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a deep spring in the vicinity of Shechem (called Sychar in Christ’s time and Nablus at the present day). It was probably dug by Jacob whose name it bears. On the curb of the well Jesus sat and discoursed with the Samaritan woman. ( John 4:5-26 ) It is situated about half a mile southeast of Nablus, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. It is about nine feet in diameter and 75 feet deep. At some seasons it is dry; at others it contains a few feet of water.
(the Greek form of Jacob, supplanter). James the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles. He was elder brother of the evangelist John. His mother’s name was Salome. We first hear of him in A.D. 27, ( Mark 1:20 ) when at the call of the Master he left all, and became, one and forever, his disciple, in the spring of 28. ( Matthew 10:2 ; Mark 3:14 ; Luke 6:13 ; Acts 1:13 ) It would seem to have been at the time of the appointment of the twelve apostles that the name of Boanerges was given to the sons of Zebedee. The “sons of thunder” had a burning and impetuous spirit, which twice exhibits itself. ( Mark 10:37 ; Luke 9:54 ) On the night before the crucifixion James was present at the agony in the garden. On the day of the ascension he is mentioned as persevering with the rest of the apostles and disciples, in prayer. ( Acts 1:13 ) Shortly before the day of the Passover, in the year 44, he was put to death by Herod Agrippa I. ( Acts 12:1 , 2 ) James the son of Alpheus, one of the twelve apostles. ( Matthew 10:3 ) Whether or not this James is to be identified with James the Less, the son of Alphaeus, the brother of our Lord, is one of the most difficult questions in the gospel history. By comparing ( Matthew 27:56 ) and Mark 15:40 with John 19:25 We find that the Virgin Mary had a sister named, like herself, Mary, who was the wife of Clopas or Alpheus (varieties of the same name), and who had two sons, James the Less and Joses. By referring to ( Matthew 13:55 ) and Mark 6:3 We find that a James the Less and Joses, with two other brethren called Jude and Simon, and at least three sisters, were sisters with the Virgin Mary at Nazareth by referring to ( Luke 6:16 ) and Acts 1:13 We find that there were two brethren named James and Jude among the apostles. It would certainly be natural to think that we had here but one family of four brothers and three or more sisters, the children of Clopas and Mary, nephews and nieces of the Virgin Mary. There are difficulties however, in the way of this conclusion into which we cannot here enter; but in reply to the objection that the four brethren in ( Matthew 13:55 ) are described as the brothers of Jesus, not as his cousins, it must be recollected that adelphoi, which is here translated “brethren,” may also signify cousins.
(whom Jehovah helps), one of the towns reinhabited by the people of Judah after the return from captivity. ( Nehemiah 11:26 ) It is not mentioned elsewhere. (a saviour), another form of the name of Joshua of Jesus. Joshua the son of Nun. ( Nehemiah 8:17 ) [ Joshua ] A priest in the reign of David, to whom the nine course fell by David, to whom the ninth course fell by lot. ( 1 Chronicles 24:11 ) (B.C. 1014.) One of the Levites in the reign of Hezekiah. ( 2 Chronicles 31:15 ) (B.C. 726.) Son of Jehozadak, first high priest after the Babylonish captivity, B.C. 536. Jeshua was probably born in Babylon, whither his father Jehozadak had been taken captive while young. ( 1 Chronicles 6:15 ) Authorized Version. He came up from Babylon in the first year of Cyrus, with Zerubbabel, and took a leading part with him in the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. The two prophecies concerning him in ( Zechariah 3:1 ) ... and Zech 6:9-15 Point him out as an eminent type of Christ. Head of a Levitical house, one of those which returned from the Babylonish captivity. ( Ezra 2:40 ; 3:9 ; Nehemiah 3:19 ; 8:7 ; 9:4 , 5 ; 12:8 ) etc. A branch of the family of Pahath-moab, one of the chief families, probably, of the tribe of Judah. ( Nehemiah 10:14 ; 7:11 ) etc.; Ezra 10:30
