MIXED MULTITUDE

MIXED MULTITUDE.— A description given (1) to certain persons who joined Israel In the Exodus from Egypt (Ex 12S8), and who fell a lusting at Kibrotli-hattaavah (Nu 11<); (2) to those who were separated from the Israelites after the return from the Captivity (Neh 13').

In Ex 12M those referred to are probably strangers of non-Israelltic or half-Israelitic origin. The Hebrew consonants (differently pointed) mean either ' mixed ' or 'Arabian,' and some have suggested that we ought here to translate ' Arabians.' In Jer 25™ SO", Ezk 30', the same Hebrew word is translated by the expression 'mingled people,' where it has been supposed by some to refer to foreign mercenaries. In Ezk 30= at least 'Arabians' gives a better meaning. The Hebrew word in Nu 11' is a different one, and is probably a con-temptuous term signifying the mob, the rabble.

The context in Neh 13' leaves no doubt as to the meaning. The reference is to the strangers with whom the Israelites had intermarried and the children of such alliances. W. F. Boyd.

MIZAB. — Ps 42«'> runs: "I remember thee from the land of Jordan and the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.' It is a question whether Mizar is a proper name or an appellative — 'the little' (?). If the former, Mizar must be a peak of the Hermons, and is otherwise unknown. If the latter, the text must in some way be corrected. The simplest and most satisfactory expedient is to remove the initial m from rriehar in the phrase iriShar mizar, and render ' O, thou little hill." The reference will then be to Zion. As the whole Psalm reads like the cry of an exile from Zion, expressive of his home-sickness, this rendering makes admirable sense. 'O, my God, my soul is cast down within me; for I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermons, O, thou little hill (of Zion).' The initial m in mShar might well have crept in from the final m of the preceding word, Hermonim.

W. F. Cobb.

MIZPAH, MTZPEH. — These words (from ts&pMh, to 'look out,' esp. as a watchman) mean 'outlook- point'; and they are the names of several places and towns in Palestine, all presumably situated on elevated spots, and all probably ancient sacred places. The sites of several are, however, uncertain. As both names are signiflcant, they nearly always in the Heb. have the article,.

1. Mizpah in Gn 31<», where Jacob and Laban made their compact together, and where the name is ex-plained, by a popular etymology, from the words used by Laban, 'J" watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another' (and interpose, it is implied, if either attempts to take an advantage of the other). The name has not been preserved, and hence the site cannot be fixed, except conjecturally. Im-probable sites have been suggested : to judge from the general line of Jacob's route from Haran, the 'Mizpah' here referred to will have been some eminence on the N.E. of the Jebel Ajlun, some 40 miles S.E. of the Lake of Gennesaret (cf. Driver, Genesis, pp. 288, 301 f.).

2. The 'land of Mizpah,' at the foot of Hermon, in Jos 11', probably the same as the 'cleft (or plain between mountains) of Mizpeh ' in v.*. 'This ' Mizpah,' or 'Mizpeh,' has been Identified with the Druse village Mutelle' (the 'climbed up to'), on a hill 200 ft. high, at the S. end of the broad and fertile plain called the Merj 'AyQn (the 'meadow of 'AyQn'), overlooking the basin of the Huleh sea, a little N. of Abil, and 8 m. W.N.W. of Banias (Eob. ill. 372 f.). This, however, is thought by some to be not enough to the E. (notice 'under Hermon' v.', and 'eastward' v.'); and Buhl (GAP 240) conjectures that it may have been the height on which are now the ruins of the Saracenic castle Kal'at es-Subebd, 2 m. above Banias.fou the N .B. In the former case the 'land' of M. would be the Merj 'AyQn itself, between the rivers Litanl and Hasbani; in the latter

MIZRAIM

it would be the plain stretching down from Banias towards Lake Huleh.

