Jabin
Discerner; the wise. (1.) A king of Hazor, at the time of the entrance of Israel into Canaan ( Josh. 11:1-14 ), whose overthrow and that of the northern chief with whom he had entered into a confederacy against Joshua was the crowning act in the conquest of the land (11:21-23; comp. 14:6-15). This great battle, fought at Lake Merom, was the last of Joshua’s battles of which we have any record. Here for the first time the Israelites encountered the iron chariots and horses of the Canaanites. (2.) Another king of Hazor, called “the king of Canaan,” who overpowered the Israelites of the north one hundred and sixty years after Joshua’s death, and for twenty years held them in painful subjection. The whole population were paralyzed with fear, and gave way to hopeless despondency ( Judg. 5:6-11 ), till Deborah and Barak aroused the national spirit, and gathering together ten thousand men, gained a great and decisive victory over Jabin in the plain of Esdraelon ( Judg. 4:10-16 ; comp. Ps. 83:9 ). This was the first great victory Israel had gained since the days of Joshua. They never needed to fight another battle with the Canaanites ( Judg. 5:31 ).
Japhia
Splendid. (1.) The king of Lachish, who joined in the confederacy against Joshua ( Josh. 10:3 ), and was defeated and slain. In one of the Amarna tablets he speaks of himself as king of Gezer. Called also Horam ( Josh. 10:33 ). (2.) One of the sons of David ( 2 Sam. 5:15 ), born in Jerusalem. (3.) A town in the southern boundary of Zebulum ( Josh. 19:12 ); now Yafa, 2 miles south-west of Nazareth.
Jasher
Upright. “The Book of Jasher,” rendered in the LXX. “the Book of the Upright One,” by the Vulgate “the Book of Just Ones,” was probably a kind of national sacred song-book, a collection of songs in praise of the heroes of Israel, a “book of golden deeds,” a national anthology. We have only two specimens from the book, (1) the words of Joshua which he spake to the Lord at the crisis of the battle of Beth-horon ( Josh. 10:12 , 13 ); and (2) “the Song of the Bow,” that beautiful and touching mournful elegy which David composed on the occasion of the death of Saul and Jonathan ( 2 Sam. 1:18-27 ).
Jebusites
The name of the original inhabitants of Jebus, mentioned frequently among the seven nations doomed to destruction ( Gen. 10:16 ; 15:21 ; Ex. 3:8 , 17 ; 13:5, etc.). At the time of the arrival of the Israelites in Palestine they were ruled by Adonizedek ( Josh. 10:1 , 23 ). They were defeated by Joshua, and their king was slain; but they were not entirely driven out of Jebus till the time of David, who made it the capital of his kingdom instead of Hebron. The site on which the temple was afterwards built belonged to Araunah, a Jebusite, from whom it was purchased by David, who refused to accept it as a free gift ( 2 Sam. 24:16-25 ; 1 Chr. 21:24 , 25 ).
Jehozadak
Jehovah-justified, the son of the high priest Seraiah at the time of the Babylonian exile ( 1 Chr. 6:14 , 15 ). He was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, and probably died in Babylon. He was the father of Jeshua, or Joshua, who returned with Zerubbabel.
Jephunneh
Nimble, or a beholder. (1.) The father of Caleb, who was Joshua’s companion in exploring Canaan ( Num. 13:6 ), a Kenezite ( Josh. 14:14 ). (2.) One of the descendants of Asher ( 1 Chr. 7:38 ).
