MEMPHIS

down the Nile to Memphis. It was in consequence of the festivities in honour of Apis that the anger of Cambyses was so much excited against the people of Memphis. Supposing that they intended to signify their satisfaction at the defeat of his army in the Ethiopian war, he sent for the priests and asked them the reason of their rejoicings. They replied, that it was the celebration of the manifestation of the god Apis, who had been a long time without appearing amongst them. Cambyses, little pleased with this reply, ordered the pretended deity to be brought before him; when, drawing his sword, he plunged it into the animal's body; and having killed it, he ordered the priests to be beaten, and all those who were found celebrating the festival to be put to death."

MEN-STEALERS. The word avdρaπodioтal, in 1 Timothy 1. 10, is rendered in our version " menstealers," the term here referring to those who decoyed away or kidnapped free persons and sold them for slaves. This was a practice lamentably common in ancient times, although strictly prohibited by the laws of the more civilized nations; indeed, the state of things in this respect closely resembled that at the present day, when the slave-trade still exists in all its horrors, in spite of all the efforts that have been so laudably and so perseveringly made to effect its utter extinction.

The seizing or stealing of a free-born Israelite, either to treat him as a slave or sell him as a slave to others, was by the law of Moses punished with death, (Exod. 21. 16; Deut. 24. 7,) which the Jewish writers inform us was inflicted by strangling. The practice was likewise forbidden among the Greeks, and was condemned by the Flavian law among the Romans.

Bishop Horsley, in one of his speeches in the House of Lords, observes, "The New Testament contains an express reprobation of the slave-trade by name, as sinful in a very high degree. St. Paul having spoken of persons that were lawless and disobedient, ungodly and sinners, unholy and profane, proceeds to specify and distinguish the several characters and descriptions of men to whom he applies these very general epithets; and they are these, 'Murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers, man-slayers, men-stealers.'. . . . This text condemns and prohibits the slave-trade in one at least of its most productive modes. But I go further; I maintain that this text, rightly interpreted, condemns and prohibits the slave-trade generally in all its modes; it ranks the slavetrade in the descending scale of crime, next after parricide and homicide. The original word, which the English Bible gives men-stealers, is avdρamodioral. Our translators have taken the word in its restricted sense which it bears in the Attic law; in which the dikη avôρaπodioμov was a criminal prosecution for the specific crime of kidnapping, the penalty of which was death. But the phraseology of the Holy Scriptures, especially in the preceptive part, is a popular phraseology, and avoрaπоdiorns, in its popular sense, is a person who deals in men,' literally, a slave-trader. That is, the English word literally and exactly corresponding to the Greek.".... "The Greek word is so explained by the learned grammarian Eustathius, and by other grammarians of the first authority. Although the Athenians scrupled not to possess themselves of slaves, yet the trade in slaves among them was infamous."

'

Dr. Bloomfield says, "By avdрaπodioтais, the best commentators are agreed is meant those who kidnapped and sold into slavery free persons. Now this was regarded by the law as felony of the deepest dye, and was always punished with death. And as all the crimes here mentioned are of the most heinous kind, and as

Mene, Number,

THE INSCRIPTION.

Tekel,

Mene,
Peres, Upharsin.
Number, Weight, Division, and Division.

THE INTERPRETATION. MENE "God hath numbered thy reign." MENE-"hath finished it." The repetition emphatically signifying that the decree was certain, and should shortly come to pass. (See Gen. 41. 32.)

TEKEL-“Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting." (See Job 31. 6; Rev. 6. 5.)

PERES-" Thy kingdom is divided.”

(UPHARSIN)-"And given to the Mede and the Persian." (Darius and Cyrus.)

See BELSHAZZAR.

MENI, is the name of an idol mentioned in the original of Isaiah 65. 11. In our version the text reads, "But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offerings unto that number.” The margin gives for "troop," Gad, and for "number," Meni. Professor Jahn says, "Perhaps Gad is the goddess of fortune, Sept. TUXn, for the word in the Syriac dialect means fortune, and Meni is fate, from

manah, to number, to define, or perhaps the idol known under the Arabic word Manah, which was formerly worshipped by the tribes Hudeil and Choraa, between Mecca and Medina, before the time of Mohammed."

