or MIZPEH, a city of the tribe of Benjamin, situated in a plain,
about eighteen miles west of Jerusalem. Here Samuel dwelt; and here he
called Israel together, to observe a solemn fast for their sins, and to
supplicate God for his assistance against the Philistines; after which
they sallied out on their enemies, already discomfited by the thunders
of heaven, and gave them a total defeat, 1 Sam. vii. Here, also, Saul
was anointed king, 1 Sam. x, 17–25. It appears that between this and the
time of Asa, king of Judah, Mizpah had suffered probably in some of the
intervening wars, as we are told that Asa built it with the stones and
timber of Ramah, 1 Kings xv, 22. There was another Mizpeh in Gilead; on
the spot where Jacob set up the pillar or heap of stones, to commemorate
the covenant there made between him and Laban, Gen. xxxi, 49. (See
_Gilead_.) There was also a third Mizpeh, in the land of Moab, where
David placed his father and mother, while he remained in his retreat at
Adullam, 1 Sam. xxii, 3. It is to be observed, that Mizpeh implies a
beacon or watch tower, a pillar or heap of commemoration; and at all the
places bearing this name, it is probable that a single pillar, or a rude
pile, was erected as the witness and the record of some particular
event. These, subsequently, became altars and places of convocation on
public occasions, religious and civil.
about eighteen miles west of Jerusalem. Here Samuel dwelt; and here he
called Israel together, to observe a solemn fast for their sins, and to
supplicate God for his assistance against the Philistines; after which
they sallied out on their enemies, already discomfited by the thunders
of heaven, and gave them a total defeat, 1 Sam. vii. Here, also, Saul
was anointed king, 1 Sam. x, 17–25. It appears that between this and the
time of Asa, king of Judah, Mizpah had suffered probably in some of the
intervening wars, as we are told that Asa built it with the stones and
timber of Ramah, 1 Kings xv, 22. There was another Mizpeh in Gilead; on
the spot where Jacob set up the pillar or heap of stones, to commemorate
the covenant there made between him and Laban, Gen. xxxi, 49. (See
_Gilead_.) There was also a third Mizpeh, in the land of Moab, where
David placed his father and mother, while he remained in his retreat at
Adullam, 1 Sam. xxii, 3. It is to be observed, that Mizpeh implies a
beacon or watch tower, a pillar or heap of commemoration; and at all the
places bearing this name, it is probable that a single pillar, or a rude
pile, was erected as the witness and the record of some particular
event. These, subsequently, became altars and places of convocation on
public occasions, religious and civil.