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mizpah Summary and Overview

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mizpah in Easton's Bible Dictionary

or Miz'peh, watch-tower; the look-out. (1.) A place in Gilead, so named by Laban, who overtook Jacob at this spot (Gen. 31:49) on his return to Israel from Padan-aram. Here Jacob and Laban set up their memorial cairn of stones. It is the same as Ramath-mizpeh (Josh. 13:26). (2.) A town in Gilead, where Jephthah resided, and where he assumed the command of the Israelites in a time of national danger. Here he made his rash vow; and here his daughter submitted to her mysterious fate (Judg. 10:17; 11:11, 34). It may be the same as Ramoth-Gilead (Josh. 20:8), but it is more likely that it is identical with the foregoing, the Mizpeh of Gen. 31:23, 25, 48, 49. (3.) Another place in Gilead, at the foot of Mount Hermon, inhabited by Hivites (Josh. 11:3, 8). The name in Hebrew here has the article before it, "the Mizpeh," "the watch-tower." The modern village of Metullah, meaning also "the look-out," probably occupies the site so called. (4.) A town of Moab to which David removed his parents for safety during his persecution by Saul (1 Sam. 22:3). This was probably the citadel known as Kir-Moab, now Kerak. While David resided here he was visited by the prophet Gad, here mentioned for the first time, who was probably sent by Samuel to bid him leave the land of Moab and betake himself to the land of Judah. He accordingly removed to the forest of Hareth (q.v.), on the edge of the mountain chain of Hebron. (5.) A city of Benjamin, "the watch-tower", where the people were accustomed to meet in great national emergencies (Josh. 18:26; Judg. 20:1, 3; 21:1, 5; 1 Sam. 7:5-16). It has been supposed to be the same as Nob (1 Sam. 21:1; 22:9-19). It was some 4 miles north-west of Jerusalem, and was situated on the loftiest hill in the neighbourhood, some 600 feet above the plain of Gibeon. This village has the modern name of Neby Samwil, i.e., the prophet Samuel, from a tradition that Samuel's tomb is here. (See NOB T0002742.) Samuel inaugurated the reformation that characterized his time by convening a great assembly of all Israel at Mizpeh, now the politico-religious centre of the nation. There, in deep humiliation on account of their sins, they renewed their vows and entered again into covenant with the God of their fathers. It was a period of great religious awakening and of revived national life. The Philistines heard of this assembly, and came up against Israel. The Hebrews charged the Philistine host with great fury, and they were totally routed. Samuel commemorated this signal victory by erecting a memorial-stone, which he called "Ebenezer" (q.v.), saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7:7-12).

mizpah in Smith's Bible Dictionary

and Miz'peh (a watch-tower), the name of several places in Israel. 1. The earliest of all, in order of the narrative, is the heap of stones piled up by Jacob and Laban, #Ge 31:48| on Mount Gilead, ver. #Ge 31:25| to serve both as a witness to the covenant then entered into and as a landmark of the boundary between them. ver. #Ge 31:52| On this natural watch-tower did the children of Israel assemble for the choice of a leader to resist the children of Ammon. #Jud 10:17| There the fatal meeting took place between Jephthah and his daughter on his return from the war. ch. #Jud 11:34| It seems most probable that the "Mizpeh-gilead" which is mentioned here, and here only, is the same as the "ham-Mizpah" of the other parts of the narrative; and both are probably identical with the Ramath-mizpeh and Ramoth-gilead, so famous in the later history. 2. A second Mizpeh, on the east of Jordan, was the Mizpeh-moab, where the king of that nation was living when David committed his parents to his care. #1Sa 22:3| 3. A third was "the land of Mizpeh," or more accurately "of Mizpah," the residence of the Hivites who joined the northern confederacy against Israel, headed by Jabin king of Hazor. #Jos 11:3| No other mention is found of this district in the Bible, unless it be identical with -- 4. The valley of Mizpeh, to which the discomfited hosts of the same confederacy were chased by Joshua, #Jos 11:8| perhaps identical with the great country of Coele-Syria. 5. Mizpeh, a city of Judah, #Jos 15:38| in the district of the Shefelah or maritime lowland. 6. Mizpeh, in Joshua and Samuel; elsewhere Mizpah, a "city" of Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem. #Jos 18:26; 1Ki 15:22; 2Ch 16:6; Ne 3:7| It was one of the places fortified by Asa against the incursions of the kings of northern Israel, #1Ki 15:22; 2Ch 16:6; Jer 41:10| and after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the residence of the superintendent appointed by the king of Babylon, #Jer 40:7| etc., and the scene of his murder and of the romantic incidents connected with the name of Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. It was one of the three holy cities which Samuel visited in turn as judge of the people, #1Sa 7:6,16| the other two being Bethel and Gilgal. With the conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment there of the ark, the sanctity of Mizpah, or at least its reputation, seems to have declined. From Mizpah the city or the temple was visible. These conditions are satisfied by the position of Scopus, the broad ridge which forms the continuation of the Mount of Olives to the north and cast, from which the traveller gains, like Titus, his first view, and takes his last farewell, of the domes, walls and towers of the holy city.

