In
Gn
IC.
Its
position
has
not
yet
been
satisfactorily
identified.
Tlie
proposed
identification
witli
tlie
late
territory
of
Mesene
at
the
head
of
the
Persian
Gulf
is
improbable.
A
better
case
can
be
made
out
for
identi-fying
it
with
Mash
or
Mashu,
a
general
term
in
the
Assyrian
inscriptions
for
the
Syro-Arabian
desert;
though
the
passage
suggests
that
a
single
place,
or
tribe,
rather
than
so
vast
a
region,
is
referred
to.
If
the
vowel
points
be
emended
the
word
may
be
read
as
Massa,
the
name
of
a
son
of
Ishmael
in
Gn
25'*
and
1
Ch
1'".
Traces
of
this
latter
tribe
have
been
sought
in
place
names
in
central
Arabia,
but
no
identification
yet
suggested
can
be
regarded
as
certain.
L.
W.
King.
MESHACH.
—
The
name
Mishael,
by
which
one
of
Daniel's
three
companions,
of
the
children
of
Judah,
was
originally
called,
was
changed
by
the
prince
of
the
eunuchs
into
Meshach
(Dn
1'
and
ch.
3).
Such
changes
of
name
were
not
uncommon;
they
marked
the
fact
that
a
new
state
of
life
had
now
begun.
The
meaning
of
the
name
is
quite
uncertain.
MESHECH.
—
1.
The
name
of
a
people
of
Asia
Minor
mentioned
after
Tubal
as
among
the
sons
of
Japheth
(Gn
10').
These
two
peoples,
possibly
kindred,
appear
almost
always
in
conjunction
in
OT;
so
even
in
Is
66",
where
read
'
Meshech
'
instead
of
'
that
draw
the
bow
'
(the
word
for
'bow'
being
a
supplementary
gloss).
In
Fs
120'
Meshech
and
Kedar
appear
as
types
of
barbarous
and
warlike
people,
just
as
Meshech
and
Tubal
are
represented
in
Ezk
322«
38'
39'.
In
the
Assyrian
annals
the
Taball
and
Mtishkl,
who
are
undoubtedly
the
same
as
Tubal
and
Meshech,
are
found
again
together
(as
fierce
opponents
of
Assyria
in
the
12th
cent,
b.c),
the
former
lying
to
the
north-east
of
CiUcia
and
the
latter
eastward
between
them
and
the
Euphrates.
The
Tibareni
and
Moschi
of
the
classical
writers
must
stand
tor
the
same
two
peoples.
Ezk
27''
names
them
as
trading
in
slaves
and
articles
of
bronze.
2.
In
1
Ch
1"
"Meshech"
is
written
by
mistake
for
'Mash'
(cf.
Gn
W^
J.
F.
M'Cubdt.
MESHELEBHAH.—
The
eponym
of
a
family
of
Korahite
doorkeepers
(1
Ch
9^
26')
=
Shelemiah
of
26",
Shallum
of
9"-
"■
«',
and
Meshullam
of
Neh
12a.
MESHEZABEL.—
1.
One
of
those
who
helped
to
repair
the
wall
(Neh
Z<).
2.
One
of
those
who
sealed
the
covenant
(Neh
lO^').
3.
The
father
of
Pethahiah
(Neh
11").
MESHILLEMITH.—
A
priest
(1
Ch
9'2);
caUed
in
Neh
11"
Meshillemoth.
MESHILLEMOTH.—
1.
An
Ephraimite
(2
Ch
28'2)-2.
A
priest
(Neh
11'');
caUed
in
1
Ch
O'^Meshillemith.
MESHOBAB.—
A
Simeonite
(1
Ch
4").
MESHtJlLAM.—
1.
2.
3.
Three
Benjamltes
(1
Ch
8"
9'-
«).
4.
A
Gadite
(1
Ch
S").
5.
The
grandfather
of
Shaphan
(2
K
22«).
6.
The
father
of
Hilkiah
(1
Ch
9").
7.
Another
priest
of
the
same
family
(1
Ch
9'').
8.
A
Kohathite
(2
Ch
34'2).
9.
A
son
of
Zerubbabel
(1
Ch
3").
10.
One
of
the
'chief
men'
whose
services
were
enlisted
by
Ezra
to
procure
Levites
(Ezr
8");
called
in
1
Es
8"
Mosollamus.
11,
A
Levite
who
opposed
Ezra's
proceedings
in
connexion
with
the
foreign
marriages
(Ezr
10");
called
in
1
Es
9'*
Mosollamus.
12.
One
of
those
who
had
married
foreign
wives
(Ezr
102');
called
in
1
Es
9™
Olamus.
13.
Son
of
Bere-chiah,
one
of
those
who
helped
to
repair
the
walls
of
Jerusalem
(Neh
3*-
s").
His
daughter
was
married
to
Tobiah
(6").
14.
Son
of
Besodeiah.
He
helped
to
repair
the
old
gate
(Neh
3»).
15.
One
of
the
company
that
stood
at
Ezra's
left
hand
during
the
reading
of
the
Law
(Neh
8').
16.
17.
A
priest
and
a
chief
of
the
people
who
sealed
the
covenant
(Neh
10'-
™).
18.
One
of
the
princes
of
Judah
who
marched
in
procession
at
the
dedication
of
the
walls
of
Jerusalem
(Neh
12").
