Jaare-oregim
Forests of the weavers, a Bethlehemite ( 2 Sam. 21:19 ), and the father of Elhanan, who slew Goliath. In 1 Chr. 20:5 called JAIR.
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Matthew George Easton
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition (1897) · 3,964 entries on site
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Jair
Enlightener. (1.) The son of Segub. He was brought up with his mother in Gilead, where he had possessions ( 1 Chr. 2:22 ). He distinguished himself in an expedition against Bashan, and settled in the part of Argob on the borders of Gilead. The small towns taken by him there are called Havoth-jair, i.e., “Jair’s villages” ( Num. 32:41 ; Deut. 3:14 ; Josh. 13:30 ). (2.) The eighth judge of Israel, which he ruled for twenty-two years. His opulence is described in Judg. 10:3-5 . He had thirty sons, each riding on “ass colts.” They had possession of thirty of the sixty cities ( 1 Kings 4:13 ; 1 Chr. 2:23 ) which formed the ancient Havoth-jair. (3.) A Benjamite, the father of Mordecai, Esther’s uncle ( Esther 2:5 ). (4.) The father of Elhanan, who slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath ( 1 Chr. 20:5 ).
Jairus
A ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum, whose only daughter Jesus restored to life ( Mark 5:22 ; Luke 8:41 ). Entering into the chamber of death, accompanied by Peter and James and John and the father and mother of the maiden, he went forward to the bed whereon the corpse lay, and said, Talitha cumi, i.e., “Maid, arise,” and immediately the spirit of the maiden came to her again, and she arose straightway; and “at once to strengthen that life which had come back to her, and to prove that she was indeed no ghost, but had returned to the realities of a mortal existence, he commanded to give her something to eat” ( Mark 5:43 ).
James
(1.) The son of Zebedee and Salome; an elder brother of John the apostle. He was one of the twelve. He was by trade a fisherman, in partnership with Peter ( Matt. 20:20 ; 27:56 ). With John and Peter he was present at the transfiguration ( Matt. 17:1 ; Mark 9:2 ), at the raising of Jairus’s daughter ( Mark 5:37-43 ), and in the garden with our Lord (14:33). Because, probably, of their boldness and energy, he and John were called Boanerges, i.e., “sons of thunder.” He was the first martyr among the apostles, having been beheaded by King Herod Agrippa ( Acts 12:1 , 2 ), A.D. 44. (Comp. Matt. 4:21 ; 20:20-23 ). (2.) The son of Alphaeus, or Cleopas, “the brother” or near kinsman or cousin of our Lord ( Gal. 1:18 , 19 ), called James “the Less,” or “the Little,” probably because he was of low stature. He is mentioned along with the other apostles ( Matt. 10:3 ; Mark 3:18 ; Luke 6:15 ). He had a separate interview with our Lord after his resurrection ( 1 Cor. 15:7 ), and is mentioned as one of the apostles of the circumcision ( Acts 1:13 ). He appears to have occupied the position of head of the Church at Jerusalem, where he presided at the council held to consider the case of the Gentiles ( Acts 12:17 ; 15:13-29 : 21:18-24). This James was the author of the epistle which bears his name.
Judah upon Jordan
The Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, has this rendering in Josh. 19:34 . It has been suggested that, following the Masoretic punctuation, the expression should read thus, “and Judah; the Jordan was toward the sun-rising.” The sixty cities (Havoth-jair, Num. 32:41 ) on the east of Jordan were reckoned as belonging to Judah, because Jair, their founder, was a Manassite only on his mother’s side, but on his father’s side of the tribe of Judah ( 1 Chr. 2:5 , 21 -23).