mizpah in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

MIZ'PAH or MIZ'PEH (watch-tower), the name of several places in Palestine. 1. On Mount Gilead, also called Mizpeh of Gilead, Jud 11:29, and elsewhere probably Ramoth-mizpeh, Josh 13:26, and Ramoth-gilead, 1 Kgs 4:13 and elsewhere, the place where Laban and Jacob set up a heap of stones as a witness and landmark between them. Gen 31:23,Deut 23:25, Gen 24:48, 2 Kgs 5:52. Here also the Israelites assembled to fight against the Ammonites, Jud 10:17: and here Jephthah was met by his daughter. Jud 11:29. Some suppose that this was the place also where the tribes assembled to avenge the great sin committed in Benjamin, Jud 20:1, Num 1:3; Jud 21:1, Jud 21:5, Acts 21:8, but this is more usually applied to the Mizpah in Benjamin. See No. 6. This Mizpah has been identified with a high peak east of the Jordan, 3 miles north-west of Ramoth-gilead, called Jebel Osh'a, or "the Mount of Hosea." Conder suggests Remtheh, 25 miles west of Bozrah, but Merrill, with greater probability, locates it at Kulat er Rubad on the Wady 'Ajlun, about 10 miles east of the Jordan. This summit commands a wide view, and is in harmony with the name Mizpeh, or "watch-tower." 2. Mizpeh of Moab, where the king of that nation was living when David committed his parents to his care, 1 Sam 22:3; possibly now Kerak. 3. The land of Mizpeh, in the North of Palestine, the residence of the Hivites, Josh 11:3; possibly identical with - 4. The valley of Mizpeh, Josh 11:3, 1 Kgs 15:8, whither the confederate hosts were pursued by Joshua; perhaps the modern Buka'a, the great country of Coele-Syria, between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. 5. A city in Judah, Josh 15:38:possibly identical with the modern Tell es-Safiyeh, or, as Conder has suggested, at Kirhbet el-Musheirifeh, near Gaza. The position fits and the name is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew. This is the place others have identified with Misrephothmaim, which See. 6. A city in Benjamin, Josh 18:26, where Israel assembled. 1 Sam 7:5-7, 1 Sam 7:11-12, 1 Sam 7:16. Here Saul was elected king. 1 Sam 10:17-21. Asa fortified Mizpah. 1 Kgs 15:22; 2 Chr 16:6; it was where Gedaliah was assassinated, 2 Kgs 25:23, Gal 4:25; Jer 40:6-15; Jer 41:1-16; the men of Mizpah joined in rebuilding a part of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh 3:7, 2 Sam 20:15, Acts 1:19. Messepha of 1 Mace. 3:46, which is probably identical with this place, and about 3i miles west of north from Jerusalem, is the modern village of Neby Samwil, standing on a peak which rises about 600 feet above the plain of Gibeon. This village is claimed as the most probable site for Mizpah by Robinson, Porter, Baedeker, and others. It is 3006 feet above the sea-level, and the highest mountain near Jerusalem. From its summit the most extensive view in Southern Palestine is obtained, embracing the Mediterranean, Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives and the mountains of Moab. Upon its summit is a mosque, once a Christian church, built by the Crusaders on the spot where pilgrims first saw Jerusalem. Grove, Stanley, Bonar, Major Wilson, and others would identify Mizpah with Mount Scopus, one of the summits just north of Jerusalem in the continuation of the Olivet range. From this place the traveller gets a very complete view of the Holy City, and from there the emperor Titus looked down upon it. Not far away is the modern village of Shafat. Conder notes that a part of the ridge is called Arkub es-Suffa, or "the ridge of the view." Ensebius and Jerome located Mizpah near Kirjathjearim, and Conder notes a Shufa immediately south of Kuryet el-Anab (Kirjath-jearim), a name having exactly the same meaning with Mizpah - viz., "place of view." Conder also says that there is a place called Umni Suffa. equivalent to the Hebrew Mizpah, existing on the road from Samaria to Jerusalem, which would be a suitable position for the Mizpah of Neh 3:Jeremiah, 40-41. which is not necessarily the Mizpah of Samuel. (Quarterly, 1876, p. 171.) But his final conclusion is that Mizpah and Nob are identical. Whether the Mizpah of Hosea 5:1, was in Benjamin or in Gilead is uncertain.

