Bible Dictionary
Minnith
Minnith was a place connected with Jephthah’s victory over the Ammonites and with wheat traded to Tyre. Its exact location and the identity of the two biblical references are uncertain.
Definition
Minnith was a place associated with the territory reached by Jephthah’s victory over the Ammonites. The same name appears in a reference to wheat traded to Tyre, though it is uncertain whether the two passages refer to the same place or whether the word is a proper name.
Biblical Usage
Jephthah is said to have defeated the Ammonites as far as Minnith. Ezekiel mentions the wheat of Minnith in the commercial exchange between Judah, Israel, and Tyre.
Historical Background
Suggested locations include a site near Heshbon or east of Heshbon, but no identification is reliable. The sources also note serious uncertainty concerning the textual form and identity of the place.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Distribution, an Ammonitish town (Judg. 11:33) from which wheat was exported to Tyre (Ezek. 27:17). It was probably somewhere in the Mishor or table-land on the east of Jordan. There is a gentle valley running for about 4 miles east of Dhiban called Kurm Dhiban, “the vineyards of Dibon.” Tristram supposes that this may be the “vineyards” mentioned in Judg. (l.c.).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(distribution), a place on the east of the Jordan, named as the point to which Jephthah’s slaughter of the Ammonites extended. (Judges 11:33) The “wheat of Minnith” is mentioned in (Ezekiel 27:17) as being supplied by Judah and Israel to Tyre; but there is nothing to indicate that the same place is intended, and indeed the word is believed by some not to be a proper name.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>min'-ith (minnith; Codex Vaticanus achris Arnon; Codex Alexandrinus eis Semoeith): After Jephthah defeated the Ammonites, he is said to have smitten them from Aroer "until thou come to Minnith" (Jud 11:33). Eusebius, Onomasticon mentions a place called Maanith, 4 Roman miles from Heshbon, on the road to Philadelphia (`Amman), and locates Abelcheramim, which is mentioned with Minnith, 7 miles from Philadelphia, without indicating the direction. Some travelers have spoken of a Menjah, 7 miles East of Heshbon, but of this place Tristram (Land of Moab, 140) could find no trace. The same place appears to be mentioned in Eze 27:17 as supplying wheat, which figures in the trade between Judah and Tyre. There are really no reliable data on which to suggest an identification, while there are grave reasons to suspect the integrity of the text.</p><p>W. Ewing</p>