MEZZOFANTI, met"so-fan'tf, GIUSEPPE GASPARD: Italian cardinal; b. at Bologna Sept. 17, 1774; d. in Rome Mar. 15, 1849. He was educated in the archiepiscopal seminary of his native city and was ordained priest in 1797. He held various professorial positions in the University of Bologna until 1831, when he removed to Rome, where he succeeded Mai as librarian of the Vatican. In 1838 Gregory XVI. created him cardinal-priest. He was said to have been the greatest linguist of ancient or modern times. According to his biographer Russell he spoke with uncommon fluency thirty-eight languages; less perfectly, eleven; imperfectly, seven; and could read, but not speak, twelve others. He was acquainted besides with at least fifty dialects of those languages.
Bibliography: C. W. Russell, Life of Cardinal Messofarit~ London, 1868, cf. T. Watts, On Dr. Russell's Life of Car- dinal Maasofardi, ib. 1880; A. Manavit, Bsquiese historwque sur Is Cardinal Mezsofanti, Paris, 1854; A. Belleeheim, Giuseppe, Cardinal Mazsofaut4 WOrsbure, 1880.
MIANI, GIROLAMO. See Somaschians.
MICAH (Hebr.
Miykayah,
" Who is like Yahweh?
")
: The prophet whose book is sixth among
the Minor Prophets. From his home in Moreshethgath (i. 14) he is called the Morasthite (i. 1) and is
so distinguished (e.g.,
Chap. f. deals with the imminent judgment of God first on Israel (Samaria) and then on Judah; chaps. ii.-iii. lay the blame upon the sins of the upper classes, including the false prophets; in chapsiv.-v., in which the high point of Micah's oracles is reached, the author has alternately in view an immediate and a remoter future of Judah, in which it is to be wasted by Babylon and Assyria and then restored (these alternations have led to much discussion concerning the date and genuineness of the prophecies here collected); chaps. vi.-vii. start from a new point of view, since in them the guilt of the whole people is discussed. In these last chapters the literary form of dialogue appears, in which Yahweh, the people, and the prophet are the speakers; Yahweh states his ground of action against his people (vi. 1-5) and is answered with contrition by the people (vi. 6-7), to whom the prophet replies (vi. 8); Yahweh denounces the sins of the capital (vi. 9-16); vii. 1-13 is a dialogue botween prophet and people; vii. 15 is Yahweh's encouragement continued by the prophet in verses 16-20.
The genuineness of parts of the book of Micah
has been violently assailed. Thus the presence of
ii. 12-13 has been justified by some only as the
(quoted) words of a lying prophet like the one implied
in verse 11, in which ease a connection between verses 11-12 is made by
supposing a suppressed "saying" at the end of verse 11. But it
is best understood as a genuine promise of restoration following the denunciation which had just
been pronounced. Stade makes iv. 1-4, 11-14, v.
1-3, 6-14 exilic and iv. 5-10, v. 4-5 still later interpolations, and sees in them inconsistencies and differences of standpoint. Ryasel combats this view,
assigns the whole to Micah or at least to the time
of Hezekiah, and regards it as in vital connection
with chaps. i.-iii. The difficulty arose in the mention of Babylon as the place of exile (iv. 10) in a
time when Assyria was the world power and Nineveh the world capital. The solution is to be found
in the great significance and importance of Babylon, even in the Assyrian period, as the historic
seat of world empire
(
Chap. vi. has a special interest in that the scheme of history which it assumes as that known by those to whom it is addressed is that found in Numbers and Joshua, showing that at least the writing of J lay before the prophet. Another point of interest in this chapter has to do with Micah's position as to sacrifice (vi. 6-8). Some have inferred that Micah did not regard sacrifice as demanded by the divine law. But the words of the prophet necea. sarily imply sacrifice as a legal requirement, which is met by the people, however, in a formal manner which deprives it of its quality as a God-pleasing service.
The language is purely classical. In point of rhetorical peculiarity, Micah stands between his contemporaries, Hosea and Isaiah, but nearer to the latter than the former; for although, like the former, he is abrupt, abounding in sudden and quick changes, in depth of spirituality he is the worthy companion of Isaiah, sharing with him a mingling of mildness and strength, of gentleness and elevation, together with great vigor and an artistic turn of expression.
Of the prophecies placed under the name of Micah in the Hebrew test it is not certain that any-
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The remainder of the book as we now have it is
apparently composed of several unclassified discourses or fragments of discourses of dates later
than Micah. Chap. iv. describes a great deliverance and
restoration of Israel after it has been
punished for its sins with exile and disintegration, and chap. v. announces the deliverer as a descendant of the princely house of David and a
native of Bethlehem, and pictures the results of the
reclamation as a triumph over the national enemies
followed by the abolition of all forms of idolatry. These two chapters, which form a unit, were
presumably written under the influence of
Bibliography: The most thorough investigation is B. Ryssel, Untersuchungen über die Textpesta# und die Echh heit des Buches Micha, Leipsic, 1887. Still valuable axe the older commentaries by E. Pocock, Oxford, 1677; C. W. Justi, Leipsic, 1799, and A. T. Hartmann, Lemgo, 1800. More recent works are by C. P. Caspari, 2 parts, Christiania, 1851-52 (elaborate); E. B. Pussy, Oxford, 1862; C. . Keil, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1868; T. Roorda, Leyden, 1869; L. Reinke, Giessen, 1874; P. Kleinert, in Lange, Eng. transl, New York, 1875; S. Clark, in Bible Commentary, London 1876; T. . Cheyne, m Cambridge Bible, Cambridge, 1887; H. J. Elhorst, Am-' 1891; C. won Orelli, Eng. transl., The Twelve Minor
Prophets, New York, 1893; J. Wellhausen, Kleinen Propheten, Berlin, 1893; G. A_ Smith, The Book of the Twelve, in Expositor's Commentary, London, 1896; J. T. Beek, Gütersloh 1898; W. Nowack, in Handkommentar, Göttingen, 1903; M. L. Margolis, Philadelphia, 1908-09.
On questions of introduction consult: B. Stade in ZATW, i (1881), 161 sqq.; W. Nowack, in ZATW, iv (1884), 288-290; J. Taylor, The Maasoretic Text arid the Ancient Versions of . . Micah, London, 1891; W. H. Kosters, in ThT, 1893, pp. 249 sqq.; V. Ermoni, in F. Vigourous, Dictionnaire de la Bible, part xxv., pp. 1064 1067, Paris, 1905; Smith Prophets pp. 287 sqq; D B, iii. 358-360; EB, iii. 3067-74; JR, viii. 533-535; the pertinent sections in the works on introduction to the Old Testament, particularly those by Driver, Cornill,W. Baudissin (Einkitung in die Bacher des Allen Testament", Leipsic, 1901), and Wellhaueen in Bleek (Eirr leatung in has Alts Testament, Berlin, 1886).
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