B) JAMES, “THE LORD’S BROTHER”
VI. MESSAGE OF THE EPISTLE TO OUR TIMES
4. OTHER VIEWS
Cheyne would make a violent change in the verse. He would substitute
“Israel” for “Judah” as warranted by <281202>
Hosea 12:2, insert “Israel” before
“sent,” change ‘ashshur,”Assyria,” into mitstsur, the North Arabian land of Mucri, “references to which underlie many passages in the Old Testament,”
and for melekh yarebh, he would read melekh `arabhi, “king of Arabia.”
For other views see ICC.
James Crichton JARED
<ja’-red> ([dr,y,, yeredh], “descent”; pausal form, [dr,y:, yaredh], in
<010515>Genesis 5:15; <130102>1 Chronicles 1:2, hence, English Versions of the Bible
“Jared” for “Jered”; [ jIare>d, Iared]): In <010515>Genesis 5:15-20; <130102>1 Chronicles 1:2; <420337>Luke 3:37, son of Mahalaleel and father of Enoch. The King James Version has “Jered” in <130102>1 Chronicles 1:2.
The name is supposed by Budde to denote a degeneration of the human race, the first five generations being righteous, their successors not, except Enoch and Noah. The name has been identified with that of Irad ([dr;y[i, iradh]), <010418>Genesis 4:18. See Skinner, Gen, 117, 129, 131.
JARESIAH
<jar-e-si’-a>: the King James Version for JAARESHIAH (which see).
JARHA
<jar’-ha> ([[j;r]y’, yarcha`], meaning unknown): An Egyptian slave of Shesham, about Eli’s time (compare HPN, 235), who married his master’s daughter, and became the founder of a house of the Jerahmeelites (<130234>1 Chronicles 2:34 ff).
JARIB
<ja’-rib>, <jar’-ib> ([byry;, yaribh], “he contends,” or “takes (our) part,” or “conducts (our) case”):
(1) In <130424>1 Chronicles 4:24, a “son” (clan) of Simeon = “Jachin” of
<014610>Genesis 46:10; Exodus 6:15; <042612>Numbers 26:12.
(2)In Ezr 8:16, one of the “chief men” for whom Ezra sent, and dispatched by him to Casiphia to fetch ministers for God’s house = “Joribus” (1 Esdras 8:44).
(3) In Ezr 10:18, a priest who had married a foreign wife = “Joribus” (1 Esdras 9:19).
JARIMOTH
<jar’-i-moth> ([ jIarimw>q, Iarimoth]): 1 Esdras 9:28; called “Jeremoth”
in Ezr 10:27.
JARMUTH
<jar’-muth> ([tWmr]y’, yarmuth]:
(1) A city of the Canaanites in the Shephelah (<061535>Joshua 15:35) of Judah whose “king,” Piram, joined the league of the “five kings” against Joshua
(<061003>Joshua 10:3-5), was defeated at Gibeon and slain at Makkedah
(10:23). One of the 31 “kings” defeated in Joshua’ s campaign (<061211>Joshua 12:11). In <061535>Joshua 15:35 it is mentioned in conjunction with Adullam, Socoh and Azekah, and in <161129>
Nehemiah 11:29 with Zorah, Zanoah and Adullam. Cheyne (Encyclopedia Biblica) suggests that the “Maroth” of
<330101>Micah 1:12 may be a copyist’s error for Jarmuth. In Eusebius,
Onomasticon (OS2 132 31; 266 38) mention is made of a [ jIermocw>v, Iermochos], or Jermucha, 10 Roman miles Northeast of Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin), The site of this once important place is Khirbet el Yarmuk, a ruin, with many old walls and cisterns, on the top of a hill 1,465 ft. above sealevel. It is nearly 2 miles Northwest of Belt Nattif, from which it is visible, and 8 1/2 miles, as measured on map, N.N.E. of Belt Jibrin.
Compare PEF, III, 128, Sh XVIII.
(2) A city of Issachar belonging to the “children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites” (<062129>Joshua 21:29); in the duplicate list in <130673>1 Chronicles 6:73 we have Ramoth, while in the Septuagint version of <062129>Joshua 21:29 we have, in different VSS, Rhemmath or Iermoth. In <061921>Joshua 19:21
“Remeth” occurs (in Hebrew) in the lists of cities of Issachar; in the Septuagint Rhemmas or Rhamath. The name was probably “Remeth” or
“Ramoth,” but the place has never been identified with any certainty.
See RAMOTH.
E. W. G. Masterman
JAROAH
<ja-ro’-a> ([j”wOry;, yaroach], meaning unknown): A Gadite chief (<130514>1 Chronicles 5:14). But the text is doubtful; see Curtis, Chronicles, 124.
