J
Jesoix – Jambri
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Jesoix
, meaning ‘springs’; a site near Salim [wh. see].
.ffiSORA (Judith 4:4). — An unknown Samaritan town, possibly mod. Asireh, N.E. of Shechem.
ACrABUS. — A Christian prophet of Jerusalem (Ac ll27£f . 21:10 f.). whose prediction of a famine over the (civilized) world occasioned the sending of alms from Antioch to Jerusalem. The famine happened, not simultaneously in all countries, in Claudius’ reign (Suetonius, Tacitus). Agabus also foretold St. Paul’s imprisonment, by binding his feet and hands with the Apostle’s girdle (cf. ff.). A. J. Maclean.
Jaakan
See Beeroth-Bene-Jaakan.
Jaakobah
A Simeonite prince ().
Jaala
Jaala () or JAALAH (). The name of a family of the ‘sons of Solomon’s servants’ who returned with Zerubbabel; called in 1 Esdras 5:33 Jeeli.
Jaar
A Heb. name for a wood, forest, thicket, occurring about fifty times in the OT. It occurs once as a proper name, namely in . where, speaking of the ark, the Psalmist says that it was heard of at Ephrathah and toimd at Jaar. The parallelism of Hebrew poetry requires that Jaar shall be regarded here as set over against Ephrathah. The ark was brought from the region of Bethlehem (Ephrathah), yea, from the woody heights of Kiriath-jearim. W. F. Cobb.
Jaare-orec
Jaare-orec rlM. — According to , the name of the father of Elhanau, one of David’s heroes; but according to his name was plain Jalr. Obviously oregim (" weavers’) has crept in from the next line. See Elhanan. W. F. Cobb.
Jaareshiah
A Benjamite chief ().
Jaasiel
The ‘ruler’ of Benjamin (), probably identical with ‘the Uezobaite’ of 11".
Jaasu
Jaasu ( Kethibh) or JAASAI (Qct-5, so RVm. — One of those who had married foreign wives.
Jaazaniah
1, A Judaean, one of the military commanders who came to Mizpah to give in their allegiance to Gedaliah ( 40 Jezaniah).
2. A chieftain of the clan of the Rechabites (). 3. Son of Shaphan, who appeared in Ezekiel’s vision as ringleader of seventy of the elders of Israel in the practice of secret idolatry at Jerusalem (). 4. Son. of Azzur, against whose counsels Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy ( ff.).
Jaaziah
A son of Merari (, ).
Jaaziel
A Levite skilled in the use of the psaltery ()) called in Aziel.
Jabal
Son of Lamech by Adah, and originator of the nomadic form of life, (J).
Jabbok
A river now called Nahr ez-Zerka (‘the Blue River’), which rises near AmmOn the ancient Rabbath-ammon, and after running first N.E., then N., N.W., W., finally bends S.W. to enter the Jordan. On almost the whole of its curved course of 60 miles it runs through a deep valley, and forms a natural boundary. On its curved upper reaches it may be said practically to bound the desert, while the deep gorge of its lower, straighter course divides the land of Gilead into two halves. It is mentioned as a frontier in , . . jg Ilia. 22. The Jabbok is famous for all time on account of the striking incident of Jacob’s wrestling there with the Angel ( f.).
E. W. G. Mastebman.
Jabesh
Father of Shallum, who usurped the kingdom of Israel by the assassination of king Zechariah ().
Jabesh, Jabesh-gilead
A city which first appears in the story of the restoration of the Benjamites (). Probably it had not fully recovered from this blow when it was almost forced to submit to the disgraceful terms of Nahash the Ammonite (). In gratitude for Saul’s relief of the city, the inhabitants rescued his body from maltreatment by the Philistines () — an act which earned them the commendation of David ().
According to the Onomasticon, the site is 6 Roman miles from Pella. The name seems to be preserved in YaWs, a wady tributary to the Jordan, which runs down at the south part of trans-Jordanic Manasseh. The site itself, however, is not yet identified with certainty. R. A. S. Macalistee.