The prophet Isaiah reproaches the idolatrous Jews with setting up a table to Gad, and with making libations to Meni; and Jerome, in his remarks on the passage here quoted, observes that it was the custom as late as his time, in all cities, especially in Egypt, to set tables before the gods, and furnish them with various luxurious articles of food, and with goblets containing a mixture of new wine, on the last day of the month and of the year, and that the people drew omens from them in respect to the fruitfulness of the year; but in honour of what god these things were done he does not state.

Numerous examples of this practice occur on the monuments of Egypt; and we may quote Sir John Gardner Wilkinson's account of them, as the best illustration of the idolatrous practices charged upon the apostate Israelites: he informs us, these offerings "are not only introduced upon the altars themselves, but are enumerated in lists or catalogues, sculptured in the temples and tombs, some of which specify the day and month on which they were dedicated to the deity. In offering incense, the king held in one hand the censer,

and with the other threw balls or pastiles of incense into the flame. Then, addressing the god before whose statue he stood, with a suitable prayer, to invoke his aid and favour, he begged him to accept the incense he presented; in return for which the deity granted him ‘a long, pure, and happy life,' with other favours accorded by the gods to men. On some occasions, two censers of incense were offered, and several oxen, birds, and other consecrated gifts, were placed on the altar. And that it was customary to present several of the same kind is shown by the ordinary formula of the presentation, which says, ‘I give you a thousand (that is, many) cakes, a thousand vases of wine, a thousand head of oxen, a thousand geese, a thousand vestments, a thousand censers of incense, a thousand libations, a thousand boxes of ointment.' The cakes were of various kinds. Many were round, oval, or triangular, and others had the edges folded over, like the fateerah of the present day. They also assumed the shape of leaves, or the form of an animal, a crocodile's head, or some capricious figure; and it was frequently customary to sprinkle (particularly round and oval cakes) with seeds. White and red wines, those of the Upper and Lower country, grape-juice, or wine of the vineyard, (one of the most delicious beverages of a hot climate, and one which is commonly used in Spain and other countries at the present day,) were the most noted denominations introduced into the lists of offerings on the monuments. Beer and milk were also admitted amongst them; and oils of various kinds, for which Egypt was famous, were presented as welcome offerings at the shrines of the gods.

"Of fruits, the sycamore, fig, and grapes were the most esteemed for the service of the altar. They were presented on baskets or trays, frequently covered with leaves to keep them fresh, and sometimes the former were represented placed in such a manner, on an open basket, as to resemble the hieroglyphic signifying wife.' "Ointment was presented in different ways, according to the ceremony in which it was offered. It was placed before the deity in vases of alabaster or other materials as a gift, which he was represented to receive with the promise of a suitable return to the donor, the name of the god to whom it was vowed being engraved upon the vases that contained it. Sometimes the king or priest took out a certain portion to anoint the statue of the deity, which was done with the little finger of the right hand. Ointment often formed part of a large donation, and always entered into the list of those things which constituted the complete set of offerings; and the various kinds of sweet-scented ointments used by the Egyptians were liberally offered at the shrines of the gods."

MEPHIBOSHETH, л (1Chron., 9. 40,) was a son of Jonathan, whose proper name was by Meribbaal. Mephibosheth was very young when his father was killed in the battle of Gilboa, (2Sam. 4. 4,) and his nurse was in such consternation at the news that she let the child fall, who from this accident was lame all his life. When David found himself in peaceable possession of the kingdom, he sought for all that remained of the house of Saul, that he might show them kindness in consideration of the friendship between him and Jonathan; and Mephibosheth was put in possession of all the property of his family, and entertained in David's house the remainder of his life. (2Sam. 9. 9-13.) By the treachery of his steward Ziba he was afterwards deprived of his estates, (2Sam. 16. 1-4,) but he cleared himself from the charge of disloyalty, and remained, most probably, the king's guest as before. (2Sam. 19. 24-39.)