JASAELUS; JASAEL
<jas-a-e’-lus> , <ja’-sa-el> ([ jIasa>hlov, Iasaelos]; Codex Vaticanus, [Asaelos]; the King James Version (1 Esdras 9:30)): Called “Sheal” in Ezr 10:29.
JASHAR, BOOK OF
<ja’-shar>, <jash’-ar> ([rp,se, cepher ha-yashar]; the King James Version Book of Jasher, margin “the book of the upright”): The title of an ancient Hebrew national song-book (literally, “book of the righteous one”) from which two quotations are made in the Ol d Testament:
(1) <061012>
Joshua 10:12-14, the command of Joshua to the sun and moon,
“Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon. .... Is not this written in the book of Jashar?” (see BETH-HORON; Septuagint in this place omits the
reference to Jashar); and
(2) <100108>2 Samuel 1:8 ff, “the song of the bow,” or lament of David over
Saul and Jonathan.
(3) Some conjecture a third extract in <110812>1 Kings 8:12, “Then spake Solomon, Yahweh hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.”
The words of Yahweh are quoted by Septuagint in 8:53 as “written in the book of the song” (en biblio tes odes), and it is pointed out that the words “the song” (in Hebrew [ryVoh”, ha-shir]) might easily be a corruption of [rv;Y;h”, ha-yashar]. A similar confusion (“song” for
“righteous”) may explain the fact that the Peshitta Syriac of Joshua has for a title “the book of praises or hymns.” The book evidently was a well-known one, and may have been a gradual collection of religious and national songs. It is conjectured that it may have included the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), and older pieces now found in the Pentateuch (e.g. <010423>Genesis 4:23,14; 9:25-27; 27:27-29); this, however, is uncertain. On the curious theories and speculations of the rabbis and others about the book (that it was the Book of the Law, of Genesis,
etc.), with the fantastic reconstructive theory of Dr. Donaldson in his Jasbar, see the full article in HDB.
James Orr JASHEN
<ja’-shen>, <jash’-en> ([ˆvey;, yashen], “asleep”(?)): Seemingly the father of some of David s thirty valiant men (<102332>2 Samuel 23:32 f). The
Massoretic Text reads “Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, Shammah the Hararite, .... “ <131133>1 Chronicles 11:33 f has Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite .... “ It is clear that “sons of” are a dittography of the last three consonants of the previous word. Septuagint, Lucian in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles has [oJ Gouni>, ho Gouni], “the Gunite,” for “the
Gizonite,” perhaps correctly (compare <014624>Genesis 46:24; <042648>Numbers 26:48 for “Guni,” “Gunite”). So <102332>2 Samuel 23:32 may be corrected thus:
“Eliahba the Shaalbonite, Jashen the Gunite, Jonathan the son of Shammah the Hararite.” Jashen then becomes one of the thirty = “Hashem” of <131134>1 Chronicles 11:34.
David Francis Roberts JASHER, BOOK OF
<ja’-sher>, <jash’-er>: the King James Version for JASHAR (which see), and see BETH-HORON, BATTLE OF.
JASHOBEAM
<ja-sho’-be-am> ([µy;b]v;y;, yashobh`am], probably “people will return”;
see discussion of names compounded with [µ[“, `am], in HPN, 41-59):
Jashobeam is mentioned in three passages (<131111>
1 Chronicles 11:11; 12:6 (Hebrew 7); 27:2 f), but opinions vary as to the number of persons erred to. In <131111>1 Chronicles 11:11 he is called “the son of a Hachmonite”
(reference unknown) and “the chief of the three” (“three,” the best reading;
the Revised Version (British and American) “thirty”; the King James Version, the Revised Version margin “captains”), mighty men of David. He is said to have slain 300 (800 in <102308>2 Samuel 23:8) at one time, i.e. one after another.
The gibborim, or heroes, numbered 600 and were divided into bands of 200 each and subdivided into smaller bands of 20 each, with a captain for each company large and small. Jashobeam had command of the first of the three bands of 200 (see Ewald, HI, III , 140 f; Stanley, HJC, II, 78). From the indefiniteness of the description, “three of the thirty chief,” he can hardly be regarded as one of the three mighty men who broke through the ranks of the Philistines, and brought water from the well of Bethlehem to David on the hill-fortress of Adullam (<131115>1 Chronicles 11:15-17), and the fact that “the thirty” have not yet been mentioned would seem to indicate that this story is not in its proper place. But “Jashobe am” here (<131111>1 Chronicles 11:11) is probably an error for “Ishbaal,” the reading of many of the manuscripts of the Septuagint (HPN, 46, note).
