oppression, a small Syrian kingdom near Geshur, east of the Hauran, the district of Batanea (Josh. 13:13; 2 Sam. 10:6,8; 1 Chr. 19:7). (2.) A daughter of Talmai, king of the old native population of ...
Maaleh-acrabbim:
ascent of the scorpions; i.e., “scorpion-hill“, a pass on the south-eastern border of Palestine (Num. 34:4; Josh. 15:3). It is identified with the pass of Sufah, entering Palestine from the great ...
Maarath:
desolation, a place in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:59), probably the modern village Beit Ummar, 6 miles north of Hebron.
Maaseiah:
the work of Jehovah. (1.) One of the Levites whom David appointed as porter for the ark (1 Chr. 15:18, 20). (2.) One of the “captains of hundreds“ associated with Jehoiada in restoring king Jehoa ...
Maasiai:
work of Jehovah, one of the priests resident at Jerusalem at the Captivity (1 Chr. 9:12).
Maath:
small, a person named in our Lord's ancestry (Luke 3:26).
Maaziah:
strength or consolation of Jehovah. (1.) The head of the twenty-fourth priestly course (1 Chr. 24:18) in David's reign. (2.) A priest (Neh. 10:8).
Maccabees:
This word does not occur in Scripture. It was the name given to the leaders of the national party among the Jews who suffered in the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded to the Syrian ...
Maccabees, Books of the:
There were originally five books of the Maccabees. The first contains a history of the war of independence, commencing (B.C. 175) in a series of patriotic struggles against the tyranny of Antiochus E ...
Macedonia:
in New Testament times, was a Roman province lying north of Greece. It was governed by a propraetor with the title of proconsul. Paul was summoned by the vision of the “man of Macedonia“ to preac ...
Machaerus:
the Black Fortress, was built by Herod the Great in the gorge of Callirhoe, one of the wadies 9 miles east of the Dead Sea, as a frontier rampart against Arab marauders. John the Baptist was probably ...
Machbanai:
clad with a mantle, or bond of the Lord, one of the Gadite heroes who joined David in the wilderness (1 Chr. 12:13).
Machir:
sold. (1.) Manasseh's oldest son (Josh. 17:1), or probably his only son (see 1 Chr. 7:14, 15; comp. Num. 26:29-33; Josh. 13:31). His descendants are referred to under the name of Machirites, being th ...
Machpelah:
portion; double cave, the cave which Abraham bought, together with the field in which it stood, from Ephron the Hittite, for a family burying-place (Gen. 23). It is one of those Bible localities abou ...
Madai:
middle land, the third “son“ of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), the name by which the Medes are known on the Assyrian monuments.
Madmannah:
dunghill, the modern el-Minyay, 15 miles south-south-west of Gaza (Josh. 15:31; 1 Chr. 2:49), in the south of Judah. The Pal. Mem., however, suggest Umm Deimneh, 12 miles north-east of Beersheba, as ...
Madmen:
ibid., a Moabite town threatened with the sword of the Babylonians (Jer. 48:2).
Madmenah:
ibid., a town in Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem, towards the north (Isa. 10:31). The same Hebrew word occurs in Isa. 25:10, where it is rendered “dunghill.“ This verse has, however, been interp ...
Madness:
This word is used in its proper sense in Deut. 28:34, John 10:20, 1 Cor. 14:23. It also denotes a reckless state of mind arising from various causes, as over-study (Eccl. 1:17; 2:12), blind rage (Luk ...
Madon:
strife, a Canaanitish city in the north of Palestine (Josh. 11:1; 12:19), whose king was slain by Joshua; perhaps the ruin Madin, near Hattin, some 5 miles west of Tiberias.
Magdala:
a tower, a town in Galilee, mentioned only in Matt. 15:39. In the parallel passage in Mark 8:10 this place is called Dalmanutha. It was the birthplace of Mary called the Magdalen, or Mary Magdalene. ...
