[1] Davidson (Hast., _D.B._, ii. 570 b) mentions two views. (1) The
foe might be "a creation of his moral presentiment and assigned to
the north as the cloudy region of mystery." (2) The more usual view
is that the Scythians (see Herod, i. 76, 103-106; iv. 1 ) are meant.
Neither of these views is satisfactory. The passage v. 15-17 is too
definite for (1), and as for (2), the idea of a threatened Scythian
invasion lacks a sufficient basis. Those who hold (2) have to suppose
that original references to the Scythians were retouched under the
impression of Chaldean invasions. Hence Cheyne's theory of a north
Arabian invasion from the land of Zaphon = Zibeon (Gen. xxxvi. 2,
14), i.e. Ishmael. Cf. N. Schmidt, _Ency. Bib._, Zibeon, "Scythians,"
§ 8; Cheyne, _Critica Biblica_, part i. (Isaiah and Jeremiah).
[2] Cf. Ewald, _The Prophets_, Eng. trans., iii. 63, 64.
[3] Cheyne, _Ency. Brit._ (9th ed.,), "Jeremiah," suggests after
Grätz that the roll simply contained ch. xxv., omitting the most
obvious interpolations. Against this view see N. Schmidt, _Ency.
Bib._, "Jeremiah (Book)," § 8, who, however, accepts the negative
part of Cheyne's arguments.
[4] Driver, _Introd. to the Lit. of the O.T._ (6), p. 249.
[5] In Helmolt's _Weltgeschichte_, iii. 211.
[6] li. 59-64a, however, is a specimen of imaginative "Midrashic"
history. See Giesebrecht's monograph.
JEREMY, EPISTLE OF, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament. This letter
purports to have been written by Jeremiah to the exiles who were already
in Babylon or on the way thither. The author was a Hellenistic Jew, and
not improbably a Jew of Alexandria. His work, which shows little
literary skill, was written with a serious practical purpose. He veiled
his fierce attack on the idol gods of Egypt by holding up to derision
the idolatry of Babylon. The fact that Jeremiah (xxix. 1 sqq.) was known
to have written a letter of this nature naturally suggested to a
Hellenist, possibly of the 1st century B.C. or earlier, the idea of a
second epistolary undertaking, and other passages of Jeremiah's prophecy
(x. 1-12; xxix. 4-23) may have determined also its general character and
contents.
The writer warned the exiles that they were to remain in captivity for
seven generations; that they would there see the worship paid to idols,
from all participation in which they were to hold aloof; for that idols
were nothing save the work of men's hands, without the powers of speech,
hearing or self-preservation. They could not bless their worshippers
even in the smallest concerns of life; they were indifferent to moral
qualities, and were of less value than the commonest household objects,
and finally, "with rare irony, the author compared an idol to a
scarecrow (v. 70), impotent to protect, but deluding to the imagination"
(MARSHALL).
The date of the epistle is uncertain. It is believed by some scholars
to be referred to in 2 Macc. ii. 2, which says that Jeremiah charged
the exiles "not to forget the statutes of the Lord, neither to be led
astray in their minds when they saw images of gold and silver and the
adornment thereof." But the reference is disputed by Fritzsche,
Gifford, Shürer and others. The epistle was included in the Greek
canon. There was no question of its canonicity till the time of
Jerome, who termed it a pseudepigraph.
See Fritzsche, _Handb. zu den Apok._, 1851; Gifford, in _Speaker's
Apoc._ ii. 286-303; Marshall, in Hastings' _Dict. Bible_, ii. 578-579.
(R. H. C.)
JERÉZ DE LA FRONTERA (formerly XERES), a town of southern Spain, in the
province of Cadiz, near the right bank of the river Guadalete, and on
the Seville-Cadiz railway, about 7 m. from the Atlantic coast. Pop.
(1900), 63,473. Jeréz is built in the midst of an undulating plain of
great fertility. Its whitewashed houses, clean, broad streets, and
squares planted with trees extend far beyond the limits formerly
enclosed by the Moorish walls, almost entirely demolished. The principal
buildings are the 15th-century church of San Miguel, the 17th-century
collegiate church with its lofty bell-tower, the 16th-century town-hall,
superseded, for official purposes, by a modern edifice, the bull-ring,
and many hospitals, charitable institutions and schools, including
academies of law, medicine and commerce. But the most characteristic
features of Jeréz are the huge _bodegas_, or wine-lodges, for the
manufacture and storage of sherry, and the vineyards, covering more than
150,000 acres, which surround it on all sides. The town is an important
market for grain, fruit and livestock, but its staple trade is in wine.
