MEGIDDO

contenmed and oppressed (cf. Ps lO^- »-i»). Thus 'rich' and 'wicked' came to be synonymous (Is 53'); and corresponding to these there was a group of terms: •meek,' 'humble' (or 'lowly'), 'poor,' 'needy.' In our Lord's time these terms denoted the godly remnant in Israel, those who, despised by the rulers, lived devout lives in obscure corners, nourishing their faith on the Scriptures, and 'waiting for the consolation of Israel' (Lk 2'»- ^'), the blessed Advent of the Messiah. And, just as the Psalmists and Prophets had sympathized with the Lord's hidden ones and promised them deliverance (Ps 9'2- " lO'2-'8 37" [cf. Mt 5'] 722- S Is 11<), so Jesus was their champion. He called them 'blessed' (Mt S'-'i'), and He took His place by their side. Himself 'meek and lowly' (Mt 11™), the homeless Son of Man, despised and rejected of men. He shared their humility that they might share His glory. David Smith.

MEGIDDO (in Zee 12" Megiddon). — One of the most important of the fortress cities of ancient Canaan. It was captured by Thothmes iii in the 23rd year of his reign, the spoils being magnificent; and it is mentioned several times in the Tell el-Amarna corre-spondence. Though nominally belonging to Manasseh (Jos 1712- IS, Jg 12'- 28), the Canaanites remained in possession. Near the 'waters of Megiddo' the Canaanites under Sisera were defeated by Barak and Deborah (Jg S's-^O. Solomon restored its fortifica-tions (1 K 9"). Here king Ahaziah (2 K 9") died; and the good king Josiah, interfering In a quarrel between Pharaoh-necho and the king of Assyria, and opposing the former's progress in the dangerous passage of Megiddo, was also slain (2 K 23"- ™, 2 Ch SS^^), to the grief of all Israel (Zee 12"). Finally, it was at Armageddon (RV Har-Magedon, ' the mountains of Megiddo') that the mysterious conflict of Rev 16i» was to take place.

The site of Megiddo may now be considered as proved to be Tell el-Mutesellim ('Hill of the Governor'), a great mound about 4 miles N.W. of Tell Ta'annak (Taanach; cf. Jos 12» 17", Jg S" etc.). The importance of the site can be seen at a glance, for it guards the great pass from the Plain of Sharon to that of Esdraelon, which in aU history, from Thothmes iii. to Napoleon i., has been a route of armies. The hill has recently been excavated by the German Palestine Society, and forti-fications going back bef ore b.c. 2000 have been uncovered, as well as the most extensive remains of successive cities which have occupied this site for many centuries. Here was found the seal of Shama', 'the servant of Jeroboam' — probably Jeroboam ii. To the south of the tell is an abundant stream, and in Roman times a fortified post — the Legio of Eusebius, the modem eU Lejjun — was estabUshed there. The stream may have been the 'waters of Megiddo' of Jg 5" etc.; it is one of the most important of the tributaries of the Kishon. E. W. G. Masterman.

MEGILLOTH.— See Canon of OT, § 8.

MEHETABEL. — 1. The grandfather of Shemaiah (Neh 6'»). 2. The wife of Hadar or Hadad, king of Edom (Gn 363», 1 Ch l*").

MEHIDA. — The eponymof a family of Nethinimwho returned with Zerub. (Ezr 2'2=Neh 7"), called in 1 Es S32 Meedda.

MEHIR.— A Judahite (1 Ch 4").

MEHOLATHITE (1 S IS", 2 S 218).— Probably an inhabitant of Abel-mebolah (wh. see).

MEHUJAEL. — A Cainite (Gn 4'8) (j), corresponding to Mahalalel of P's genealogy (Gn 6'™).

MEHUHAN . — One of the seven eunuchs in attendance upon king Ahasuerus (Est l").

