THE AGES DIGITAL LIBRARY REFERENCE CYCLOPEDIA of BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL LITERATURE Merab - Metrophanes, Critopulus by James Strong & John McClintock To the Students of the Words, Works and Ways of God: Welcome to the AGES Digital Library. We trust your experience with this and other volumes in the Library fulfills our motto and vision which is our commitment to you: MAKING THE WORDS OF THE WISE AVAILABLE TO ALL — INEXPENSIVELY. AGES Software Rio, WI USA Version 1.0 © 2000 2 Me’rab (Hebrews Merlab’, brime, increase; Sept. Mero>b and Merw>b; Josephus Mero>bh, Ant. 6:6, 5), the eldest of the two daughters of king Saul (doubtless by his wife Ahinoam), and possibly the eldest child (<091449>1 Samuel 14:49). She first appears (BC. cir. 1062) after the victory over Goliath and the Philistines, when David had become an inmate in Saul’s house (<091802>1 Samuel 18:2), and immediately after the commencement of his friendship with Jonathan. In accordance with the promise which he made before the engagement with Goliath (17:25), Saul betrothed Merab to David (18:17), but it is evidently implied that one object of thus rewarding his valor was to incite him to further feats, which might at last lead to his death by the Philistines. David’s hesitation looks as if he did not much value the honor, although his language in ver. 18 may be only an Oriental form of self-depreciation (comp. <091823>1 Samuel 18:23; 25:42; <100908>2 Samuel 9:8); at any rate before the marriage Merab’s younger sister Michal had displayed her attachment for David, and Merab was then married to Adriel the Meholathite, who seems to have been one of the wealthy sheiks of the eastern part of Palestine, with whom the house of Saul always maintained an alliance. To Adriei she bore five sons, who formed five of the seven members of the house of Saul who were given up to the Gibeonites by David, and by them impaled as a propitiation to Jehovah on the sacred hill of Gibeah (<102108>2 Samuel 21:8). SEE RIZPAH. The Authorized Version of this passage is an accommodation, rendering hd;l]y;, “she brought up,” although it has “she bare” for the same Hebrew word in the previous part of the verse. The Hebrew text has “the five sons of Michal, daughter of Saul, which she bare to Adriel,” and this is followed in the Sept. and Vulgate. The Targum explains the discrepancy thus: “The five sons of Merab (which Michal, Saul’s daughter, brought up) which she bare,” etc. The Peshito substitutes Merab (in the present state of the text “ Nodob”) for Michal. J. H. Michaelis, in his Hebrew Bible (<102110>2 Samuel 21:10), suggests that there were two daughters of Saul named Michal, as there were two Elishamas and two Eliphalets among David’s sons. Probably the most feasible solution of the difficulty is that “Michal” is the mistake of a transcriber for “Merab;” but, if so, it is manifest from the agreement of the versions and of Josephus (Ant vii. 4,30) with the present text, that the error is one of very ancient date. SEE MICHAL. 3 Merai’ah (Hebrews Merayah’, t/yr;m], resistance; Sept. Ajmari>a v. r. Mare>a; Vulg. Maraja), a chief priest, the “son” of Seraiah, contemporary with the high-priest Joiakim (<161212>Nehemiah 12:12). BC. post 536. Merai’oth (Hebrews Merayoth’, twoyr;m], rebellions; Sept. Meraiw>q, Meraw>q, and Mariw>q v. r. Marih>l), the name of one or more leading priests. 1. The son of Zerahiah and father of Amariah, a high-priest of the line of Eleazar (<130606>1 Chronicles 6:6, 7, 52; <150703>Ezra 7:3). BC. considerably ante 1062. It was thought by Lightfoot that he was the immediate predecessor of Eli in the office of high-priest, and that at his death the high-priesthood changed from the line of Eleazar to the line of Ithamar (Temple Service, iv, § 1). In <130911>1 Chronicles 9:11; <161111>Nehemiah 11:11, his name appears to have become transposed between those of Zadok and Ahitub, instead of its proper place after the latter, as may be seen from <130606>1 Chronicles 6:6-12. SEE HIGH-PRI-EST. 2. A chief priest whose son Helkai was contemporary with the high-priest Joiakim (<161215>Nehemiah 12:15); doubtless identical with the MEREMOTH of ver. 3. Me’ran (MerjrJan,Vulg. Me-rrha), a place mentioned along with Theman as famous for its merchants and its wise men (Bar. 3:23). The association with the Hagarenes leads us to seek for Meran in Arabia. It may be Mohrah in Desert Arabia, or Marane, of which Pliny speaks (N. H. 6:28,32). Strabo (xvi. 4, p. 776) and Diodor. Sic. (iii. 43) also mention the Marani~tai. The conjecture of Grotinus that it is the Mearah mentioned in <061304>Joshua 13:4, and that of Havernick (De librno Baruch, p. 5) that it is the Syrian town Maarah, are mere guesses (comp. Fritzsche, Exeqet. Hdb. z. Apok. ad loc.).