Judge
(Heb. shophet, pl. shophetim), properly a magistrate or ruler, rather than one who judges in the sense of trying a cause. This is the name given to those rulers who presided over the affairs of the Israelites during the interval between the death of Joshua and the accession of Saul ( Judg. 2:18 ), a period of general anarchy and confusion. “The office of judges or regents was held during life, but it was not hereditary, neither could they appoint their successors. Their authority was limited by the law alone, and in doubtful cases they were directed to consult the divine King through the priest by Urim and Thummim ( Num. 27:21 ). Their authority extended only over those tribes by whom they had been elected or acknowledged. There was no income attached to their office, and they bore no external marks of dignity. The only cases of direct divine appointment are those of Gideon and Samson, and the latter stood in the peculiar position of having been from before his birth ordained ‘to begin to deliver Israel.’ Deborah was called to deliver Israel, but was already a judge. Samuel was called by the Lord to be a prophet but not a judge, which ensued from the high gifts the people recognized as dwelling in him; and as to Eli, the office of judge seems to have devolved naturally or rather ex officio upon him.” Of five of the judges, Tola ( Judg. 10:1 ), Jair (3), Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8-15), we have no record at all beyond the bare fact that they were judges. Sacred history is not the history of individuals but of the kingdom of God in its onward progress. In Ex. 2:14 Moses is so styled. This fact may indicate that while for revenue purposes the “taskmasters” were over the people, they were yet, just as at a later time when under the Romans, governed by their own rulers.
Judges, Book of
Is so called because it contains the history of the deliverance and government of Israel by the men who bore the title of the “judges.” The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about A.D. 450 it was separated from it and placed in the Hebrew scriptures immediately after the Song of Solomon. The book contains, (1.) An introduction (1-3:6), connecting it with the previous narrative in Joshua, as a “link in the chain of books.” (2.) The history of the thirteen judges (3:7-16:31) in the following order: | FIRST PERIOD (3:7-ch. 5) | Years | I. Servitude under Chushan-rishathaim of | Mesopotamia 8 | 1. OTHNIEL delivers Israel, rest 40 | II. Servitude under Eglon of Moab: | Ammon, Amalek 18 | 2. EHUD’S deliverance, rest 80 | 3. SHAMGAR Unknown. | III. Servitude under Jabin of Hazor in | Canaan 20 | 4. DEBORAH and, | 5. BARAK 40 | (206) | | SECOND PERIOD (6-10:5) | | IV. Servitude under Midian, Amalek, and | children of the east 7 | 6. GIDEON 40 | ABIMELECH, Gideon’s son, reigns as | king over Israel 3 | 7. TOLA 23 | 8. JAIR 22 | (95) | | THIRD PERIOD (10:6-ch. 12) | | V. Servitude under Ammonites with the | Philistines 18 | 9. JEPHTHAH 6 | 10. IBZAN 7 | 11. ELON 10 | 12. ABDON 8 | (49) | | FOURTH PERIOD (13-16) | VI. Seritude under Philistines 40 | 13. SAMSON 20 | (60) | In all 410 Samson’s exploits probably synchronize with the period immediately preceding the national repentance and reformation under Samuel ( 1 Sam. 7:2-6 ). After Samson came Eli, who was both high priest and judge. He directed the civil and religious affairs of the people for forty years, at the close of which the Philistines again invaded the land and oppressed it for twenty years. Samuel was raised up to deliver the people from this oppression, and he judged Israel for some twelve years, when the direction of affairs fell into the hands of Saul, who was anointed king. If Eli and Samuel are included, there were then fifteen judges. But the chronology of this whole period is uncertain. (3.) The historic section of the book is followed by an appendix (17-21), which has no formal connection with that which goes before. It records (a) the conquest (17, 18) of Laish by a portion of the tribe of Dan; and (b) the almost total extinction of the tribe of Benjamin by the other tribes, in consequence of their assisting the men of Gibeah (19-21). This section properly belongs to the period only a few years after the death of Joshua. It shows the religious and moral degeneracy of the people. The author of this book was most probably Samuel. The internal evidence both of the first sixteen chapters and of the appendix warrants this conclusion. It was probably composed during Saul’s reign, or at the very beginning of David’s. The words in 18:30, 31, imply that it was written after the taking of the ark by the Philistines, and after it was set up at Nob ( 1 Sam. 21 ). In David’s reign the ark was at Gibeon ( 1 Chr. 16:39 )