MERAB, the eldest daughter of Saul, (1Sam. 14. 49,) was promised to David in marriage, in reward for his victory over Goliath; but was given to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite. (1 Sam. 18. 17,19.)

MERCHANT. As commerce in the East has ever been conducted as at present by large caravans, which purchase the productions of one country and proceed with them to distant parts for sale, it is not surprising that the Hebrew word sochir, which our translators have rendered "merchant," (Gen. 23. 16; 37.28.) should mean properly a travelling merchant. The Scriptures do not afford us any example of trade more ancient than those caravans of the Ishmaelites and Midianites to whom Joseph was sold by his brethren. These men were on their return from Gilead, with their camels laden with spices, and other rich articles of merchandise, which they were carrying into Egypt; where doubtless they produced a great return from the quantities consumed in that country for embalming the bodies of the dead. From the circumstance of their purchasing Joseph, it seems that their traffic was not confined to the commodities furnished by Gilead. Dr. Vincent remarks, “Here upon opening the oldest history in the world, we find the Ishmaelites from Gilead conducting a caravan loaded with the spices of India, the balsam and myrrh of Hadramaut; and in the regular course of their traffic proceeding to Egypt for a market. The date of this transaction is more than seventeen centuries before the Christian æra, and notwithstanding its antiquity, it has all the genuine features of a caravan crossing the desert at the present hour."

Under the head COMMERCE we have already briefly pointed out the chief features of the commerce of the ancient world, to which we may here add a few further particulars respecting Egypt and its mercantile transactions.

Dr. Vincent terms the Egyptians, the Chinese of antiquity, and the term seems well applied. In the above text, (Gen. 37. 25,) we see a caravan of foreigners proceeding to Egypt, their camels laden with articles of luxury; whence it may be inferred that Egypt had then become, what it is always recorded to have been, the centre of an extensive land commerce: the great emporium to which the merchants brought gold, ivory, and slaves from Ethiopia, incense from Arabia, spices from India, and wine from Phoenicia and Greece; for which Egypt gave in exchange its corn, its manufactures of fine linen, its vestments, and its carpets. In subsequent periods, the merchants of the West, of Greece and of Rome, resorted to Egypt for its own products, and for the goods brought thither by the Oriental merchants. But none of this appears to have been done by the Egyptians themselves. "They waited," says Goguet, after Strabo, "till other nations brought them the things they stood in need of, and they did this with the more tranquillity, as the great fertility of their country in those times left them few things to desire. It is not at all surprising that a people of such principles did not apply themselves to navigation until very late."

We learn incidentally from the prophet Nahum that the sea was usually regarded rather as a defence to Egypt, than as a means of communication with foreign nations. In his denunciation against Nineveh, he asks, "Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity: her young chil

MERCHANT

dren also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains." (Nahum 3. 8-10.) The commerce of Egypt appears to have been chiefly conducted by foreigners: the trade with Central Asia, and perhaps with India, was carried on by the Ishmaelites, and other wandering tribes of the Arabian peninsula; and the navigation of the Red Sea seems to have attracted little attention before the age of Ptolemy, for the Egyptians appear to have abandoned it to whatever people cared to exercise it. They allowed the Phonicians, the Edomites, the Jews, the Syrians, successively to have fleets there, and maritime stations on its shores. In the reign of Amasis, the sacred Nile was first opened to the foreign merchants, and Naucratis, a city of Lower Egypt, on the Canopic arm of the Nile, near the site afterwards occupied by Alexandria, was assigned to such Greek traders as chose to settle in Egypt. The commercial states of Greece were likewise permitted to found temples or sanctuaries in certain places for the accommodation of their travelling merchants, and which might also serve as marts for the merchandise which they should send into Egypt.

It does not appear that the Egyptians themselves were a people given to maritime commerce. The Greek rulers of Egypt changed the entire system of Egyptian trade, and the new capital, Alexandria, became the first mart of the world, while the ancient inland capital, which had risen under an earlier system, sunk into insignificance; but it was the Greeks of Egypt and not the Egyptians who did this. "They became," says Dr. Vincent, "the carriers of the Mediterranean, as well as the agents, factors, and importers of Oriental produce; and so wise was the new policy and so deep had it taken root, that the Romans, upon the subjection of Egypt, found it more expedient to leave Alexandria in possession of its privileges, than to alter the course of trade, or occupy it themselves."