Jabez
1, A city in Judah occupied by scribes, the descendants of Caleb (). 2. A man of the family of Judah, noted for his ‘honourable’ character (l Ch4™); called Fa’&ete, which is rendered as if it stood for yo’teSft, ‘he causes pain.’ In his vow () there is again a play upon his name. W. Ewing.
Jabd
Jabd f (‘[God] perceives’). — A Canaanite king who reigned in Hazor, a place near the Waters of Merom, not far from Kedesh. In the account, in , of the defeat of Jabin’s host under Sisera, the former takes up quite a subordinate position. In another account () of this episode the victory of the two tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali is represented as a conquest of the whole of northern Canaan by Joshua. Both accounts (Jos . ) are fragments taken from an earlier, and more elaborate, source; the Jabin in each passage is therefore one and the same person.
W. O. E. Oesterlet.
Jabneel
1. A town on the N. border of Judah, near Mt. Baalah, and close to the sea (). In it is mentioned under the name Jabneh, along with Gath and Ashdod, as one of the cities captured from the Philistines by Uzziah. Although these are the only OT references, it is frequently mentioned (under the name Jamnia) in the Books of Maccabees (1 Maccabees 4 5:58 ions i5<o, 2 Maccabees 12:8, 9, 40) and in Josephus. Judas is said to have burned its harbour; it was captured by Simon from the Syrians. In Judith 2:28 it is called Jemnaan. After various vicissitudes it was captured in the war of the Jews by Vespasian. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Jabneel, now called Jamnia, became the home of the Sanhedrin. At the time of the Crusades the castle Ibelin stood on the site. To-day the village of Yebna stands on the ruined remains of these ancient occupations. It stands 170 feet above the sea on a prominent hill S. of the Wady Bviin. The ancient Majumas or harbour of Jamnia lies to the West. ‘The port would seem to be naturally better than any along the coast of Palestine S. of Csesarea’ (Warren).
2. An unknown site on the N. boundary of Naphtali not far from the Jordan ().
E. W. G. Mastebman.
Jabneh
See Jabneel.
Jacan
A Gadite chief ().
Jachin
1. Fourth son of Simeon (, ) called in Jarib; in the patronymic Jachinites occurs. 2. Eponym of a priestly family (. ).
Jachin and Boaz
These are the names borne by two brazen, or more probably bronze, pillars belonging to Solomon’s Temple. They evidently represented the highest artistic achierement of their author, Hiram of Tyre, ‘the hall-Tyrian copper-worker, whom Solomon fetched from Tyre to do foundry work for him,’ whose name, however, was more probably Huram-abi C2 Ch 2’^ Heb. text). The description of them now found in is exceedingly confused and corrupt, but with the help of the better preserved Gr. text, and of other OT. references (viz. , , , . and =2 K ). recent scholars have restored the text of the primary passage somewhat as follows: —
" And he cast the two pillars of bronze for the porch of the temple: 18 cubits was the height of the one pillar, and a line of 12 cubits could compass it about, and its thickness was 4 fingei^breadthsCf or it waa)hollow[with this cf . ). And the second pillar was similar. And he made two chapiters[i e. capitals] of cast bronze for the tops of the pillars, etc. [as in RV]. And he made two sets of network to cover the chapitera which were upon the tops of the pillars, a network for the one chapiter and a network for the second chapiter. And he made the pomegranates; and two rows of pomegranates in bronze were upon the one network, and the pomegranates were 200, round about upon the one chapiter, and so he did for the second chapiter. And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple,’ etc. [as in RVL
The original description, thus freed from later glosses such as the dlfflcult ‘Uly work’ of , consists of three parts; the pillars, their capitals, and the ornamentation of the latter. The pillars themselves were hollow, with a thickness of metal equal to three inches of our measure ; their height, on the basis of the larger cubit of 20i inches (see Hastings’ DB iv. 907"), was about 31 feet, while their diameter works out at about 6i feet. The capitals appear from to have been globular or spheroidal in form, each about 8f feet in height, giving a tot^l height for the complete pillars of roughly 40 feet. The ornamentation of the capitals was twofold; first they were covered with a specially cast network of bronze. Over this were hung festoon-wise two wreaths of bronze pomegranates, each row containing 100 pomegranates, of which it is probable that tour were fixed to the network, while the remaining 96 hung free (see ).