In the parallel passage (<102308>
2 Samuel 23:8) he is called “Joshebbasshebeth, a Tahchemonite.” This verse, however, is probably corrupt (Revised Version margin), and the text should be corrected in accordance with Chronicles to “Ishbaal, the Hachmonite.” In <132702>1 Chronicles 27:2 f
Jashobeam is said to have been “the son of Zabdiel,” of the family of Perez, and the commander-in-chief of the division of David’s army which did duty the first month. The army consisted of 12 divisions of 24,000 each, each division serving a month in turn. In <131206>1 Chronicles 12:6 (Hebrew 7) Jashobeam is mentioned among those who joined David at Ziklag in the time of Saul, and is described as a Korahite, probably one belonging to a family of Judah (compare 2:43).
James Crichton JASHUB
<ja’-shub>, <jash’-ub> ([bWvy;, yashubh]; [byviy;, yashibh], in Chronicles, but Qere, [bWvy;, yashubh], “he returns”):
(1) In <042624>Numbers 26:24; <130701>1 Chronicles 7:1, a “son” (clan) of Issachar.
<014613>Genesis 46:13 has incorrectly Iob, but Septuagint Jashub.
(2) In Ezr 10:29, one of those who had married foreign wives = “Jasubus”
in 1 Esdras 9:30.
(3) In <230703>Isaiah 7:3, part of the name SHEAR-JASHUB (which see).
JASHUBI-LEHEM
<ja-shoo-bi-le’-hem> ([ybivuy; µj,l,, yashubhi-lechem]): A name in <130422>1 Chronicles 4:22 where commentators insert [tyBe, beth], between the two words and translate “(and) returned to Bethlehem.”
JASHUBITES, THE
<ja’-shub-its>, <jash’-ub-its> ([ybivuY;h”, ha-yashubhi], coll. with article): In <041624>Numbers 16:24, descendants of JASHUB (q.v. (1)).
JASIEL
<ja’-si-el>, <jas’-i-el> ([laeyci[}y’, ya`asi’el], “God is maker,” <131147>1 Chronicles 11:47 the King James Version).
See JAASIEL.
JASON (1)
<ja’-sun> ([ jIa>swn, Iason]): A common name among the Hellenizing Jews who used it for Jesus or Joshua, probably connecting it with the Greek verb [iashthai] (“to heal”).
(1) Son of Eleazar, sent (161 BC) by Judas Maccabeus with other deputies to Rome “to make a league of amity and confederacy” (1 Macc 8:17;
Josephus, Ant, XII, x, 6), and perhaps to be identified with (2).
(2) The father of Antipater who went as ambassador of Jonathan to Rome in 144 BC (1 Macc 12:16; 14:22; Ant, XIII, v, 8).
(3) Jason of Cyrene, a Jewish historian, who is known only from what is told of him in 2 Macc 2:19-23. 2 Macc is in fact simply an abridgment in one book of the 5 books written by Jason on the Jewish wars of liberation.
He must have written after 162 BC, as his books include the wars under Antiochus Eupator.
(4) Jason the high priest, second son of Simon II and brother of Onias III.
The change of name from Jesus (Josephus, Ant, XII, v) was part of the Hellenizing policy favored by Antiochus Epiphanes from whom he purchased the high-priesthood by a large bribe, thus excluding his elder brother from the office (2 Macc 4:7-26). He did everything in his power to
introduce Greek customs and Greek life among the Jews. He established a gymnasium in Jerusalem, so that even the priests neglected the altars and the sacrifices, and hastened to be partakers of the “unlawful allowance” in the palaestra. The writer of 2 Macc calls him “that ungodly wretch” and
“vile” Jason. He even sent deputies from Jerusalem to Tyre to take part in the worship of Hercules; but what he sent for sacrifices, the deputies expended on the “equipment of galleys.” After 3 years of this Hellenizing work he was supplanted in 172 BC in the favor of Antiochus by Menelaus who gave a large bribe for the high priest’s office. Jason took refuge with the Ammonites; on hearing that Antiochus was dead he tried with some success to drive out Menelaus, but ultimately failed (2 Macc 5:5 ff). He took refuge with the Ammonites again, and then with Aretas, the Arabian, and finally with the Lacedaemonians, where he hoped for protection “as being connected by race,” and there “perished-miserably in a strange land.”
(5) A name mentioned in <441705>Acts 17:5-9 and in <451621>Romans 16:21. See following article.
J. Hutchison JASON (2)
<ja’-sun> ([ jIa>swn, Iason]): A Greek name assumed by Jews who bore the Hebrew name Joshua. This name is mentioned twice in the New Testament. (See also preceding article.)
