the Chaldean’s messengers was roundly condemned by the prophet Isaiah as presaging eventual conquest of Judah by Babylon.—Isa. 39:2-7.

DEFEATED BY ASSYRIA

Toward the close of his rule of approximately twelve years over Babylon, Merodach-baladan saw his main support from Elam cut off by an Assyrian victory over that kingdom, and thereafter he was attacked and forced to flee from Babylon. Despite losing Babylon to the Assyrians, Merodach-baladan appears to have been able to retain his position as ruler over Bit Yakin. The Babylonian King List shows a second reign of nine months (Polyhistor says six months) by “Mardukaplaiddin” as king of Babylon during the second year after Sargon’s death. This is generally accepted as referring to the same king, making a second effort to establish himself on the throne of Babylon. It is to be noted, however, that the Babylonian inscriptions in this case refer to him as “Mardukaplaiddin, a native of Habi,” in contrast with “Mardukaplaiddin, [of the] dynasty of the Sea Country,” in the case of the earlier reign. Some view this as implying two different individuals and hence The Encyclopædia Britannica (1946 ed., Vol. V, p. 655) lists them as “Merodachbaladan II” and “Merodachbaladan III.” Whatever is the case, this second reign was very short, as Assyrian King Sennacherib quickly occupied Babylon and Merodach-baladan had to seek refuge in Elam, where he seems to have ended his ambitious career. Despite Merodach-baladan’s failures, in later times the Chaldeans did become the dominant ethnic group in the Babylonian Empire.

MEROM, WATERS OF

(Merʹom) [a height, a high place].

It was here that the confederate Canaanite forces under Jabin the king of Hazor encamped before being defeated by Joshua. Probably for the first time the Israelites faced Canaanites equipped with horses and chariots, as may be inferred from Joshua’s receiving divine instructions then about burning the chariots and hamstringing the horses.—Josh. 11:1-9.

The identification of the “waters [Heb., meh] of Merom” is uncertain. They have long been associated with the former Lake Huleh, about ten and a half miles (17 kilometers) N of the Sea of Galilee. But many who reject that identification link the “waters of Merom” with a spring and a torrent valley (Wadi Meiron) near Meiron (about twelve miles [19 kilometers) S-SW of the Huleh Basin). Others favor a stream (Wadi ʽAuba) near Jebel Marun and N of Meiron. Both of these identifications agree with the Greek Septuagint rendering indicating that the battle took place “in the hill country.”—Josh. 11:7, Bagster.

If Merom was a region rather than a city, any of the aforementioned identifications or other waters in the area would fit the Bible account. One of the plains or level areas in this region could have accommodated the chariots.

MERONOTHITE

(Me·ronʹo·thite).

A designation applied to Jehdeiah and Jadon, apparently identifying them as inhabitants of Meronoth. (1 Chron. 27:30; Neh. 3:7) Some scholars locate Meronoth at Beituniyah, less than three miles (5 kilometers) NW of the suggested site of Gibeon.

MEROZ

(Meʹroz).

A place cursed by an angel for not coming “to the assistance of Jehovah.” (Judg. 5:23) It may be that the inhabitants of Meroz did not aid Jehovah’s designated commander Barak in the actual fight against the Canaanites under Sisera. (Judg. 5:5-16) Or, if Meroz lay on defeated Sisera’s escape route, perhaps its inhabitants failed to detain him. (Judg. 4:17) The fact that the Bible account next relates Jael’s courageous act in killing Sisera lends some support to the latter view. (Judg. 5:24-27) The angel pronouncing the curse possibly was one who fought for Israel.

Meroz’s exact location is unknown. Some tentatively place it at Khirbet Marus, less than six miles (10 kilometers) S of Kedesh in Naphtali.

MESHA

(Meʹsha) [Heb., Mei·shaʽʹ, deliverance].

1. Firstborn son of “Caleb the son of Hezron” of the tribe of Judah. Mesha was the father (or founder) of Ziph.—1 Chron. 2:18, 42.

