MOADIAH

MOADIAH.— See Maadiah.

MOCHMUB.— A wady apparently S.E. of Dothan (Jth 718).

MODIN. — A village in the ShephSlah, never mentioned in the OT, but of great importance as the home of the Maccabees. Here Mattathias, by slaying a Jew who conformed to the paganizing commands of Antiochus, struck the first blow for Jewish religious freedom (1 Mac 21-28). He was buried at Modin (2"'), as were his illustrious sons Judas (9") and' Jonathan (13^). Simon here built an elaborate monument with seven pyramids, commemorative of his father, mother, and four brethren, with great pillars around, and bas-reliefs of military and naval triumphs. This splendid monu-ment could be seen at sea. It stood for about 500 years, after which it seems to have disappeared; and with it was lost all recollection of the site of Modin. This has been recovered in recent years in the little village of d-Medyeh, near Lydd. There are numerous rock-tombs about, some of them traditionally known as Qabur el-Yehttd, or 'the Jews' tombs,' but nothing is to be seen in any way suggestive of the Maccabffian mausoleum. R. A. S. Macalisteh.

MOETH (1 Es 85S)=Noadiah of Ezr 8".

KEOLADAH. — A city reckoned to Judah in Jos 15", and to Simeon in Jos 19\ 1 Ch 428. It is in no way related to Tell el-Milh, ' hiU of salt,' with which Robinson and others have identified it. Probably it lay near Beersheba, but the site has not been recovered.

W. EWING.

MOLE.— 1. tinshemelh, Lv lis" (av 'mole,' RV ■chameleon' ; but same word is in Lv ll's and Dt 14" tr. AV 'swan,' RV 'horned owl'). See Chameleon.

2. chaplOr-perSth (T burrowing animals'), Is 2^', may apply to rats, mice, jerboas, etc., as well as 'moles.' The true insectivorous mole does not occur in Palestine, but the rodent Spalax typMics, the mole rat, is very common. It lives entirely underground, has most rudimentary eyes, and makes very long burrows. It is gregarious, and large areas are sometimes covered thick with its hillocks. E. W. G. Mabterman.

MOLECH, MOLOCH.— A deity worshipped by the Israelites, especially by the people of Judah, towards the close of the monarchy. Melech ('king') was evidently the title of this god; and the present form is due to the combination of the original consonants with the vowels of bBsheth ('shame'). The passages in which reference to this divinity is probably found are Lv 1821 202-s, 1 K 11', 2 K 231", Is 3033 57', Jer 323s. The chief feature of the worship seems to have been the sacrifice of children. Its special centre was just outside Jerusalem, at a place in the Valley of Hinnom called the Topheth (whichsee). The cult was introduced, according to 1 K 11', by Solomon. If the reference here is an error (see below), Ahaz may have; been the innovator (2 K 163). At any rate, it flourished in the 7th cent, b.c, as we gather from prophetic denunciation and the legislation of Deuteronomy. Manasseh sacrificed his son (2 K 21'). Josiah suppressed the worship and defiled Topheth. But under Jehoiakim this worship revived, and continued till the Captivity.

As to the identity of Melech, tljgre is an interesting question . Very ancient tradition identifies him with Milcom (wh. see) , the national god of Ammon . But tne only basis for this view which the Heb. text of the OT furnishes is 1 K ll^.and the Gr.VSS offer evidence that the original reading in this passage may have been ' Milcom,' as in v.^ and v.33. On the other hand, we are told that, while Melech was worshipped at Topheth , the sanctuary of Milcom was on the Mount of Olives (2 K 2313). Moreover, this cult seems to have been regarded as Canaanitish in origin (Dt 122'-3i" i8_'-i^). Again, we learn from many sources that the most atrocious child-sacrifice was a prominent feature in the public religion of the Phcenicians, both in their Palestinian homeland and in Carthage; and in this connexion we find constanCref erence to the pi t of fire into which the victims were cast (see Topheth). Among other

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Semitic peoples also there are occasional instances of the offering of children, but not as a regular practice such aa we are considering.