called Jestus, a Christian who was with St. Paul at Rome. ( Colossians 4:11 ) (A.D. 57.) (saviour). The Greek form of the name Joshua or Jeshua, a contraction of Jehoshua, that is, “help of Jehovah” or “saviour.” ( Numbers 13:16 ) Joshua the son of Nun. ( Numbers 27:18 ; Hebrews 4:8 ) [ Jehoshua ]
“The life and character of Jesus Christ,” says Dr. Schaff, “is the holy of holies in the history of the world.” NAME.—The name Jesus signifies saviour . It is the Greek form of Jehoshua (Joshua). The name Christ signifies anointed. Jesus was both priest and king. Among the Jews priests were anointed, as their inauguration to their office. ( 1 Chronicles 16:22 ) In the New Testament the name Christ is used as equivalent to the Hebrew Messiah (anointed), ( John 1:41 ) the name given to the long-promised Prophet and King whom the Jews had been taught by their prophets to expect. ( Matthew 11:3 ; Acts 19:4 ) The use of this name, as applied to the Lord, has always a reference to the promises of the prophets. The name of Jesus is the proper name of our Lord, and that of Christ is added to identify him with the promised Messiah. Other names are sometimes added to the names Jesus Christ, thus, “Lord,” “a king,” “King of Israel,” “Emmanuel,” “Son of David,” “chosen of God.” II. BIRTH.—Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, God being his father, at Bethlehem of Judea, six miles south of Jerusalem. The date of his birth was most probably in December, B.C. 5, four years before the era from which we count our years. That era was not used till several hundred years after Christ. The calculations were made by a learned monk, Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth century, who made an error of four years; so that to get the exact date from the birth of Christ we must add four years to our usual dates; i.e. A.D. 1882 is really 1886 years since the birth of Christ. It is also more than likely that our usual date for Christmas, December 25, is not far from the real date of Christ’s birth. Since the 25th of December comes when the longest night gives way to the returning sun on his triumphant march, it makes an appropriate anniversary to make the birth of him who appeared in the darkest night of error and sin as the true Light of the world. At the time of Christ’s birth Augustus Caesar was emperor of Rome, and Herod the Great king of Judea, but subject of Rome. God’s providence had prepared the world for the coming of Christ, and this was the fittest time in all its history. All the world was subject to one government, so that the apostles could travel everywhere: the door of every land was open for the gospel. The world was at peace, so that the gospel could have free course. The Greek language was spoken everywhere with their other languages. The Jews were scattered everywhere with synagogues and Bibles. III. EARLY LIFE.—Jesus, having a manger at Bethlehem for his cradle, received a visit of adoration from the three wise men of the East. At forty days old he was taken to the temple at Jerusalem; and returning to Bethlehem, was soon taken to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre of the infants there. After a few months stay there, Herod having died in April, B.C. 4, the family returned to their Nazareth home, where Jesus lived till he was about thirty years old, subject to his parent, and increasing “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” The only incident recorded of his early life is his going up to Jerusalem to attend the passover when he was twelve years old, and his conversation with the learned men in the temple. But we can understand the childhood and youth of Jesus better when we remember the surrounding influences amid which he grew. The natural scenery was rugged and mountainous, but full of beauty. He breathed the pure air. He lived in a village, not in a city. The Roman dominion was irksome and galling. The people of God were subject to a foreign yoke. The taxes were heavy. Roman soldiers, laws, money, every reminded them of their subjection, when they ought to be free and themselves the rulers of the world. When Jesus was ten years old, there was a great insurrection, ( Acts 