3. Mizpeh in Jos Is's, in the Shephglah, or 'lowland' of Judah, mentioned in the same group of cities as Lachish (Tell el-Hesj/, 34 miles S.W. of Jerusalem). According to Eusebius (Onotn. 279), there was a Mizpeh in the district of Eleutheropolis (Beit-Jibrfn, 23 m. S.W. of Jerus.), on the N., and another on the road from Eleutheropolis to Jerusalem. The former of these descriptions would suit Tell es-Saftyeh, on a hill of white chalk 7i m. N.N.W. of Beit-Jibrin, with a commanding view, which, however, is now identified by many with Gath; the latter is too indefinite to permit of any identi-fication being made with confidence.

4. The Mizpah of Jg 10" 11"- «, Jephthah's home,— apparently, to judge from the narrative, not very far from the Ammonite territory, and (11") the Aroer in front of Rabbath-ammon (Jos 132=). The site can only be fixed conjecturally. Moore suggests the Jebel Osha' , 16 m. N.W. of Rabbath-ammon, the highest point of the mountains S. of the Jabbok (3597 ft.), commanding a view of almost the whole Jordan Valley, as well as of much of the country opposite, on the W. of Jordan (Conder, Heth and Moab, 186 f .). Whether the ' Mizpeh of Gilead' of Jg ll^' is the same spot is uncertain; from the difference of name, it would rather seem that it is not. The Mizpah of Hos 5' is, however, very prob-ably the same as Jephthah's Mizpah. The Bamath-mizpeh ('height of the outlook-point") of Jos 13», on the N. border of Gad, has also been supposed to be the same as Jephthah's Mizpah; but this is uncertain; a point further to the N. seems to be required.

5. The Mizpah, on the W. of Jordan, mentioned in Jg 201- ' 211- '■ ', 1 S 7^- 10" as a meeting-place of Israelites on important occasions; in 1 K 1522 ( =2 Ch 16«) as fortified by Asa; in 2 K 23«i- ", Jer 40«- », and several times besides in Jer 40. 41, as the residence of Gedaliah, the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar over Judah after the capture of Jerusalem in 686; and in Neh 3'' "• ". The same place appears to be in^ tended by the ' Mizpeh ' of 1 Mac 3« (Gr. Masslpha, as often in LXX for 'Mizpah,' e.g. Jg 20i- '), 'over against Jerusalem,' a former 'place of prayer' [i.e. sanctuary) for Israel, at which the faithful Israelites assembled after Antiochus Epiphanes had desecrated the Temple and stopped all worahlp in it. This Mizpah was identified with much probability by Robinson (1. 460) with Nebi Samwil, a height 4i m. N.W. of Jerusalem, 2935 ft. above the sea, and some 500 ft. above the surrounding plain (notice 'gone or came up' in Jg 20» 21'- '), with a commanding view of the country round (i6. 457 f.). Nebi Samwil is 3 m. W.N.W. of Gibeah (cf. Jg 20'- ' with the sequel), 2 m. S. of Gibeon (cf. Neh 3'), and a little N. of the present road from Joppa to Jerusalem. It is the actual point from which travellers ascending by the ancient route through the pass of Beth-horon caught their first glimpse of the interior of the hills of Palestine. ' It is a very fair and delicious place, and it is called Mount Joy, because it gives joy to pilgrims' hearts; for from that place men first see Jerusalem' (Maundeville, cited in SP, p. 214). Its present name, Nebi Samwil (the 'Prophet Samuel'), is due to the Moslem tradition that it was Samuel's burial-place (cf. 1 S T- '", where Mizpah is mentioned as one of Samuel's residences); and the mosque there — once a Crusaders' church — contains a cenotaph revered by the Moslems as his tomb.

6. Mizpeh of Moab (1 S 22', — 'Mizpeh' is perhaps also to be read in v.' for 'the hold'), the residence of the king of Moab when David consigned his parents to his care. It must have been situated on some eminence in Moab; but we have no further clue to its site.

S. R. Driver. MIZBAHS. — Thename of Egypt (wh. see), and espe-cially of Lower Egypt. Mizraim was son of Ham and father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim

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