2. King of Moab in the time of Kings Jehoshaphat of Judah and Ahab, Ahaziah and Jehoram of Israel. The Moabites, under subjugation to the northern kingdom of Israel, paid King Ahab a tribute of 100,000 lambs and 100,000 unshorn male sheep, apparently of a breed noted for their quality of wool. Following Ahab’s death, Mesha rebelled against Israel’s King Ahaziah. But Ahaziah died after a short rule and was succeeded by his brother Jehoram, who secured an alliance with Jehoshaphat of Judah and an unidentified king of Edom, in order to bring Mesha again under subjection. Taking a difficult route S of the Dead Sea, their forces ran out of water. But Elisha the prophet gave assurance that, if ditches were dug in the dried-up torrent valley, Jehovah would fill them with water.—2 Ki. 1:1; 3:4-19.

This occurred, and the reflection of the early morning sun upon the water made it look like blood to the Moabites, possibly due to red clay in the freshly cut ditches. The illusion deceived them into thinking the allied armies of Israel, Judah and Edom had turned on one another. It was not unreasonable for them to think this, in view of the fact that they knew of the jealousy between Israel and Judah. Also, the Edomites were no lovers of the men of Judah, who were allied with Israel on this occasion.—Compare 2 Chronicles 20:10, 11, 24, 25.

Thinking their enemies had slaughtered one another, the Moabites shouted: “So now, to the spoil, O Moab!” and entered the camp of Israel, only to be put to flight. Israel followed up by destroying the Moabite cities, stopping up their springs and filling their tracts of land with stones, until they got to the city of Kir-hareseth (Kir of Moab).—2 Ki. 3:20-25.

When King Mesha found himself trapped, he took seven hundred swordsmen and tried in a counterattack to break through to the king of Edom (perhaps because he thought that there he would meet with the weakest resistance), but he was unable to do so. “Finally he took his first-born son who was going to reign in place of him and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice upon the wall.”—2 Ki. 3:26, 27.

The majority of commentators agree that Mesha offered up his own son as a sacrifice to his god Chemosh. The few who think otherwise say it was a captured son of the king of Edom that was sacrificed, citing Amos 2:1 as evidence, where reference is made to Moab “burning the bones of the king of Edom for lime.” Though grammatically the Hebrew will allow for such an interpretation, this latter suggestion seems contrary to other known facts. For example, it was unheard of for Moabites and Ammonites, Israel’s neighbors, to offer up their enemies as sacrifices to their gods, but it was a known practice of their religion to offer their own children as burnt sacrifices to appease the anger of their gods. (Deut. 12:30, 31; Mic. 6:6, 7) It is therefore understandable why this Chemosh worshiper, Mesha, faced with imminent danger of defeat, would have resorted to such drastic measures.

THE MOABITE STONE

The “Moabite Stone” was discovered at Dhiban (Dibon) in 1868 and measures forty-four by twenty-eight by fourteen inches (112 by 71 by 36 centimeters). It is generally accredited to Mesha, and its contents are usually assigned to the period covered by the events recorded in the third chapter of Second Kings. In this famous inscription Mesha commemorates his breaking Israel’s domination, which he says lasted forty years. There are also various comments made therein about the places Mesha captured (Medeba, Ataroth, Nebo, Jahaz). In boasting of building cities and a highway, and being very religious, Mesha gives all the credit to the god Chemosh. Mesha also knew of Israel’s God Jehovah, for in the eighteenth line of this document the Tetragrammaton is found. There Mesha brags: “I took thence the vessels of Yahweh and I dragged them before Chemosh.” (The Bible and Archæology, Frederic Kenyon, 1940, p. 166) However, his own defeat and the sacrifice of his son are, expectedly, omitted.

3. [Heb., Mei·shaʼʹ]. A son of Shaharaim by his wife Hodesh. Mesha became head of a father’s house in the tribe of Benjamin.—1 Chron. 8:1, 8-10.