Jericho
Place of fragrance, a fenced city in the midst of a vast grove of palm trees, in the plain of Jordan, over against the place where that river was crossed by the Israelites ( Josh. 3:16 ). Its site was near the ‘Ain es-Sultan, Elisha’s Fountain ( 2 Kings 2:19-22 ), about 5 miles west of Jordan. It was the most important city in the Jordan valley ( Num. 22:1 ; 34:15 ), and the strongest fortress in all the land of Canaan. It was the key to Western Palestine. This city was taken in a very remarkable manner by the Israelites ( Josh. 6 ). God gave it into their hands. The city was “accursed” (Heb. herem, “devoted” to Jehovah), and accordingly ( Josh. 6:17 ; comp. Lev. 27:28 , 29 ; Deut. 13:16 ) all the inhabitants and all the spoil of the city were to be destroyed, “only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron” were reserved and “put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah” ( Josh. 6:24 ; comp. Num. 31:22 , 23 , 50 -54). Only Rahab “and her father’s household, and all that she had,” were preserved from destruction, according to the promise of the spies ( Josh. 2:14 ). In one of the Amarna tablets Adoni-zedec (q.v.) writes to the king of Egypt informing him that the ‘Abiri (Hebrews) had prevailed, and had taken the fortress of Jericho, and were plundering “all the king’s lands.” It would seem that the Egyptian troops had before this been withdrawn from Palestine. This city was given to the tribe of Benjamin ( Josh. 18:21 ), and it was inhabited in the time of the Judges ( Judg. 3:13 ; 2 Sam. 10:5 ). It is not again mentioned till the time of David ( 2 Sam. 10:5 ). “Children of Jericho” were among the captives who returned under Zerubbabel Ezra 2:34 ; Neh. 7:36 ). Hiel (q.v.) the Bethelite attempted to make it once more a fortified city ( 1 Kings 16:34 ). Between the beginning and the end of his undertaking all his children were cut off. In New Testament times Jericho stood some distance to the south-east of the ancient one, and near the opening of the valley of Achor. It was a rich and flourishing town, having a considerable trade, and celebrated for the palm trees which adorned the plain around. It was visited by our Lord on his last journey to Jerusalem. Here he gave sight to two blind men ( Matt. 20:29-34 ; Mark 10:46-52 ), and brought salvation to the house of Zacchaeus the publican ( Luke 19:2-10 ). The poor hamlet of er-Riha, the representative of modern Jericho, is situated some two miles farther to the east. It is in a ruinous condition, having been destroyed by the Turks in 1840. “The soil of the plain,” about the middle of which the ancient city stood, “is unsurpassed in fertility; there is abundance of water for irrigation, and many of the old aqueducts are almost perfect; yet nearly the whole plain is waste and desolate...The climate of Jericho is exceedingly hot and unhealthy. This is accounted for by the depression of the plain, which is about 1,200 feet below the level of the sea.” There were three different Jerichos, on three different sites, the Jericho of Joshua, the Jericho of Herod, and the Jericho of the Crusades. Er-Riha, the modern Jericho, dates from the time of the Crusades. Dr. Bliss has found in a hollow scooped out for some purpose or other near the foot of the biggest mound above the Sultan’s Spring specimens of Amorite or pre-Israelitish pottery precisely identical with what he had discovered on the site of ancient Lachish. He also traced in this place for a short distance a mud brick wall in situ, which he supposes to be the very wall that fell before the trumpets of Joshua. The wall is not far from the foot of the great precipice of Quarantania and its numerous caverns, and the spies of Joshua could easily have fled from the city and been speedily hidden in these fastnesses.
