Reference: Noph
American
Sometimes called also, in Hebrew, MOPH, Ho 9:6, the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt. The ruins of it, though not to any great extent, are still found a few miles above Old Cairo, or Fostat, Isa 19:13; Jer 2:16; 44:1; Eze 30:13,16.
Memphis was the residence of the ancient kings of Egypt till the times of the Ptolemies, who commonly resided at Alexandria. Here, it is supposed, Joseph was a prisoner and a ruler, and here Moses stood before Pharaoh. The prophets, in the places above referred to, foretell the miseries Memphis was to suffer from the kings of Chaldea and Persia; and threaten the Israelites who should retire into Egypt, or should have recourse to the Egyptians, that they should perish in that country. In this city they fed and worshipped the sacred bull Apis, the embodiment of their false god Osiris; and Ezekiel says, that the lord will destroy the idols of Memphis, Eze 30:13,16. Memphis retained much of its splendor till it was conquered by the Arabians in the eighteenth or nineteenth year of the Hegira, A. D. 641; after which it was superseded as the metropolis of Egypt by Fostat, now Old Cairo, in the construction of which its materials were employed. The pyramids, in which its distinguished men were buried, still survive; but the magnificent city, that stretched along for many miles between them and the river, has almost wholly disappeared.
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Easton
the Hebrew name of an Egyptian city (Isa 19:13). In Ho 9:6 the Hebrew name is Moph, and is translated "Memphis," which is its Greek and Latin form. It was one of the most ancient and important cities of Egypt, and stood a little to the south of the modern Cairo, on the western bank of the Nile. It was the capital of Lower Egypt. Among the ruins found at this place is a colossal statue of Rameses the Great. (See Memphis.)
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Fausets
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Hastings
Morish
See MEMPHIS.
Smith
Noph.
[MEMPHIS]
See Memphis
Watsons
NOPH, Memphis, a celebrated city of Egypt, and, till the time of the Ptolemies, who removed to Alexandria, the residence of the ancient kings of Egypt. It stood above the dividing of the river Nile, where the Delta begins. Toward the south of this city stood the famous pyramids, two of which were esteemed the wonder of the world; and in this city was fed the ox Apis, which Cambyses slew, in contempt of the Egyptians, who worshipped it as a deity. The kings of Egypt took much pleasure in adorning this city; and it continued in all its beauty till the Arabians made a conquest of Egypt under the Caliph Omar. The general who took it built another city near it, named Fustal, merely because his tent had been a long time set up in that place; and the Fatimite caliphs, when they became masters of Egypt, added another to it, which is known to us at this day by the name of Grand Cairo. This occasioned the utter decay of Memphis, and led to the fulfilment of the prophecy, that it should be "waste and without inhabitant." The prophets often speak of this city, and foretel the miseries it was to suffer from the kings of Chaldea and Persia, Isa 19:13; Jer 44:1; 46:14,19; Ho 9:6; Eze 30:13,16.