MOSOLLAMUS

Old .Dispensation, Jesus and tlie NT writers tliought of tiim as something more. He was an liistorical person-age of such unique prominence in Israel's history, that his whole career appeared to them to afford parallels to spiritual factors in the New Covenant. The following form an interesting study, as illustrating points which cover a wide range of Christian truth: The 'glory' on Moses' face (2 Co 3'-'8), the brazen serpent (Jn 3"), the Passover (Jn 19™, He ll^s, 1 Co 5"-), the covenant sacrifice at Horeb (Mt 26^8, Mk 14", Lk 222", 1 Co ll"; see also He gis-^", l P l^ with Hort's note), the terrors of the Sinai covenant (He 12"-"), the crossing of the sea (1 Co 102), the manna (Jn 6™-"' "-'«), the water from the rock (1 Co lO'- '), Moses as a prophet (Ac 3^2 7", Jn 12' -23; and see Jn 6" 7" [Lk 7»]), the magicians of Egypt (2 Tl 38), the plagues (Rev 8b- '• 8 92-4 150-8 162-4. 10. 13. 18. 2i)_ and 'the song of Moses the servant of God' (Rev 15'). A. H. M'Netlb.

MOSOLLAMUS.— 1. 1 Es 8" =Meshullam, Ezr 8'8. 2. 1 Es 9" =Meshullani, Ezr lO's.

MOST HIGH (ElyBn) occurs as an epithet of El, 'God' (Gn 1418'- 20. 22_ pg ygas)^ or Jahweh (Ps 7"); or it stands by itself as a title of God (Nu 24'", Dt 328, Ps 218 etc.). We find it first in a somewhat mysterious chapter (Gn 14) which cannot be traced to any identified source; the date is also uncertain. In this chapter Melchizedek is described as 'priest to the Most High God' (,El Ely on), and since in later, times the Salem where he lived was generally identified with Jerusalem, the double function of priest and king ascribed to him caused him to be regarded by the Jews as a type of the ideal king, and by the Christians as the type of Christ. Hence the name of the God whom he wor-shipped (.El Elyon), which may possibly, in the first instance, have had reference merely to the lofty situa-tion of Jerusalem, became in later generations a mys-terious and exalted title of Jahweh. At the same time there is the possibility that the title Elyon came originally from the Phoenicians! Philo of Byblus (quoted by Driver, Genesis, p. 165) mentions a deity of this name in the Phoanieian theogony, and the corresponding Greek word is frequent In inscriptions of the Grseco-Roman period, especially in the neighbourhood of the Bosporus. What-ever the origin of the title Elyon, it never occurs in strictly prose passages of the OT, though we find it in the Songs of Balaam (Nu 24'8), Moses (Dt 328), and David (2 S 22"). The Aramaic equivalents are fairly frequent in Daniel.

The uses of the Greek rendering in the NT are in-structive. In the story of the Annunciation it is or-dained that the child whom Mary is to bear shall be called Son of the Most High (Lk 182); and a little later on (v.") John the Baptist is spoken of as prophet of the Most High. The contrast is completed in the Ep. to the Hebrews, where Melchizedek is brought forward as priest of the Most High (cf. 7' with v.28). It is worth noting, too, that the title is twice found in the mouth of demoniacs (Mk 5' =Lk 828, ac 16"). The word, then, does not belong to thelanguage of every-day life: it is reserved for poetry and elevated style, and it seems by its origin to have suggested something archaic and mysterious, whether It referred to the lofty dwelling-place or to the majestic nature and attributes of God. H. C. O. Lanchester.

MOTE. — The word chosen by Wyclif and Tindale, and accepted by all the subsequent versions as the tr. of Gr. karphos in Mt 78- '■ ', Lk 64i- 4ai!i. The root of karphos is karphd 'to dry up,' and it signifies a bit of dried stick, straw, or wool, such as, in the illustration, might be flying about and enter the eye. In its minute-ness it is contrasted by our Lord with dokos, the beam that supports (dechomai) the roof of a building.

