Miz'pah (Heb. Mitspah', T^^'S.-q, Gen. xxxvi, 49; Josh.xi,3; Judg.x,17; xi, 11,34; xx, 1,5.8; 1 Sam. vii,r., 11,12,16; X, 17; 1 Kings xv, 22 ; 2 Kings xxv, 23, 25 : 2 Chron. xvi, 6 ; Neh. iii, 7, 15, 19 ; Jer. xl, G-15; xli, 1, 3, 6, 10, 14, 10 ; Hos. v, 1 ; always [except in Hos. V, 1] with the art. JlSri^Stl ; Sept. Uaaar\(pa,\u\g.Mas- pha; but in Gen. xxxi, 49, Sept. opafffc, Vulg. omits; 1 Sam. vii, 5-13; Vulg. Masphath ; 1 Kings xv, 22, Sept. (TKOTTid; 2 Chron. xvi, G, Mao(pd; Neh. iii, 19, Mao-^s V. r. Ma<T0rti'; Hos. v, 1, aKOTrid, speculatio), or Miz'- peh (Heb. Ifitsjyek', nsri^, Josh, xi, 8; Judg. xi, 20; 1 Sara, vi, 5, 6, 7 ; xxii, 3 ; with the art. Josh, xv, 38 ; xviii, 26 ; 2 Chron. xx, 24 ; Sept. Mao-<T;;0(t, but (TKoirid in Judg. xi, 29; ^laaaijtpd^m 1 Sara.xxii,3; Yulg. J/os- pha, but Maspfie in Josh, xi, 8; 3tesphe in Josh, xviii, 26), the name of several places (in the Auth. Vers. "Miz-
pah" in Gen. xxxi, 49 ; 1 Kings xv, 22 ; 2 Kings xxv, 23, 25 ; 2 Chron. xvi, 6 ; Neh. iii, 7, 15, 19 ; Jet.^xl, xli ; Hos. V, 1-; elsewhere "Mizpeh"), signifying properly a beacon or tvatch-tower (as in Isa. xxi, 8) ; hence also a loft)/ jilcice, whence one can see far and wide over the countrv, whether furnished with a castle or not (as in 2 Chron. xx, 24).
1. A place in Gilead, so named (in addition to its other names, Galeed and Jegar-sahadutha, both sig- ■ nifying the "heap of witness") in commemoration of the compact formed by Jacob with Laban, who overtook him at this spot on his return to Palestine (Gen. xxxi, 49, where the word ilZS^il has apparently fallen out of the text by reason of its similarity to the name itself, so that we should read " and he called the obelisk JNIiz- pah" [see Gesenius, T/ies. p. 1179]. It would seem that the whole of verse 49 is the language of Jacob, for it contains a play upon the Heb. [Cll?7, yitsepli] basis of the name Mizpeh, and also appeals to Jehovah; where- as Laban spoke Aramfean, and his language is resumed with vcr. 50). This cannot be the Mizpeh of Gilead (see below), for it lay north of Mahanaim, on Jacob's route, which was southward towards the Jabbok (xxxii, 2, 22). We are therefore to look for it in some of the eminences of that vicinity. It probably never became an inhab- ited locality.
2. Another place east of Jordan, called Mizpaii of Gilead (Auth, Vers. "Mizpeh"), where Jephthah as- sumed his victorious command of the assembled Israel- ites (Judg. X, 17; xi, 11), and where he resided (Judg. xi, 34), is probably the same with the Kamath-Miz- PEH of Gad (Josh, xiii, 26), and may be identified with Ramath-Gilead (q. v.). Eusebius names it as a Le- vitical city in the tribe of Gad {Onomast. s. v. Mrtcr^fi).
3. Another place in Gilead, apparently a district in- habited by a branch of the Hivites, at the foot of Mount Hermon (Josh, xi, 3), and so named from a valley east of Misrephoth-main and opposite Zidon (Josh, xi, 8) ; possibly the tract immediately west of Jebel Heish (see Keil, Comment, ad loc). The idolatries practiced in this vicinit}' are alluded to in Hos. v, 1 (see Schwarz, Palest, p. 60). Pressel (in Herzog's Real-Enq/Hop. s. v.), ingeniously conjecturing that Mizpak (the fem. Heb. form of the name) is properly the country in general, and Mizpeh (the masc.) an individual place or town, understands in this case the land to be the entire plain of Paneas or G-esarea Pliilippi, now called the Ard el- Huleh, and the vullei/ to be that of the eastern source of the Jordan from Jebel Heish. Not much different is the view of Knobel and others in their commentaries, tliinking of the country from Hasbeiya southward, and westward from Tell el-Kady, the ancient Dan, They refer in confirmation of their views to Eobinson's ac- count {Researches, iii, 373) of a Druse village, built on a hill which rises 200 feet above the level of the plain, and commands a noble view of the great basin of the Hiileh; it bears the name of Mululleh or Metelleh, an Arabic word of the same meaning as Mizpah, and em- ployed to render it in Gen. xxxi, 49 by Saadias. Comp, Seetzen, Reisen durch Si/rien (Berl. 1857-59), i, 393 sq.; Ritter, Die Sinai- Halbinsel, Faldstina u. Syrien (Berl. 1850-51), vol. ii, pt. i, p. 1121 sq,
4. A city of Benjamin (Josh, xviii, 26), where the people were wont to convene on national emergencies (Judg, XX, 1, 3; xxi, 1, 5, 8: 1 Sam. vii, 5-16; x, 17 sq.). It was afterwards fortified by Asa, to protect the borders against the kingdom of Israel (1 Kings xv, 22 ; 2 Chron. xvi, 6). In later times it became the resi- dence of the governor under the Chakteans (2 Kings xxv, 23, 25; Jer. xl, 6 sq. ; xli, 1), and was inhabited after the captivity (Neh. iii, 7, 15, 19). In the Jewish traditions it was for some time the residence of the ark (see Jerome, Qu. Hebr. on 1 Sam. vii, 2 ; Reland, Antiq. i, vi) ; but this is possibly an inference from the ex- pression "before Jehovah" in Judg. xx, 1. Josephus frequently mentions it (Mao-^a-?/, Ant. vi, 2, 1 ; Maa(pa-