MOST HOLY (most holy). See HOLINESS.
MOTE (mot), a particle of dust, or other matter. Small sins are likened to "motes in the eye"; they arc very troublesome to an awakened and tender conscience, and greatly mar our looking on God as our sun and shield (Matt. vii:3).
MOTH (tnOth), (Heb. 14, awsh), occurs in Job iv:19; xiii:28; xxvii:18; Is. 1:9; li:8; Hosea v:12; Matt. VI:I9, 20; Luke xii:33; Ecclus. xix:3, xlii:t3.
There is no Biblical insect whose identity is bet ter ascertained. The following allusions to the moth occur in Scripture: To its being produced in clothes, 'for from garments cometh a moth' (Ecclus. xlii :13) ; to its well-known fragility, 'mortal men are crushed before the moth' (Job iv :19), literally, 'before the face of the moth,' but which words really mean 'like as the moth is crushed.' The allusion to 'the house of the moth' (Job xxvii :18) seems to refer plainly to the silky spindle-shaped case, covered with detached hairs and particles of wool, made and inhabited by the larva of the Tinea sarcitella; or to the felted case or tunnel formed by the larva of the Tinea pel lionella; or to the arched gallery formed by eat ing through wool by the larva of the Tinea laPet cella. References occur to the destructiveness of the clothes-moth: 'As a garment that is moth-eaten' (Job xiii :28) ; 'the moth shall eat them up' (Is. 1:9) ; 'the moth shall eat them up like a garment' (li :8) ; 'I will be to Ephraim as a moth,' i.e.,will secretly consume him (Hos. v :12) ; comp. Matt. vi :19, 20; Luke xii :33; James v :2, metaphorically ; and Ecclus. xix :3, 'Moths and worms shall have him that cleaveth to harlots,' but the better read ing is 0.7S71.7y, 'rottenness.' Since the 'treasures' of the Orientals, in ancient times, consisted partly of 'garments, both new and old' (Matt. xiii :52; and comp. Josh. vii :2t; Judg. xiv :12), the ravages of the clothes moth afforded thetn a lively emblem of destruction. Their treasures also consisted partly of corn laid up in barns, etc. (Luke xii :18, 24) ; and it has been supposed that the Greek word, translated `rust,' joined with the o*, sayce, moth, in Matt. vi :Igo, 20, refers also to some species of moth, etc., probably in the larva state, which destroys corn. Kuinoel says the 'curculio, or karn-wurk' the larva of the Tinea granella, is injurious to corn.
Moths, like fleas, etc., amid other more imme diate purposes of their existence, incidentally serve as a stimulus to human industry and clean liness; for, by a remarkable discrimination in her instinct, the parent moth never deposits her eggs in garments frequently overlooked or kept clean. Indeed, the most remarkable of all proofs of ani mal intelligence is to be found in the larvx of the water-moth, which get into straws, and ad just the weight of their case so that it can always float ; when too heavy they add a piece of straw or wood, and when too light a bit of gravel (Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. i, p. 42). J. F. D.
FiguratiVe. (I) Secret influences that insensibly consume men's character or estate are likened to a "moth" (Is. 1:9; li :8). (2) God likens him self to a "moth and rottenness," because by his judgments he gradually and insensibly weakened the Jews, and rendered them contemptible (Hos.
v :12). (3) The wicked man builds his house "as a moth"; he builds it by covetousness and anxious care; imagines his lot agreeable but how easily do the judgments of God burn or shake him out of it! (Job xxvii :18). (4) Man's beauty,
glory and wealth waste like "a moth," are secretly and insensibly, but quickly, consumed (Ps. xxxix it).
ltIOTHER 'er), (Heb. ante; Gr. wirnp, may'tare), the name regarded by many lexicog raphers as a primitive, imitating the earliest lisp ing of an infant; they compare it with the Greek kidgpa, mama; Sanscrit, ambd ; Copt., mau ; English and French, mama; German, amme, (nurse), etc.
The ordinary applications of the word require no illustration; but the following points of He brew usage may be noticed : When the father had more than one wife, the son seems to have confined the title of 'mother' to his real mother. by which he distinguished her from the other wives of his father. Hence the source of Joseph's peculiar interest in Benjamin is indicated in Gen. xliii :29, by his being 'his mother's son.' The other brethren were the sons of -his father by other wives. Nevertheless, when this precision was not necessary, the stepmother was sometimes styled mother. Thus Jacob (Gen. xxxvii :to) speaks of Leah as Joseph's mother, for his real mother had long been dead. The stepmother was, however, more properly distinguished from the womb mother by the name of 'father's wife.' The word 'mother' was also, like father, brother, sister, em ployed by the Hebrews in a somewhat wider sense than is usual with us. It is used of a grand mother (I Kings xv :to), and even of any female ancestor (Gen. iii :2o). (See WomAN.) FiguratiVe. The designation of mother is symbolically applied: (I) To the true church; she is Christ's "mother," as he assumed our nature in connection with her, and was one of her mem bers (Cant. iii ). She is the "mother" of be lievers ; in her, and by her ordinances, they are spiritually born, nourished, protected, and directed (Cant. i :6; iii :4). She "is free," now delivered from the bondage of ceremonies; and her true members are freed from the broken Law, and the slavery of sin and Satan. She is "from above" ; is of a heavenly origin, frame and tendency ; and her true members have their conversation in heaven (Gal. iv :26; Phil. iii :2o). (2) To the kingdom of Judah. or family of David, which produced these wicked oppressors, Jehoahaz, Je hoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah (Ezek. xix). (3) To a metropolis, or capital city of a country or tribe; and then the inhabitants, villages, or lesser cities, are called "daughters" (2 Sam. xx : 19; Jer. 1:12). (4) 'The parting of the way, at the head of two ways' (Ezek. xxi :21) is in the He brew 'the mother of the way,' because out of it the two ways arise as daughters. (5) In Job i the earth is indicated as the common 'mother to whose bosom all mankind must return.' (6) To any female superior in age, station, gifts, or grace, or who deals tenderly with one. Deborah was a "mother in Israel ;" with tenderness and valor .she judged, instructed, and governed that people (Judg. v :7). The mother of Rufus was a mother to Paul ; kindly cared and provided for him (Rom. xvi :t3). (7) The saints arc Christ's "mother," "sisters," and "brethren"; he is formed in their hearts, by their spiritual union to hint. and their receiving out of his fullness; and there is a dearer intimacy and relation between him and them than between the nearest relatives on earth (Matt. xii : 49, 5o),