- MINNI only in Jeremiah 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 (Judges 11:33) from which
wheat was exported to Tyre (Ezekiel 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 Judges (l.c.). - MINSTREL (Matthew 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 (Matthew 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 (Deuteronomy 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; Matthew 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