5:37 ) in Galilee. He who was to be King of the Jews heard and felt all this. The Jewish hopes of a Redeemer, of throwing off their bondage, of becoming the glorious nation promised in the prophet, were in the very air he breathed. The conversation at home and in the streets was full of them. Within his view, and his boyish excursions, were many remarkable historic places,—rivers, hills, cities, plains,—that would keep in mind the history of his people and God’s dealings with them. His school training. Mr. Deutsch, in the Quarterly Review, says, “Eighty years before Christ, schools flourished throughout the length and the breadth of the land: education had been made compulsory. While there is not a single term for ’school’ to be found before the captivity, there were by that time about a dozen in common usage. Here are a few of the innumerable popular sayings of the period: ’Jerusalem was destroyed because the instruction of the young was neglected.’ ’The world is only saved by the breath of the school-children.’ ’Even for the rebuilding of the temple the schools must not be interrupted.’” His home training. According to Ellicott, the stages of Jewish childhood were marked as follows: “At three the boy was weaned, and word for the first time the fringed or tasselled garment prescribed by ( Numbers 15:38-41 ) and Deuteronomy 22:12 His education began at first under the mother’s care. At five he was to learn the law, at first by extracts written on scrolls of the more important passages, the Shema or creed of (2:4) the Hallel or festival psalms, Psal 114, 118, 136 , and by catechetical teaching in school. At twelve he became more directly responsible for his obedience of the law; and on the day when he attained the age of thirteen, put on for the first time the phylacteries which were worn at the recital of his daily prayer.” In addition to this, Jesus no doubt learned the carpenter’s trade of his reputed father Joseph, and, as Joseph probably died before Jesus began his public ministry, he may have contributed to the support of his mother. (IV. PUBLIC MINISTRY.—All the leading events recorded of Jesus’ life are given at the end of this volume in the Chronological Chart and in the Chronological Table of the life of Christ; so that here will be given only a general survey. Jesus began to enter upon his ministry when he was “about thirty years old;” that is, he was not very far from thirty, older or younger. He is regarded as nearly thirty-one by Andrews (in the tables of chronology referred to above) and by most others. Having been baptized by John early in the winter of 26-27, he spent the larger portion of his year in Judea and about the lower Jordan, till in December he went northward to Galilee through Samaria. The next year and a half, from December, A.D. 27, to October or November, A.D. 29, was spent in Galilee and norther Palestine, chiefly in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. In November, 29, Jesus made his final departure from Galilee, and the rest of his ministry was in Judea and Perea, beyond Jordan, till his crucifixion, April 7, A.D. 30. After three days he proved his divinity by rising from the dead; and after appearing on eleven different occasions to his disciples during forty days, he finally ascended to heaven, where he is the living, ever present, all-powerful Saviour of his people. Jesus Christ, being both human and divine, is fitted to be the true Saviour of men. In this, as in every action and character, he is shown to be “the wisdom and power of God unto salvation.” As human, he reaches down to our natures, sympathizes with us, shows us that God knows all our feelings and weaknesses and sorrows and sins, brings God near to us, who otherwise could not realize the Infinite and Eternal as a father and friend. He is divine, in order that he may be an all-powerful, all-loving Saviour, able and willing to defend us from every enemy, to subdue all temptations, to deliver from all sin, and to bring each of his people, and the whole Church, into complete and final victory. Jesus Christ is the centre of the world’s history, as he is the centre of the Bible.—ED.)