As regards their position relative to the Temple, it may be regarded as certain that they were structurally independent of the Temple porch, and stood free in front of it — probably on plinths or bases — Jachin on the south and Boaz on the north (), one on either side of the steps leading up to the entrance to the porch (cf. ). Such free-standing pillars were a feature of Phoenician and other temples of Western Asia, the statements of Greek writers on this point being confirmed by representations on contemporary coins. A glass dish, discovered in Rome in 1882,’ even shows a representation of Solomon’s Temple with the twin pillars flanking the porch, as above described (reproduced in Benzinger’s Heb. Arch. [1907], 218).
‘The names’ Jachin’ and ‘Boaz’ present an enigma which still awaits solution. The meanings suggested in the margins of EV — Jachin, ‘he shall establish,’ Boaz, ‘in it is strength’ — give no help, and are besides very problematical. The various forms of the names presented by the Greek texts — for which see BBi ii. 2304 f. and esp. Barnes in JThSt v. [1904], 447-551 — point to a possible original nomenclature as Baal and Jachun — the latter a Phoenician verbal form of the same signification (‘he will be ‘) as the Heb. Jahweh.
The original significance and purpose of the pillars, finally, are almost as obscure as their names. The fact that they were the work of a Phoenician artist, however, makes it probable that their presence is to be explained on the analogy of the similar pillars of Phoenician temples. These, though viewed in more primitive times as the abode of the Deity (see Pillar), had, as civilization and religion advanced, come to be regarded as mere symbols of His presence. To a Phoenician temple-builder, Jachin and Boaz would appear as the natural adjuncts of such a building, and are therefore, perhaps, best explained as conventional symbols of the God for whose worship the Temple of Solomon was designed.
For another, and entirely improbable, view of their original purposCj namely, that they were huge candelabra or cressets in which the suet of the sacrifices ‘was burned, see W. R. Smith’s RS\ 488; and for the latest attempts to explain the pillais in terms of the Babylonian’ astral mythology,’ see A. Jeremias, Das alte Test, im Lichle d. alt. Orients^ [1906], 494, etc.; Benzinger, op. cit., 2nd ed. fl907], 323, 331. A. R. S. Kennedy.
Jacinth
See Jevvels and Precious Stones, p. 467".
Jackal
Although the word ‘jackal’ does not occur in the AV, there is no doubt that this animal is several times mentioned in OT: it occurs several times in RV where AV has ‘fox.’ (1) shu’dl is used in Heb. for both animals, but most of the references are most suitably tr. ‘jackal.’ The only OT passage in which the fox is probably intended is . (2) tannlm (pi.), AV ‘Wagons,’ is in RV usually tr. ‘jackals.’ See Isaiah 344, etc. Post considers ‘wolves’ would iDe better. (3) ‘iyylm, tr. AV’ wild beasts of the island’ ( , ), is in RV tr. ‘wolves,’ but Post thinks these ‘howling creatures’ (as word implies) were more probably jackals. (4) ‘Shim,’ doleful creatures’ (), may also have been jackals. The jackal (.Canis aureus) is exceedingly common in Palestine; its mournful cries are heard every night. During the day jackals hide in deserted ruins, etc. ( ). but as soon as the sun sets they Issue forth. They may at such times be frequently seen gliding backwards and forwards across the roads seeking for morsels of food. Their staple food is carrion of all sorts (). At the present day the Bedouin threaten an enemy with death by saying they will ‘throw his body to the jackals.’ Though harmless to grown men when solitary , a whole pack may be dangerous. The writer knows of a case where a European was pursued for miles over the Philistine plain by a pack of jackals. It is because they go in packs that we take the shu’alim of to be jackals rather than foxes. Both animals have a weakness for grapes (). . Cf . art. Fox. E. W. G. Masterman.
