MEADOW. The representative in the A. V. of two distinct words, neither of which is accurately rendered by it.
(I.) 111, &flu (Gen. xli. 2, 18). In the only other place where it occurs (Job viii. s) it is translated 'flag,' LXX. and corresponds to t•473, gSme, LXX. 7rdirupar, the paper reed of Egypt, of which Moses's ark was constructed (Exod. ii. 3). We may conclude therefore that it does not signify the place, but the growth of the place; not a meadow,' but the rank vegetation of reeds and coarse grass which fringes the borders of a river, especially in warm countries. Gesenius asserts that the word is of Egyptian origin, which as such has been retained in the Greek of the LXX., Gen. xli. 2, 18, eV T(?) 'Axet as well as Is. xix. 7, the paper reeds by the brooks,' A. V., Heb. ryfli, and Ecclus. xl. 16.. Jerome (Es. xix. 7) says, Quum ab eruditis quwrerem quid "Axet significaret audivi ab 2Egyptiis hoc nomine lingua eorum omne quod in palude virens nascitur significari.' The Vulgate not incorrectly renders it locis palustribus ' or pastu paludis;' Vatablus, 'in carecto.' [Acuu.] (2.) (Judg. xx. 33), the meadows of Gibeah.' The word with this pointing is a 67r4 Xey61.cePov, and its meaning is doubtful. Gesenius, with the Targum and Kimchi, renders it an open plain without wood,' which, however, would hardly be a suitable place for an ambush. The LXX., according to the Vatican MS., leave it untranslated dirt Mapaayapt, while the reading adopted by Grabe, from the Cod. Alex., Curt I5V07.461Y raPaci, which appears also in the Vulgate, 'al) occidentali urbis parte,' bears witness to another word in the Hebrew text znyn, 'from the west.' Others, as Tremellius, Piscator, Buxtorf, translate it 'post denudationem Gibeah,' explaining it of the desertion of the town by its inhabitants (ver. 32), the moment seized by the ambush to rise up and make themselves masters of the place. This is adopted by Bertheau (Kunglasst. Hana'bd. z. A. T.) as the only interpretation possible without a change in the pointing or reading, for which there is no warrant. The Peshito, however, by the
rendering 'from the cave,' shows that in the text used the word was pointed This would suit the locality, the limestone hills of Palestine being full of caverns, but does not accord with the fact that the hers in wait were set round about' the city (ver. 29).—E. V.
MEAH (rw.n, 'a hundred ;' 4KaTbri ; Entath), one of the towers (1)1i) in the wall of Jerusalem, as rebuilt after the return from the captivity (Neh. iii 1). In the Septuagint the word is translated &et TOpyou rap gxarbv, and in the Vulgate it is ren dered ad turrim centum cubitorum in one passage, but in the other turrim Emath (xii. 38). The topoaraphy of Jerusalem in the time of Nehe miah' is very uncertain. The tower of Meah lay between the Sheep gate and the tower of Hanayreel, but the sites of both these are disputed. The most probable theory appears to be that the Sheep gate adjoined the temple on the north, and that Meah was only a short distance from it, thus occu pying the position on which the great fortress of Antonia was afterwards built. Those who adopt this view, however, are not agreed as to the size of the temple-courts, and consequently they differ as to the real site of Meah (cf. Lewin, p. 64 Thrupp, p. r24). Barclay places Meah east of the temple, on the very brink of the Kidron (City of the Great King, 152). Fergusson again would identify it with the tower rebuilt or repaired by Herod, and called Afariamne, and would locate it near the north-western angle of the ancient city (7erusalem, p. 59). The writer of this article believes that the whole of the wall which now bounds the Haram on the east is in part ancient, and stands on ancient foundations ; that the northern section of it formed the eastern rampart of the fortress of Antonia, and that the tower of Meah probably stood on those colossal founda tions which are now seen at the north-eastern angle (Handbook, p. 128 ; Robinson, B. R., i. 292 ; iii. 230, seq.)—J. L P.