The geographical situation of Egypt, centrally placed as it were between the Eastern and the Western world, and the navigability of the Nile for so large an extent of its course, gave advantages to the country in making it the seat of commerce rarely equalled. All the various commodities the Egyptians required were not imported or fetched by them-they were brought to them; and in like manner the corn, for which such goods were exchanged, was sent for by those nations who had equivalents to render. Thus ancient Egypt must have been an immense market: so essentially was it the granary of the old world, that the inhabitants were not compelled to send their produce to foreign markets, but quietly waited till necessity drove purchasers to fetch it.

Sir John Gardner Wilkinson observes, " In the infancy of her existence as a nation, Egypt was contented with the pursuits of agriculture; but in process of time, the advancement of civilisation and refinement led to numerous inventions, and to improvements in the ordinary necessaries of life; and she became, at length, the first of nations in manufactures, and famed amongst foreigners for the excellence of her fine linen, her cotton and woollen stuffs, cabinet-work, porcelain, glass, and numerous branches of industry. That Egypt should be more known abroad for her manufactures than for her agricultural skill might be reasonably expected, in consequence of the exportation of those commodities in which she excelled, and the ignorance of foreigners respecting the internal condition of a country from which they were excluded by the jealousy of the natives; though judging from the scanty information imparted to us by the Greeks, who, in later times, had opportunities of examining the valley of the Nile, it appears that we

have as much reason to blame the indifference of strangers who visited the country, as the exclusiveness of the Egyptians. The Greeks, however, confessed the early advancement of the Egyptians in agriculture as well as mechanical pursuits; and Diodorus is evidently of opinion that, with colonisation, the knowledge of husbandry and various institutions were carried from Egypt into Greece." Sir John Gardner Wilkinson elsewhere notices the Chinese vases recently discovered in Egypt; but we agree with most of those who have investigated the subject, that they were probably imported by Arab merchants in the age of the Caliphs.

With one more notice, which affords a lively illustration of a passage of Scripture, (James 4.13,) this article may close.

Roberts informs us, "The merchants of the East have ever been famous for their trading peregrinations; and often are we reminded of the 'company of Ishmaelites (who) came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. See the young adventurer; he has received a certain sum from his father, and goes to another town, where he has relations or friends, and he cautiously commences his business; he never loses sight of frugality; and should he, in the course of a few years, have gained a competency, he returns to his native place, there to husband out his days. But should he not prosper, he goes to another town, for his affairs are so arranged in reference to rents and other matters, he finds no difficulty in removing. But another trader will not thus settle; he carries in two or three bags various spices (which are needed by every family,) and gums and drugs, or cloth and silk, and muslins, or jewels, or precious stones, and, after a year or so, he returns with the proceeds of his journey.” This sort of wandering life must have been customary in the time of the Apostles, as in the above-mentioned passage we read, "Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain."

MERCURY, 'Epμns, in heathen mythology, the son of Jupiter and Maia, was the fabled patron of eloquence, on which account the people of Lystra supposed St. Paul to be Mercury in disguise. (Acts 14. 12.) Mercury was usually represented as an active young man. The people, therefore, being determined to consider that Paul and Barnabas were gods, it was natural enough that they should regard Paul, he being the younger and more eloquent of the two, as Mercury. According to Cicero, the Greeks reckoned in their mythology five Mercuries: "One the son of Heaven and the Day. Another of Valens and Phoronis, the same who is beneath the earth and called Trophonius. A third, the son of the third Jupiter and Maia. A fourth, the son of the Nile, whom the Egyptians consider it unlawful to name. A fifth worshipped by the Pheneatæ, who is said to have slain Argus, and on that account to have fled to Egypt, and to have given laws and letters to the Egyptians. He was styled by them Thoyth, and bore the same name as the first month of their year." the two last," Sir John Gardner Wilkinson observes, "the former was probably Anubis, whom, in his mysterious office connected with Osiris and the final judgment of the dead, it may have been unlawful to mention; and the latter, the ibis-headed deity Thoth, in his character of the dispenser of intellectual gifts to man and the god of letters. According to the fabulous account of the Egyptian Mercury, Diodorus Siculus says, 'he was reported to have invented letters, regu

