MIZPAR
390
MOAB
Bd, vi, 4, 4; X, 9, 2, 4, 5), once identifying it with Ra- niab (Mua(pd, viii, 13, 4). From the account in 1 Sam. vii, 5-lG, it appears to have been near Gibeah, anil it could not have been far from liamah, since king Asa fortified it wiih materials taken from that place; and that it was situated on an elevated spot is clear from its name. Uu these grounds Dr. IJobinson {Resetux/ies, ii, 144) inclines to regard the modern village of Xebi/ iSum- u-il (" the prophet Samuel") as the probable site of Miz- pah, especially as in 1 Mace, iii, 4G it is described as "over against Jerusalem," implying that it was visible from that cit;y. This place is now a poor village, seal- ed upon the summit of a ridge, about GOO feet above the plain of Gibeou, being the most conspicuous object in all the vicinity. It contains a mosque, now in a state of decay, which, on the ground of the apparently erro- neous identification with Eamah, is regarded by Jews, Christians, and Moslems as tlie tomb of Samuel (see Schwarz, Palest, p. 127). Tlie mosque was once a Latin church, built in the form of a cross, upon older founda- tions, and probably of the time of the Crusaders. There are many traces of former dwellings. The modern hamlet clusters at the eastern side of the mosque. The houses, about twelve in number, are either ancient or composed of ancient materials. Their walls are in places formed of the living rock hewn into shape, and some of the little courts are excavated to the depth of sev- eral feet. There is thus an air of departed greatness and high anti(|uity about the place, which, added to its c'ommaiuiiiig situatioH, gives it an inexpressible charm (I'orter, J/ninl-boo/:, p. 216; comp. Tobler, Z/cti Biichcr TitpiKjraphle von Jerusalem u. seine V iiniiJiiiiiqi ii \ I'lcrl. l«53,'l8o4 I, ii, 874 sq.). Mr. Williams (in Smii ir> Dh-t. of Greek and Roman Geoff, s.v.) douhts ibis liualion, urging that Jer. xli, 5, 6 appears to require a jjosition more directly on the great route from Jerusalem to Sa- maria; but Neby Samwil is exactly on the route by which Johanan overtook the murderer of Gedaliah (Jer. xli, 12 ; comp.'2 Sam. ii, 13). He suggests the modern village Shaphat, lying upon the ridge anciently called Scopus, as more likely to have been Mizpah ; and Stan- ley {Sinai and Palestine, p. 222) argues for a similar identity on the ground of the common signification of these latter (i. q. look-out). This last place, however, is described by Josephus (.•^H^xi, 8, 5) in very different terms from Mizpah {ut sup.), and Jerusalem is not visi- ble from Shaphat (for which Dr. Honar likewise con- tends. Laud of Promise, Ai)pond. viii). See Uamah.
5. A town in tlie (ilairis of Judah (Josh, xv, 38). Eusebius and Jerome identify it with a i)lace which in their time bore the name of Maspha {Onomast. s. v. M«(T(ji«), on the borders of Eleutheropolis, northward, on the road to Jerusalem; perhaps the present Tell es-Sa- Jieh (Schwarz, Palest, p. 103), the Alba Speruhi of the Crusaders (Robinson, Researches, ii, 3G2-3G7), which was probably the (iATii ((j. v.) of later Biblical times.
6. A town of ;Moab to which David took his parents, lest tlicy might be involved in Saul's persecution of himself (1 Sam. xxii, 3). His placing them there un- der the protection of the Moabitish king implies that it was the chief city, or royal residence of the Moabites; and under that view we may, perhaps, identify it as an appellative (i. q. the acropolis or stronghold of JMoab) with KiK-MoAiJ ((J. v.) or Kerak.
Miz'par (Ileb. .Mispar', "iSpri, number, as often; Sept. i\I«aiiirto), one of tlie leading Israelites who ac- companied Zerubbal)ol on the return from Baliylon (Kzra ii, 2), in the parallel i)assage (^Xeh. vii. 7) called by the (Mpiivalent name JIi.sim:hi:tii. l$.t!. .03C.
Miz'peh. SecMizrAii; ltAMATn-;Mi/,i'Kii.
Miz'raim (Heb. Mitsra'ijim, C^^^^s, if of Heb. origin, moaning two mounds or fortresses [see Mazou] ; but the word is, perhaps, of foreign [Egyptian or even Arabic] derivation; Sept. yXttrfmiv; but usually in all \ the versions, "l^gypt" or '• Kgyptiaus"). the name by which the Hebrews generally designated Egypt, ai)i)ar-
ently from its having been peopled bj' Mizraim, the second son of Ham (Gen. x, G, 13). B.C. post 2513, See also AiiEL-MizKAiM. The name is in the dual form, double Kffijpt, and seems to have originally, among the Hebrews at least, denoted lower and vpper Kijtjpt by zeugma, as we now say the two Sicilies, for Sicily and Naples (Gen. xlv, 20 ; xlvi, 34 ; xlvii, 6, 13). Tliis ori- gin appears to have been afterwards left out of view, and the dual form is sometimes so employed as not to include Pathros or Upper Egypt (Isa. xi, 11 ; Jer. xliv, 15). Some writers ineptly refer the dual form of ^liz- raim to the two parts of Egypt as divided by the Xile. Lower Egypt appears to have been designated by the name Mazor (2 Kings xix, 24; Isa. xxxvii, 25). The ancient Hebrew name Mizraim is still preserved in the abbreviated form Muzr, the existing iVrabic name of Egypt. See Egypt.
Miz'zah (Heb. Mizzah', Tl^"^, despair; Sept. Mo^f, in Chron. Mo^i), the last named of the four sons of Keuel, the son of Esau by Bashemath (Gen. xxxvi, 13; 1 Chron. i, 37), and a petty chieftain of the Edomites (Gen. xxxvi, 17). B.C. considerably post 1927. The settlements of his descendants are believed by ^Ir. For- ster (IJisl.Geoff.o/ Arab.n, 55) to be indicated in the fifaavirtji; koXttoc, or Yhrai-Misan, at the head of the Persian Gulf.