[ Ecclesiasticus ]
was the son of Zebedee, a fisherman on the Lake of Galilee, and of Salome, and brother of James, also an apostle. Peter and James and John come within the innermost circle of their Lord’s friends; but to John belongs the distinction of being the disciple whom Jesus loved. He hardly sustains the popular notion, fostered by the received types of Christian art, of a nature gentle, yielding, feminine. The name Boanerges, ( Mark 3:17 ) implies a vehemence, zeal, intensity, which gave to those who had it the might of sons of thunder. [ James ] The three are with our Lord when none else are, in the chamber of death, ( Mark 5:37 ) in the glory of the transfiguration, ( Matthew 17:1 ) when he forewarns them of the destruction of the holy city, ( Mark 13:3 ) in the agony of Gethsemane. When the betrayal is accomplished, Peter and John follow afar off. ( John 18:15 ) The personal acquaintance which exited between John and Caiaphas enables him to gain access to the council chamber, praetorium of the Roman procurator. ( John 18:16 , 19 , 28 ) Thence he follows to the place of crucifixion, and the Teacher leaves to him the duty of becoming a son to the mother who is left desolate. ( John 19:26 , 27 ) It is to Peter and John that Mary Magdalene first runs with the tidings of the emptied sepulchre, ( John 20:2 ) they are the first to go together to see what the strange words meant, John running on most eagerly to the rock-tomb; Peter, the least restrained by awe, the first to enter in and look. ( John 20:4-6 ) For at least eight days they continue in Jerusalem. ( John 20:26 ) Later, on the Sea of Galilee, John is the first to recognize in the dim form seen in the morning twilight the presence of his risen Lord; Peter the first to plunge into the water and swim toward the shore where he stood calling to them. ( John 21:7 ) The last words of John’s Gospel reveal to us the deep affection which united the two friends. The history of the Acts shows the same union. They are together at the ascension on the day of Pentecost. Together they enter the temple as worshippers, ( Acts 3:1 ) and protest against the threats of the Sanhedrin. ch ( Acts 4:13 ) The persecution which was pushed on by Saul of Tarsus did not drive John from his post. ch. ( Acts 8:1 ) Fifteen years after St. Paul’s first visit he was still at Jerusalem, and helped to take part in the settlement of the great controversy between the Jewish and the Gentile Christians. ( Acts 15:6 ) His subsequent history we know only by tradition. There can be no doubt that he removed from jerusalem and settled at Ephesus, though at what time is uncertain. Tradition goes on to relate that in the persecution under Domitian he is taken to Rome, and there, by his boldness, though not by death, gains the crown of martyrdom. The boiling oil into which he is thrown has no power to hurt him. He is then sent to labor in the mines, and Patmost is the place of his exile. The accession of Nerva frees him from danger, and he returns to Ephesus. Heresies continue to show themselves, but he meets them with the strongest possible protest. The very time of his death lies within the region of conjecture rather than of history, and the dates that have been assigned for it range from A.D. 89 to A.D. 120.
was of the priestly race by both parents, for his father, Zacharias, was himself a priest of the course of Abia or Abijah, ( 1 Chronicles 24:10 ) and Elisabeth was of the daughters of Aaron. ( Luke 1:5 ) His birth was foretold by an angel sent from God, and is related at length in Luke 1 . The birth of John preceded by six months that of our Lord. John was ordained to be a Nazarite from his birth. ( Luke 1:15 ) Dwelling by himself in the wild and thinly-peopled region westward of the Dead Sea, he prepared himself for the wonderful office to which he had been divinely called. His dress was that of the old prophets—a garment woven of camel’s hair, ( 2 Kings 1:8 ) attached to the body by a leathern girdle. His food was such as the desert afforded—locusts, ( Leviticus 11:22 ) and wild honey. ( Psalms 81:16 ) And now the long-secluded hermit came forth to the discharge of his office. His supernatural birth, his life, and the general expectation that some great one was about to appear, were sufficient to attract to him a great multitude from “every quarter.” ( Matthew 3:5 ) Many of every class pressed forward to confess their sins and to be baptized. Jesus himself came from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized of John. [ Jesus Christ ] From incidental notices we learn that John and his disciples continued to baptize some time after our Lord entered upon his ministry. See ( John 3:23 ; 4:1 ; Acts 19:3 ) We gather also that John instructed his disciples in certain moral and religious duties, as fasting, ( Matthew 9:14 ; Luke 5:33 ) and prayer. ( Luke 11:1 ) But shortly after he had given his testimony to the Messiah, John’s public ministry was brought to a close. In daring disregard of the divine laws, Herod Antipas had taken to himself Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; and when John reproved him for this, as well as for other sins, ( Luke 3:19 ) Herod cast him into prison. (March, A.D. 28.) The place of his confinement was the castle of Machaerus, a fortress on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. It was here that reports reached him of the miracles which our Lord was working in Judea. Nothing but the death of the Baptist would satisfy the resentment of Herodias. A court festival was kept at Machaerus in honor of the king’s birthday. After supper the daughter of Herodias came in and danced the king by her grace that he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she should ask. Salome, prompted by her abandoned mother, demanded the head of John the Baptist. Herod gave instructions to an officer of his guard, who went and executed John in the prison, and his head was brought to feast the eyes of the adulteress whose sins he had denounced. His death is supposed to have occurred just before the third passover, in the course of the Lord’s ministry. (March, A.D. 29.)