Sherry is also produced in other districts, but takes its name, formerly
written in English as _sherris_ or _xeres_, from Jeréz. The demand for
sherry diminished very greatly during the last quarter of the 19th
century, especially in England, which had been the chief consumer. In
1872 the sherry shipped from Cadiz to Great Britain alone was valued at
£2,500,000; in 1902 the total export hardly amounted to one-fifth of
this sum. The wine trade, however, still brings a considerable profit,
and few towns of southern Spain display greater commercial activity than
Jeréz. In the earlier part of the 18th century the neighbourhood
suffered severely from yellow fever; but it was rendered comparatively
healthy when in 1869 an aqueduct was opened to supply pure water.
Strikes and revolutionary disturbances have frequently retarded business
in more recent years.
Jeréz has been variously identified with the Roman Municipium Seriense;
with Asido, perhaps the original of the Moorish Sherish; and with Hasta
Regia, a name which may survive in the designation of La Mesa de Asta, a
neighbouring hill. Jeréz was taken from the Moors by Ferdinand III. of
Castile (1217-1252); but it was twice recaptured before Alphonso X.
finally occupied it in 1264. Towards the close of the 14th century it
received the title _de la Frontera_, i.e. "of the frontier," common to
several towns on the Moorish border.
JERÉZ DE LOS CABALLEROS, a town of south-western Spain, in the province
of Badajoz, picturesquely situated on two heights overlooking the river
Ardila, a tributary of the Guadiana, 12 m. E. of the Portuguese
frontier. Pop. (1900), 10,271. The old town is surrounded by a Moorish
wall with six gates; the newer portion is well and regularly built, and
planted with numerous orange and other fruit trees. Owing to the lack of
railway communication Jeréz is of little commercial importance; its
staple trade is in agricultural produce, especially in ham and bacon
from the large herds of swine which are reared in the surrounding oak
forests. The town is said to have been founded by Alphonso IX. of Leon
in 1229; in 1232 it was extended by his son St Ferdinand, who gave it to
the knights templar. Hence the name _Jeréz de los Caballeros_, "Jeréz of
the knights."
JERICHO ([Hebrew: Yricho, Yricho], once [Hebrew: Yrichoa], a word of
disputed meaning, whether "fragrant" or "moon [-god] city"), an
important town in the Jordan valley some 5 m. N. of the Dead Sea. The
references to it in the Pentateuch are confined to rough geographical
indications of the latitude of the trans-Jordanic camp of the Israelites
in Moab before their crossing of the river. This was the first Canaanite
city to be attacked and reduced by the victorious Israelites. The story
of its conquest is His Sundays were spent in the catacombs in
discovering graves of the martyrs and deciphering inscriptions. Pope
Liberius baptized him in 360; three years later the news of the death of
the emperor Julian came to Rome, and Christians felt relieved from a
great dread.
When his student days were over Jerome returned to Strido, but did not
stay there long. His character was formed. He was a scholar, with a
scholar's tastes and cravings for knowledge, easily excited, bent on
scholarly discoveries. From Strido he went to Aquileia, where he formed
some friendships among the monks of the large monastery, notably with
Rufinus, with whom he was destined to quarrel bitterly over the question
of Origen's orthodoxy and worth as a commentator; for Jerome was a man
who always sacrificed a friend to an opinion, and when he changed sides
in a controversy expected his acquaintances to follow him. From Aquileia
he went to Gaul (366-370), visiting in turn the principal places in that
country, from Narbonne and Toulouse in the south to Treves on the
north-east frontier. He stayed some time at Treves studying and
observing, and it was there that he first began to think seriously upon
sacred things. From Treves he returned to Strido, and from Strido to
Aquileia. He settled down to literary work in Aquileia (370-373) and
composed there his first original tract, _De muliere septies percussa_,
in the form of a letter to his friend Innocentius. Some dispute caused
him to leave Aquileia suddenly; and with a few companions, Innocentius,
Evagrius, and Heliodorus being among them, he started for a long tour in
the East. The epistle to Rufinus (3rd in Vallarsi's enumeration) tells
us the route. They went through Thrace, visiting Athens, Bithynia,
Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia and Cilicia, to Antioch, Jerome observing
and making notes as they went. He was interested in the theological
disputes and schisms in Galatia, in the two languages spoken in Cilicia,
&c. At Antioch the party remained some time. Innocentius died of a
fever, and Jerome was dangerously ill. This illness induced a spiritual
change, and he resolved to renounce whatever kept him back from God. His
greatest temptation was the study of the literature of pagan Rome. In a
dream Christ reproached him with caring more to be a Ciceronian than a
Christian. He disliked the uncouth style of the Scriptures. "O Lord," he