Jerusalem
Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” ( 2 Chr. 25:28 ). This name is in the original in the dual form, and means “possession of peace,” or “foundation of peace.” The dual form probably refers to the two mountains on which it was built, viz., Zion and Moriah; or, as some suppose, to the two parts of the city, the “upper” and the “lower city.” Jerusalem is a “mountain city enthroned on a mountain fastness” (comp. Ps. 68:15 , 16 ; 87:1; 125:2; 76:1, 2; 122:3). It stands on the edge of one of the highest table-lands in Palestine, and is surrounded on the south-eastern, the southern, and the western sides by deep and precipitous ravines. It is first mentioned in Scripture under the name Salem ( Gen. 14:18 ; comp. Ps. 76:2 ). When first mentioned under the name Jerusalem, Adonizedek was its king ( Josh. 10:1 ). It is afterwards named among the cities of Benjamin ( Judg. 19:10 ; 1 Chr. 11:4 ); but in the time of David it was divided between Benjamin and Judah. After the death of Joshua the city was taken and set on fire by the men of Judah ( Judg. 1:1-8 ); but the Jebusites were not wholly driven out of it. The city is not again mentioned till we are told that David brought the head of Goliath thither ( 1 Sam. 17:54 ). David afterwards led his forces against the Jebusites still residing within its walls, and drove them out, fixing his own dwelling on Zion, which he called “the city of David” ( 2 Sam. 5:5-9 ; 1 Chr. 11:4-8 ). Here he built an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite ( 2 Sam. 24:15-25 ), and thither he brought up the ark of the covenant and placed it in the new tabernacle which he had prepared for it. Jerusalem now became the capital of the kingdom. After the death of David, Solomon built the temple, a house for the name of the Lord, on Mount Moriah (B.C. 1010). He also greatly strengthened and adorned the city, and it became the great centre of all the civil and religious affairs of the nation ( Deut. 12:5 ; comp. 12:14; 14:23; 16:11-16; Ps. 122 ). After the disruption of the kingdom on the accession to the throne of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom of the two tribes. It was subsequently often taken and retaken by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and by the kings of Israel ( 2 Kings 14:13 , 14 ; 18:15, 16; 23:33-35; 24:14; 2 Chr. 12:9 ; 26:9 ; 27:3 , 4 ; 29:3 ; 32:30 ; 33:11 ), till finally, for the abounding iniquities of the nation, after a siege of three years, it was taken and utterly destroyed, its walls razed to the ground, and its temple and palaces consumed by fire, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon ( 2 Kings 25 ; 2 Chr. 36 ; Jer. 39 ), B.C. 588. The desolation of the city and the land was completed by the retreat of the principal Jews into Egypt ( Jer. 40 -44), and by the final carrying captive into Babylon of all that still remained in the land (52:3), so that it was left without an inhabitant (B.C. 582). Compare the predictions, Deut. 28 ; Lev. 26:14-39 . But the streets and walls of Jerusalem were again to be built, in troublous times ( Dan. 9:16 , 19 , 25 ), after a captivity of seventy years. This restoration was begun B.C. 536, “in the first year of Cyrus” ( Ezra 1:2 , 3 , 5 -11). The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the history of the re-building of the city and temple, and the restoration of the kingdom of the Jews, consisting of a portion of all the tribes. The kingdom thus constituted was for two centuries under the dominion of Persia, till B.C. 331; and thereafter, for about a century and a half, under the rulers of the Greek empire in Asia, till B.C. 167. For a century the Jews maintained their independence under native rulers, the Asmonean princes. At the close of this period they fell under the rule of Herod and of members of his family, but practically under Rome, till the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. The city was then laid in ruins. The modern Jerusalem by-and-by began to be built over the immense beds of rubbish resulting from the overthrow of the ancient city; and whilst it occupies certainly the same site, there are no evidences that even the lines of its streets are now what they were in the ancient city. Till A.D. 131 the Jews who still lingered about Jerusalem quietly submitted to the Roman sway. But in that year the emperor (Hadrian), in order to hold them in subjection, rebuilt and fortified the city. The Jews, however, took possession of it, having risen under the leadership of one Bar-Chohaba (i.e., “the son of the star”) in revolt against the Romans. Some four years afterwards (A.D. 135), however, they were driven out of it with great slaughter, and the city was again destroyed; and over its ruins was built a Roman city called Aelia Capitolina, a name which it retained till it fell under the dominion of the Mohammedans, when it was called el-Khuds, i.e., “the holy.” In A.D. 326 Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the view of discovering the places mentioned