There can be no doubt that the apostle John was the author of this epistle. It was probably written from Ephesus, and most likely at the close of the first century. In the introduction, ch. ( 1 John 1:1-4 ) the apostle states the purpose of his epistle: it is to declare the word of life to those whom he is addressing, in order that he and they might be united in true communion with each other, and with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. His lesson throughout is that the means of union with God are, on the part of Christ, his atoning blood, ch. ( 1 John 1:7 ; 2:2 ; 3:5 ; 4:10 , 14 ; 5:6 ) and advocacy, ch. ( 1 John 2:1 ) on the part of man, holiness, ch. ( 1 John 1:6 ), obedience, ch. ( 1 John 2:3 ) purity, ch. ( 1 John 3:3 ) faith, ch. ( 1 John 3:23 ; 4:3 ; 5:5 ) and above all love. ch. ( 1 John 2:7 ; 3:14 ; 4:7 ; 5:1 )
(another form of Joses ), son of Eliezer, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. ( Luke 3:29 )
(increase). The elder of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel. He was born in Padan-aram (Mesopotamia), probably about B.C. 1746. He is first mentioned when a youth, seventeen years old. Joseph brought the evil report of his brethren to his father, and they hated him because his father loved him more than he did them, and had shown his preference by making a dress which appears to have been a long tunic with sleeves, worn by youths and maidens of the richer class. ( Genesis 37:2 ) He dreamed a dream foreshadowing his future power, which increased the hatred of his brethren. ( Genesis 37:5-7 ) He was sent by his father to visit his brothers, who were tending flocks in the fields of Dothan. They resolved to kill him, but he was saved by Reuben, who persuaded the brothers to cast Joseph into a dry pit, to the intent that he might restore him to Jacob. The appearance of the Ishmaelites suggested his sale for “twenty pieces (shekels) of silver.” ver. 28. Sold into Egypt to Potiphar, Joseph prospered and was soon set over Potiphar’s house, and “all he had he gave into his hand;” but incurring the anger of Potiphar’s wife ch. ( Genesis 39:7-13 ) he was falsely accused and thrown into prison, where he remained at least two years, interpreting during this time the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker. Finally Pharaoh himself dreamed two prophetic dreams. Joseph, being sent for, interpreted them in the name of God, foretelling the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. Pharaoh at once appointed Joseph not merely governor of Egypt, but second only to the sovereign, and also gave him to wife Asenath, daughter of Potipherah priest of On (Hieropolis), and gave him a name or title, Zaphnath-paaneah (preserver of life). Joseph’s first act was to go throughout all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years there was a very abundant produce, and he gathered the fifth part and laid it up. When the seven good years had passed, the famine began. ( Genesis 41:54-57 ) [ Famine ] After the famine had lasted for a time, apparently two years, Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they brought, and brought it into Pharaoh’s house, ( Genesis 47:13 , 14 ) and when the money was exhausted, all the cattle, and finally all the land except that of the priests, and apparently, as a consequence, the Egyptians themselves. He demanded, however, only a fifth part