Jacob
1. Son of Isaac and Rebekah. His name is probably an elliptical form of an original Jakob’el, ‘God follows’ (i.e. ‘rewards’), which has been found both on Babylonian tablets and on the pylons of the temple of Karnak. By the time of Jacob this earlier history of the word was overlooked or forgotten, and the name was understood as meaning ‘one who takes by the heel, and thus tries to trip up or supplant’ ( , ). His history is recounted in , the materials being unequally contributed from three sources. For the details of analysis see Dillmann, Com., and Driver, LOT\ p. 16. P supplies but a brief outline; J and E are closely interwoven, though a degree of original independence Is shown by an occasional divergence in tradition, which adds to the credibility of the joint narrative.
Jacob was born in answer to prayer (), near Beersheba; and the later rivalry between Israel and Edom was thought of as prefigured in the strife of the twins in the womb ( f.: 2 Esdras 3:16 6:8–10, ). The differences between the two brothers, each contrasting with the other in character and habit, were marked from the beginning. Jacob grew up a " quiet man’ ( RVm), a shepherd and herdsman. Whilst still at home, he succeeded in overreaching Esau in two ways. He took advantage of Esau’s hunger and heedlessness to secure the birthright, which gave him precedence even during the father’s Utetime (), and afterwards a double portion of the patrimony (). with probably the domestic priesthood. At a later time, after careful consideration ( ff.). he adopted the device suggested by his mother, and, allaying with ingeni-ous falsehoods () his father’s suspicion, intercepted also his blessing. Isaac was dismayed, but instead of revoking the blessing confirmed it (). and was not able to remove Esau’s bitterness. In both blessings later political and geographical conditions are reflected. To Jacob is promised Canaan, a well-watered land of fields and vineyards ( ). with sovereignty over its peoples, even those who were ‘brethren’ or descended from the same ancestry as Israel ( f.: , ). Esau is consigned to the dry and rocky districts of Idumaea, with a life of war and plunder; but his subjection to Jacob is limited in duration (), if not also in completeness ( f.: which points to the restlessness of Edom).
Of this successful craft on Jacob’s part the natural result on Esau’s was hatred and resentment, to avoid which Jacob left his home to spend a few days () with his uncle in Haran. Two different motives are assigned. JE represents Rebekah as pleading with her son his danger from Esau; but P represents her as suggesting to Isaac the danger that Jacob might marry a Hittite wife (). The traditions appear on literary grounds to have come from different sources; but there is no real difficulty in the narrative as it stands. Not only are man’s motives often complex; but a woman would be likely to use different pleas to a husband and to a son, and if a mother can counsel her son to yield to his fear, a father would be more alive to the possibility of an outbreak of folly. On his way to Haran, Jacob passed a night at Bethel (cf. f.). and his sleep was, not unnaturally, disturbed by dreams; the cromlechs and stone terraces of the district seemed to arrange themselves into a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending, whilst Jehovah Himself bent over him ( RVm) with loving assurances. Reminded thus of the watchful providence of God, Jacob’s alarms were transmuted into religious awe. He marked the sanctity of the spot by setting up as a sacred pillar the boulder on which his head had rested, and undertook to dedicate a tithe of all his gains. Thenceforward Bethel became a famous sanctuary, and Jacob himself visited it again (; cf. ).