(1) Jason was the host of Paul during his stay in Thessalonica, and, during the uproar organized by the Jews, who were moved to jealousy by the success of Paul and Silas, he and several other “brethren” were severely handled by the mob. When the mob failed to find Paul and Silas, they dragged Jason and “certain brethren” before the politarchs, accusing Jason of treason in receiving into his house those who said “There is another king, one Jesus.” The magistrates, being troubled, took security from them, and let them go.
There are various explanations of the purpose of this security. “By this expression it is most probably meant that a sum of money was deposited with the magistrates, and that the Christian community of the place made themselves responsible that no attempt should be made against the
supremacy of Rome, and that peace should be maintained in Thessalonica itself” (Conybeare and Howson, Paul). Ramsay (St. Paul the Traveler)
thinks that the security was given to prevent Paul from returning to Thessalonica and that Paul refers to this in <520218>1 Thessalonians 2:18.
The immediate departure of Paul and Silas seems to show the security was given that the strangers would leave the city and remain absent (<441705>Acts 17:5-9).
(2) Jason is one of the companions of Paul who unite with him in sending greetings to the Roman Christians (<451621>Romans 16:21). He is probably the same person as (1). Paul calls him a kinsman, which means a Jew (compare
<450903>Romans 9:3; 16:11,21).
S. F. Hunter JASPER; JASPIS
<jas’-per>, <jas’-pis>.
See STONES, PRECIOUS.
JASUBUS
<ja-su’-bus> ([ jIa>soubov, Iasoubos]): An Israelite who in the time of Ezra had to put away his foreign wife (1 Esdras 9:30); called “Jashub” in Ezr 10:29.
JATAL
<ja’-tal> (1 Esdras 5:28).
See ATAR.
JATHAN
<ja’-than> ([ jIaqa>n, Iathan]; [a, Nathan]): For “Jonathas” in the King James Version, which is the Latin form for the Hebrew “Jonathan.”
Jonathan was brother of Ananias and “son of that great Sammaias” (Tobit 5:13).
JATHBATH
<jath’-bath>.
See JOTBATHAH.
JATHNIEL
<jath’-ni-el> ([laeynit]y’, yathni’el], “God lives”): Fourth “son” of Meshelemiah, a Korahite (<132602>1 Chronicles 26:2).
JATTIR
<jat’-er> ([ryTiy’, yattir], and [rTiy’, yattir]): A town in the hill country of Judah, mentioned in conjunction with Shamir and Socoh (<061548>Joshua 15:48); one of the cities given to the “children of Aaron the priest”
(<062114>Joshua 21:14; <130657>1 Chronicles 6:57). David after his victory over the
Amalekites sent a present of the spoil from Ziklag “to them that were in Jattir” (<093027>1 Samuel 30:27).
It is now Khirbet `Attir, an important ruin, in the extreme South of the hill country, 5 miles Southeast of edh Dhariyeh and 20 miles Southeast of Belt Jibrin. This must Correspond to the “very large village Jethira” which is mentioned in Eusebius, Onomasticon (119 27; 133 3; 134 24, etc.) as 20 miles Southeast of Eleutheropolis (i.e. Beit Jibrin). The site is full of caves.
See PEF, III, 408, Sh XXV.
E. W. G. Masterman JAVAN
<ja’-van> ([ˆw;y;, yawan], meaning unknown):
(1) In <011002>Genesis 10:2,4 = <130105>1 Chronicles 1:5,7 Septuagint [ jIwua>n, Iouan]); <236619>Isaiah 66:19; <262713>Ezekiel 27:13 Septuagint [ JElla>v, Hellas], Greece); <270821>Daniel 8:21 m; 10:20; 11:2; Zec 9:13; <290306>Joel 3:6 (Hebrew 4:6) Septuagint [oiJ Ellhnev, hoi Hellenes], i.e. “Greeks”), “son” of Japheth, and “father” of Elisha, Tars, Kittim, and Rodarim, i.e. Rhodes (incorrectly “Dodanim” in <011004>Genesis 10:4). Javan is the Greek [Ia>wn, Iaon] or [ jIa>(r)wn, Ia(v)on], and in Genesis and 1 Chronicles = the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, probably here = Cyprus. The reference in
<262713>
Ezekiel 27:13 (from which that in <236619>
Isaiah 66:19 is copied) is the country personified. In Joel the plural [µyniw;y], yewanim], is found. In Daniel the name is extended to the Greeks generally. Corroboration of the name is found in Assyrian (Schrader, editor, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, II, 43).
