MORESHETH-GATH (ro neinin; 'the pos session of Gath,' or of the wine-press ;' ins KXnpo Poplas Pa- ; ad luereditatem Geth). The prophet Micah, in pronouncing judgment upon the land of Israel on account of sin, enumerates certain cities on which special punishment should fall ; and among these are Lachish, Moresheth-Gath, Mare shah, and Adullam (i. 13-15). The sites of the other three are known, and as it appears More sheth-Gath lay near them, it must be looked for in the plain of Philistia, near the base of the moun tains of Judah. It is probable that it had some connection with the city of Gath, and tools its name, perhaps, to distinguish it from some other Moreshah ; and the context in Micah shows that Moresheth-Gath had been in some way under the protection of Lachish—' Therefore thou (0 in habitant of Lachish) shalt give a divorce to More sheth-Gath.' The city is not again mentioned in Scripture. It must not be confounded with Mareshah, the site of which is known [MAREsitAx]; but it probably was identical with Moresheth, the native place of the prophet himself. He is called
Micah the Ilforasthite' (Mic. i. 1 ; Jer. xxvi. 18) ; and Eusebius and Jerome state that Morasthei (111(apao-El) was a village on the east side of Eleu theropolis (Onomast., s. v. ; cf. Jerome, Proem. in .1Ifich.); and from the statements of subsequent writers it would appear that Moresheth-Gath was not far distant from Eleutheropolis (Reland, p. go2). The site, however, has not been discovered; nor was the writer able to hear any name that would appear to suggest identity with the ancient city. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and most of the ancient interpreters do not consider the word Moresheth as a proper name, but as connected with Gath, and signifying the inheritance or possession of Gath' (Theodoret, Jerome, etc., ad loc.)—J. L. P.