Arrived at Haran, Jacob met in his uncle his superior for a time in the art of overreaching. By a ruse Laban secured fourteen years’ service (29. . Judith 8:26), to which six years more were added, under an ingenious arrangement in which the exacting uncle was at last outwitted (30:31 ff.). At the end of the term Jacob was the head of a household conspicuous even in those days for its magnitude and prosperity. Quarrels with Laban and his sons ensued, but God is represented as intervening to turn their arbitrary actions (31:7 ff.) to Jacob’s advantage. At length he took flight whilst Laban was engaged in sheep-shearing, and, re-crossing the Euphrates on his way home, reached Gilead. There he was overtaken by Laban, whose exasperation was increased by the fact that his teraphim, or household gods, had been taken away by the fugitives, Rachel’s" hope in stealing them being to appropriate the good fortune of her fathers. The dispute that followed was closed by an alliance of friendship, the double covenant being sealed by setting up in commemoration a cairn with a solitary boulder by Its side (31«‘- ‘2), and by sharing a sacrificial meal. Jacob promised to treat Laban’s daughters with special kindness, and both Jacob and Laban undertook to respect the boundary they had agreed upon between the territories of Israel and of the Syrians. Thereupon Laban returned home; and Jacob continued his journey to Canaan, and was met by the angels of God (32:1). as if to congratulate and welcome him as he approached the Land of Promise.
Jacob s next problem was to conciliate his brother, who was reported to be advancing against him with a large body of men (32:6). Three measures were adopted. When a submissive message elicited no response, Jacob in dismay turned to God, though without any expression of regret for the deceit by which he had wronged his brother, and proceeded to divide his party into two companies, in the hope that one at least would escape, and to try to appease Esau with a great gift. The next night came the turning-point in Jacob’s life. Hitherto he had been ambitious, steady of purpose, subject to genuine religious feeling, but given up almost wholly to the use of crooked methods. Now the higher elements in his nature gain the ascendency; and henceforth, though he is no less resourceful and politic, his fear of God ceases to be spoilt by intervening passions or a competing self-confidence. Alone on the banks of the Jabbok (Wady Zerka), full of doubt as to the fate that would overtake him, he recognizes at last that his real antagonist is not Esau but God. All his fraud and deceit had been pre-eminently sin against God ; and what he needed supremely was not reconciliation with his brother, but the blessing of God. So vivid was the impression, that the entire night seemed to be spent in actual wrestling with a living man. His thigh was sprained in the contest ; but since his will was so fixed that he simply would not be refused, the blessing came with the daybreak (32:28). His name was changed to Israel, which means etymologically ‘God perseveres,’ but was applied to Jacob in the sense of ‘Perseverer with God’ ( f.). And as a name was to a Hebrew a symbol of nature ( ). jtg change was a symbol of a changed character; and the supplanter became the one who persevered in putting forth his strength in communion with God, and therefore prevailed. His brother received him cordially (), and offered to escort him during the rest of the journey. The offer was courteously declined, ostensibly because of the difference of pace between the two companies, but probably also with a view to incur no obligation and to risk no rupture. Esau returned to Seir; and Jacob moved on to a suitable site for an encampment, which received the name of Succoth, from the booths that were erected on it (). It was east of the Jordan, and probably not far from the junction with the Jabbok. The valley was suitable for the recuperation of the fiocks and herds after so long a journey; and it is probable, from the character of the buildings erected, as well as from the fact that opportunity must be given for Dinah, one of the youngest of the children (), to reach a marriageable age (3**-), that Jacob stayed there for several years.
After a residence of uncertain length at Succoth, Jacob crossed the Jordan and advanced to Shechezn, where he purchased a plot of ground which became afterwards of special interest. Joshua seems to have regarded it as the limit of his expedition, and there the Law was promulgated and Joseph’s bones were buried (, ; cf. ) and for a time it was the centre of the confederation of the northern tribes (. ). Again Jacob’s stay must not be measured by days; for he erected an altar () and dug a well (, ). and was detained by domestic troubles, if not of his own original intention. The troubles began with the seduction or outrage of Dinah; but the narrative that follows is evidently compacted of two traditions. According to the one, the transaction was personal, and involved a fulfilment by Shechem of a certain unspecified con- . dition; according to the other, the entire clan was involved on either side, and the story is that of the danger of the absorption of Israel by the local Canaanites and its avoidance through the interposition of Simeon and Levi. But most of the difilciUties disappear on the assumption that Shechem’s marriage was, as was natural, expedited, a delight to himself and generally approved amongst his kindred (34). That pressing matter being settled, the question of an alliance between the two clans, with the sinister motives that prevailed on either side, would be gradually, perhaps slowly, brought to an issue. There would be time to persuade the Shechemites to consent to be circumcised, and to arrange for the treacherous reprisal. Jacob’s part in the proceedings was confined chiefly to a timid reproach of his sons for entangling his household in peril, to which they replied with the plea that the honour of the family was the first consideration.