mizpah in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Hebrew "the Mizpah," generally a "watchtower". Mizpeh (masculine) expresses rather the town; Mizpah (feminine) the district (Joshua 11:8; Joshua 11:8). 1. In Gilead E. of Jordan. The name Laban gave to Galeed, the "heap of witness," the memorial of his covenant with Jacob, and the boundary landmark between them (Genesis 31:48-49; Genesis 31:52), "for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another." (See GALEED.) Herein he adopts Jacoh's language (Hebrew) and religion (Jehovah's worship). In Hosea 5:1, "ye house of the king, ye have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor," the sense is, Ye ought to have been "watchers" guarding Israel from evil, but ye have been as hunters entrapping them into it. Mizpah in the E. and Tabor in the W. include the high places of the whole kingdom in which the rulers set up idol altars. Here Israel assembled to choose a leader in its "misery" when Ammon, having oppressed eastern Israel, was threatening also to attack Judah and Ephraim W. of Jordan. Jephthah passed Mizpah on his way from Gilead to fight Ammon (Judges 10:16-17; Judges 11:29). Here on the hallowed ground he "uttered all his words before Jehovah in the Mizpah." Thenceforth his home was there; and at Mizpah the sad meeting with his daughter took place (Judges 11:34). Seemingly identical with Ramoth Gilead, or Ramath ("high place") Mizpeh (Joshua 13:26); now es Salt, or else Mizpah is the Mount Jebel Osha, to the N.W. Here too Israel met, as being the ancient sanctuary, to determine what was to be done after the outrage perpetrated at Gibeah (Judges 20:1; Judges 20:3; Judges 21:1; Judges 21:5; Judges 21:8). 2. Mizpeh Moab, where the Moabite king lived when David entrusted his parents to him (1 Samuel 22:3). Possibly Kir Moab, now Kerak, S.E. of the Dead Sea. More probably a mountain fastness on the high land bounding the Arboth Moab on the E. of the Dead Sea; on the mountains Abarim or Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1), which David could easily reach from Bethlehem by crossing the Jordan near its entrance into the Dead Sea. Mount Pisgah was the most commanding eminence in Moab, and contained the sanctuary Nebo, of which part was called Zophim (derived from the same root as Mizpeh). 3. The land of Mizpah, the abode of the Hivites, "under Hermon," who joined Jabin against Joshua (Joshua 11:8). To "the valley of Mizpah eastward" Joshua chased Jabin's conquered hosts (Joshua 11:8). The valley is probably part of the great hollow, Coelo-Syria, now Buka'a (Amos 1:5, margin), containing Baalbek; near which on the N. is the hill Haush tell Safiyeh. 4. Mizpah of Benjamin (Joshua 18:26). Fortified by Asa against the invasions of northern Israel (1 Kings 15:22). The residence and scene of Gedaliah's murder (Jeremiah 40:7-10; Jeremiah 41:1-2), At Mizpah Israel repented at Samuel's call (1 Samuel 7:5-6), and "drew water and poured it out before the Lord," pleading symbolically their misery, powerlessness, and prostration by the Philistines, that so God might strengthen them. An act of deepest humiliation and confession of misery, the result of sin. (Psalm 22:14; Psalm 58:7; 2 Samuel 14:14; Isaiah 40:29-30; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Lamentations 2:19, "pour out thine heart like water before the face of Jehovah.") Here Samuel appointed Saul king (1 Kings 10:17-25). Mizpah with Bethel and Gilgal were the three cities which Samuel as judge visited on circuit. Men of Mizpah on the return from Babylon helped in rebuilding the wall; "the ruler of the district of Mizpah" and "the ruler of Mizpah" took part in it (Nehemiah 3:7; Nehemiah 3:15; Nehemiah 3:19). Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabees 3:44) assembled the Jews at Maspha, as being "aforetime a place of prayer over against (implying Mizpah was in full sight of) Jerusalem." Josephus (Ant. 11:8, section 5; B. J. v. 2-3; 2:19, section 4; 5:2-3) mentions Sapha (a corruption of Maspha, Mizpah) as the place of Alexander's meeting Jaddua the high priest; and elsewhere calls it Scopus, i.e. the look-out place, from whence on the broad ridge (the continuation of Olivet), seven stadia N. of the city, one gains the first view of Jerusalem. The Septuagint twice renders Mizpah skopia. Nebi Samwil, on the W. bound of Benjamin toward the Philistines, with whom Israel was about to war (1 Samuel 7:5-6), Robinson identifies with Mizpah. But it is five miles off, though in view of the Sakhrah of the temple and the Church of the Sepulchre; and this is at variance with 1 Maccabees, "over against Jerusalem." Moreover it is out of the way of the pilgrims from Samaria to Jerusalem, murdered by Ishmael; whereas Scopus is in the direct road (Jeremiah 41:7). Sennacherib at Nob first caught the full view of "the house of Zion and hill of Jerusalem"; Nob therefore is probably Mizpah. Condor (Israel Exploration Quarterly Statement, January, 1875) identifies Nob with Nebi Samwil, the Arabs mistaking Nob "high place" for Nebi "prophet." Nebi Samwil is so near Gibeon that it must have been the high place visited by Solomon; the view from it is splendid. Traces of the outer court of the tabernacle are yet discoverable, and a curious rock cut approach. (but, see NOB.)