in the life of our Lord. She caused a church to be built on what was then supposed to be the place of the nativity at Bethlehem. Constantine, animated by her example, searched for the holy sepulchre, and built over the supposed site a magnificent church, which was completed and dedicated A.D. 335. He relaxed the laws against the Jews till this time in force, and permitted them once a year to visit the city and wail over the desolation of “the holy and beautiful house.” In A.D. 614 the Persians, after defeating the Roman forces of the emperor Heraclius, took Jerusalem by storm, and retained it till A.D. 637, when it was taken by the Arabians under the Khalif Omar. It remained in their possession till it passed, in A.D. 960, under the dominion of the Fatimite khalifs of Egypt, and in A.D. 1073 under the Turcomans. In A.D. 1099 the crusader Godfrey of Bouillon took the city from the Moslems with great slaughter, and was elected king of Jerusalem. He converted the Mosque of Omar into a Christian cathedral. During the eighty-eight years which followed, many churches and convents were erected in the holy city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was rebuilt during this period, and it alone remains to this day. In A.D. 1187 the sultan Saladin wrested the city from the Christians. From that time to the present day, with few intervals, Jerusalem has remained in the hands of the Moslems. It has, however, during that period been again and again taken and retaken, demolished in great part and rebuilt, no city in the world having passed through so many vicissitudes. In the year 1850 the Greek and Latin monks residing in Jerusalem had a fierce dispute about the guardianship of what are called the “holy places.” In this dispute the emperor Nicholas of Russia sided with the Greeks, and Louis Napoleon, the emperor of the French, with the Latins. This led the Turkish authorities to settle the question in a way unsatisfactory to Russia. Out of this there sprang the Crimean War, which was protracted and sanguinary, but which had important consequences in the way of breaking down the barriers of Turkish exclusiveness. Modern Jerusalem “lies near the summit of a broad mountain-ridge, which extends without interruption from the plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean.” This high, uneven table-land is everywhere from 20 to 25 geographical miles in breadth. It was anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah. “Jerusalem is a city of contrasts, and differs widely from Damascus, not merely because it is a stone town in mountains, whilst the latter is a mud city in a plain, but because while in Damascus Moslem religion and Oriental custom are unmixed with any foreign element, in Jerusalem every form of religion, every nationality of East and West, is represented at one time.” Jerusalem is first mentioned under that name in the Book of Joshua, and the Tell-el-Amarna collection of tablets includes six letters from its Amorite king to Egypt, recording the attack of the Abiri about B.C. 1480. The name is there spelt Uru-Salim (“city of peace”). Another monumental record in which the Holy City is named is that of Sennacherib’s attack in B.C. 702. The “camp of the Assyrians” was still shown about A.D. 70, on the flat ground to the north-west, included in the new quarter of the city. The city of David included both the upper city and Millo, and was surrounded by a wall built by David and Solomon, who appear to have restored the original Jebusite fortifications. The name Zion (or Sion) appears to have been, like Ariel (“the hearth of God”), a poetical term for Jerusalem, but in the Greek age was more specially used of the Temple hill. The priests’ quarter grew up on Ophel, south of the Temple, where also was Solomon’s Palace outside the original city of David. The walls of the city were extended by Jotham and Manasseh to include this suburb and the Temple ( 2 Chr. 27:3 ; 33:14 ). Jerusalem is now a town of some 50,000 inhabitants, with ancient mediaeval walls, partly on the old lines, but extending less far to the south. The traditional sites, as a rule, were first shown in the 4th and later centuries A.D., and have no authority. The results of excavation have, however, settled most of the disputed questions, the limits of the Temple area, and the course of the old walls having been traced.
Jeshua
(1.) Head of the ninth priestly order ( Ezra 2:36 ); called also Jeshuah ( 1 Chr. 24:11 ). (2.) A Levite appointed by Hezekiah to distribute offerings in the priestly cities ( 2 Chr. 31:15 ). (3.) Ezra 2:6 ; Neh. 7:11 . (4.) Ezra 2:40 ; Neh. 7:43 . (5.) The son of Jozadak, and high priest of the Jews under Zerubbabel ( Neh. 7:7 ; 12:1 , 7 , 10 , 26 ); called Joshua ( Hag. 1:1 , 12 ; 2:2 , 4 ; Zech. 3:1 , 3 , 6 , 8 , 9 ). (6.) A Levite ( Ezra 8:33 ). (7.) Neh. 3:19 . (8.) A Levite who assisted in the reformation under Nehemiah (8:7; 9:4, 5). (9.) Son of Kadmiel ( Neh. 12:24 ). (10.) A city of Judah ( Neh. 11:26 ). (11.) Neh. 8:17 ; Joshua, the son of Nun.
