MACRON

,to the west of the modern city, on the W. hill, and that It has subsequently extended into the valley and climbed the opposite declivity.

Above the supposed site of the cave there is now a rectangular enclosure called the Haram, measuring 181 ft. by 93 ft. internally (the longer axis running from N.W. to S.E.), and surrounded by massive walls 40 ft. high, which are conjectured to date from the time of Herod the Great, though some authorities incline to assign them to a still earUer period. At the S.E. end of the quadrangle is a mosque, once a Christian church, 70 ft. by 93 ft., parts of which are attributed to the 12th century. Within the mosque are cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebekah; in a porch on the N.W. side are those of Abraham and Sarah; whilst at the opposite end of the enclosure are those of Jacob and Leah. The Haram has been but rarely entered by Christians in modern times. King Edward vn. was admitted to it, when Prince of Wales, in 1862; and the present Prince of Wales, with his brother, visited it in 1882. The cave, which is reputed to be the real resting-place of the patriarchs and their wives, is below the floor of the mosque, and is thought to be double, in accordance with a tradition which perhaps is derived from the LXX rendering of Machpelah as 'the double cave.' The entrances to it, of which there are said to be three, are in the flagged flooring of the building., It is doubtful whether any Christian has been allowed to enter it in modern times.

G. W. Wade.

MACRON.— Surname of Ptolemy (1 Mac 3^', 2 Mac 4«), who was governor of Cyprus (2 Mac lO'*') and subsequently of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia (2 Mao 8*).

MADAI (Gn 10^=1 Ch V).— See Medes.

MADMAIOIAH.— A town in the Negeb of Judah (Jos IS"), named with Hormah and Ziklag. Its place is taken in Jos 19' etc., by Beth-marcaboth. No satisfactory identification has been suggested. Conder mentions Umm Demineh N. of Beersheba, but does not think it suitable. W. Ewing.

MADMEN.— A place in Moab, which, if the MT be correct, has not been identified. The name occurs only in Jer 48 [Gr. 31P, where there is a characteristic word-play: gam Madmin tiddSml, 'also, O Madmen, thou Shalt be brought to silence' (LXX kai pausin pausetai). It is a very natural suggestion that the initial m of Madmen has arisen by dittography from the final m of the preceding word, and that for Madmen we should read Dimon (cf. Is 15'), i.e. Dibon (cf. Jer 48"). Cf. art. Medeba.

MADMENAH. — A place apparently north of Jeru-salem, named only in the ideal description of the Assyrian invasion. Is 10". The name has not been recovered.

MADON, — A royal city of the Canaanites in the north (Jos 11' 12"). Khirbet Madin near Hattin might suit. If, however, Macion be a scribal error for Maron, then MeirBn, at the foot of Jebd Jermuk, may be the place intended. W. Ewinq.

MAELUS (1 Es 9") =Mijamin, Ezr 10».

MAGADAN.— See Dalmanutha.

MAGBISH. — An unknown town, presumably in Benjamin, whose 'children' to the number of 156 are said to have returned from the Exile (Ezr 2'") ; omitted in the parallel passage Neh 7'', perhaps identical with Magpiash of Neh 10'°.

MAGDALA, MAGDALENE.— See Mabt, No. 3.

MAGDIEL.— A 'duke' of Edom (Gn 36" = 1 Ch !")•

MAGI. — The plural of magus, which occurs in Ac 13' (tr. 'sorcerer' — see RVm). Used aa a plural word it denotes the ' wise men ' of Mt 2 (see the RVm note at V.'). The subject of this article is twofold — (1) the elucidation of that narrative, and of one or two other

MAGI

Biblical references to the Magi; (2) the brief delineation of the reUgion connected with the Magi, in its relation to the religious history of Israel. These two points need not be kept apart.

Herodotus tells us that the Magi formed one of six tribes or castes of the Medes. Since another of the six is expressly named as ' Aryan,' it seems to follow that the other five did not belong to the conquering race; and the Magi would accordingly be an aboriginal sacred caste, like the Brahmans in India. When Cambyses, the son of the great Cyrus, died, the Magi seem to have made an attempt to regain civil power, of which Cyrus and his Aryans had deprived them; and a Magian pretender Gaumata held the throne of Persia for some months, until dispossessed and slain by Darius in e.g. 622. There is reason to believe that the Magi, in the course of a generation or two, made a bid for spiritual power: they conformed to the religion of the con-querors, profoundly altering its character as they did so, and thus gained the opportunity of re-asserting their own sacred functions among their fellow-countrymen, who were predisposed to accept their re-introduction of the old beliefs under the forms of the new. We have but Uttle evidence to guide us in re-constructing this primitive Median religion. The sacred caste itself appears to be mentioned in Jer 39'- " (see Rab-maq); and a ritual observance, preserved still in Parsi worship, figures in Ezk 8", from which we gather that sun- worship, accompanied with the holding of the barsom ('bunch of fine tamarisk boughs,' as the geographer Strabo defines it) to the face, was a characteristic of Magian ritual before it was grafted on to Persian rehgion.

There are three special characteristics of Magianism proper which never obtained any real hold upon the rehgion with which the Magi subsequently identified themselves. These are (1) astrology, (2) oneiromancy, or divination by dreams, and (3) magic, which was traditionally associated with their name, but was expressly forbidden by the religion of the Persians. The first two of these features appear in the narrative of the Nativity. We have evidence that the Magi connected with the stars the fravashi or 'double' which Parsi psychology assigned to every good man — a part of his personality dwelling in heaven, sharing his development, and united with his soul at death. A brilliant new star would thus be regarded by them as the heavenly counterpart of a great man newly born. That dreams guided the Magi at one point of their adventure is expressly stated (Mt 21'); and it is fair to postulate similar direction in the initial interpretation of the star. There is, of course, nothing in this to con-vince those who have decided that the narrative of the Magi is legendary; nor is this the place to examine the difficulties that remain (see Star or the Magi). But it may at least be asserted that the story has curiously subtle points of contact with what we can re-construct of the history of Magian religion; and the invention of all this perhaps involves as many difficulties as can be recog-nized in the acceptance of the narrative as it stands.

The doctrine of the fravashi, just now referred to, may be paralleled rather closely in the Bible; and it is at least possible that the knowledge of this dogma, as prevailing in Media, may have stimulated the growth of the corresponding idea among post-exilic Jews. When in Mt 18'° Jesus declares that the angels of the little ones are in heaven nearest to the Throne, the easiest interpretation is that which recognizes these angels as a part of the personality, dwelling in heaven, but sharing the fortunes of the counterpart on earth. This gives a clear reason why the angels of the children should be perpetually in the Presence— they represent those who have not yet sinned. So again in Ac 12" Peter's 'angel' is presumably his heavenly 'double.' The conception was apparently extended to include the heavenly representatives of communities, as the 'princes' of Israel, Greece, and Persia in Du 10 and 12,

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