MELEA

arguing from the silence of the record respecting his parentage, birth, and death, describes him as ' without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God,' and affirms him to have been greater than Abraham, since he blessed him (' for without any dispute the less is blessed of the better ') and received from him (and through him from his unborn descendants the Levitical priests) a tithe of his spoils (He 7'-'°). In this passage much of the writer's argument is fanciful, the narrative in Genesis being handled after a Rabbinic fashion, and the parallel drawn between our Lord and Melchizedek being largely based on the mere omission, in the OT record, of certain particulars about the latter, which, for the historian's purpose, were obviously irrele-vant. At the same time it may perhaps be said that, as contrasted with the Levitical priests who succeeded to their priestly offices by reason of their descent, an ancient priest-king is really typical of our Lord, inas-much as it is likely that, in a primitive age, such a one would owe his position to his natural endowments and force of character. It was in virtue of His personality that our Lord made, and makes. His appeal to the world; and to the authoritativeness of His attitude in regard to the current teaching of the Jewish religious teachers of His day (Mt S^'-*', Mk 7'-**) a distant analogy is, in fact, afforded by the superior position which in Genesis seems to be ascribed to Melchizedek in respect of Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish race. See also art. Priest (in NT). G. W. Wade.

MELEA. — An ancestor of Jesus (Lk 33>). MELECH.— 1. A grandson of Merib-baal (1 Ch 8» 9«'). 2. See Molech.

HELITA. — An Island about sixty miles S. of Sicily, with an area of about ninety-five square miles. Its excellent position as a commercial station led to its early colonization by Phoenicians and Greeks. It be- came subject to Carthage, but was conquered by the Romans in b.c. 218, and became part of the province of Sicily. But the Carthaginian and Libyan element predominated, hence St. Luke's use of the phrase 'the barbarous people' (Ac 28'). There can be no doubt that this Melita was the scene of St. Paul's shipwreck. ■ The use of the name Adria (Ac 27^') led to an attempt to identify it with Melita in the Adriatic, but the term 'Adria' was freely applied to the sea E. and S.E. of Sicily, and the wind 'Euraquilo' (Ac 27") would drive them from Crete to Malta if the captain, realizing that his chief danger was the Syrtis quicksands (27"), took the natural precaution of bearing up into the wind as much as the weather permitted. The description is precise. On the 14th night of their drifting, by sounding they found they were getting into shallower water, and cast out anchors; but when day dawned they saw before them a bay with a shelving beach, on which they deter-mined to run the vessel. Therefore they hastily cast off the anchors, unfastened the rudders, which had been lashed during their drifting, and with the aid of these and the foresail tried to steer the ship to the beach. But before they reached it they ran on a shoal ' where two seas met,' and reached the shore only by swimming or floating on spars. Every detail of the narrative is satisfied by assuming that they landed on the W. side of St. Paul's Bay, eight miles from Valetta, five miles from the old capital Citta-Vecchia. The tradition which gave this as the scene was already old when our earliest map of Malta (a Venetian one) was made about a.d. 1530. As it is scarcely likely that the spot was identified by special investigations in the Middle Ages, this is a remarkable instance of the permanence and correctness of some early traditions. Incidentally, it la also a proof of the remarkable impression made on the inhabitants by the three months St. Paul was compelled to spend in the island. St. Luke relates only two incidents. As they made a fire for the shipwrecked men, a snake,

MEMPHIS

aroused from the wood by the heat, fastened on St. Paul's hand, and, to the surprise of the onlookers, did him no harm. The word ' venomous' (28'') is not properly in the text, and St. Luke does not state that it was a miraculous deliverance. But the natives thought it was, and therefore there probably were venomous snakes in Malta then. There are none now, but in an island with 2000 inhabitants to the square mile they would be likely to become extinct. The other incident was the curing of dysentery of the father of Publius (wh. see). Naturally there are local traditions of St. Paul's residence, and the map referred to above has a church of St. Paul's near the bay, but on its E. side. The first known bishop of Malta was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Malta has had a varied history since. Vandals, Normans, Turks all left their mark on it. In 1530, Charles v. gave it to the Knightsof St. John, whodefendedit three times against the desperate attacks of theTurks. In 1798, Napoleon seized it, but the English took it from him in 1800, and it has re-mamed m English hands since. But the population remains very mixed, — the race and the native language retaining much of the Arabic element. A. E. Hillaed.

MELONS Cabattlhlm, the same word as the Arab. batakh, which includes the water-melon {Citrullus mUgaris) as well as other kinds). — Nu 11'. Here the water-melon is specially referred to, as it was common in Egypt in ancient times. No fruit is more appreciated in the arid wilderness. Melons flourish in Palestine, especially on the sands S. of Jaffa, and are eaten all over the land, being carried to the towns all through the summer by long strings of camels.

E. W. G. Masterman.

MELZAR.— A proper name (AV), or official title (RV 'steward') in Dn !"• ",— in both cases with the article. It is generally agreed that the word is a loan-word from the Assyr. massaru, 'guardian,' and stands for one who was teacher and warden of the royal wards. Cheyne, however, is led by the LXX to conclude for Bashassar as the true reading, and to read in Dn 1": ' And Daniel said to Belshazzar, prince of the eunuchs,' etc.

W. F. Cobb.

MEM. — The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and as such employed in the 119th Psalm to designate the 13th part, each verse ot which begins with this letter.

MEMEROTH (1 Es 82)=Meraioth, an ancestor of Ezra (Ezr 7'); called Marimoth in 2 Es 1^.

MEMMIUS, QtJINTUS.— Named along with Manius (wh. see) as a Roman legate (2 Mac 11^).

MEMPHIS. — The famous ancient capital of Egypt, a few miles south of Cairo, the present capital. Accord-ing to tradition, Memphis was built by Menes, who first united the two Idngdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. Kings and dynasties might make their principal residences in the cities from which they sprang, but until Alexandria was founded as the capital of the Greek dynasty, no Egyptian city, except Thebes, under the New Kingdom equalled Memphis in size and im-portance. The palaces of most of the early kings (Dyns. 3-12) were at or near Memphis, their positions being now marked by the pyramids in which the same kings were buried. The pyramid-field extends on the edge of the desert about 20 miles, from Dahshur on the south to Abu Roash on the north, the Great Pyramids of Gizeh lying 12 miles north of the central ruins of Memphis. The Egyptian name Menfl (in Hebrew Noph, Is 19", Jer 2i8 44' 46"- ", Ezk 30"- "; once Moph, Hos 9°), was apparently taken from that of the palace and pyramid of Pepy i. of the 6th Dynasty, which were built close to the city. At a later period, Tahrak (Tirhakah) ruled at Memphis; Necho, Hophra, and the other kings of the 26th Dynasty were buried at their ancestral city Sals, although their govern-ment was centred in Memphis. After the foundation of Alexandria the old capital fell to the second place.

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