MESHECH. 1 . The name of a people of Asia Minor mentioned after Tubal as among the sons of Japbeth ( Genesis 10:2 ). These two peoples, possibly kindred, appear almost always in conjunction in OT; so even in Isaiah 66:18 , where read ‘Meshech’ instead of ‘that draw the bow’ (the word for ‘bow’ being a supplementary gloss). In Psalms 12:6 Meshech and Kedar appear as types of barbarous and warlike people, just as Meshech and Tubal are represented in Ezekiel 32:28; Ezekiel 38:2; Ezekiel 39:1 . In the Assyrian annals the Tabalî and Mushkî , who are undoubtedly the same as Tuhal and Meshech, are found again together (as fierce opponents of Assyria in the 12th cent. b.c.), the former lying to the north-east of Cilicia and the latter eastward between them and the Euphrates. The Tibareni and Moschi of the classical writers must stand for the same two peoples. Ezekiel 27:13 names them as trading in slaves and articles of bronze.

2 . In 1 Chronicles 1:17 ‘Meshech’ is written by mistake for ‘Mash’ (cf. Genesis 10:23 )

J. F. M‘Curdy.