"Of

lated the languages, given names to many things, and taught men the proper mode of approaching the Deity with prayers and sacrifice. He instructed them in the system of the stars, and the harmony and nature of voices. He was the inventor of the palæstra and of the lyre, to which he gave three strings, in accordance with the three seasons of the Egyptian year; the treble to correspond to summer, the bass to winter the tenor to spring. He was the patron of elocution whence called Hermes, the interpreter, by the Greeks. In the sacred rites of Osiris he was represented as the scribe of the Deity, and his counsellor; and it was to him that the Egyptians supposed mankind indebted for the olive, and not to Minerva, as is the opinion of the Greeks.' He was distinct from the Mercury who ushered the souls of the dead into the region of Hades, and also from Hermes Trismegistus."

MERCY-SEAT, kapporeth; Sept. Xaornplav eтionμa. (Exod. 25. 17.) This was the lid, or cover of the ark of the covenant, of the same breadth and length as the ark itself, and made of the purest gold. Över it, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned towards each other, and inclined a little to the mercy-seat.

St. Paul, by applying the term aσrnptov to Christ, (Rom. 3. 25,) as one who makes propitiation, assures us He is the true mercy-seat, the reality of what the kapporeth represented to the ancient believers; by Him our sins are covered or expiated, and through Him God communes with us in mercy. The mercy-seat also represents our approach to God through Christ; by whom we come to the "throne of grace," which designation is only a varying of the term "mercy-seat." See ARK OF THE COVENANT; TABERNACLE.

:

MERIBAH, 7 was the name given to a spring in the desert of Sin, where the Israelites contended against God. In this place the people, forgetful, in the agonies of thirst, of the mercies of God which they had experienced, began to murmur so loudly against Moses and Aaron, that, unless immediate relief were afforded, it appeared probable they would be stoned by the now fierce multitude. Moses cried to God, who told him to take the elders of the people with him as witnesses, and smite with his rod a rock in Horeb, from which streams of water should then miraculously flow to give drink to the people. From the discontent and murmuring of the people, the place was called DD Massah and Meribah; Sept. IIeipaopos кaι Λοιδορησις, Aoidoprois, that is, "temptation and contention." (Exod. 17. 7.) Here also the Amalekites, a wild marauding tribe, surrounded them; or, according to Josephus, a confederacy of all the sheikhs of the desert made a determined effort to exterminate them, as invaders of their territory; so that their courage and fortitude, as well as their faith and patience, were put to the test. But," the sacred historian informs us, "Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah nissi," that is, the Lord my banner. (Exod. 17. 8,13,16.)

....

Tradition points out the scene of the miracle. M. Dumas, in his Travels in Egypt and Sinai, informs us, "At the foot of Sinai, in the valley which separates it from the mountain of St. Catherine, we found the rock from which Moses made the water flow. The rock which Moses struck with his rod, and from the sides of which the miraculous waters flowed, is a granite block, about twelve feet high, in the form of a pentagonal