“The Persian Yauna occurs in the same double reference from the time of Darius; compare Aesch. Persian., 176, 562” (Skinner, Gen, 198). In
Egyptian the word is said to be yevan-(n)a; in the Tell el-Amarna Letters Yivana is mentioned as being in the land of Tyre. See HDB, II, 552b.
(2) Place (<262719>
Ezekiel 27:19); the name is missing in Septuagint.
David Francis Roberts JAVELIN
<jav’-lin>, <jav’-e-lin>.
See ARMOR; ARMS.
JAW; JAWBONE; JAW TEETH
<jo>, <jo’-bon> ([yjil], lechi], “cheek (bone),” “jaw (bone)”): In <184102>
Job 41:2, the Revised Version (British and American) gives “pierce his jaw through with a hook” for the King James Version “bore his jaw through with a thorn” (see HOOK; LEVIATHAN). <192215>Psalm 22:15, “My tongue cleaveth to my jaws (malqoach),” is descriptive of the effect of a fever or physical torture, a dryness and a horrible clamminess. Malqochayim is an ancient dual form meaning the two jaws, and, metaphorically, malqoach indicates that which is caught between the jaws, booty, prey, including captives (<043111>Numbers 31:11,26,32; <234924>Isaiah 49:24 f).
Figurative:
(1) Of the power of the wicked, with a reference to Divine restraint and discipline: “I brake the jaws (Hebrew “great teeth”) of the unrighteous”
(<182917>Job 29:17; <203014>Proverbs 30:14); compare <195806>Psalm 58:6, “Break
out the great teeth (malta`oth, “jaw teeth”) of the young lions, O Yahweh.” Let the wicked be deprived of their ability for evil; let them at least be disabled from mischief. Septuagint reads “God shall break,”
etc. (Compare Edmund Prys’s Metrical Paraphrase of the Psalms, in the place cited.) “A bridle .... in the jaws of the peoples” (<233028>
Isaiah 30:28; compare <121928>2 Kings 19:28) is descriptive of the ultimate check of the Assyrian power at Jerusalem, “as when a bridle or lasso is thrown upon the jaws of a wild animal when you wish to catch and tame him” (G.A. Smith Isa, I, 235). Compare <262904>
Ezekiel 29:4 (concerning Pharaoh); 38:4 (concerning Gog), “I will put hooks in (into) thy jaws.”
(2) Of human labor and trials, with a reference to the Divine gentleness:
“I was to them as they that lift up the yoke on their jaws” (<281104>Hosea 11:4), or `take the yoke off their jaws,’ as the humane driver eased the yoke with his hands or `lifted it forward from neck to the jaws’; or it may perhaps refer to the removal of the yoke in the evening, when work is over.
JAWBONE
(<071515>Judges 15:15 ff).
See RAMATH-LEHI.
M. O. Evans JAZER
<ja’-zer> ([rze[]y’, ya`zer] or [ryze[]y’, ya`zeyr]; Septuagint [ jIazh>n, Iazen]
in Codex Alexandrinus; [a, Iazer]): In some cases, e.g. <042132>
Numbers 21:32, the King James Version reads “Jaazer.” This was a city of the Amorites East of the Jordan taken, along with its towns, by Moses, and occupied by the tribe of Gad (<042132>Numbers 21:32; 32:35). The country was very fertile, and its spacious pasture-lands attracted the flock-masters of Gad
(<043201>Numbers 32:1), the southern border of whose territory it marked
(<061325>
Joshua 13:25). It was assigned to the Merarite Levites (<062139>
Joshua 21:39; <130681>1 Chronicles 6:81). The place was reached by Joab when taking the census (<102405>2 Samuel 24:5). In the 40th year of King David mighty men of valor were found here to whom he entrusted the oversight in Reuben and Gad “for every matter pertaining to God, and run the affairs of the king” (<132632>1 Chronicles 26:32 f). The fruitfulness of the country is alluded to in <231608>Isaiah 16:8 f; <244832>Jeremiah 48:32. (Note: “Sea of” Jazer in this verse has arisen through accidental repetition of yam, “sea,” from the preceding clause.) The city was taken from the Ammonites by Judas Maccabeus, and burned (1 Macc 5:7,8; Ant, XII, viii, 1).
Onomasticon places Jazer 10 Roman miles West of Philadelphia
(`Amman), and about 15 miles from Heshbon, where a great stream rises, which flows into the Jordan. Many would identify it with Khirbet Car, on the South of Wady Cir, about 5 miles West of `Amman. The perennial stream from Wady Cir reaches the Jordan by Wady el-Kefrein. Cheyne (EB, under the word) suggests Yajuz on Wady Zorby, tributary of the