The state of feeling aroused by the vengeance executed on Shechem made it desirable for Jacob to continue his journey. He was directed by God to proceed some twenty miles southwards to Bethel. Before starting, due preparations were made for a visit to so sacred a spot. The amulets and images of foreign gods in the possession of his retainers were collected and buried under a terebinth (35; cf. , ). The people through whom he passed were smitten with such a panic by the news of what had happened at Shechem as not to interfere with him. Arrived at Bethel, he added an altar (35) to the monolith he had erected on his previous visit, and received in a theophany, for which in mood he was well prepared, a renewal of the promise of regal prosperity. The additional pillar he set up (35) was probably a sepulchral stele to the memory of Deborah (cf. 35), dedicated with appropriate religious services; unless the verse is out of place in the narrative, and is really J’s version of what E relates in 28. From Bethel Jacob led his caravan to Ephrath, a few miles from which place Rachel died in childbirth. This Ephrath was evidently not far f rom^Bethel, and well to the north of Jerusalem ( f.: ). and therefore the gloss ‘the same is Bethlehem’ must be due to a contusion with the other Ephrath (, ). which was south of Jerusalem. The next stopping-place was the tower of Eder (35) or ‘the fiock’ — a generic name for the watch-towers erected to aid in the protection of the fiocks from robbers and wild beasts. applies a similar term to the fortified southern spur of Zion. But it cannot be proved that the two allusions coalesce; and actually nothing is known of the site of Jacob’s encampment, except that it was between Ephrath and Hebron. His journey was ended when he reached the last-named place (35), the home of his fathers, where he met Esau again, and apparently for the last time, at the funeral of Isaac.
From the time of his return to Hebron, Jacob ceases to be the central figure of the Biblical narrative, which thenceforward revolves round Joseph. Among the leading incidents are Joseph’s mission to inquire after his brethren’s welfare, the inconsolable sorrow of the old man on the receipt of what seemed conclusive evidence of Joseph’s death, the despatch of his surviving sons except Benjamin to buy corn in Egypt (cf . ff.), the bitterness of the reproach with which he greeted them on their return, and his belated and despairing consent to another expedition as the only alternative to death from famine. The story turns next to Jacob’s delight at the news that Joseph is alive, and to his own journey to Egypt through Beersheba, his early home, where he was encouraged by God in visions of the night (46). In Egypt he was met by Joseph, and, after an interview with the Pharaoh, settled in the pastoral district of Goshen (47). afterwards known as ‘the land of Rameses’ (from Rameses ii. of the nineteenth dynasty), in the eastern part of the Delta (47). This migration of Jacob to Egypt was an event of the first magnitude in the history of Israel (; f.), as a stage in the great providential preparation for Redemption. Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years (47), at the close of which, feeling death to be nigh, he extracted a pledge from Joseph to bury himin Canaan, and adopted his two grandsons, placing the younger first in anticipation of the pre-eminence of the tribe that would descend from him (48, ). To Joseph himself was promised, as a token of special affection, the conquered districts of Shechem on the lower slopes of Gerizim (.iS", ). Finally, the old man gathered his sons about him, and pronounced upon each in turn a blessing, afterwards wrought up into the elaborate poetical form of 49. The tribes are reviewed in order, and the character of each is sketched in a description of that of its founder. The atmosphere of the poem in regard alike to geography and to history la that of the period of the judges and early kings, when, therefore, the genuine tradition must have taken the form in which it has been preserved. After blessing his sons, Jacob gave them together the directions concerning his funeral which he had given previously to Joseph, and died (49). His body was embalmed, convoyed to Canaan by a great procession according to the Egyptian custom, and buried in the cave of Machpelah near Hebron (50).
