MEMRA. Memra is a Hebrew word meaning " word." It first came to be used to designate God, because the real name of the Divine Being was considered too sacred to be pronounced. It was then employed to denote some power which issued from God, and was, apparently, thought of as a kind of personality. In the Aramaic Targums both usages are found. In Exodus xix. 17 the Hebrew text has : " And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God." In the Targum of Onkelos (q.v.) this is translated : " Moses led the people forth to meet the Word of God." In Deuteronomy 1. 30 the Hebrew text has : " The Lord your God goeth before you." In the Targum of Onkelos this is translated : " Jehovah, your God, whose Word leads you." Oesterley and Box quote a number of passages from the Targums to show that by the time they were written the " Word " had become a definite personality. The passages, how ever, do not necessarily prove this. All they need prove is that at this time devout Jews did not like to ascribe human actions or passions to God. In II. Samuel vi. 7 the Hebrew text has : " And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God." Here the Targum of Jonathan explains that : " The Memra of God slew Uzzah." God Himself cannot be angry, and does not slay people. Compare II. Kings xix. 2S where the Targum of Jonathan has : " Thou bast angered my Word." But there can be no doubt that " the Word " came more and more to be thought of as a person commis sioned by God to net for Him. In the philosophy of
Philo the Mentra has become the Logos, which is even " after the likeness of man." See W. O. E. Oesterley and G. H. Box.
MEN. The chief god of Antioch in early Christian times, a god of prophecy and healing. He is represented on the coins standing with one foot on a bull's and wearing a Phrygian cap. He was paired with Demeter, and was closely associated with Artemis (Diana). In 1910-13 the sanctuary of Men-Askmnos in Antioch was excavated by Sir William Ramsay. " It is suggestive that no temple of Men was found, but only this holy High Place on the top of the mountain, open to the sky, in the centre of which was the ancient hall of initiation, and the high trough or baptismal font where purifications were made by the worshippers. There is no doubt whatever that we may see in this newly-discovered sanctuary the famous hall of Phrygian mysteries. The hall proper was, doubtless, the central closed chamber. The soil above the stone floor of this chamber was full of animal bones and teeth, and beneath the floor the teeth of pigs and wild boars were found. Emblems of Men, a horned bull's head, and many engraved tablets were excavated " (Camden M. Cobern). H. R. Hall (Ancient History, 1913) thinks that Men was a moon god; and that he was not of Anatolian origin, but was an Aryan or Proto-Iranian god introduced from the East.