-Kitto. The suggestion of Hitzig (Psalmen, ii 119) that Meran is merely a corruption of “Medan” or “ Midian.” owing to the ready mistake: by a translator of d for r, is more plausible, although there is little evidence of a Hebrew original for this portion of Baruch. Junins and Tremellius give Medancei, and their conjecture is supported by the appearance of the Midianites as nomade merchants in Genesis 37, Both 4 Medan and Midian. are enumerated among the sons of Keturah in <012521>Genesis 25:21 and are closely connected with the Deaanim, whose “ travelling companies,” or caravans, are frequently alluded to (<232113>Isaiah 21:13; <262715>Ezekiel 27:15). Mera’ri (Hebrews Merari’, yrær;m], sad; Sept. Merari>), the youngest son of Levi, probably born in Canaan (<014611>Genesis 46:11; <020616>Exodus 6:16; <040317>Numbers 3:17; <130601>1 Chronicles 6:1). BC. 1874. Of Merari’s personal history, beyond the fact of his birth before the descent of Jacob into Egypt, and of his being one of the seventy who accompanied Jacob thither, we know nothing whatever (<014608>Genesis 46:8, 11). He became the head of the third great division (hj;P;v]mæ) of the Levites, whose designation in Hebrew is the same as that of their progenitor, only with the article prefixed, viz. yrær;M]hi, i.e. the Merarites (<020619>Exodus 6:19), who during the march through the desert had charge of the materials of the Tabernacle (<040336>Numbers 3:36; 4:30 sq.), for the transportation of which they were provided with four carts, each drawn by a yoke of oxen (<040708>Numbers 7:8). In Palestine they were assigned twelve trans-Jordanic cities for a residence (<062107>Joshua 21:7, 34 sq.). SEE MERARITE. Merari (Merari> v. r. Merarei>) was likewise the name of the. father of Judith (Judith 8:1; 16:7). Mera’rite (Hebrews same as Merari, Sept. Merari>, Auth. Vers. “ Merarites”), the patronymic title of the descendanlts of MERARI (<042657>Numbers 26:57). Their prominence among the Levitical families justifies a somewhat copious treatment of the subject. Picture for Merarite At the time of the exodus, and the numbering in the wilderness, the Merarites consisted of two families, the Mahlites and the Mushites, Mahli and Mushi being either the two sons or the son and grandson of Merari (<130619>1 Chronicles 6:19,47). Their chief at that time was Zuriel, and the whole number of the family, from a month old and upwards, was 6200; 5 those from thirty years old to fifty were 3200. Their charge was the boards, bars, pillars, cockets, pins, and cords of the Tabernacle and the court, and all the tools connected with setting them up. In the encampment their place was to the north of the Tabernacle, and both they and the Gershonites were “under the hand” of Ithamar, the son of Aaron. Owing to the heavy nature of the materials which they had to carry, four wagons and eight oxen were assigned to them; and in the march both they and the Gershonites followed immediately after the standard of Judah, and before that of Reuben, that they might set up the Tabernacle against the arrival of the Kohathites (<040320>Numbers 3:20,33-37; 4:29-33, 42-45; 7:8; 10:17, 21). In the division of the land by Joshua, the Merarites had twelve cities assigned to them, out of Reubenn Gad, and Zebulon, of which one was Ramoth-Gilead, a city of refuge, and in later times a frequent subject of war between Israel and Syria (<062107>Joshua 21:7, 34-40; <130663>1 Chronicles 6:63, 79-81). In the time of David Asaiah was their chief, and assisted with 220 of his family in bringing up the ark (<131506>1 Chronicles 15:6). Afterwards we find the Merarites still sharing with the two other Levitical families the various functions of their caste (<132306>1 Chronicles 23:6, 21-23). Thus a third part of the singers and musicians were Merarites, and Ethan or Jeduthun was their chief in the time of David. SEE JEDUTHUN. A third part of the door-keepers were Merarites (<132305>1 Chronicles 23:5, 6; 26:10,19), unless, indeed, we are to understand from ver. 19 that the door-keepers were all either Kohathites or Merarites, to the exclusion of the Gershonites, which does not seem probable.