of the produce as Pharaoh’s right. Now Jacob, who had suffered also from the effects of the famine, sent Joseph’s brother to Egypt for corn. The whole story of Joseph’s treatment of his brethren is so graphically told in Genesis42-45 and is so familiar, that it is unnecessary here to repeat it. On the death of Jacob in Egypt Joseph carried him to Canaan, and laid him in the cave of Machpelah, the burying-place of his fathers. Joseph lived “a hundred and ten years,” having been more than ninety in Egypt. Dying, he took an oath of his brethren that they should carry up his bones to the land of promise: thus showing in his latest action the faith, ( Hebrews 11:22 ) which had guided his whole life. Like his father he was embalmed, “and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” ( Genesis 50:26 ) His trust Moses kept, and laid the bones of Joseph in his inheritance in Shechem, in the territory of Ephraim his offspring. His tomb is, according to tradition, about a stone’s throw from Jacob’s well. Father of Igal, who represented the tribe of Issachar among the spies. ( Numbers 13:7 ) A lay Israelite who had married a foreign wife. ( Ezra 10:42 ) (B.C. 459.) A representative of the priestly family of Shebaniah. ( Nehemiah 12:14 ) (B.C. after 536.) One of the ancestors of Christ, ( Luke 3:30 ) So of Jonan. Another ancestor of Christ, son of Judah. ( Luke 3:26 ) (B.C. between 536-410.) Another, son of Mattathias. ( Luke 3:24 ) (B.C. after 400.) Son of Heli, and reputed father of Jesus Christ. All that is told us of Joseph in the New Testament may be summed up in a few words. He was a just man, and of the house and lineage of David. He lived at Nazareth in Galilee. He espoused Mary, the daughter and heir of his uncle Jacob, and before he took her home as his wife received the angelic communication recorded in ( Matthew 1:20 ) When Jesus was twelve years old Joseph and Mary took him with them to keep the passover at Jerusalem, and when they returned to Nazareth he continued to acct as a father to the child Jesus, and was reputed to be so indeed. But here our knowledge of Joseph ends. That he died before our Lord’s crucifixion is indeed tolerably certain, by what is related ( John 19:27 ) and perhaps ( Mark 6:3 ) may imply that he was then dead. But where, when or how he died we know not. Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich and pious Israelite, probably a member of the Great Council or Sanhedrin. He is further characterized as “a good man and a just.” ( Luke 23:50 ) We are expressly told that he did not “consent to the counsel and deed” of his colleagues in conspiring to bring about the death of Jesus; but he seems to have lacked the courage to protest against their judgment. On the very evening of the crucifixion, when the triumph of the chief priests and rulers seemed complete, Joseph “went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus.” Pilate consented. Joseph and Nicodemus then, having enfolded the sacred body in the linen shroud which Joseph had bought, consigned it to a tomb hewn in a rock, in a garden belonging to Joseph, and close to the place of crucifixion. There is a tradition that he was one of the seventy disciples. Joseph, called Barsabas, and surnamed Justus; one of the two person chosen by the assembled church, ( Acts 1:23 ) as worthy to fill the place in the apostolic company from which Judas had fallen.