4. [Heb., Me·shaʼʹ]. One of the limits of the region inhabited by the descendants of Joktan. (Gen. 10:29, 30) The Greek Septuagint Version has translated the name “Mesha” as Mas·seʹ. For this reason “Mesha” is thought to be a variant spelling for “Massa,” the name of an Ishmaelite whose descendants appear to have settled in N Arabia.—Gen. 25:13, 14.

[Picture on page 1144]

The Moabite Stone

MESHACH

(Meʹshach).

The Babylonian name given by Nebuchadnezzar’s chief court official to Daniel’s companion Mishael. The meaning of this new name is uncertain, but is sometimes equated with “Who is what Aku is?” similar to Mishael (“Who is what God is?”). The new names given to Mishael and three other prominent captives apparently incorporated the names of Babylonian deities in place of Jehovah’s name or title.—Dan. 1:7.

MAINTAINS INTEGRITY AS YOUTH

Meshach (Mishael) was carried captive from Jerusalem to Babylon in 617 B.C.E. along with Jehoiachin and others. Mishael, Azariah, Hananiah and Daniel were then put through a three-year training course by the Babylonian royalty, at the end of which they proved superior even to the king’s counselors. (2 Ki. 24:1, 6, 8, 12-16; Dan. 1:1-7, 17-20) During this time these four remained firm in their devotion to God, even refusing to pollute themselves with the king’s delicacies.—Dan. 1:8-16.

There are three probable reasons why they considered the king’s delicacies ‘polluting’: (1) The Babylonians ate animals declared unclean by the Mosaic law; (2) they would not be careful to see that the animals were properly bled, some perhaps being strangled; (3) the pagans often first sacrificed the animals to their gods, considering the eating of such meat as a part of worship of these gods.—Compare 1 Corinthians 10:18-20, 28.

Later, after Daniel had been advanced to a high governmental position in the court of the king, Nebuchadnezzar, at Daniel’s request, appointed Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego over the administration of the jurisdictional district of Babylon.—Dan. 2:48, 49.

REFUSES TO BOW TO IMAGE

Meshach and his two companions again came to notice because of refusing, in sight of all the other government personnel, to bow down before the great image Nebuchadnezzar had built. With full faith in Jehovah, they told Nebuchadnezzar that they would not join in serving the king’s gods. As to whether their God chose to deliver them from the furnace, that made no difference; they would nonetheless maintain integrity to him rather than compromise for release. (Hebrews chapter 11 mentions those who “stayed the force of fire” and who would not “accept release by some ransom, in order that they might attain a better resurrection.” [Vss. 34, 35]) For their faith Jehovah preserved them by means of his angel. In fact, on their coming out, “the smell of fire itself had not come onto them.” Nebuchadnezzar, who had been so enraged that he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than customary before throwing the three men into it, now acknowledged their God as a deliverer. Furthermore, he commanded that anyone saying anything wrong against Meshach’s God should be dismembered and his house be made a public privy.—Dan. 3:1-30.

MESHECH

(Meʹshech) [a drawing out, or skinning].

1. One of the sons born after the Flood to Japheth, the son of Noah. (Gen. 10:2; 1 Chron. 1:5) The name evidently extended to his descendants and the land of their settlement. The prophet Ezekiel regularly mentions Meshech along with Tubal, indicating that they were located to the N of Palestine. They are described as exporting slaves and copper to Tyre and as being warlike and as either allies or subjects of ‘Gog of Magog’ in his prophesied vicious campaign against “the mountains of Israel.” (Ezek. 27:13; 32:26; 38:2, 3; 39:1, 2; see GOG No. 2.) Meshech is mentioned independently of Tubal at Psalm 120:5, evidently as representing an aggressive, barbarous people.

About a thousand years after the Flood Assyrian inscriptions begin to mention a people called the Mushku occupying an area in Asia Minor to the W of Assyria. Assyrian Emperors Tiglath-pileser I, Tukulti-Ninurta II, Ashurnasirpal II and Sargon all mention conflicts with them. The fact that the Mushku are frequently mentioned along with the Tabali (evidently the Biblical Tubal) gives reason for believing that the name Mushku derives from Meshech. Herodotus