Meremoth

MEREMOTH

mer'-e-moth, me-re'-moth (meremoth, "heights"; Mereimoth):

(1) Son of Uriah (Ezra 8:33), who was head of the 7th course of priests appointed by David (1 Chronicles 24:10, Hakkoz = Koz; compare Nehemiah 3:4,21). The family of Koz were among those unable to prove their pedigree on the return from Babylon, and were therefore deposed as polluted (Ezra 2:61,62). Meremoth's division of the family must, however, have been scatheless, for he is employed in the temple after the return as weigher of the gold and the vessels (Ezra 8:33), a function reserved for priests alone (Ezra 8:24-28). He takes a double part in the reconstruction under Nehemiah, first as a builder of the wall of the city (Nehemiah 3:4), then as a restorer of that part of the temple abutting on the house of Eliashib the priest (Nehemiah 3:21); "Marmoth" in 1 Esdras 8:62.

(2) A member of the house of Bani, and, like so many of that house, among those who married and put away foreign wives (Ezra 10:36). He seems to be named Carabasion (!) in the corresponding list of 1 Esdras 9:34.

(3) The name occurs in Nehemiah 10:5 among those who "seal the covenant" with Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:1). It may there be the name of an individual (in which case there were 4 of the name), or it may be a family name. Certainly a "Meremoth" came back under Zerubbabel 100 years before (Nehemiah 12:3), and the signatory in question may be either a descendant of the same name or a family representative. The name recurs later in the same list (Nehemiah 12:15) as "Meraioth" through a scribal error confusing the two Hebrew letters yodh (y) and cholem (o) for mem (m). A comparison of Nehemiah 12:1-3 and 12:12-15 shows clearly that it is the same person. Note that in 12:15 "Helkai" is the name of the contemporary leader.

(4) For Meremoth (1 Esdras 8:2 the King James Version).

See MEMEROTH.

Henry Wallace