MEAHAH

In the case of a typical dish of meat and vegetables, prepared as described above, those partaking of the meal helped themselves with the fingers of the right hand (Pr 19=<=26" EV, Mt 26^), — knives and forks being, of course, unknown at table, — while the more liquid parts were secured, as at the present day, by using pieces of thin wafer-Uke bread as improvised spoons, or simply by dipping a morsel of bread, the sop of Jn IS^i, into the dish. It was customary, as this passage shows, for the head of the family to hand pieces of food to various members; these are the portions of 1 S 1*.

6. In the event of a Jew of some position resolving to entertain his friends at dinner, it was usual to send the invitations by his servants (Mt 22'), and later to send them again with a reminder on the appointed day (v.', Lk 14"). Arrived at his host's residence, the guest is received with a kiss (Lk 7«), his feet are washed (v."), and his head is anointed with perfumed oil (v.''; cf. Ps 235). He himself is dressed in white gala costume (Ec 9»; see Dhess, § 7), for to come to such a feast in one's everyday garments would be an insult to one's host (cf. Mt 22»'). After the 'chief places' (Mt 23= EV; AV 'uppermost rooms') on the various couches had been assigned to the principal guests, the hands duly washed, and the blessing said, the meal began. This would consist of several courses, beginning with light appetizing dishes, such as salted fish, pickled olives, etc. During the course of the dinner those whom the host wished to single out for special distinc-tion would receive, as a mark of favour, some dainty portion, such as Samuel had reserved for Saul (1 S 9^). These were the messes sent by' Joseph to his brethren (Gn 43=*, — ^for a list of the parts of an animal in order of merit, so to say, used for this purpose at a fellahin banquet to-day, see PEFSt, 1905, 123).

At the close of the dinner the hands were again washed, the attendants bringing round the wherewithal, and tables with all sorts of fruit were brought in, over which a second blessing was said. Although wine was served in the first part of the banquet as well, it was at this second stage that the 'fruit of the vine' was chiefly enjoyed. The wine-cups were filled from the large mixing bowls (Jer 35') in which the wine had been diluted with water and perfumed with aromatic herbs. It was usual, also, to appoint a 'ruler o£ the feast' (Jn 2' EV; cf. Sir 32') to regulate the manner and the quantity of the drinking, and to enforce penalties in the case of any breach of etiquette. 'Music and dancing' (Lk 15^5) and other forms of entertainment, such as the guessing of riddles (Jg 14'2b-), were features of this part of the banquet. For instruction in the 'minor morals' of the dinner-table, Jesus ben-Sira has provided the classical passages. Sir SI'''-" 32'-'^ expanding the wise counsel of the canonical author of Pr 23"-.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

MEARAH. — Mentioned amongst the districts of Palestine that had yet to be possessed (Jos 13*). The text is doubtful.

MEASURES. — See Weights and Measxjues.

MEASURING LINE, MEASURING REED.— See Arts and Crafts, §§ 1. 3.

MEAT. — This word is used in AV for food in general, as it is in Scotland still. Thus 2 Es 12*' 'I had my meat of the herbs'; cf. Hall, Works i. 806, 'There was never any meat, except the forbidden fruit, so deare bought as this broth of Jacob.'

MEAT-OFFERING.— See Sacrifice, § 11.

MEBUNNAI. — The name in 2 S 23" of one of David's thirty heroes. It is a scribal error for Sibbecai, the form which has been preserved in the parallel lists, 1 Ch ll'" 27", and also 2 S 21'8-1 Ch 20*.

MECHERATHITE.-l Ch llM.prob. for 'Maachathite.'

MECONAH.— See Mekonah.

MEDABA (1 Mac 9») =Medeba (wh. see).

MEDES, MEDIA

MEDAD. — See Eldad.

MEDAN. — One of the sons of Abraham and Keturah (Gn 252 = 1 Ch 1^). The existence of such a tribe, however, is very doubtful. In Gn 373« 'Medanites' is miswritten for Midianites (see EVm), and there is every Ukelihood that in the former passage ' Medan ' is a doublet of ' Midian, ' the next word in the verse. Medan is unknown elsewhere in the Bible, nor is it represented by the name of any people in any extra-Biblical docu-ment. To connect it with the name of an Arabian god Madan, or with the similar name of a wady in N.W. Arabia, is very hazardous, both because the associations are remote, and because the word-form is common in Semitic, and is Uable to occur in various relations.

J. F. M' Curdy.

MEDEBA (Nu 213», Jos IS'- is, 1 Ch 19', Is 15^).— A town in the Mishor, or ' plain ' E. of Jordan, an hour and a half S. of Heshbon on the Eoman road from Heshbon to Kerak. It was taken from Moab by Sihon and then conquered by Israel (Nu 212*-»') and assigned to Eeuben (Jos 13'-" [v.9 'all the tableland — Medeba to Dibon'; V." 'all the tableland to Medeba']). The Syrians who came to assist Ammon (1 Ch IQ^-") pitched at Medeba, which was apparently then Ammonite. Later, Moab regained Medeba, for Omri, according to the Moabite Stone, 1. 8, took Mehedeba, and Israel held it forty years, till Mesha recovered it and rebuilt the cities held by Omri and Ahab. Joram and Jehoshaphat made an unsuccessful attempt to retake these cities (2 K 3), but Jeroboam ii. drove out the Moabites. Moab again held Medeba(Is 152, and probably also Jer 482; but see Madmen). In Maccabsean times it was the stronghold of a robber clan, Jambri, which killed John, eldest son of Mattathias. Jonathan avenged this (1 Mac 9»-«; Jos. Ant. xiii. i. 2, 4). John Hyrcanus besieged Medeba (Jos. Ant. xiii. ix. 1). Alexander Jannsus took it from the Arabians, and Hyr-canus II. promised to restore it to Aretas (ib. xiii. xv. 4, XIV. i. 4). During the Byzantine period Medeba was a flourishing Christian centre, the seat of a bishopric, and represented at the Council of Chalcedon. In 1880 a colony of Christians from Kerak settled there. Many ancient remains have come to light, — a large pool with solid walls, remains of gates, towers, four churches, some fine mosaics, especially a deeply interesting and important mosaic map of Christian Palestine and Egypt.

C. H. W. Johns.

MEDES, MEDIA. — A people and country called by the same word, Madai — in Hebrew and Assyrian. The Medes were the first of the Iranian immigrants to form a settled government on the borders of the old Semitic realm. As early as the 9th cent. B.C. they began to occupy the mountainous country south and south-east of the Caspian Sea, and by the middle of the 7th cent, their territory extended southward to the borders of Elam. Their chief city was Ecbatana, the Achmetha of Ezr 62 and the modern Hamaddn. The Assyrians opposed them, and finally subdued them under Tiglath-pileser iii. and Sargon, and the latter deported (b.c. 721) some of them as captives to Samaria (2 K 17' 18"). In the later years of the Assyrian empire they regained their independence, and under their king, Cyaxares, who had formed an alliance with the rising Chaldiean power, they destroyed the city of Nineveh (B.C. 607), and therewith the Assyrian dominion itself. By agreement with the Chaldseans, who restricted themselves to the lowlands, they speedily occupied the northern highlands as far as Cappadocia. Mean-while the southern immigration from eastern Iran had settled to the east of the Persian Gulf and founded the Persian community. The southern portion of Elam soon fell to them, but they became vassals of their Mediankindred. Under Cyrus the Great, Astyages, king of the Medes, yielded his throne to the Persians (B.C. 550), who henceforth held the hegemony of the Iranian race.

596