prism, overturned and lying on its side. Large traces, which seem hollowed by the flowing of the water, form a kind of perpendicular canals, whilst five holes, placed in a horizontal direction one above the other, mark the miraculous mouths by which God responded to his people. The rock of Horeb, for that was the name given to it by Jehovah, appears to have been detached by some volcanic shock from the base which it occupied, and it would doubtless have fallen to the bottom of the valley, if the platform on which it reposes had not arrested its course. As it is completely isolated, it is easy to make its circuit, for it is only attached to the ground by its base. Within a few paces of the rock a chapel has been built, and a garden planted, to which they bring the superfluous earth from the garden of the convent. At a certain season of the year, a monk and some domestics come hither to enjoy the pleasures of country life. The chapel is poor, and drought has cleft its walls; the interior partitions are covered with small modern Greek paintings; a few more ancient go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century; all have a great character of simplicity, and present to our view that beauteous type which the painters and mosaists of Byzantium have given to the face of Christ." Mr. Carne says, the rock of Meribah" still bears striking the midst of a narrow valley, which is here about two evidence of the miracle about it, and is quite isolated in hundred yards broad. There are four or five fissures, one above the other, on the face of the rock, each of them about a foot and a half long, and a few inches deep. What is remarkable, they run along the breadth of the rock, and are not rent downwards; they are more than a foot asunder, and there is a channel worn between The Arabs still

them by the gushing of the water. reverence the rock, and stuff shrubs into the holes, that when any of their camels are sick, they may eat of them and recover." See HOREB; SINAI.

MERODACH, 777 was the name of an idol of the Babylonians. (Jerem. 50. 2.) The prophet, speaking of the ruin of Babylon, says, "Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces: her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces." It is likewise compounded with other words to form proper names, as Evil Merodach, Merodach Baladan. See BALADAN.

MEROM, Di Me-Merom, was a place where Joshua defeated Jabin and his allies, and "left none of them remaining." (Josh. 11. 5,7,8.) The waters of Merom are generally supposed to be the lake, afterwards called Zauoxwviris, Samochonitis, which lies between the head of the river Jordan and the sea of Tiberias. According to Josephus, it is thirty furlongs broad, and sixty furlongs in length, and its marshes extend to the place called Daphne, where the Jordan issues from it. Reland conjectures that, for Daphne, in this passage of Josephus, we ought to read Dan, as there is no mention of any place called Daphne in this vicinity, and Daphne near Antioch was far distant from the waters of Merom. The lake, which is now called Bahr-el-Houle, is situated in the midst of a wide and solitary plain, and along the brink, and in the shallow parts, is covered with reeds and rushes. The waters are muddy, and reputed unwholesome. The lake, however, contains fish. The shores of the lake are uninhabited, except two or three villages on its eastern border.

Some commentators think that the "waters of Merom" cannot mean the lake Houle, but perhaps the river Kishon in the plain of Esdraelon; because the lake

MEROZ, was a city in the northern part of Palestine, whose inhabitants refusing to come to the assistance of their brethren when they fought with Sisera, were put under an anathema. (Judges 5. 23.) Eusebius and Jerome say it is the same as Merrus, twelve miles from the city of Sebaste (Samaria), near Dothaim; but modern travellers have discovered a village called Mezra, which they consider to represent the

ancient Meroz, at the distance of twenty-two miles north of Samaria.

MESHA, NUD was a frontier place of Arabia, inhabited by the posterity of Joktan, (Gen. 10. 30,) whose real locality has been much disputed. On the supposition that the eastern boundary is intended, it is most properly compared with the Mesene of the ancients, now Maishan and Moshan, two cities in the country of Bassora, whence the Syrians call the country along the Tigris and Euphrates below Seleucia, on the Persian gulf, Maishon. Some suppose it was Musa, a port on the Red Sea, and others the celebrated Mecca, to which such multitudes of Mohammedans used annually to go on pilgrimage, and which was anciently called Mesha. Any satisfactory determination seems hopeless.

MESHACH, D (Dan. 1. 7,) was the name given to Mishael, one of the three Hebrew youths, by the prince of the eunuchs, at Babylon. The circumstance may be explained with reference to the general custom, in ancient times, of changing the native names of foreign slaves. It is uncertain whether the Chaldæans had any particular ideas concerning the names they gave to their slaves and captives; but we know that the Athenians were very careful that their slaves should not bear names accounted dignified or respectable. They commonly gave them short names, rarely of more than two syllables, probably that they might be the more easily and quickly pronounced when called by their masters; and hence, when a slave became free, he changed his name again, taking care that his new name should be a long one. We find that Daniel continued to call himself by his native name; and it is most probable that the Hebrew captives did not among themselves acknowledge those names which their masters imposed.