Jesus
(1.) Joshua, the son of Nun ( Acts 7:45 ; Heb. 4:8 ; R.V., “Joshua”). (2.) A Jewish Christian surnamed Justus ( Col. 4:11 ). Je’sus, the proper, as Christ is the official, name of our Lord. To distinguish him from others so called, he is spoken of as “Jesus of Nazareth” ( John 18:7 ), and “Jesus the son of Joseph” ( John 6:42 ). This is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which was originally Hoshea ( Num. 13:8 , 16 ), but changed by Moses into Jehoshua ( Num. 13:16 ; 1 Chr. 7:27 ), or Joshua. After the Exile it assumed the form Jeshua, whence the Greek form Jesus. It was given to our Lord to denote the object of his mission, to save ( Matt. 1:21 ). The life of Jesus on earth may be divided into two great periods, (1) that of his private life, till he was about thirty years of age; and (2) that of his public life, which lasted about three years. In the “fulness of time” he was born at Bethlehem, in the reign of the emperor Augustus, of Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter ( Matt. 1:1 ; Luke 3:23 ; comp. John 7:42 ). His birth was announced to the shepherds ( Luke 2:8-20 ). Wise men from the east came to Bethlehem to see him who was born “King of the Jews,” bringing gifts with them ( Matt. 2:1-12 ). Herod’s cruel jealousy led to Joseph’s flight into Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus, where they tarried till the death of this king ( Matt. 2:13-23 ), when they returned and settled in Nazareth, in Lower Galilee (2:23; comp. Luke 4:16 ; John 1:46 , etc.). At the age of twelve years he went up to Jerusalem to the Passover with his parents. There, in the temple, “in the midst of the doctors,” all that heard him were “astonished at his understanding and answers” ( Luke 2:41 , etc.). Eighteen years pass, of which we have no record beyond this, that he returned to Nazareth and “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” ( Luke 2:52 ). He entered on his public ministry when he was about thirty years of age. It is generally reckoned to have extended to about three years. “Each of these years had peculiar features of its own. (1.) The first year may be called the year of obscurity, both because the records of it which we possess are very scanty, and because he seems during it to have been only slowly emerging into public notice. It was spent for the most part in Judea. (2.) The second year was the year of public favour, during which the country had become thoroughly aware of him; his activity was incessant, and his frame rang through the length and breadth of the land. It was almost wholly passed in Galilee. (3.) The third was the year of opposition, when the public favour ebbed away. His enemies multiplied and assailed him with more and more pertinacity, and at last he fell a victim to their hatred. The first six months of this final year were passed in Galilee, and the last six in other parts of the land.”, Stalker’s Life of Jesus Christ, p. 45. The only reliable sources of information regarding the life of Christ on earth are the Gospels, which present in historical detail the words and the work of Christ in so many different aspects. (See CHIRST .)
Jobab
Dweller in the desert. (1.) One of the sons of Joktan, and founder of an Arabian tribe ( Gen. 10:29 ). (2.) King of Edom, succeeded Bela ( Gen. 36:33 , 34 ). (3.) A Canaanitish king ( Josh. 11:1 ) who joined the confederacy against Joshua.
Johanan
Whom Jehovah graciously bestows. (1.) One of the Gadite heroes who joined David in the desert of Judah ( 1 Chr. 12:12 ). (2.) The oldest of King Josiah’s sons ( 1 Chr. 3:15 ). (3.) Son of Careah, one of the Jewish chiefs who rallied round Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor in Jerusalem ( 2 Kings 25:23 ; Jer. 40:8 ). He warned Gedaliah of the plans of Ishmael against him, a warning which was unheeded ( Jer. 40:13 , 16 ). He afterwards pursued the murderer of the governor, and rescued the captives (41:8, 13, 15, 16). He and his associates subsequently fled to Tahpanhes in Egypt (43:2, 4, 5), taking Jeremiah with them. “The flight of Gedaliah’s community to Egypt extinguished the last remaining spark of life in the Jewish state. The work of the ten centuries since Joshua crossed the Jordan had been undone.”
