MOOSSIAS

whilst a superstitious salutation of the moon by kissing the hand, not quite unheard of even in our own day, is mentioned in Job SI"'- 27. Moon-worship by the burning of incense was offered In Jerusalem, and put down by Josiah (2 K 23').

Mount Sinai is supposed to have derived its name from the moon-god Sin, to whom worship was paid there.

For the worship of the 'queen of heaven,' see under Stars.

In the OT we meet more than once with crescent- shaped ornaments (Jg S^i, Is 3") ; whether these are an indication of the worship of the moon is uncertain.

It has been always considered baneful in the bright clear atmosphere of the warmer regions of the earth to sleep exposed to the rays of the moon (Ps 121'). The influence of the earth's satellite has long been considered hurtful. Our word 'lunatic' reproduces the idea of the Western world of our Lord's time, that lunacy was due to the influence of the moon: the Greek word used in Mt 421 17'5 shows this. In the RV the word is trans-lated ' epileptic' There are many still to be found who believe that the violence and recurrence of epileptic fits vary with the phases of the moon. H. A. Redpath.

MOOSSIAS (1 Es g3>)=Maaseiah, Ezr 10!>'>. MOPH.— See Memphis. MORALITY.— See Ethics.

MOBASHTITE.— Agentilicadjectiveusedtodesignate the prophet Micah (Mic 1', Jer 26"), probably derived from Moresheth-gath (wh. see). Cf. Micah, p. 614" f.

MOKDECAI.— 1. A cousin (?) of queen Esther, who thwarted Haman's plot against the Jews. See Esther and Esther [Book of]. 2. One of those who returned with Zerub. (Ezr 22, Neh 7') ; called in 1 Es 5« Mar-docheus.

MOBEH, the Hiphil participle from ySrah, means 'teacher' or 'one who gives direction' (2 K IT^', Is 302° etc.), and so is applied to a prophet (Is 9"). Sitting in the shelter of a sacred tree, the priest or seer delivered his direction or ' oracles.' 1. The terebinth (AV, wrongly, 'plain') of Moreh (Gn 12*) may have been so named from the theophany vouchsafed to Abraham there. The same spot may be indicated by the terebinths of Moreh (Dt 11'°), mentioned as indicating the position of Ebal and Gerizim. From their conjunction with Gilgal it has been suggested that the gilgal ('stone circle') and the terebinths were parts of the same sanctuary. There may be a reference to this place in Gn 3S*, in Jos 2^, possibly also in Jg 9'. Gilgal (Dt 113") may be Khirbet Jvleijel, fully li mile E. of Jacob's Well. But this would not fix with certainty the position of the sanctuary of the terebinth.

2. The hill of Moreh (Jg?') seems to have lain to the N. of the position occupied by Gideon, in the direction of the camp of the Midianites. Taking the narrative as it stands, the Midianites 'pitched in the valley of Jezreel' (6*2), while Gideon held the lower spurs of Gilboa towards Jezreel. ' The spring of Harod ' is with some probability identified with 'Ain JaUUi. The conspicuous hiU on the other side of the vale, Jebel ed-Duhy, popularly now called Little Hermon, round the W. flanks of which, and northward in the plain, the Midianites would spread, may be almost certainly identified with the Hill of Moreh. The article with Moreh suggests the presence of a sanctuary on the hill. This may be represented by the modern shrine of Neby Duhy. Questions have been raised by the condition of the Heb. text, but no more probable identification has been suggested. Cf. Moreh. W. Ewing.

MORESHETH-GATH.— Mic 1" only. It was probably the birth-place of the prophet Micah (Mic 1', Jer 26"), and must have been in the Shephelah. The Onomaslicon locates it east of, and near to, Eleutheropolis.

MORIAH. — 1. The name. — In Gn 22" Abraham was

MOSERAH

commanded to go 'into the land of the Moriah,' and to sacrifice Isaac upon 'one of the mountains' which God would tell him of. The derivationof the nameis obscure. The Peshitta (Syriac) version reads 'of the Amorites,' which may possibly be the true reading. The narrator (E), however, in v." appears to connect it with the verb 'to see' (which is etymologically impossible), and some of the early translators do the same in their render-ing of the name in vX The Targumists emphasized the worship of Abraham at the spot, perhaps connecting the name with the verb 'to fear' — which is equally impossible.

2. The place. — The proverb recorded in v." clearly impUes that the writer thought that Isaac was offered on the Temple mount at Jerusalem. And hence the Chronicler (2 Ch 3') names the Temple hill 'Mount Moriah.' From a spiritual point of view, the analogy often drawn between the offering of Isaac and the death of Christ makes the identification very suggestive. But Gn 22» certainly contemplates a mountain at a much greater distance from the Philistine country, and much more conspicuous, than the Jerusalem hill. There is some similarity between the names Moriah and Moreh, the latter of which was at Shechem (Gn 128, Dt uso), close to the hiUs Gerizim and Ebal. And it may have been owing to this that the Samaritans claimed Gerizim as Abraham's mountain (cf. Jn 420). Geographically, it would suit the description in Gn 22''; but there is no real evidence for the identification. If the Syriac reading 'Amorites' be adopted, the locality of the mountain is entirely unknown, since the name is a general term employed by E to denote the Canaanite natives of Palestine. A. H. M'Neile.

MORNING.— See Time.

MORTAR (AV 'morter').— See House, §§ 1. 4, and cf. Bitumen.

MORTAR AND PESTLE.— The use, from the earliest times, of the mortar and pestle for crushing the grains of the cultivated cereals, for the preparation of spices, and probably, as at the present day, for pounding meat and vegetables (see the Comm. on Pr 2722) is attested by the constant occurrence of these articles in the re-mains of places recently excavated in Palestine. The mortars found at Gezer, as elsewhere, 'are simply heavy stones, a foot or two across, in whose upper surface a hemispherical hollow is cut. The pestles are cyhndrical with [convex] bases, which not infrequently display marks of rough treatment (PEFSt, 1903, 118; illus. in Bliss, Mound of Many Cities, 86; Bliss and MacaUster, Excavations in Palestine, Plates 72, 73).

The manna is expressly said to have been beaten in mortars as well as ground in mills (Nu IV). Their use is implied for pounding certain spices (Ex SO") and for the 'bruised corn' for the meal-offering of the first-fruits (Lv 2« RV). Copper mortars are also mentioned in later literature, and in Herod's Temple the incense was pounded in mortars of gold. From the Mishna (Baba bathra, iv. 3) we learn that it was customary to have larger mortars fixed into the fioor of the house.

In Babylon, when a house was built, the sfeUer handed the pestle of the house-mortar to the purchaser, in token of the conveyance of the house to its new owner. Hence the frequent occurrence, in deeds of sale, of the words ' the pestle has been handed over.' Cf . art. Shoe. A. R. S. Kennedy.

MORTIFY.— 'To mortify' is in AV metaphorically 'to put to death.' Early writers could use it literally also, as Erasmus, Commune Crede, 81, 'Christ was mortified, and killed in dede, as touchynge to his fleshe; but was quickened in spirite.'

MOSERAH, MOSEROTH.— Moserah is named in Dt 10' as the place where Aaron died and was buried: Moseroth in Nu SS"- si as a 'station' on the route to Mt. Hor. Its location is quite uncertain.

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