ontr. mendacium, xv, 32, and Quasi, in llept. ii, 1 ; also Corn, ii Lap. Com. on Ex. i. When it is said, "God dealt well with the midwives, and built them houses," we are probably to understand that their fami- lies were blessed either in point of numbers or of sub- stance. Other explanations of inferior value have been offered by Kimchi, Calvin, and others (Calmet, Cow. on Kx.\; Patrick; Corn. a Lap.; Knobel; Schleusner, /,.!'. T. oIkiu ; (Jesenius, Thesdur. p. 193; Crit. AV/c?-.). It is worth while to notice only to refute on its own ground the .Jewish tradition which identified Siphrah and Puah with Jochebed and Miriam, and interpreted the "houses" built for them as the sf>-called royal and sacerdotal fam- ilies of Caleb and Closes (.losephus, A nt. iii, 2, 4 ; Corn, h Lap. and Crit. Sua: 1. c. ; Schottgen, //o?-. Jlcbi: ii, 450 ; y^e J/f.w. c. iv).— Smith ; Eairbairn. See Bihtii.
Mieg, Johann Casimir, a (Jcrman theologian and phil(.loi,'isl. was b(.ni at llciiUlberg Oct. i\. 1712. His father was a [irofessor of iluology and minister at flic Heiligengeistkirche of that i)lace. He entered the uni- versity of his native place wlien fourteen years of age; continued his stiulies at Zilrich. Basle, and Berne; re- turned to Heidelberg in 1732, and finished his education at Mari)urg and Halle. He was appointed a professor of philosophy at Herborn in 1733, and in 1743 professor of divinity and philology at Lingen. This position he resigned in 1757, and returned to Herborn as professor of theology and i)reaclier. He died Sept. 28. 17G4. Some of his most celebrated works are, J)i.w. r"i2"in C^n:;~, /iqc est Constilu Hones sen-orvm tarn in (jenere, quam in Hebraorum specie (Ilerborna; Nassoviarum, 1734, 4to):— "135 "'la^ H'^S^n, hoc est: Constitutio
res servi TTebrcei e Scriptura et Rabbinomm monumentis coUectcB nee non cum celerarum gentium consuetudinibus huic inde collutce (ibid. 1735, 8vo) : — Comnientatio fheo- logico-pructica, de virtute in pr(ecordiis objecto tvaptaiag dii-incE ad I'sa. Ii (Lemgovia?, 1749, 8vo).
Mieg, Ludwig Christian, a (krman Reformed theologian, was horn Aug. 20, 1008, at Heidelberg, and received his education at his native place and at Basle, where he defended his dis.sertation " De regulis communicationis motus." In 1689, during the French war, when Heidelberg was destroyed, he was vicar of the French congregation at Manheim. Later he made a voyage through the Netherlands, and returned in 1691 to Heidelberg, and was appointed professor of Greek, and minister of the lieformed congregation at Kinteln. In 1694 he was made professor of ecclesiasti- cal history at jNIarburg, and in 1697 professor of theol- ogy. He returned in 1706 to Heidelberg as ecclesiasti- cal counsellor, professor of divinity, and first minister of the church of the Holy Ghost; resigned his place in 1730, and died Jan. 19, 1740. His most noted works are, Diss, de rer/ulis communicationis motus (IJasle, 1685, 4to) : — Theses historicti-j/racticff ex historia et vita Ahrahumi desumtw (Marburg, HVM'>, 4to) : — Diss, historica, qua A. Pagii sententin de orcdsiane Apoloyiunnn a veteris eccle- sim doctoribus cousiriptarum examinatur (ibid. 1696, 4to): — Di^s. theolof/iru de terrore Dei (ibid. 1099. 4to): — Disquisitio theoliu/ica de pejspicuitate et unircrsa/itate institutionis naturaUs. ad I'sa. xix, 4, 5 (ibid. 1699, 4to) : ~Diss. Iheohxjivo-philoUxiica I et J I de euro pauperum apud J/ebrccos (ibid. 1700, 4to) :— Theses tUeohigicce de traditionibus (ibid. 1700, 4to) : — Diss, de jn-opheta pro- misso, Deut. xviii, 15, contra D. Ilugueminum (ibid. 1704, 4to) : — Oratio de providentia dicina circa nascentem Univers. Heidelberg, cum elencho Professor. Heidelberg, (ibid. 1770, 4to). See Doring, Gelehrte Theol. Deutsch- lands, s, v.