Joshua
Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Saviour. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua in Num. 13:16 (A.V.), and Jesus in Acts 7:45 and Heb. 4:8 (R.V., Joshua). He was born in Egypt, and was probably of the age of Caleb, with whom he is generally associated. He shared in all the events of the Exodus, and held the place of commander of the host of the Israelites at their great battle against the Amalekites in Rephidim ( Ex. 17:8-16 ). He became Moses’ minister or servant, and accompanied him part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the two tables ( Ex. 32:17 ). He was also one of the twelve who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan ( Num. 13:16 , 17 ), and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report. Under the direction of God, Moses, before his death, invested Joshua in a public and solemn manner with authority over the people as his successor ( Deut. 31:23 ). The people were encamped at Shittim when he assumed the command ( Josh. 1:1 ); and crossing the Jordan, they encamped at Gilgal, where, having circumcised the people, he kept the Passover, and was visited by the Captain of the Lord’s host, who spoke to him encouraging words (1:1-9). Now began the wars of conquest which Joshua carried on for many years, the record of which is in the book which bears his name. Six nations and thirty-one kings were conquered by him ( Josh. 11:18-23 ; 12:24 ). Having thus subdued the Canaanites, Joshua divided the land among the tribes, Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim being assigned to himself as his own inheritance. (See SHILOH ; PRIEST .) His work being done, he died, at the age of one hundred and ten years, twenty-five years after having crossed the Jordan. He was buried in his own city of Timnath-serah ( Josh. 24 ); and “the light of Israel for the time faded away.” Joshua has been regarded as a type of Christ ( Heb. 4:8 ) in the following particulars: (1) In the name common to both; (2) Joshua brings the people into the possession of the Promised Land, as Jesus brings his people to the heavenly Canaan; and (3) as Joshua succeeded Moses, so the Gospel succeeds the Law. The character of Joshua is thus well sketched by Edersheim:, “Born a slave in Egypt, he must have been about forty years old at the time of the Exodus. Attached to the person of Moses, he led Israel in the first decisive battle against Amalek ( Ex. 17:9 , 13 ), while Moses in the prayer of faith held up to heaven the God-given ‘rod.’ It was no doubt on that occasion that his name was changed from Oshea, ‘help,’ to Jehoshua, ‘Jehovah is help’ ( Num. 13:16 ). And this name is the key to his life and work. Alike in bringing the people into Canaan, in his wars, and in the distribution of the land among the tribes, from the miraculous crossing of Jordan and taking of Jericho to his last address, he was the embodiment of his new name, ‘Jehovah is help.’ To this outward calling his character also corresponded. It is marked by singleness of purpose, directness, and decision...He sets an object before him, and unswervingly follows it” (Bible Hist., iii. 103)
Joshua, The Book of
Contains a history of the Israelites from the death of Moses to that of Joshua. It consists of three parts: (1.) The history of the conquest of the land (1-12). (2.) The allotment of the land to the different tribes, with the appointment of cities of refuge, the provision for the Levites (13-22), and the dismissal of the eastern tribes to their homes. This section has been compared to the Domesday Book of the Norman conquest. (3.) The farewell addresses of Joshua, with an account of his death (23, 24). This book stands first in the second of the three sections, (1) the Law, (2) the Prophets, (3) the “other writings” = Hagiographa, into which the Jewish Church divided the Old Testament. There is every reason for concluding that the uniform tradition of the Jews is correct when they assign the authorship of the book to Joshua, all except the concluding section; the last verses (24:29-33) were added by some other hand. There are two difficulties connected with this book which have given rise to much discussion, (1.) The miracle of the standing still of the sun and moon on Gibeon. The record of it occurs in Joshua’s impassioned prayer of faith, as quoted ( Josh. 10:12-15 ) from the “Book of Jasher” (q.v.). There are many explanations given of these words. They need, however, present no difficulty if we believe in the possibility of God’s miraculous interposition in behalf of his people. Whether it was caused by the refraction of the light, or how, we know not. (2.) Another difficulty arises out of the command given by God utterly to exterminate the Canaanites. