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MenstruationAid to Bible Understanding
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her, presenting one of these creatures to Jehovah as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.—Lev. 15:19-30; see CLEAN, CLEANNESS.
CONSIDERATENESS
If a man and a woman deliberately cohabited during her menstrual impurity, they were cut off in death. (Lev. 18:19; 20:18) The prohibiting of sexual union during menstruation probably contributed to health, perhaps preventing, for instance, the occurrence of inflammation in the genital area, simple urethritis. The Israelites also may have been reminded of the sanctity of blood by the Law’s regulations involving menstruation or blood flow. These rules were not discriminatory against women, for men were subject to uncleanness by discharges to which they were prone. (Lev. 15:1-17) Especially did regulations concerning menstruation show Jehovah’s consideration for womankind. The Christian husband, though he is not under the Law (Rom. 6:14; Eph. 2:11-16), also does well to consider his wife’s cycles and vicissitudes, dwelling with her “according to knowledge” and assigning her honor “as to a weaker vessel, the feminine one.”—1 Pet. 3:7.
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MenuhothAid to Bible Understanding
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MENUHOTH
(Me·nuʹhoth) [the resting-places].
According to the Masoretic text, apparently a Judean family descended through Shobal. (1 Chron. 2:4, 52) But some scholars prefer emending the Hebrew text to read “the Manahathites,” as in verse 54. (JB, Mo) And a Jewish commentary on Chronicles (Soncino Books of the Bible, p. 15) gives the alternate reading “who supervised half of the resting-places” and notes: “Shobal was in charge of half the caravan stations in the land of Judah.”
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Meonenim, Big Tree ofAid to Bible Understanding
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MEONENIM, BIG TREE OF
(Me·onʹe·nim) [those practicing magic].
A tree within sight of Shechem, passed by a band of King Abimelech’s men before their fight with the landowners of that city. (Judg. 9:34-37) “Big tree of Meonenim” translates the Hebrew words ʼe·lohnʹ meʽoh·nenimʹ. ʼE·lohnʹ means big trees in general and meʽoh-nenimʹ is a participle signifying “those practicing magic.” The tree may have been so named because Canaanites or apostate Israelites engaged in magical practices there. Some scholars also link the “big tree of Meonenim” with the “big trees of Moreh” that are similarly described as being in the vicinity of Shechem.—Compare Genesis 12:6; 35:4; Judges 9:6.
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MeonothaiAid to Bible Understanding
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MEONOTHAI
(Me·oʹno·thai) [my habitations].
A descendant of Judah who “became father to Ophrah,” being either the paternal ancestor of a person named Ophrah or the founder of a place bearing that name.—1 Chron. 4:1, 14.
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MephaathAid to Bible Understanding
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MEPHAATH
(Mephʹa·ath) [possibly, splendor].
A city originally assigned to the Reubenites but subsequently granted to the Merarite Levites. (Josh. 13:15, 18; 21:34, 36, 37; 1 Chron. 6:77-79) In Jeremiah’s day, about eight centuries later, Mephaath was under Moabite control. (Jer. 48:21, 24) The city is usually identified with modern Jawah, about seven miles (11 kilometers) S of Amman (Rabbah). Nearby Khirbet Nefaʽa may preserve some echo of the ancient name.
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MephiboshethAid to Bible Understanding
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MEPHIBOSHETH
(Me·phibʹo·sheth) [one who scatters or disperses shame, or, idol breaker].
1. One of King Saul’s two sons by Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. (2 Sam. 21:8) He was among the seven descendants of Saul that David gave to the Gibeonites to atone for Saul’s attempt to annihilate them. The Gibeonites exposed Mephibosheth and the six other members of Saul’s household “on the mountain before Jehovah,” after putting them to death “in the first days of the harvest, at the start of the barley harvest.” (Compare Numbers 25:4.) However, Rizpah acted to keep the fowls and wild beasts away from them, and David later had their bones gathered and buried with those of Saul and Jonathan in the burial place of Kish.—2 Sam. 21:1-14.
2. Son of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul. When the report about the deaths of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, Mephibosheth’s nurse began to carry the five-year-old boy and flee in panic. At that time he “had a fall and was lamed” in both feet. (2 Sam. 4:4) For some years thereafter, Mephibosheth lived in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel at Lo-debar. David learned this from Ziba, a former servant in Saul’s house. Doubtless remembering his covenant with Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:12-17, 42), David wished to exercise loving-kindness toward anyone “left over of the house of Saul.” Mephibosheth was brought before David and when the king explained that it was his desire to exercise loving-kindness toward Mephibosheth by returning to him “all the field of Saul” and by having him “eat bread at my table constantly,” Mephibosheth responded humbly: “What is your servant, that you have turned your face to the dead dog such as I am?” However, in keeping with David’s determination in the matter, Ziba (who had fifteen sons and twenty servants) and all those dwelling in his house became servants to Mephibosheth, who was given Saul’s property. He thereafter resided in Jerusalem and constantly ate at the table of the king.—2 Sam. chap. 9.
When David fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom’s conspiracy, he was met by Ziba, who provided him with supplies. Answering David’s inquiries as to the whereabouts of Mephibosheth, Ziba said: “There he is dwelling in Jerusalem; for he said: ‘Today the house of Israel will give back to me the royal rule of my father.’” At that, the king told Ziba: “Look! Yours is everything that belongs to Mephibosheth.” (2 Sam. 16:1-4) Mephibosheth came to meet David upon the king’s return to Jerusalem, the account saying “he had not attended to his feet nor had he attended to his mustache nor had he washed his garments from the day that the king went away until the day that he came in peace.” When David asked why Mephibosheth had not gone with him, Mephibosheth gave the explanation that his servant had tricked him and also said: “So he slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of the true God” (that is, he would see the matter in its true light). David evidently recognized Mephibosheth’s innocence, altering his first decree by saying: “You and Ziba should share in the field.” To this Mephibosheth replied: “Let him even take the whole, now that my lord the king has come in peace to his house.”—2 Sam. 19:24-30; compare Proverbs 18:17; 25:8-10.
When the Gibeonites sought the death of Saul’s descendants to atone for that king’s evil attempt against them, David felt compassion for Mephibosheth because of the oath of Jehovah between David and Jonathan and spared Mephibosheth. (2 Sam. 21:7, 8) The Scriptures provide no further information about Mephibosheth, though Saul’s family continued in existence to a later generation through Mephibosheth’s son Mica (Micah). (2 Sam. 9:12; 1 Chron. 9:39-44) Evidently Mephibosheth also had the name Merib-baal, as 1 Chronicles 8:34 and 9:40 would indicate.
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MerabAid to Bible Understanding
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MERAB
(Meʹrab) [probably, increase].
The older of King Saul’s two daughters. (1 Sam. 14:49) Saul had evidently promised to give one of them in marriage to the man who would defeat Goliath (1 Sam. 17:25) and it may have been for that reason that he offered Merab to David. After his encounter with Goliath, David proved to be a prudent and successful fighter against the Philistines, so much so that Saul “was scared of him,” while the people of Israel and Judah loved him. (1 Sam. 18:15, 16) In offering Merab to David as a wife, Saul urged him on to continued valor, while thinking to himself, “Do not let my hand come to be upon him, but let the hand of the
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