Opinion is divided as to the degree to which Jacob has been idealized in the Biblical story. If it be remembered that the narrative is based upon popular oral tradition, and did not receive its present form until long after the time to which it relates, and that an interest in national origins is both natural and distinctly manifested in parts of Genesis, some ideaUzation may readily be conceded. It may be sought in three directions— ^in the attempt to find explanations of existing institutions, in the anticipation of religious conceptions and sentiments that belonged to the narrator’s times, and in the investment of the reputed ancestor with the characteristics of the tribe descended from him. All the conditions are best met by the view that Jacob was a real person, and that the incidents recorded of him are substantially historical. His character, as depicted, is a mixture of evil and good; and his career shows how, by discipline and grace, the better elements came to prevail, and God was enabled to use a faulty man for a great purpose.
2. Father of Joseph, the husband of Mary ().
R. W. MoSB.
Jacob'swell
See Sychak.
Jaoubus
Jaoubus (1 Esdras 9:48) = Akkub.
Jada
A Jerahmeelite ().
Jaddua
1. One of those who sealed the covenant (). 2. A high priest (, ). He is doubtless the Jaddua who is named by Josephus in connexion with Alexander the Great (Jos. Ant. xi. viii. 5, cf. vii. 2, vill. 7).
Jaddus
(AV Addus). A priest whose descendants were unable to trace their genealogy at the return under Zerub., and were removed from the priesthood (l Es5’‘). He is there said to have married Augia, a daughter of Zorzelleus or Barzillai, and to have been called after his name. In and he Is called by his adopted name Barzillai,
Jadon
A Meronothite, who took part in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem (). The title ‘Meronothite’ occurs again , but a place Meronoth is nowhere named. According to Jos. (Ant. viii. viii. 5, ix. 1), Jadon was the name of the man of’God sent from Judah to Jeroboam ().
Jael
The wife of Heber, the Kenlte (, ). The Kenites were on friendly terms both with the Israelites (l’«) and with the Canaanites, to whom Jabin and his general, Sisera, belonged. On his defeat by the Israelites, Sisera fled to the tent of Jael, a spot which was doubly secure to the fugitive,.on account both of intertribal friendship and of the rules of Oriental hospitality. The act of treachery whereby Jael slew Sisera () was therefore of the basest kind, according to the morals of her own time, and also to modern ideas. The praise, therefore, accorded to Jael and her deed in the Song of Deborah () must be accounted for on the questionable moral principle that an evil deed, If productive of advantage, may be rejoiced over and commended by those who have not taken part in it. The writer of the Song of Deborah records an act which, though base, resulted in putting the seal to the Israelite victory, and thus contributed to the recovery of Israel from a ‘mighty oppression’ () in the exultation over this result the woman who helped to bring it about by her act is extolled. Though the writer of the Song would probably have scorned to commit such a deed himself, he sees no incongruity in praising it for its beneficent consequences. This is one degree worse than ‘doing evil that good may come,’ for the evil itself is extolled; whereas, in the other case, it is deplored, and unwillingly acquiesced in because it is ‘necessary.’ The spirit which praises such an act as Jael’s is, in some sense, akin to that of a Jewish custom (Corban) which grew up in later days, and which received the condemnation of Christ, ; in each case a contemptible act is condoned, and even extolled, because of the advantage (of one kind or another) which it brings.
In the words ‘in the days of Jael’ create a difflculty, which can be accounted for only by regarding them, with most scholars, as a gloss. See also Babak, Debohah, Sisera. W. O. E. Oestbrley.
Jagur
A town in the extreme south of Judah (). The site is unknown.
Jah
See God, § 2 (3).