(saviour, or whose help is Jehovah). His name appears in the various forms of Hoshea H Oshea , Oshea , Jehoshua , Jeshua and Jesus . The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. ( 1 Chronicles 7:27 ) (B.C. 1530-1420.) He was nearly forty years old when he shared in the hurried triumph of the exodus. He is mentioned first in connection with the fight against Amalek at Rephidim, when he was chosen by Moses to lead the Israelites. ( Exodus 17:9 ) Soon afterward he was one of the twelve chiefs who were sent, ( Numbers 13:17 ) to explore the land of Canaan, and one of the two, ch. ( Numbers 14:6 ) who gave an encouraging report of their journey. Moses, shortly before his death, was directed, ( Numbers 27:18 ) to invest Joshua with authority over the people. God himself gave Joshua a charge by the mouth of the dying lawgiver. (31:14,23) Under the direction of God again renewed, ( Joshua 1:1 ) Joshua assumed the command of the people at Shittim, sent spies into Jericho, crossed the Jordan, fortified a camp at Gilgal, circumcised the people, kept the passover, and was visited by the Captain of the Lord’s host. A miracle made the fall of Jericho more terrible to the Canaanites. In the great battle of Beth-horon the Amorites were signally routed, and the south country was open to the Israelites. Joshua returned to the camp at Gilgal, master of half of Palestine. He defeated the Canaanites under Jabin king of Hazor. In six years, six tribes, with thirty-one petty chiefs, were conquered. Joshua, now stricken in years, proceeded to make the division of the conquered land. Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim was assigned as Joshua’s peculiar inheritance. After an interval of rest, Joshua convoked an assembly from all Israel. He delivered two solemn addresses, recorded in ( Joshua 23:24 ) He died at the age of 110 years, and was buried in his own city, Timnath-serah. An inhabitant of Beth-shemesh, in whose land was the stone at which the milch-kine stopped when they drew the ark of God with the offerings of the Philistines from Ekron to Beth-shemesh. ( 1 Samuel 6:14 , 18 ) (B.C. 1124.) A governor of the city who gave his name to a gate of Jerusalem. ( 2 Kings 23:8 ) (In the reign of Josiah, B.C. 628.) Jeshua the son of Jozadak. ( Haggai 1:14 ; 2:12 ; Zechariah 3:1 ) etc.
(Judas of Kerioth). He is sometimes called “the son of Simon,” ( John 6:71 ; 13:2 , 26 ) but more commonly ISCARIOTES. ( Matthew 10:4 ; Mark 3:19 ; Luke 6:16 ) etc. The name Iscariot has received many interpretations more of less conjectural. The most probable is from Ish Kerioth, i.e. “man of Kerioth,” a town in the tribe of Judah. ( Joshua 15:25 ) Of the life of Judas before the appearance of his name in the lists of the apostles we know absolutely nothing. What that appearance implies, however, is that he had previously declared himself a disciple. He was drawn, as the others were, by the preaching of the Baptist, or his own Messianic hopes, or the “gracious words” of the new Teacher, to leave his former life, and to obey the call of the Prophet of Nazareth. The choice was not made, we must remember, without a provision of its issue. ( John 6:64 ) The germs of the evil, in all likelihood, unfolded themselves gradually. The rules to which the twelve were subject in their first journey, ( Matthew 10:9 , 10 ) sheltered him from the temptation that would have been most dangerous to him. The new form of life, of which we find the first traces in ( Luke 8:3 ) brought that temptation with it. As soon as the twelve were recognized as a body, travelling hither and thither with their Master, receiving money and other offerings, and redistributing what they received to the poor, it became necessary that some one should act as the steward and almoner of the small society, and this fell to Judas. ( John 12:6 ; 13:29 ) The Galilean or Judean peasant found himself entrusted with larger sums of money than before, and with this there came covetousness, unfaithfulness, embezzlement. Several times he showed his tendency to avarice and selfishness. This, even under the best of influences, grew worse and worse, till he betrayed his Master for thirty pieces of silver. (Why was such a man chosen to be one of the twelve?