ME-JABKON (Jos 19").— The Heb. text seems to be in disorder. The LXX reading, 'and from the sea, Jarkon and the boundary near Joppa,' sufhciently

602

MELCHIZEDEK

attests the name Jarkon, a place in the territory of Dan; but the site is not yet recovered. W. Ewing.

mEKONAH (AV; RV needlessly changes toMeconah), — A town inhabited after the Captivity (Neh ll^s). The site has not been identified.

MELATIAH.— A Gibeonite (Neh 30.

MELCHI. — 1. 2. Two ancestors of Jesus (Lk 3M- 28).

MELCHIAS.— 1. 1 Es 9M =Malchijah, Ezr 102«. 2. 1 Es 982 =Malchijah, Ezr IQsi. 3. 1 Es 9" = Malchijah, Neh 8K

MELCHIEL.— The father of Charmis (Jth 6'5).

MELCHIZEDEK. — Described as king of Salem and priest of God Most High ('Bl 'Elyon), who met Abraham on his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and his allies, refreshed him and his servants with bread and wine, blessed him, and received from him a tenth of the spoil he had taken (Gn I418-20). Salem has been variously identified: (1) with the Shalem of Gn 33'« (AV and RVm), a place a little to the E. of Mt. Gerizim and not far from Shechem; (2) with the Salim of Jn 3^ in the Jordan Valley S. of Scythopolis; and (3) with Jerusalem, which is called Salem in Ps 76^. The last identification is much the most probable; for though it is implied in Jos 158- 83^ Jg 1910 that Jerusalem was called Jebus so long as it was inhabited by the Jebusites (i.e. up to the time of David), the name Jerusalem really goes back to the 14th cent. B.C., since it appears in the Tell el-Amarna tablets as UrU'Salim. This view has the sup-port of Josephus (Ant. i. x. 2), and further obtains some sUght confirmation from the resemblance of the name cf Melchizedek to that of Adonizedek, who was king of Jerusalem in the time of Joshua (Jos 108), the element zedek in each name being probably that of a Canaanite deity.

The historical character of the narrative in -which Mel-chizedek is mentioned has been questioned on the ground of certain improbabilities which it contains; but though the events related have received no corroboration from other sources, the names of two of the kings who fought against Abraham, viz . Amraphel and Arioch, have with some

tlausibility been identified with those of Hammurabi and Iriaku, contemporary kings of Babylon and Larsa about B.C. 2200; so that, if the identiiication is correct, it confirms the setting of the story, though not its incidente. For the name and personality of Melchizedek no independent con-firmatory evidence has yet been obtained.

In Ps 110*, to the ideal king of Jewish hopes, the Messiah, there is promised an endless priesthood ' after the order of Melchizedek.' This ascription of priestly functions to a sovereign who was expected to be of the house of David and the tribe of Judah is evidently meant as an exceptional distinction, and implies that the writer lived at a time when priests in Israel were taken exclusively from the tribe of Levi, as was the case after the promulgation of the Deuteronomic law (probably in the 7th cent.). At an earlier date persons belonging to other tribes than that of Levi were some-times priests: David's sons (2 S S's); and Ira the Jairite (2028), -sfho belonged to Manasseh (Nu 32"); but the author of Ps 1 10, in seeking a type tor the combination in the same person of both the regal and priestly offices, had to go outside the limits of Israel, and found what he wanted in the priest-king of Salem, who was all the more adapted for the purpose by reason of the deference paid to him by so illustrious a personage as Abraham.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, identifying Jesus with the Messiah, and asserting His high priesthood, cites the words of Ps 110, and declares that He was 'named of God a high priest after the order of Melchiz-edek' (He 6'8). He then proceeds to show the superi-ority of Christ's priesthood over that of the Jewish priests, the descendants of Aaron, and seeks to illustrate it by the superiority of Melchizedek over Abraham, as he gathers it from Gn 14. He explains Melchizedek'a name to mean 'king of righteousness,' and his title of 'king of Salem' to mean 'king of peace'; and then.