Mizpah in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

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What is Mizpah?
MIZ'PAH or MIZ'PEH
(watch-tower), the name of several places in Palestine. 1. On Mount Gilead, also called Mizpeh of Gilead, Jud 11:29, and elsewhere probably Ramoth-mizpeh, Josh 13:26, and Ramoth-gilead, 1 Kgs 4:13 and elsewhere, the place where Laban and Jacob set up a heap of stones as a witness and landmark between them. Gen 31:23,Deut 23:25, Gen 24:48, 2 Kgs 5:52. Here also the Israelites assembled to fight against the Ammonites, Jud 10:17: and here Jephthah was met by his daughter. Jud 11:29. Some suppose that this was the place also where the tribes assembled to avenge the great sin committed in Benjamin, Jud 20:1, Num 1:3; Jud 21:1, Jud 21:5, Acts 21:8, but this is more usually applied to the Mizpah in Benjamin. See No. 6. This Mizpah has been identified with a high peak east of the Jordan, 3 miles north-west of Ramoth-gilead, called Jebel Osh'a, or "the Mount of Hosea." Conder suggests Remtheh, 25 miles west of Bozrah, but Merrill, with greater probability, locates it at Kulat er Rubad on the Wady 'Ajlun, about 10 miles east of the Jordan. This summit commands a wide view, and is in harmony with the name Mizpeh, or "watch-tower." 2. Mizpeh of Moab, where the king of that nation was living when David committed his parents to his care, 1 Sam 22:3; possibly now Kerak. 3. The land of Mizpeh, in the North of Palestine, the residence of the Hivites, Josh 11:3; possibly identical with - 4. The valley of Mizpeh, Josh 11:3, 1 Kgs 15:8, whither the confederate hosts were pursued by Joshua; perhaps the modern Buka'a, the great country of Coele-Syria, between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. 5. A city in Judah, Josh 15:38:possibly identical with the modern Tell es-Safiyeh, or, as Conder has suggested, at Kirhbet el-Musheirifeh, near Gaza. The position fits and the name is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew. This is the place others have identified with Misrephothmaim, which See. 6. A city in Benjamin, Josh 18:26, where Israel assembled. 1 Sam 7:5-7, 1 Sam 7:11-12, 1 Sam 7:16. Here Saul was elected king. 1 Sam 10:17-21. Asa fortified Mizpah. 1 Kgs 15:22; 2 Chr 16:6; it was where Gedaliah was assassinated, 2 Kgs 25:23, Gal 4:25; Jer 40:6-15; Jer 41:1-16; the men of Mizpah joined in rebuilding a part of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh 3:7, 2 Sam 20:15, Acts 1:19. Messepha of 1 Mace. 3:46, which is probably identical with this place, and about 3i miles west of north from Jerusalem, is the modern village of Neby Samwil, standing on a peak which rises about 600 feet above the plain of Gibeon. This village is claimed as the most probable site for Mizpah by Robinson, Porter, Baedeker, and others. It is 3006 feet above the sea-level, and the highest mountain near Jerusalem. From its summit the most extensive view in Southern Palestine is obtained, embracing the Mediterranean, Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives and the mountains of Moab. Upon its summit is a mosque, once a Christian church, built by the Crusaders on the spot where pilgrims first saw Jerusalem. Grove, Stanley, Bonar, Major Wilson, and others would identify Mizpah with Mount Scopus, one of the summits just north of Jerusalem in the continuation of the Olivet range. From this place the traveller gets a very complete view of the Holy City, and from there the emperor Titus looked down upon it. Not far away is the modern village of Shafat. Conder notes that a part of the ridge is called Arkub es-Suffa, or "the ridge of the view." Ensebius and Jerome located Mizpah near Kirjathjearim, and Conder notes a Shufa immediately south of Kuryet el-Anab (Kirjath-jearim), a name having exactly the same meaning with Mizpah - viz., "place of view." Conder also says that there is a place called Umni Suffa. equivalent to the Hebrew Mizpah, existing on the road from Samaria to Jerusalem, which would be a suitable position for the Mizpah of Neh 3:Jeremiah, 40-41. which is not necessarily the Mizpah of Samuel. (Quarterly, 1876, p. 171.) But his final conclusion is that Mizpah and Nob are identical. Whether the Mizpah of Hosea 5:1, was in Benjamin or in Gilead is uncertain.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'mizpah' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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