Millet - (Heb. dohan; only in Ezek. 4:9), a small grain, the produce of the Panicum miliaceum of botanists. It is universally cultivated in the East as one of the smaller corn-grasses. This seed is the cenchros of the Greeks. It is called in India warree, and by the Arabs dukhan, and is extensively used for food, being often mixed with other grain. In this country it is only used for feeding birds.

Millo - (Heb. always with the article, "the" Millo). (1.) Probably the Canaanite name of some fortification, consisting of walls filled in with earth and stones, which protected Jerusalem on the north as its outermost defence. It is always rendered Akra i.e., "the citadel", in the LXX. It was already existing when David conquered Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5:9). He extended it to the right and left, thus completing the defence of the city. It was rebuilt by Solomon (1 Kings 9:15,1 Kings 9:24;1 Kings 11:27) and repaired by Hezekiah (2 Chr. 32:5).

(2.) In Judg. 9:6, Judg. 9:20it is the name of a rampart in Shechem, probably the "tower of Shechem" Judg 9:46, Judg 9:49).

Mincing - (Heb. taphoph, Isa. 3:16), taking affectedly short and quick steps. Luther renders the word by "wag" or "waggle," thus representing "the affected gait of coquettish females."

Mine - The process of mining is described in Job 28:1-11. Moses speaks of the mineral wealth of Palestine ( Deut. 8:9). Job 28:4 is rightly thus rendered in the Revised Version, "He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot [that passeth by]; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro." These words illustrate ancient mining operations.

Minister - one who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb. meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as to Joshua, the servant of Moses ( Ex. 33:11), and to the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 4:43). This name is also given to attendants at court (2 Chr. 22:8), and to the priests and Levites ( Jer. 33:21; Ezek. 44:11).

(2.) Heb. pelah ( Ezra 7:24), a "minister" of religion. Here used of that class of sanctuary servants called "Solomon's servants" in Ezra 2:55-58 and Neh. 7:57-60.

(3.) Greek leitourgos, a subordinate public administrator, and in this sense applied to magistrates ( Rom. 13:6). It is applied also to our Lord ( Heb. 8:2), and to Paul in relation to Christ ( Rom. 15:16).

(4.) Greek hyperetes (literally, "under-rower"), a personal attendant on a superior, thus of the person who waited on the officiating priest in the synagogue ( Luke 4:20). It is applied also to John Mark, the attendant on Paul and Barnabas ( Acts 13:5).

(5.) Greek diaconos, usually a subordinate officer or assistant employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel, as to Paul and Apollos (1 Cor. 3:5), Tychicus ( Eph. 6:21), Epaphras ( Col. 1:7), Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2), and also to Christ ( Rom. 15:8).

Minni - only in Jer. 51:27, as the name of a province in Armenia, which was at this time under the Median kings. Armenia is regarded by some as = Har-minni i.e., the mountainous country of Minni. (See ARMENIA.)

Minnith - distribution, an Ammonitish town ( Judg. 11:33) from which wheat was exported to Tyre ( Ezek. 27:17). It was probably somewhere in the Mishor or table-land on the east of Jordan. There is a gentle valley running for about 4 miles east of Dhiban called Kurm Dhiban, "the vineyards of Dibon." Tristram supposes that this may be the "vineyards" mentioned in Judg. (l.c.).

Minstrel - ( Matt. 9:23), a flute-player. Such music was a usual accompaniment of funerals. In 2 Kings 3:15 it denotes a player on a stringed instrument.

Mint - (Gr. heduosmon, i.e., "having a sweet smell"), one of the garden herbs of which the Pharisees paid tithes ( Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42). It belongs to the labiate family of plants. The species most common in Syria is the Mentha sylvestris, the wild mint, which grows much larger than the garden mint (M. sativa). It was much used in domestic economy as a condiment, and also as a medicine. The paying of tithes of mint was in accordance with the Mosiac law ( Deut. 14:22), but the error of the Pharisees lay in their being more careful about this little matter of the mint than about weightier matters.

Miracle - an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message ( John 2:18; Matt. 12:38). It is an occurrence at once above nature and above man. It shows the intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either of matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which govern their movements, a supernatural power.

"The suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around us. One force counteracts another: vital force keeps the chemical laws of matter in abeyance; and muscular force can control the action of physical force. When a man raises a weight from the ground, the law of gravity is neither suspended nor violated, but counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true as to the walking of Christ on the water and the swimming of iron at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand truth that the universe is not under the exclusive control of physical forces, but that everywhere and always there is above, separate from and superior to all else, an infinite personal will, not superseding, but directing and controlling all physical causes, acting with or without them." God ordinarily effects his purpose through the agency of second causes; but he has the power also of effecting his purpose immediately and without the intervention of second causes, i.e., of invading the fixed order, and thus of working miracles. Thus we affirm the possibility of miracles, the possibility of a higher hand intervening to control or reverse nature's ordinary movements.

In the New Testament these four Greek words are principally used to designate miracles: (1.) Semeion, a "sign", i.e., an evidence of a divine commission; an attestation of a divine message (Matt. 12:38, 39; 16:1, 4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; 23:8; John 2:11, 18, 23; Acts 6:8, etc.); a token of the presence and working of God; the seal of a higher power.

(2.) Terata, "wonders;" wonder-causing events; portents; producing astonishment in the beholder ( Acts 2:19).