MOTH Cash, Job 4" I328 2718, Ps 39'2, Is 50« 518, Hos 512; Gr. sSs, Mt 6"- '<>, Lk 128s, Ja 52).— All the references are to the clothes-moth, which is ubiquitous

MOURNING CUSTOMS

and extremely plentiful in Palestine. It is almost impossible to guard against its destructiveness, except by constantly using clothes, shawls, carpets, etc. Such goods, when stored for long, are found to be reduced almost to powder on being removed (cf. Job 4i» etc.). The fragile cases of these moths are referred to in Job 2718, if the MT be correct.

E. W. G. MA.STERMAN.

MOTHER.— See Family, 3.

MOUNT. — An earthwork in connexion with siegecraft (Jer 6« and oft.), also rendered 'bank' (2 S 20i» RV). In 1 Mac 1280 RV has the modern form 'mound,' which Amer. RV has substituted throughout. See, further,

FoHTiriCATION AND SlEGECRAFT, § 6 (c).

MOUNT, MOUNTAIN.— Although on the whole a mountainous country, Palestine has few striking or commanding peaks to show; consequently, though we find frequent mention of mountains in the Bible,, there are comparatively few names of individual summits. ' Mountain,' as well as its cognate ' mount,' is used both of isolated elevations and of extensive districts of lofty ground — such as Sinai, Horeb, Carmel on the one hand. Mount Seir or the Mountain of Gilead on the other.

Mountains served various functions to the ancient inhabitants of the land. (1) They were dwelling-places, for which the numerous caves, natural and artificial, excavated in their soft Umestone sides, well fitted them: thus Esau dwelt in Mount Seir (Gn 368). (2) They served the purpose of landmarks: thus Mount Hor was indicated (Nu 34') as a boundary of the Prom-ised Land. (3) They were used as platforms, for ad-dressing large crowds of people, as in the famous ceremony at Ebal and Gerizim (Jos 88<b-), in the address of Jotham to the Shechemites (Jg 9'), and that of Abijah to the Ephraimites (2 Ch 134). (4) They were burial-places ('sepulchres that were in the mount,' 2 K 23"). (5) They served as refuges (Gn 14'», Mt 24i8); (6) as military camps (1 S 178); (7) as sources of wood and plants (2 Ch 2'8, Neh 8", Hag 18); (8) as watch-towers and look-out sta-tions (Ezk 402, Mt 48); (9) as pasturage (Ps 50'", Lk 882); (10) as fortresses (Ps I252). Their obvious fitness for typifying strength and endurance gives rise to metaphors and comparisons to be found in almost every book of both Testaments.

But it is in their aspect as holy places that mountains are of the deepest interest to the student of the Scriptures or of Palestine. In modern Palestine almost every hill a little loftier or more striking than its fellows is crowned by a domed shrine, now regarded as the tomb of a Moslem saint, but no doubt the representative of a sacred precinct that goes back to the earliest Semitic inhabitants of the land. Sinai, Horeb, Carmel occur to the memory at once as mountains consecrated by a theophany. The worship at ' high places ' was so deeply engrained in the Hebrews that no amount of legislation could eradicate it; the severe discipline of the Exile was needed for its destruction. R. A. S. Macalistee.

MOUNT OF THE CONGEEGATION.— See Congee-

QATION.

MOURNING CUSTOMS.- The Oriental expression of grief has a twofold relationship. Towards God it is marked by silent and reverent submission symbohzed by placing the hand on the mouth. ' The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away' (Job 1"); 'I was dumb . . . because thou didst it ' (Ps 39') . But towards the relatives and neighbours the case is altogether different. It is now an event that has to be announced as quickly and publicly as possible, and a loss which love has to deplore with passionate abandonment and an accumulation of conventional ceremony. At the moment of death a loud shrill wail is raised by those present. Its meaning is understood only too well. As the piercing, tremulous shrieks are repeated, a few inquiries are made as to the locality and circumstances, and the rapidly increasing cry is accepted as an invitation and claim to proceed to the

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