— (1) There was needed among the disciples, as in the Church now, a man of just such talents as Judas possessed,—the talent for managing business affairs. (2) Though he probably followed Christ at first from mixed motives, as did the other disciples, he had the opportunity of becoming a good and useful man. (3) It doubtless was included in God’s plans that there should be thus a standing argument for the truth and honesty of the gospel; for if any wrong or trickery had been concealed, it would have been revealed by the traitor in self-defence. (4) Perhaps to teach the Church that God can bless and the gospel can succeed even though some bad men may creep into the fold. What was Judas’ motive in betraying Christ?— (1) Anger at the public rebuke given him by Christ at the supper in the house of Simon the leper. ( Matthew 26:6-14 ) (2) Avarice, covetousness, the thirty pieces of silver. ( John 12:6 ) (3) The reaction of feeling in a bad soul against the Holy One whose words and character were a continual rebuke, and who knew the traitors heart. (4) A much larger covetousness,—an ambition to be the treasurer, not merely of a few poor disciples, but of a great and splendid temporal kingdom of the Messiah. He would hasten on the coming kingdom by compelling Jesus to defend himself. (5) Perhaps disappointment because Christ insisted on foretelling his death instead of receiving his kingdom. He began to fear that there was to be no kingdom, after all. (6) Perhaps, also, Judas “abandoned what seemed to him a failing cause, and hoped by his treachery to gain a position of honor and influence in the Pharisaic party.” The end of Judas.— (1) Judas, when he saw the results of his betrayal, “repented himself.” ( Matthew 27:3-10 ) He saw his sin in a new light, and “his conscience bounded into fury.” (2) He made ineffectual struggles to escape, by attempting to return the reward to the Pharisees, and when they would not receive it, he cast it down at their feet and left it. ( Matthew 27:5 ) But, (a) restitution of the silver did not undo the wrong; (b) it was restored in a wrong spirit,—a desire for relief rather than hatred of sin; (c) he confessed to the wrong party, or rather to those who should have been secondary, and who could not grand forgiveness; (d) “compunction is not conversion.” (3) The money was used to buy a burial-field for poor strangers. ( Matthew 27:6-10 ) (4) Judas himself, in his despair, went out and hanged himself, ( Matthew 27:5 ) at Aceldama, on the southern slope of the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, and in the act he fell down a precipice and was dashed into pieces. ( Acts 1:18 ) “And he went to his own place.” ( Acts 1:25 ) “A guilty conscience must find neither hell or pardon.” (5) Judas’ repentance may be compared to that of Esau. ( Genesis 27:32-38 ; Hebrews 12:16 , 17 ) It is contrasted with that of Peter. Judas proved his repentance to be false by immediately committing another sin, suicide. Peter proved his to be true by serving the Lord faithfully ever after.—ED.)
Its author was probably Jude, one of the brethren of Jesus, the subject of the preceding article. There are no data from which to determine its date or place of writing, but it is placed about A.D. 65. The object of the epistle is plainly enough announced ver. 3; the reason for this exhortation is given ver. The remainder of the epistle is almost entirely occupied by a minute depiction of the adversaries of the faith. The epistle closes by briefly reminding the readers of the oft-repeated prediction of the apostles—among whom the writer seems not to rank himself—that the faith would be assailed by such enemies as he has depicted, vs. ( Jude 1 :17-19) exhorting them to maintain their own steadfastness in the faith, vs. ( Jude 1 :20,21) while they earnestly sought to rescue others from the corrupt example of those licentious livers, vs. ( Jude 1 :22,23) and commending them to the power of God in language which forcibly recalls the closing benediction of the epistle to the Romans. vs. ( Jude 1 :24,25) cf. Roma 16:25-27 This epistle presents one peculiarity, which, as we learn from St. Jerome, caused its authority to be impugned in very early times—the supposed citation of apocryphal writings. vs. ( Jude 1 :9,14,15) The larger portion of this epistle, vs. ( Jude 1 :3-16) is almost identical in language and subject with a part of the Second Epistle of Peter. ( 2 Peter 2:1-19 )
(just). A surname of Joseph, called Barsabas. ( Acts 1:23 ) (A.D. 30.) A Christian at Corinth, with whom St. Paul lodged. ( Acts 18:7 ) (A.D. 49.) (Given in the Revised Version as Titus Justus JUSTUS; and it is possible that he may be the same person as Titus the companion of Paul.) A surname of Jesus, a friend of St. Paul. ( Colossians 4:11 ) (A.D. 57.)
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