(3.) Dunameis, "might works;" works of superhuman power ( Acts 2:22; Rom. 15:19; 2 Thess. 2:9); of a new and higher power.

(4.) Erga, "works;" the works of Him who is "wonderful in working" ( John 5:20,John 5:36).

Miracles are seals of a divine mission. The sacred writers appealed to them as proofs that they were messengers of God. Our Lord also appealed to miracles as a conclusive proof of his divine mission ( John 5:20,John 5:36;John 10:25,John 5:38). Thus, being out of the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of God. Where miracles are there certainly God is. The man, therefore, who works a miracle affords thereby clear proof that he comes with the authority of God; they are his credentials that he is God's messenger. The teacher points to these credentials, and they are a proof that he speaks with the authority of God. He boldly says, "God bears me witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles."

The credibility of miracles is established by the evidence of the senses on the part of those who are witnesses of them, and to all others by the testimony of such witnesses. The witnesses were competent, and their testimony is trustworthy. Unbelievers, following Hume, deny that any testimony can prove a miracle, because they say miracles are impossible. We have shown that miracles are possible, and surely they can be borne witness to. Surely they are credible when we have abundant and trustworthy evidence of their occurrence. They are credible just as any facts of history well authenticated are credible. Miracles, it is said, are contrary to experience. Of course they are contrary to our experience, but that does not prove that they were contrary to the experience of those who witnessed them. We believe a thousand facts, both of history and of science, that are contrary to our experience, but we believe them on the ground of competent testimony. An atheist or a pantheist must, as a matter of course, deny the possibility of miracles; but to one who believes in a personal God, who in his wisdom may see fit to interfere with the ordinary processes of nature, miracles are not impossible, nor are they incredible. (See LIST OF MIRACLES, Appendix.)

Miriam - their rebellion. (1.) The sister of Moses and Aaron ( Ex. 2:4-10; 1 Chr. 6:3). Her name is prominent in the history of the Exodus. She is called "the prophetess" ( Ex. 15:20). She took the lead in the song of triumph after the passage of the Red Sea. She died at Kadesh during the second encampment at that place, toward the close of the wanderings in the wilderness, and was buried there ( Num. 20:1). (See AARON ; MOSES.)

(2.) 1 Chr. 4:17, one of the descendants of Judah. <> Misdeem - ( Deut. 32:27, R.V.). The Authorized Version reads, "should behave themselves strangely;" i.e., not recognize the truth, misunderstand or mistake the cause of Israel's ruin, which was due to the fact that God had forsaken them on account of their apostasy.

Misgab - height, a town of Moab, or simply, the height=the citadel, some fortress so called; or perhaps a general name for the highlands of Moab, as some think ( Jer. 48:1). In Isa. 25:12, the word is rendered "high fort."

Mishael - who is like God! (1.) A Levite; the eldest of the three sons of Uzziel ( Ex. 6:22).

(2.) One of the three Hebrew youths who were trained with Daniel in Babylon ( Dan. 1:11,Dan. 1:19), and promoted to the rank of Magi. He and his companions were afterwards cast into the burning fiery furnace for refusing to worship the idol the king had set up, from which they were miraculously delivered ( Dan 3:13-30). His Chaldean name was Meshach (q.v.).

Mishal - a city of the tribe of Asher ( Josh. 21:30; 1 Chr. 6:74). It is probably the modern Misalli, on the shore near Carmel.

Misham - their cleansing or their beholding, a Benjamite, one of the sons of Elpaal (1 Chr. 8:12).

Misheal - ( Josh. 19:26), a town of Asher, probably the same as Mishal.

Mishma - hearing. (1.) One of the sons of Ishmael ( Gen. 25:14), and founder of an Arab tribe.

(2.) A Simeonite (1 Chr. 4:25,1 Chr. 4:26).

Mishmannah - fatness, one of the Gadite heroes who gathered to David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:10).

Misrephoth-maim - burning of waters, supposed to be salt-pans, or lime-kilns, or glass-factories, a place to which Joshua pursued a party of Canaanites after the defeat of Jabin ( Josh. 11:8). It is identified with the ruin Musheirifeh, at the promontory of en-Nakhurah, some 11 miles north of Acre.

Mite - contraction of minute, from the Latin minutum, the translation of the Greek word lepton, the very smallest bronze of copper coin ( Luke 12:59;Luke 21:2). Two mites made one quadrans, i.e., the fourth part of a Roman as, which was in value nearly a halfpenny. (See FARTHING.)

Mithcah - sweetness, one of the stations of the Israelites in the wilderness ( Num. 33:28,Num. 33:29).

Mithredath - given by Mithra, or dedicated to Mithra, i.e., the sun, the Hebrew form of the Greek name Mithridates. (1.) The "treasurer" of King Cyrus ( Ezra 1:8).

(2.) Ezra 4:7, a Persian officer in Samaria.

Mitre - (Heb. mitsnepheth), something rolled round the head; the turban or head-dress of the high priest ( Ex. 28:4,Ex. 28:37,Ex. 28:39;Ex 29:6, etc.). In the Authorized Version of Ezek. 21:26, this Hebrew word is rendered "diadem," but in the Revised Version, "mitre." It was a twisted band of fine linen, 8 yards in length, coiled into the form of a cap, and worn on official occasions ( Lev. 8:9;Lev 16:4; Zech. 3:5). On the front of it was a golden plate with the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." The mitsnepheth differed from the mitre or head-dress (migba'ah) of the common priest. (See BONNET.)