Michmethah
Mich'methah (Heb. Mikmethath', מַכמתָת, perh. hiding-place; Sept. Μαχθώθ, Vulg. Machmethath), a town on the northern border of Ephraim (and the southern of Manasseh), situated eastward of Shechem and southward from Asher, in the direction of Tappuah (Jos 17:7), also not very far west of Jordan, but beyond Taanath-Shiloh (Jos 16:6; where part of the verse appears to have become transposed from its proper location at the beginning of verse 8; see Keil's Comment. ad loc.). These notices appear to fix it not far from Wady Bidan, north-east of Salem. SEE TRIBE. This position corresponds to the location assigned to the associated places by Eusebius (Schwarz, Palest. page 147); and M. de Saulcy found a little village in this vicinity, called el-Makhna, which he thinks may be a vestige of the Biblical locality (Narrative, 1:93); but Dr. Robinson, who passed through this region during his last visit, speaks only of "several villages" visible in this vicinity (Researches, new ed. 3:298), and applies the name el- Makhna to a large fertile valley south of Nablus (ibid. page 132, etc.); which, however, according to Van de Velde's Map, runs into Wady Bidan.