Jahath
1. A grandson of Judah (1 Chronicles 42). 2. A great-grandson of Levi (, ). 3. A son of Shimei (). 4. One of the ‘sons’ of Shelomoth (). 5. A Merarite Levite in the time of Josiah ().
Jahaz
(in , Jahzah). A town at which Sihon was defeated by Israel (. . ). After the crossing of the Arnon, messengers were sent to Sihon from the ‘wilderness of Kedemoth’ (). and he ‘went out against Israel into the wilderness and came to Jahaz’ (). Jahaz is mentioned in connexion with Kedemoth ( ). These passages indicate a position for Jahaz in the S.E. portion of Sihon’s territory. Jahaz was one of the Levite cities of Reuben belonging to the children of Merari ( [see note in EVm], ). According to the Moabite Stone (11. 18-20), the king of Israel dwelt at Jahaz while at war with king Mesha, but was driven out, and the town was taken and added to Moabite territory. Isaiah () and Jeremiah (48) refer to it as in the possession of Moab. The site has not yet been identified.
Jahaziel
1. A Benjamite who joined David at Ziklag (). 2. One of the two priests who blew trumpets before the ark when it was brought by David to Jerusalem (). 3. A Kohathite Levite (1 Ch 247). 4. An Asaphite Levite who encouraged Jehoshaphat and his army against an invading host (). 5. The ancestor of a family of exiles who returned () ; called in 1 Esdras 8:32 Jezelus.
Jahdai
A Calebite ().
Jahdiel
A Manassite chief (1 Ch S«).
Jahdo
A Gadite ().
Jahleel
Third son of Zebulun (, ) patron. Jahleelites ().
Jabdmai
A man of Issachar ().
Jahweh
See God, § 2 (f).
Jahzah
The form of Jahaz (wh. see) in and Jer 482>.
Jahzeel
Naphtali’s firstborn (, )) in Jahziel; patron. Jahzeelites ().
Jahzeiah
One of four men who are mentioned as opposing (so EV) Ezra in the matter of the foreign wives (). The AV regarded Jahzeiah and his companionis as supporters of Ezra, rendering ‘were employed about this matter.’ This view is supported by LXX, 1 Esdras 9:14 RVm; but the Heb. phrase here found elsewhere (cf. . . ) expresses opposition.
JAHZERAH. Ahzai. -A priest () called in
Jahziel
See Jahzeel.
Jaib
1. A clan of Jairites lived on the east of Jordan who were called after Jair. This Jair was of the children of Manasseh (), and— if we may assume a traditional fusion — a ‘judge’ ( ff.). The settlement of this clan marks a subsequent conquest to that of the west of Jordan. The gentilic Jairite is used for Ira (). 2. The father of Mordecai (). 3. The father of Elhanan. See Elhanan, Jaahe- Oreqim). w. F. Cobb.
Jairus
(= Jair). This Greek form of the name is used in the Apocrypha (Ad. Esther 11) for Mordecai’s father Jair () and (1 Esdras 5:31) for the head of a family of Temple servants. In NT it is the name of the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter Jesus raised from the dead (. ). In Mt. (Q’s) he is not named. The story of this raising comes from the ‘Petrine tradition.’ A. J. Maclean.
Jakeh
Father of Agur, the author of the proverbs contained in .
Jakim
1. A Benjamite (). 2. A priest, head of the 12th course ().
Jalam
A ‘son’ of Esau (, ) ", ).
Jalon
A Calebite ().
Jambres
See Jannes and Jambhes.
Jambri
A robber tribe which .attacked and captured a convoy under the charge of John the Maccabee. The outrage was avenged by Jonathan and Simon, who waylaid and slaughtered a large party of the ‘sons of Jambri’ (1 Maccabees 9:35–42).
James Hastings (ed.), with John A. Selbie and John C. Lambert, Dictionary of the Bible (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909). Public domain. Scan of Cornell University Library’s copy from the Internet Archive; text from its OCR, with the Bible references read again from the page images.