- MMST
:"MMST redirects here. For the Metropolitan Medical Strike Team, see
Metropolitan Medical Strike Team ."MMST (Hebrew "Mem", "Mem", "Shin", "Tau") appears exclusively on
LMLK seal inscriptions, seen in archaeological findings inIsrael , and its meaning has been the subject of continual controversy.ממשת transliterations into English
* Mameshat (Yeivin, 1961)
* mamsatt (Ginsberg, 1948)
* Mamschat (Galling, 1937)
* Mamshat (Sellers and Albright, 1931)
* Mamshath (Conder, 1901)
* Mamshet (Aharoni, 1960)
* Mamshit (Vilnay, 1960)
* Mamshith (Driver, 1909)
* Memsath (McCown, 1947)
* Memshat (Bliss, 1900)
* Memshath (Macalister, 1905)
* Mimshat (Macalister, 1925)A place?
Charles Warren excavated the first two specimens in the original 1868-1869 excavations atJerusalem (Warren, 1870); however, those were both only partial impressions showing the final two letters "ST". The first complete inscription was published byFrederick Jones Bliss after excavating it fromTell Ej-Judeideh (Bliss, 1900), later determined to be BiblicalMoreseth-Gath . Beginning then, here is a list of all the ancient sites scholars have associated with it:*
Moresheth-Gath (Clermont-Ganneau, 1899)
*Mampsis (also known as Kurnub; Hommel, 1901)
*Mareshah (Vincent, 1907)
*Tel Masos (also known as Tell el-Meshash or Khirbat al-Mishash; Abel, 1938)
* An unknown site nearGezer such as Emmaus (Albright, 1943)
*Jerusalem (via MMS [L] T) or one of its suburbs (Ginsberg, 1948)
*Tel 'Erani (Yeivin, 1961)
*Tel 'Ira (Yadin, 1961)
* An unknown site betweenBethlehem &Hebron (Lang, 1972);Bethlehem vicinity preferred (Rainey, 1982)
* An unknown site betweenBeth Shemesh &Aijalon such as Emmaus (Lang, 1972)
* Emmaus (also known as Amwas; Lemaire, 1975)
*Ramat Rahel (Barkay, 1993)These proposals fall into two main streams of thought. One philosophical school places MMST in a geographical region based on the identification of three other regions surrounding
Hebron ,Socoh , andZiph (the other words on theLMLK seal s). The chief problem is that the majority of the seal impressions were not found in any particular region associated with one of the four inscriptions. For example, the majority of HBRN stamps were found atLachish significantly to the west. An alternative strategy identifies MMST in the vicinity ofJerusalem (which includesRamat Rahel ) based upon the datum that the majority of MMST stamps were excavated in and around there. The chief problem is that there were more HBRN stamps than MMST found atJerusalem and more Z(Y)F stamps than MMST found atRamat Rahel (Grena, 2004, pp. 354-60).In further support of a Place Name interpretation is the notion that MMST was lost from the Hebrew
Masoretic text, but preserved via a corrupt Greek transliteration in theSeptuagint version of thebook of Joshua , 15:59-60 (Rainey, 1982, p. 59):* Theco
* Ephratha (Baethleem)
* Phagor
* Aetan
* Culon
* Tatam
* Thobes
* Carem
* Galem
* Thether
* ManochoA person?
In 1905
Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister suggested that MMST meantMareshah , but instead of identifying it with the town, he proposed that the seal referred to a potter (or family of potters).A proclamation?
If the
LMLK seal inscriptions were votive slogans or mottoes instead of geographical places, MMST may share the same etymological root as MMSLTW (Strong's Concordance #4475), a Hebrew word used in theBible translated alternately as "domain", "dominion", "force", "government", "power", "realm", "responsibility", "rule". (SeeGenesis 1:16,1 Kings 9:19,2 Chronicles 8:6,Psalms 103:22, 114:2, 136:8-9, 145:13, Isaiah 22:21, Jeremiah 34:1, 51:28, Daniel 11:5, Micah 4:8.)2 Kings 20:13 and Isaiah 39:2 deserves special attention for its association of the word in the same chronological context as theLMLK seal s::And
Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures--the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory--all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his" "dominion" "thatHezekiah did not show them."Likewise 2 Chronicles 32:9:
:"After this
Sennacherib king ofAssyria sent his servants toJerusalem (but he and all the" "forces" "with him laid siege againstLachish ), toHezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were inJerusalem ..." Note that Ginsberg suspected such a literal reading of the inscription in paper presented in 1945, but changed to the geographic association withJerusalem in 1948.Note also the well-known
Moab ite inscription fromKerak that begins with the fragmented phrase "...MSYT MLK". While we may never know if the first word is a compound of "KMS", theMoab ite deity mentioned in theBible as Chemosh, the MMST on theLMLK seal s may have been "MMSYT" written "scriptio defectiva" with a possible relation to "mumsa" in theArabic language .ee also
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Archaeology of Israel References
* Abel, Pere (1938). "Geographie de la Palestine II". p. 377, footnote 17.
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* Barkay, G. (personal communication quote by editor Ephraim Stern; 1993). "Ramat Rahel" in New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. p. 1267.
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* Driver, S. R. (1909). "Modern Research as Illustrating the Bible". pp. 74-7.
* Galling, Kurt (1937). "Biblisches Reallexikon". pp. 337-40.
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* Macalister, R. A. S. (1925). "A Century of Excavation in Palestine". pp. 37-8, 190-1.
* McCown, Chester Charlton (1947). "Tell en-Nasbeh I: Archaeological and Historical Results". pp. 156-61.
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* Vilnay, Zev (1960 and possibly earlier editions to 1942). "The Guide to Israel". Under listing for Gath (Kiryat-Gat).
* Vincent, Hugues (1907). "Canaan d'Apres l'Exploration Recente". pp. 357-60.
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* Yeivin, Shemuel (1961). "First Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Tel Gat (Tell Sheykh 'Ahmed el-Areyny) 1956-1958". pp. 9-11.External links
* [http://www.lmlk.com/research/lmlk_mmst.htm MMST LMLK seals]
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