MESHECH, Sept. Mooox; Vulg. Mosoch, (Gen. 10.2,) was the sixth son of Japheth, and is generally mentioned in conjunction with his brother Tubal; both were settled in the north-eastern portion of Asia Minor, from the shores of the Euxine along to the south of Caucasus, where in after-times existed a trace of the name of Meshech, in the Moshian mountains, between Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis. Here dwelt the Iberi, Tibareni, and Moschi. There appears also to have been in the same vicinity a river and country termed Rosh, and a people called Rhossi. The passage in Ezekiel 38. 2, which is rendered in our version, "the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal," is in the Septuagint, "the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal." These Rhossi and Moschi, who were neighbours in Asia, and are mentioned together by Herodotus, are believed to have dispersed their colonies jointly over the vast plains to the north, now forming the empire of Russia. The description which Ezekiel

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gives of the countries of Tubal and Meshech, when he says, ch. 27. 13, "They traded the persons of men, and vessels of brass," agrees most exactly with the statements of the classical writers respecting the country of Cappadocia, a part of the region occupied by them, the traffic in slaves having been extensively carried on there, and the region abounding with brass (copper) of the best quality. These families penetrating into Scythia, peopled the district north; hence the prophet Ezekiel connects them with Magog.

;Aram Naharaim ארם נהרים,MESOPOTAMIA

Sept. MecоTTотaua, Syria of the two rivers, (Judges 3. 8,) was the land or country between the Tigris and Euphrates. (Gen. 24. 10.) In Scripture this country is often called Aram and Aramea, as Aram also signifies Syria, the whole region being so called because it was first peopled by Aram, the fifth son of Shem. It was sometimes called Padan-Aram, (Gen. 28. 2,) or Sedan-Aram, the fields of Aram, to distinguish it from the barren or uncultivated mountains of the same country; and in after-times Mesopotamia Syriæ, because it was inhabited by the Aramæans, or Syrians. This country is celebrated in Scripture, under the name of the Land of Shinar, (Gen. 11. 2,) as the first dwelling of men after the deluge; and it gave birth to Phaleg, Heber, Terah, Abraham, Nahor, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, and the sons of Jacob, as well as to Balaam, the son of Beor.

According to Ptolemy, Mesopotamia had on the north a part of Armenia, on the west the Euphrates on the side of Syria, on the east the Tigris on the borders of Assyria, and on the south the Euphrates, which joined the Tigris. Babylon was in the ancient Mesopotamia, till, by vast labour and industry, the two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, were reunited in one channel. This country was fertile in vines, and afforded abundance of good wine. Great numbers of Jews remained here after Cyrus gave them liberty to return to their own country, and some Jews or proselytes from Mesopotamia were at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2. 9.) Mesopotamia was a satrapy under the Grecian kings of Syria. affords many particulars of the modern state of this Mr. Buckingham, in his Travels in Mesopotamia, country, and Mr. Ainsworth, in his recent Researches in Babylonia, &c., gives the general physical features of Taurus, and of the plains of Mesopotamia and Syria, together with their geological formations. A modern traveller informs us, "On the fifth or sixth day after leaving Aleppo, we arrived at the city of Diarbeker, the capital of the province of that name; having passed over an extent of country of between three and four hundred miles, most of it blessed with the greatest fertility, and abounding with as rich pastures as I ever beheld, covered with numerous herds and flocks. The air was charmingly temperate in the day-time, but, to my feeling, extremely cold at night. Yet, notwithstanding the extreme fertility of this country, the bad administration of the government, combined with the indolence of the inhabitants, leaves it unpeopled and uncultivated. Diarbeker Proper, called also Mesopotamia, from its lying between two famous rivers, and by Moses called Padan-Aram, that is, the Fruitful Syria, abounds with corn, wine, oil, fruits, and all the necessaries of life. It is supposed to have been the seat of the earthly Paradise; and all geographers agree that here the descendants of Noah settled immediately after the Flood. To be treading that ground which Abraham trod, where Nahor, the father of Rebekah, lived, where holy Job breathed the pure air of piety and simplicity, and where