MEONENIM. The word occurs in the A. V. (Judg. ix. 37) in the proper name Elon-Meonenim r6,4), the plain ;' or, as it should be rendered, the oak of Meonenim' (LXX. "HXcup MacovEptu, cod. Alex. Spbor arof3Xerovrcop, marg. A. V. regarders of times ').* Meonenim means sorcerers, and is derived either from Niv, (Exod. xxi. ro), from 1y, the eye,' or else, which is more probable, from Mr, a IT cloud ;' it means, therefore, those dealers in for bidden arts who observe times, or practice fascina tion, or take auguries from the signs of the sky. For a full examination of the word in all its pos sible meanings, see DIVINATION, vol. i. 6S5, 686. Whatever was its original meaning, Meonenim was afterwards used in a perfectly general sense (Deut. xviii. 10, 14; 2 Kings xxi. 6; Micah v. 12) for wizards.
In this article, therefore, we are only concerned with the Oak of the Sorcerers,' a celebrated tree near Shechem, mentioned in Judg. ix. 37, where Gaal, son of Ebed, the Shechemite conspirator, standing in the entering of the gate,' sees the soldiers of Abimelech first on the hill-tops, and then in two companies, of which one approached by the Oak of the Sorcerers,' which is evidently pointed out as a conspicuous * land-mark. Now it happens that in Scripture no less than four other celebrated trees in the immediate neighbourhood of Shechem are prominently mentioned in connec tion with important events, and it is interesting to inquire whether all or any of these can be identified with the Sorcerer's Oak.' I. In Gen. xii. 6 we are told that Abraham `passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the oak of Moreh ' (LXX., Spi)p where the use of the singular points to one tree of note, although at Shechem there was a grove of oaks (Dent. xi. 30). It was, therefore, in all probability conspicuous for size and beauty, and the vision which Abraham there commemo rated by building an altar would add to it a sacred and venerable association.
2. In Gen. xxxv. 4 we read that Jacob, on his way to Bethel, took from his family all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their ear rings which were in their ears, and hid them under the oak which was by Shechem (*q., mz)). The use of the article in this verse is not indeed absolutely decisive, but would lead natu rally to the supposition that this tree was the one already so famous in the religious history of the Israelite family. That is used (LXX., Tcpc pipe,* and not is a consideration of no im portance, for it seems certain that the two words are synonymous (see Gesenius, Thes., pp. 5o, 51), or at any rate are used interchangeably.
3. In Josh. xxiv. 26, Joshua, after addressing the assembled tribes at Shechem, took a great stone and set it up there under an oak (the oak, r6ktr1) that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.' The use of the definite article again renders it probable that this is the same tree as that which had been con nected with the memories of Abraham's vision, and Jacob's rejection of idolatrous possessions ; and the probability is strengthened into certainty by the fact that Joshua's injunction in ver. 14 (` put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood') is almost identical with that which Jacob had addressed to his family on that very spot (Gen. xxxv. 2) some 30o years before. Kalisch indeed objects that a sanctuary of the Lord' would never have been erected at the place of idols (Genesis, p. 586) ; but, to say
nothing of the fact that several of the Jewish high-places seem to have been also connected with the worship of the Canaanites, a place where idols had been buried, and so rejected and scorned, would surely be most fitted for the sanctuary, especially if it had been hallowed by a previous protest made by the great forefather of the race against the idolatry which there surrounded him (Gen. xii. 7).
4. In Judg. ix. 6, we read that all the men of Shechem . . . made Abimelech king, by the oak (A. V. plain) of the pillar that was in Shechem (*CV ns.* The word zyn is very ob , scure, and Jerome's version, quercus gum stabat in Sichem,' seems to show that it may once have fol. lowed "IVR. The LXX. render it rpds rit paXdpcp (Tfi eliperf?) T c75 ardaews Tc15 by where ardaLs means a military station,' a rendering ap proved by Gesenius (Then., p. 904), who compares Is. xxix. 3. Our A. V. refers it to the sacred stone set up by Joshua, and this seems a very pro bable rendering, from the constant use of the word Mattsebah for similar erections (Gen. xxviii. r8 ; Exod. xxiv. 4; 2 Kings ifi. 2 ; Micah v. 13, etc.) The argument that this tree cannot be identical with Jacob's, because that is spoken of as near ('oy), and this as in (2) Shechem, is quite unconvincing, both because the use of the prepositions by He brew writers is by no means minutely* accurate, in this way corresponding to their general ci.yew -ypacbta, and because Shechem may mean the district+ round the city, as well as the city itself. We believe, therefore, that all these trees are one and the same, which thus becomes connected with four most memorable events in the lives of Abra ham, Jacob, Joshua, and Abimelech.
Was this tree also the oak of the sorcerers ?' Mr. Grove (Smith's Bib/. Dict., ii. 323) thinks there is a positive reason against the identification, because (t.) The name sorcerers,' or enchanters,' would not be particularly suitable to the tree, which Kalisch' also' thinks might with more pro priety have been called the oak of idols,' or of witchcraft,' than the oak of enchanters (Gen., p. 586) ; and (2.) Because Gaal evidently points to the Elon Meonenim at a distance from the city, whereas Jacob's tree was in it. Of this second argument we have already disposed and besides, Gaal's expression may merely mean that one com pany was on the road which led by ' the sorcerer's oak.' As regards the first argument, the Elan Meonenim may have been the same as Jacob's tree, and yet not have received its name from the idols and amulets which Jacob buried there. The close connection of earrings with talismans and magic arts is well known, and in the Chaldee the word used for earring is so that it does seem reasonable to suppose that there is a connec tion between the name and the event. But if not, may not the name have originated in some use made of the tree by the priests and necromancers of the neighbouringshrine of Baal-Eerith ? (Judg. viii. 33 ; ix. 36). And if it be asked how it was that a tree so sacred as this could have received an oppro brious name, it must be borne in mind that this name only occurs on the lips of Gaal, who in all probability was an aboriginal Canaanite of the old royal family (ix. cf. Gen. xxxiv. 2, 6), and who would therefore be likely to call the tree by a name derived from its associations with idolatrous rather than with 7ewish worship.—F. W. F.