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” It is enough that Joshua clearly knew that this was the will of God, who employs his terrible agencies, famine, pestilence, and war, in the righteous government of this world. The Canaanites had sunk into a state of immorality and corruption so foul and degrading that they had to be rooted out of the land with the edge of the sword. “The Israelites’ sword, in its bloodiest executions, wrought a work of mercy for all the countries of the earth to the very end of the world.” This book resembles the Acts of the Apostles in the number and variety of historical incidents it records, and in its many references to persons and places; and as in the latter case the epistles of Paul (see Paley’s Horae Paul.) confirm its historical accuracy by their incidental allusions and “undesigned coincidences,” so in the former modern discoveries confirm its historicity. The Amarna tablets (see ADONIZEDEC ) are among the most remarkable discoveries of the age. Dating from about B.C. 1480 down to the time of Joshua, and consisting of official communications from Amorite, Phoenician, and Philistine chiefs to the king of Egypt, they afford a glimpse into the actual condition of Palestine prior to the Hebrew invasion, and illustrate and confirm the history of the conquest. A letter, also still extant, from a military officer, “master of the captains of Egypt,” dating from near the end of the reign of Rameses II., gives a curious account of a journey, probably official, which he undertook through Palestine as far north as to Aleppo, and an insight into the social condition of the country at that time. Among the things brought to light by this letter and the Amarna tablets is the state of confusion and decay that had now fallen on Egypt. The Egyptian garrisons that had held possession of Palestine from the time of Thothmes III., some two hundred years before, had now been withdrawn. The way was thus opened for the Hebrews. In the history of the conquest there is no mention of Joshua having encountered any Egyptian force. The tablets contain many appeals to the king of Egypt for help against the inroads of the Hebrews, but no help seems ever to have been sent. Is not this just such a state of things as might have been anticipated as the result of the disaster of the Exodus? In many points, as shown under various articles, the progress of the conquest is remarkably illustrated by the tablets. The value of modern discoveries in their relation to Old Testament history has been thus well described: “The difficulty of establishing the charge of lack of historical credibility, as against the testimony of the Old Testament, has of late years greatly increased. The outcome of recent excavations and explorations is altogether against it. As long as these books contained, in the main, the only known accounts of the events they mention, there was some plausibility in the theory that perhaps these accounts were written rather to teach moral lessons than to preserve an exact knowledge of events. It was easy to say in those times men had not the historic sense. But the recent discoveries touch the events recorded in the Bible at very many different points in many different generations, mentioning the same persons, countries, peoples, events that are mentioned in the Bible, and showing beyond question that these were strictly historic. The point is not that the discoveries confirm the correctness of the Biblical statements, though that is commonly the case, but that the discoveries show that the peoples of those ages had the historic sense, and, specifically, that the Biblical narratives they touch are narratives of actual occurrences.”
Jotham
Jehovah is perfect. (1.) The youngest of Gideon’s seventy sons. He escaped when the rest were put to death by the order of Abimelech ( Judg. 9:5 ). When “the citizens of Shechem and the whole house of Millo” were gathered together “by the plain of the pillar” (i.e., the stone set up by Joshua, 24:26; comp. Gen. 35:4 ) “that was in Shechem, to make Abimelech king,” from one of the heights of Mount Gerizim he protested against their doing so in the earliest parable, that of the bramble-king. His words then spoken were prophetic. There came a recoil in the feelings of the people toward Abimelech, and then a terrible revenge, in which many were slain and the city of Shechem was destroyed by Abimelech ( Judg. 9:45 ). Having delivered his warning, Jotham fled to Beer from the vengeance of Abimelech (9:7-21). (2.) The son and successor of Uzziah on the throne of Judah. As during his last years Uzziah was excluded from public life on account of his leprosy, his son, then twenty-five years of age, administered for seven years the affairs of the kingdom in his father’s stead ( 2 Chr. 26:21 , 23 ; 27:1). After his father’s death he became sole monarch, and reigned for sixteen years (B.C. 759-743). He ruled in the fear of God, and his reign was prosperous. He was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, by whose ministrations he profited. He was buried in the sepulchre of the kings, greatly lamented by the people ( 2 Kings 15:38 ; 2 Chr. 27:7-9 ).
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 )