Melech is a title of many Semitic deities, and in the OT is frequently applied to Jahweh. We find that the object of this worship is also called Baal ('master') (Jer 19' 3235). This is likewise a title of numerous Semitic divinities, and is sometimes used of Jahweh (see Baal). When the name ' Baal ' is used in the OT with specific reference to a particular god. it means Melkarth of Tyre (1 K 1633, 2 K 33 8i3- " ioi8-3? 1118). xhe prophets undoubtedly regarded the cult as foreign, and as an apostasy to heathenism. But docs this necessarily prove that Melech was a false god? Jeremiah's protest that Jahweh had not required these sacrifices (73i 198 3238) would seem to imply that the people did not regard this as the worship of another god. Indeed, Ezekiel goesf urther, and claims that Jahweh Himself gave them these statutes that are not good,' and sacrifices of the firstborn, because they had rejected purer worship (Ezk 20!8i- 3i). On the whole, the evidence seems to indicate that this cultus was due to Phrenician infiuence, and was introduced because of popular misunderstanding of the laws relating to the giving of the firstborn to Jahweh. The origin of such a cult, together with a possible more or less complete identification with Melkartn, would explain the constant use of the titles' Melech' and 'Baal' rather than the name 'Jahweh.'

W. M. Nesbit.

MOLID.— The name of a Judahite famUy (1 Ch 239).

MOLOCH.— See Molech.

MOLTEN SEA.— See Temple, § 6 (c) 'Brazen Sea.'

MOMDIS (1 Es 93«) =Maadai, Ezr 103^.

MONET. — 1. Antiquity of a metallic currency: weights and values. — That the precious metals, gold and silver, and to a less extent copper, were the ordinary media of exchange in Palestine from a time long prior to the appearance there of the Hebrews, is now amply attested by evidence from Egypt and Babylonia, and even from the soil of Palestine itself. The predominance of silver as the metal currency for everyday transactions is further shown by the constant use in Hebrew literature of the word for 'silver' (keseph) in the sense of 'money.'

As there can be no question of the existence of coined money in Palestine until the Persian period, the first step in the study of the money of OT is to master the system of weights adopted for the weighing of the precious metals. Money might indeed be 'told' or counted, but the accuracy of the 'tale' had to be tested by means of the balance; or rather, as we see from such passages as 2 K 12i3- n (RV), money was told by being weighed. Now, all the weight-systems of Western Asia, and even of Europe, had their origin in Babylonia (for details see Weights and Measures) . There, as re-quired by the sexagesimal system of reckoning, the ancient unit of weight, the manu (Heb. maneh as in Ezk 4613 — elsewhere in EV 'pound') or mlna, which weighed 7580 grains on the fight, and 15,160 on the heavy standard, was divided into 60 shekels, while 60 minas went to the higher denomination, the talent. It will thus be seen that the light Babylonian trade shekel weighed, neglecting fractions, 126 grains troy, and the heavy shekel 252. The foimer, it will be useful to remember, was but three grains heavier than a British gold sovereign.

As this weight-system spread westwards with the march of Babylonian civilization and commerce, it came into confiict with the decimal system of calcula-tion, and a compromise was effected, which resulted in the mina being reduced to 50 shekels, while the talent remained at 60 minas, although reduced in weight to 3000 shekels. That the Hebrew talent by which the precious metals were weighed contained 3000, not 3600, shekels may be seen by a simple calculation from the data of Ex 38™-. Further, the heavy Babylonian shekel of 252 grains remained in use among the Hebrews for the weighing of gold until NT times. For this we have the express testimony of Josephus, who tells us (.Ant. XIV. vii. 1) that the Hebrew gold mina was equal to 24 Roman pounds. On the basis of 5053 grains to the libra or pound, this gives a shekel of 252S grains, the

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