Mixed marriages, i. e. marriages between Jews and (lentilcs, were strictly prohibited by the ^Mosaic law. The New Testament, if it be thought to contain no posi- tive prohibition of the intermarriage of Christians and heathens, yet, to say the least, strongh' represents such a proceeding as inconsistent with a Christian profession (1 Cor. vii, 39 ; 2 Cor. vi, 14). The early fathers de- nounced the practice as dangerous and even criminal (Tertullian, Ad.Uxor. lib. ii, c. 2-9; De Coron. Mil. c. 13; Cyprian, .4 d Quirin, lib. iii, c. 62 ; Ambrosius, De A bra- hamo, lib. i, c. 9 ; Kp. lib. ix, ep. 70 ; De Fide et Oper. c, 19; Jerome, In Jovin. lib. i, c. 10); and it was after- wards positively i)rohibited by the decrees of councils and the laws of the empire {Cone. Chalced.c. 14 ; Arelat. i, c. 11 ; Illiberit. c. 15, 16, 17; Aurelian, ii,c. 18; Cod. Jus- tin, lib. i, tit. 9, 1 , 0 ; Cod. Theodos. lib. iii, tit. 7, 1, 2 ; lib. ix, tit. 7, 1, 5 ; lib. xvi, tit. 8, 1, 6). These prohibitions extended to the marriage of Christians with Jews, Pa- gans, ^lohannnedans. and certain heretics, namely, those wliosc bapiisiii was not admitted as valid by the Church. The first interdiction of marriage with heretics on rec- ord is one which was made about the middle of the fourth century (Cone. Laodic. c. 10, 31 ; see also Cone, Agath. c. 67; Choked, c. 14). It does not appear that such marriages, although prohibited, were declared null and void whenever they had actually taken place: and we read of some illustrious examples of the breach of the rule, as in the case of !Monica, the mother of Augus- tine (Augustine, Confess, lib. ix, c. 9), and Clotildis, the queen of Clovis (( iregorius Turon. Hist. Franc, lib. ii, c. 28), who became instrumental in the conversion of their respective husbands to Christianity. — Kiddle, ChrUtian Antiquities, [).7lb-7-i9. Sec Divoijce; JIaki!I.v<;e.
Mixed multitude (3*1?, e'reft; Sept. ts-i/dK-rof, Vulg. promiscnum), the designation of a certain class who went with the Israelites as they journeyed from Kamcses to Succoth, the first stage of the exodus froril Egypt ( I'lxod. xii, 38). In the Targum the jdirase is vaguely rendered " many foreigners," and Jarchi ex- plains it as " a medley of outlandisli people." Abcn- Ezra goes further, and says it signifies "the Egyptians who were mixed with them, and they are the 'mixed multitude' (rilDSDX, Nimib. xi, 4) who were gathered to them." Jarchi. on the latter passage, also identifies the " mixed multitude" of Nimibers and Exodus. Dur- ing their residence in Egypt marriages were naturally contracted between the Israelites and the natives, and the son of such a marriage between an Israelitish woman and an Egyptian is especially mentioned as being stoned for blasphemy (Lev. xxiv. 11). the same law holding good for the resident or naturalized foreigner as for the nat ive Israelite (Josh, viii, 35). This hybrid race is ev-
MIZAR
389
MIZPAH
idently alluded to by Jarchi and Aben-Ezra, and is most probably that to which reference is made in Exodus. Knobel understands by the " mixed multitude" the re- mains of the Hyksos who left Egj'pt with the Hebrews. Dr. Kalisch {Comm. on Exod. xii,'dS) interprets it of the native Egyptians who were involved in the same op- pression with the Hebrews by the new dynasty, which invaded and subdued Lower Egypt ; and Kurtz {[list, of Old Gov. ii, 312, Eng. tr.), while he supposes the " mixed multitude" to have been Egyptians of the lower classes, attributes their emigration to their having "endured the same oppi'ession as the Israelites from the proud spirit of caste which prevailed in Egypt," in conse- quence of which they attached themselves to the He- brews, " and served henceforth as hewers of wood and drawers of water." That the " mixed multitude" is a general term including all those who were not of pure Israelitish blood is evident; more than this cannot be positively asserted. In Exodus and Numbers it proba- bly denotes the miscellaneous hangers-on of the He- brew camp, whether they were the issue of spurious marriages with Egyptians, or were themselves Egyp- tians or belonging to other nations. The same hap- pened on the return from Babylon, and in Neh. xiii, 3 a slight clew is given by which the meaning of the "mixed multitude" may be more definitely ascertained. Upon reading in the law " that the Ammonite and the Moab- ite should not come into the congregation of God for- ever," it is said " they separated from Israel all the mixed multitiuk." The remainder of the chapter relates the expulsion of Tobiah the Ammonite from the Tem- ple, of the merchants and men of Tyre from the city, and of the foreign wives of Ashdod, of Amnion, and of Moab, with whom the Jews had intermarried. All of these were included in the " mixed multitude," and Ne- hemiah adds, "Thus cleansed I them from a\\ foreign- ers" The Targ. Jon, on Numb, xi, 4 explains the " mixed multitude" as proselytes, and this view is ap- parently adopted by Ewald, but there does not seem to be any foundation for it. — Smith, s. v. See Mingled People.
Mi'zar (Hcb. 3f{tsar', ""ri'a, smallness, i. o. a little of anything, as in Gen. xix, 20, etc. ; Sept. ^iicpocVulg. modicus, Auth. Vers, margin " little"), apparently the name of a summit on the eastern ridge of Lebanon or come contiguous chain, not far from which David lay after escaping from the rebellion of Absalom (Psa. xlii, 7). Others (with the versions above) understand it merely as an appellation, "the small mountain;" but this is a more harsh construction, and mention is made in the context of the trans-Jordanic region of Hermon, not tery far from which was iMahanaim, whither David retired (see Tholuck's Comment, ad loc, who neverthe- less renders " the little hiU"). If any particular spot is intended, it must doubtless be sought in some eminence of the southern part of this general range, perhaps in the present Jebel Ajltin, which may have properly been so styled (i. q. " the little") in contrast with the greater elevation of Lebanon, Hermon, and Gilead.