strong, bare snout, and with large gnawing teeth; its colour a pale slate; its
feet short, and provided with strong nails; its tail only rudimentary.”
In Isaiah 2:20, this word is the rendering of two words haphar peroth,
which are rendered by Gesenius “into the digging of rats”, i.e., rats’ holes.
But these two Hebrew words ought probably to be combined into one
(lahporperoth) and translated “to the moles”, i.e., the rat-moles. This
animal “lives in underground communities, making large subterranean
chambers for its young and for storehouses, with many runs connected
with them, and is decidedly partial to the loose debris among ruins and
stone-heaps, where it can form its chambers with least trouble.”
- MOLOCH king, the name of the national God of the Ammonites, to
whom children were sacrificed by fire. He was the consuming and
destroying and also at the same time the purifying fire. In Amos 5:26,
“your Moloch” of the Authorized Version is “your king” in the Revised
Version (comp. Acts 7:43). Solomon (1 Kings 11:7) erected a high place
for this idol on the Mount of Olives, and from that time till the days of
Josiah his worship continued (2 Kings 23:10, 13). In the days of Jehoahaz
it was partially restored, but after the Captivity wholly disappeared. He is
also called Molech (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5, etc.), Milcom (1 Kings 11:5,
33, etc.), and Malcham (Zephaniah 1:5). This God became Chemosh
among the Moabites. - MONEY Of uncoined money the first notice we have is in the history of
Abraham (Genesis 13:2; 20:16; 24:35). Next, this word is used in
connection with the purchase of the cave of Machpelah (23:16), and again
in connection with Jacob’s purchase of a field at Shalem (Genesis 33:18,
- for “an hundred pieces of money”=an hundred Hebrew kesitahs (q.v.),
i.e., probably pieces of money, as is supposed, bearing the figure of a
lamb.
The history of Joseph affords evidence of the constant use of money,
silver of a fixed weight. This appears also in all the subsequent history of
the Jewish people, in all their internal as well as foreign transactions. There
were in common use in trade silver pieces of a definite weight, shekels,
half-shekels, and quarter-shekels. But these were not properly coins,
which are pieces of metal authoritatively issued, and bearing a stamp.
Of the use of coined money we have no early notice among the Hebrews.
The first mentioned is of Persian coinage, the daric (Ezra 2:69; Nehemiah