Basic HTML Version
clause, see A, No. 1).¶ In the Sept., Exod. 31:10; 39:13; Num. 4:12, 26; 7:5; 2 Chron.
24:14.¶
MINSTREL
$
(
, 3451) is found in Rev. 18:22,
RV
, “minstrels” (
KJV
,
“musicians”); inasmuch as other instrumentalists are mentioned, some word like
“minstrels” is necessary to make the distinction, hence the
RV
; Bengel and others
translate it “singers.” Primarily the word denoted “devoted to the Muses” (the nine
goddesses who presided over the principal departments of letters), and was used of
anyone devoted to or skilled in arts and sciences, or “learned.”¶
MINT
$
(
4 "
, 2238), an adjective denoting sweet-smelling (
$
, “sweet,”
, “a smell”), is used as a neuter noun signifying “mint,” Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42.¶
MIRACLE
1.
$
(
"
, 1411), “power, inherent ability,” is used of works of a
supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and
means. It is translated “miracles” in the
RV
and
KJV
in Acts 8:13 (where variant readings
give the words in different order); 19:11; 1 Cor. 12:10, 28, 29; Gal. 3:5;
KJV
only, in Acts
2:22 (
RV
, “mighty works”); Heb. 2:4 (
RV
, “powers”). In Gal. 3:5, the word may be taken
in its widest sense, to include “miracles” both physical and moral. See
MIGHT
, A, No. 1,
POWER
,
WORK
.
2.
(
, 4592), “a sign, mark, token” (akin to
, “to give a sign”;
, “a sign”), is used of “miracles” and wonders as signs of divine authority; it is
translated “miracles” in the
RV
and
KJV
of Luke 23:8; Acts 4:16, 22; most usually it is
given its more appropriate meaning “sign,” “signs,” e.g., Matt. 12:38, 39, and in every
occurrence in the Synoptists, excep Luke 23:8; in the following passages in John’s
Gospel the
RV
substitutes “sign” or “signs” for the
KJV
“miracle or miracles”; 2:11, 23;
3:2; 4:54; 6:2, 14, 26; 7:31; 9:16; 10:41; 11:47; 12:18, 37; the
KJV
also has “signs”
elsewhere in this Gospel; in Acts,
RV
, “signs,”
KJV
, “miracles,” in 6:8; 8:6; 15:12;
elsewhere only in Rev. 13:14; 16:14; 19:20. See
SIGN
,
TOKEN
,
WONDER
.
MIRE
(
$ $
, 1004), “mud, filth,” occurs in 2 Pet. 2:22.¶ In the Sept., Jer. 38:6
(twice), of the “mire” in the dungeon into which Jeremiah was Cast.¶
MIRROR
(
+ $
, 2072), rendered “glass” in the
KJV
, is used of any surface
sufficiently smooth and regular to reflect rays of light uniformly, and thus produce
images of objects which actually in front of it appear to the eye as if they were behind it.
“Mirrors” in Biblical times were, it seems, metallic; hence the
RV
adopts the more general
term “mirror”; in 1 Cor. 13:12, spiritual knowledge in this life is represented
metaphorically as an image dimly perceived in a “mirror”; in Jas. 1:23, the “law of
liberty” is figuratively compared to a “mirror”; the hearer who obeys not is like a person
who, having looked into the “mirror,” forgets the reflected image after turning away; he