Magdalene:
a surname derived from Magdala, the place of her nativity, given to one of the Marys of the Gospels to distinguish her from the other Marys (Matt. 27:56, 61; 28:1, etc.). A mistaken notion has prevai ...
Magic:
The Jews seem early to have consulted the teraphim (q.v.) for oracular answers (Judg. 18:5, 6; Zech. 10:2). There is a remarkable illustration of this divining by teraphim in Ezek. 21:19-22. We read ...
Magicians:
Heb. hartumim, (dan. 1:20) were sacred scribes who acted as interpreters of omens, or “revealers of secret things.“
Magistrate:
a public civil officer invested with authority. The Hebrew shophetim, or judges, were magistrates having authority in the land (Deut. 1:16, 17). In Judg. 18:7 the word “magistrate“ (A.V.) is rend ...
Magog:
region of Gog, the second of the “sons“ of Japheth (Gen. 10:2; 1 Chr. 1:5). In Ezekiel (38:2; 39:6) it is the name of a nation, probably some Scythian or Tartar tribe descended from Japheth. They ...
Magor-missabib:
fear on every side, (Jer. 20:3), a symbolical name given to the priest Pashur, expressive of the fate announced by the prophet as about to come upon him. Pashur was to be carried to Babylon, and ther ...
Mahalaleel:
praise of God. (1.) The son of Cainan, of the line of Seth (Gen. 5:12-17); called Maleleel (Luke 3:37). (2.) Neh. 11:4, a descendant of Perez.
Mahalath:
a lute; lyre. (1.) The daughter of Ishmael, and third wife of Esau (Gen. 28:9); called also Bashemath (Gen. 36:3). (2.) The daughter of Jerimoth, who was one of David's sons. She was one of Rehoboam' ...
Mahalath Leannoth Maschil:
This word leannoth seems to point to some kind of instrument unknown (Ps. 88, title). The whole phrase has by others been rendered, “On the sickness of affliction: a lesson;“ or, “Concerning af ...
Mahalath Maschil:
in the title of Ps. 53, denoting that this was a didactic psalm, to be sung to the accompaniment of the lute or guitar. Others regard this word “mahalath“ as the name simply of an old air to whic ...
Mahanaim:
two camps, a place near the Jabbok, beyond Jordan, where Jacob was met by the “angels of God,“ and where he divided his retinue into “two hosts“ on his return from Padan-aram (Gen. 32:2). Thi ...
Mahaneh-dan:
Judg. 18:12 = “camp of Dan“ 13:25 (R.V., “Mahaneh-dan“), a place behind (i.e., west of) Kirjath-jearim, where the six hundred Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol encamped on their way to capture t ...
Mahath:
grasping. (1.) A Kohathite Levite, father of Elkanah (1 Chr. 6:35). (2.) Another Kohathite Levite, of the time of Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29:12).
Mahazioth:
visions, a Kohathite Levite, chief of the twenty-third course of musicians (1 Chr. 25:4, 30).
Maher-shalal-hash-baz:
plunder speedeth; spoil hasteth, (Isa. 8:1-3; comp. Zeph. 1:14), a name Isaiah was commanded first to write in large characters on a tablet, and afterwards to give as a symbolical name to a son that ...
Mahlah:
disease, one of the five daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27:1-11) who had their father's inheritance, the law of inheritance having been altered in their favour.
Mahlon:
sickly, the elder of Elimelech the Bethlehemite's two sons by Naomi. He married Ruth and died childless (Ruth 1:2, 5; 4:9, 10), in the land of Moab.
Mahol:
dance, the father of four sons (1 Kings 4:31) who were inferior in wisdom only to Solomon.
Mail, Coat of:
“a corselet of scales,“ a cuirass formed of pieces of metal overlapping each other, like fish-scales (1 Sam. 17:5); also (38) a corselet or garment thus encased.