19.
20.
21.
Two
heads
of
priestly
houses
and
a
porter
in
the
time
of
the
high
priest
Joiakim
(Neh
12"-
"■
»
[see
Meshelemzab])
.
MESHULLEMETH.—
Wife
of
king
Manasseh
and
mother
of
Amon
(2
K
21").
MESOPOTAMIA
=Aram-naharalm
(see
Abam).
MESS.
—
A
mess
is
any
dish
of
food
sent
to
the
table
(Lat.
missum,
Fr.
mes).
The
word
occurs
in
Gn
43",
2
S
11=,
Sir
3018,
and
RV
introduces
it
at
He
12'«-
MESSIAH.—
The
'one
anointed'
(Gr.
Christos),
i.e-appointed
and
empowered
by
God
through
the
imparta-tion
of
His
own
spirit,
to
become
the
Saviour
of
His
people.
The
conception
of
the
Messiah
is
logically
implicit
in
all
the
expectations
of
the
Hebrew
people
that
Jehovah
would
deliver
Israel
and
turn
it
into
a
glorious
empire
to
which
all
the
heathen
would
be
subjected.
But
it
is
not
always
explicit.
The
ex-pectation
of
the
coming
Kingdom
is
more
in
evidence
than
the
expectation
of
the
coming
King.
But
in
the
same
proportion
as
the
conception
of
the
personal
Messiah
emerges
from
the
general
Messianic
hope
these
elements
appear
within
it:
(1)
the
Deliverer;
(2)
the
presence
of
God's
Spirit
in
His
own
personaUty
as
the
source
of
His
power;
(3)
His
work
as
the
salvation
of
God's
people,
at
first
the
Jewish
nation,
but
ultimately
all
those
who
join
themselves
to
Him.
1.
The
Messiah
of
the
OT
—
In
any
historical
study
of
the
OT
it
is
necessary
to
dis-tingiiish
sharply
between
the
Messianic
interpretation
given
to
certain
passages
by
later
writers,
notably
Christian
and
Rabbinic,
and
the
expectation
which,
so
far
as
it
is
recover-able,
the
writers
of
the
OT
actually
possessed.
A
disregard
of
this
distinction
has
been
common
from
the
point
of
view
of
theological
statement,
but
is
fatal
to
a
proper
under-standing
of
that
progress
in
the
religious
apprehension
of
God
and
the
clarifying
of
religious
expectations
which
con-stitutes
so
large
a
factor
in
the
Biblical
revelation
of
God.
It
is
always
easier
to
discover
tendencies
as
one
looks
back
over
a
historical
course
of
events
than
as
one
looks
forward
into
the
future
which
these
events
determine.
The
proper
method
in
the
study
of
the
Messianic
hope
is
not
to
mass
the
sentences
of
the
OT
to
which
a
Messianic
interpretation
is
given
by
later
Biblical
or
extra-Biblical
writers,
but
to
study
them
in
their
context
both
literary
and
historical.
In
such
a
tracing
of
the
historical
development
it
is
necessary
to
recognize
critical
results
as
far
as
they
are_
reasonably
fixed,
and
thus
avoid
reading
back
into
the
original
hopes
of
the
Hebrews
those
interpretations
and
implications
which
were
given
to
the
early
tustory
by
various
redactors.
These
latter,
however,
constitute
data
for
the
undeistanding
of
the
Messianic
ideal
in
the
age
of
the
editors.
Unfortunately,
in
the
present
state
of
criticism
it
is
not
fiossible
to
arrange
the
material
of
the
OT
in
strictly
chrono-ogical
order.
This
is
particularly
true
in
the
case
of
that
reflecting
the
Messianic
hope.
The
following
classification
of
O'T
references
is,
therefore,
not
to
be
taken
as
a
chrono-logical
exposition
of
a
developing
hope
so
much
as
a
grouping
of
material
of
similar
character.
1.
The
national
tendencies
of
Messianic
prophecy.
—
In
the
case
of
prophets
like
Elijah
and
Elisha
the
hope
is
hardly
more
distinct
than
a
beUef
that
the
nation
which
worshipped
Jehovah
would
be
triumphant
over
its
enemies.
So
far
as
the
records
of
their
teaching
show,
however,
there
was
no
expectation
of
any
super-human
deliverer,
or,
in
fact,
any
future
contemplated
other
than
one
which
presupposed
a
conquering
Israel
with
an
equally
triumphant
Jehovah.
Eschatological
con-ceptions
were
absent,
and
the
new
Kingdom
was
to
be
political
in
the
truest
sense.
With
the
approach
of
the
more
tragic
days
of
the
fall
of
the
Northern
Kingdom,
the
threatened
calamities
served
as
a
text
for
the
fore-boding
of
Amos.
Hosea's
prophecies
of
prosperity
which
would
come
to
the
nation
when
it
turned
from
idols
and
alliances
with
heathen
nations
to
the
forgiving
Jehovah
may,
as
current
criticism
insists,
belong
to
a
later
period
than
that
usually
accorded
them;
but
in
them
we
find
little
or
nothing
of
the
noble
universalism
to
be
seen
in
the
promised
victory
of
the
seed
of
the
woman
over
the
serpent
(Gn
3"-
").
It
is
rather
a
hope
of
national
glory,
such
as
appears
in
the
promise
made
to
