- MOULDY Of the Gibeonites it is said that “all the bread of their
provision was dry and mouldy” (Joshua 9:5, 12). The Hebrew word here
rendered “mouldy” (nikuddim) is rendered “cracknels” in 1 Kings 14:3, and
denotes a kind of crisp cake. The meaning is that the bread of the
Gibeonites had become dry and hard, hard as biscuits, and thus was an
evidence of the length of the journey they had travelled. - MOUNT Palestine is a hilly country (Deuteronomy 3:25; 11:11; Ezekiel
34:13). West of Jordan the mountains stretch from Lebanon far down into
Galilee, terminating in Carmel. The isolated peak of Tabor rises from the
elevated plain of Esdraelon, which, in the south, is shut in by hills
spreading over the greater part of Samaria. The mountains of Western and
Middle Palestine do not extend to the sea, but gently slope into plains, and
toward the Jordan fall down into the Ghor.
East of the Jordan the Anti-Lebanon, stretching south, terminates in the
hilly district called Jebel Heish, which reaches down to the Sea of
Gennesareth. South of the river Hieromax there is again a succession of
hills, which are traversed by wadies running toward the Jordan. These
gradually descend to a level at the river Arnon, which was the boundary of
the ancient trans-Jordanic territory toward the south.
The composition of the Palestinian hills is limestone, with occasional
strata of chalk, and hence the numerous caves, some of large extent, found
there.
- MOUNT OF BEATITUDES See SERMON.
- MOUNT OF CORRUPTION (2 Kings 23:13; Vulg., “mount of offence”),
the name given to a part of the Mount of Olives, so called because idol
temples were there erected in the time of Solomon, temples to the
Zidonian Ashtoreth and to the “abominations” of Moab and Ammon. - MOUNT OF THE AMALEKITES a place near Pirathon (q.v.), in the tribe
of Ephraim (Judges 12:15). - MOUNT OF THE AMORITES the range of hills which rises abruptly in
the wilderness of et-Tih (“the wandering”), mentioned Deuteronomy 1:19,
20, “that great and terrible wilderness.” - MOUNT OF THE CONGREGATION only in Isaiah 14:13, a mythic
mountain of the Babylonians, regarded by them as the seat of the gods. It