Editing Michmas

{{Short description|Ancient Israelite and Jewish town, identified with modern-day Mukhmas}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2008}}
'''Michmas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|k|m|æ|ʃ}}; {{langx|he|מִכְמָשׂ or מִכְמָס|lit=laid up (concealed) place|translit=Mīḵmās}}) was an [[Israelites|Israelite]] and [[Jews|Jewish]] town located in the highlands north of [[Jerusalem]]. According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], it belonged to the [[Tribe of Benjamin]].<ref>Ezra 2:27</ref> It was the setting of the biblical [[Battle of Michmash]], recounted in [[1 Samuel 14]]. Michmas was inhabited during the [[Second Temple period]], when, according to the [[Mishnah]], its fine wheat was brought to the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple]].<ref name=":1" />

Michmas is identified with the [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] village of [[Mukhmas]] in the [[West Bank]], which preserves its ancient name.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Finkelstein|first=Israel|date=2008|title=Archaeology and the List of Returnees in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/003103208x269105|journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly|volume=140|issue=1|pages=7–16|doi=10.1179/003103208x269105|issn=0031-0328|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=J. Maxwell|author-link=J. Maxwell Miller (biblical scholar)|date=1975|title=Geba/Gibeah of Benjamin|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1517263|journal=Vetus Testamentum|volume=25|issue=2|pages=145–166|doi=10.2307/1517263|jstor=1517263 |issn=0042-4935|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The nearby Israeli settlement [[Ma'ale Mikhmas]], founded in 1981, is also named after the biblical town.

==Location==
Michmas was located near [[Geba (city)|Geba]], east of [[Bethel]] and south of [[Migron, Mateh Binyamin|Migron]], and on the road to Jerusalem.<ref>Isa. 10:28</ref> Michmas lay on the line of march of an invading army from the north, on the north side of the steep and precipitous [[Nahal Michmas]] stream, known in Arabic as Wadi es-Suweinit ("valley of the little thorn-tree" or "the [[acacia]]").

==Biblical account==
{{Main|Battle of Michmash}}
The town is known by its connection with the [[Philistine]] war of [[Saul the King|Saul]] and [[David and Jonathan|Jonathan]], as it was the site of the [[Battle of Michmash]] recounted in the Bible. In [[1 Samuel 13]] ‘And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in [[Gibeah]] of [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]], but the [[Philistines]] encamped in Michmas. According to this record, with the element of surprise and with confidence in God's help, [[King Saul]]'s son Jonathan and his armour-bearer attacked and killed many in the Philistines garrison, causing panic throughout and a Philistine rout.<ref>[[1 Samuel 14]]</ref>

It tells how Jonathan and his armor-bearer showed themselves ‘to the Philistines’ garrison’ on the other side, and how they passed two sharp rocks: ‘there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez and the name of the other Seneh.’<ref>1 Sam. 14:4</ref> They clambered up the cliff and overpowered the garrison ‘within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plough.’ The main body of the enemy awakened by the mêlée thought they were surrounded by Saul's troops and ‘melted away and they went on beating down one another.’<ref>1 Sam. 14:14-16</ref>

A divinely sent earthquake, the effects of which were noted by Saul's watchmen, threw the Philistine camp into turmoil. By the time Saul and his men came on the scene, many of the Philistines had slaughtered one another in confusion and the rest had taken to flight.

==From Sennacherib to Maccabaeans==
[[Isaiah]] mentions the town in the context of [[Sennacherib]]'s invasion during the reign of [[Hezekiah]] ({{bibleverse|Isa|10:28}}). After the captivity the men of the place returned ({{bibleverse|Ezr 2:27; Neh 7:31|multi=yes}}). At a later date it became the residence of [[Jonathan Maccabaeus]] and the seat of his [[Hasmoneans|government]].

==Second Temple period==
Modern scholars have suggested that Michmas was a [[Kohen|priestly]] settlement during the Second Temple period. It was inhabited up until [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar-Kokhba revolt]], during the early 2nd century CE.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Raviv |first=Dvir |date=2018 |title=A Seven-Branched Menorah Graffito from Kafr Mukhmas |url= |journal=Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society |volume=36 |pages=87–99}}</ref> The [[Mishnah]] teaches that the finest of the wheat used in the offering of the [[Counting of the Omer#Symbolism|''Omer'']] was taken from Michmas and from [[Zanoah]] (''[[Menachot]]'' 8:1).<ref name=":1">[[Herbert Danby|Danby, H.]] ed., (1933), [[Mishnah]] ''Menahot'' 8:1 ([https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/n531/mode/1up p. 502])</ref>

During the 1980s, 4 clusters of tombs, consisting of roughly 70 [[Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel|burial caves]], were found in the vicinity of modern-day Mukhmas. In one of the burial caves, an ancient graffiti of a [[Temple menorah|seven-branched menorah]] was found, together with a [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]] inscription. In the 1990s, German researchers purchased a [[Ossuary#Jewish ossuaries|ossuary]] found in Mukhmas bearing the name ‘''Shimeon L[evi]''’, written in the [[Hebrew alphabet]].<ref name=":0" />

==World War I==
During [[World War I]], British forces under the command of [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Allenby]] were to face the [[Ottoman Turks|Turks]] at the same location.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/39020000685472-howjerusalemwas/page/n9/mode/2up|title=How Jerusalem was won|year=1919}}</ref> [[Major (rank)|Major]] [[Vivian Gilbert]] of the [[British army]] relates the story of an unnamed brigade major who was reading his Bible while contemplating the situation against the Ottoman forces.  The brigade major remembered a town by the name of Michmash mentioned somewhere in the Bible. He found the verses, and discovered that there was a secret path around the town. He woke the brigadier general, and they found that the path still existed and was very lightly guarded. The British forces used this path to outmaneuver the Ottomans, and so took the town.<ref>''The Romance of the Last Crusade'', 1923, Major Vivian Gilbert, pages 183-6</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Against All Odds - Israel survives / Miraculous True Stories, DVD, 95 min., {{ISBN|1-59464-265-6}}, a dramatized documentary, produced by American Trademark Pictures. Distributed by Questar Inc., Chicago, Illinois.

==External links==
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Michmash |volume=18 |short=x}}
*[https://archive.org/details/romanceoflastcru00vivi The Romance of the Last Crusade: with Allenby to Jerusalem, by Vivian Gilbert ]

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[[Category:Hebrew Bible cities]]