prayed, "thou knowest that whenever I have and study secular MSS. I deny
thee," and he made a resolve henceforth to devote his scholarship to the
Holy Scripture. "David was to be henceforth his Simonides, Pindar and
Alcaeus, his Flaccus, Catullus and Severus." Fortified by these resolves
he betook himself to a hermit life in the wastes of Chalcis, S.E. from
Antioch (373-379). Chalcis was the Thebaid of Syria. Great numbers of
monks, each in solitary cell, spent lonely lives, scorched by the sun,
ill-clad and scantily fed, pondering on portions of Scripture or copying
MSS. to serve as objects of meditation. Jerome at once set himself to
such scholarly work as the place afforded. He discovered and copied
MSS., and began to study Hebrew. There also he wrote the life of St Paul
of Thebes, probably an imaginary tale embodying the facts of the monkish
life around him. Just then the Meletian schism, which arose over the
relation of the orthodox to Arian bishops and to those baptized by
Arians, distressed the church at Antioch (see MELETIUS OF ANTIOCH), and
Jerome as usual eagerly joined the fray. Here as elsewhere he had but
one rule to guide him in matters of doctrine and discipline--the
practice of Rome and the West; for it is singular to see how Jerome, who
is daringly original in points of scholarly criticism, was a ruthless
partisan in all other matters; and, having discovered what was the
Western practice, he set tongue and pen to work with his usual
bitterness (_Altercatio luciferiani et orthodoxi_).
At Antioch in 379 he was ordained presbyter. From there he went to
Constantinople, where he met with the great Eastern scholar and
theologian Gregory of Nazianzus, and with his aid tried to perfect
himself in Greek. The result of his studies there was the translation of
the _Chronicon_ of Eusebius, with a continuation[1] of twenty-eight
homilies of Origen on Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and of nine homilies of
Origen on the visions of Isaiah.
In 381 Meletius died, and Pope Damasus interfered in the dispute at
Antioch, hoping to end it. Jerome was called to Rome in 382 to give help
in the matter, and was made secretary during the investigation. His work
brought him into intercourse with this great pontiff, who soon saw what
he could best do, and how his vast scholarship might be made of use to
the church. Damasus suggested to him to revise the "Old Latin"
translation of the Bible; and to this task he henceforth devoted his
great abilities. At Rome were published the Gospels (with a dedication
to Pope Damasus, an explanatory introduction, and the canons of
Eusebius), the rest of the New Testament and the version of the Psalms
from the Septuagint known as the _Psalterium romanum_, which was
followed (c. 388) by the _Psalterium gallicanum_, based on the Hexaplar
Greek text. These scholarly labours, however, did not take up his whole
time, and it was almost impossible for Jerome to be long anywhere
without getting into a dispute. He was a zealous defender of that
monastic life which was beginning to take such a large place in the
church of the 4th century, and he found enthusiastic disciples among the
Roman ladies. A number of widows and maidens met together in the house
of Marcella to study the Scriptures with him; he taught them Hebrew, and
preached the virtues of the celibate life. His arguments and
exhortations may be gathered from many of his epistles and from his
tract _Adversus Helvidium_, in which he defends the perpetual virginity
of Mary against Helvidius, who maintained that she bore children to
Joseph. His influence over these ladies alarmed their relatives and
excited the suspicions of the regular priesthood and of the populace,
but while Pope Damasus lived Jerome remained secure. Damasus died,
however, in 384, and was succeeded by Siricius, who did not show much
friendship for Jerome. He found it expedient to leave Rome, and set out
for the East in 385. His letters (especially Ep. 45) are full of
outcries against his enemies and of indignant protestations that he had
done nothing unbecoming a Christian, that he had taken no money, nor
gifts great nor small, that he had no delight in silken attire,
sparkling gems or gold ornaments, that no matron moved him unless by
penitence and fasting, &c. His route is given in the third book _In
Rufinum_; he went by Rhegium and Cyprus, where he was entertained by
Bishop Epiphanius, to Antioch. There he was joined by two wealthy Roman
ladies, Paula, a widow, and Eustochium, her daughter, one of Jerome's
Hebrew students. They came accompanied by a band of Roman maidens vowed
to live a celibate life in a nunnery in Palestine. Accompanied by these
ladies Jerome made the tour of Palestine, carefully noting with a
scholar's keenness the various places mentioned in Holy Scripture. The
results of this journey may be traced in his translation with
emendations of the book of Eusebius on the situation and names of Hebrew
places, written probably three years afterwards, when he had settled
down at Bethlehem. From Palestine Jerome and his companions went to
Egypt, remaining some time in Alexandria, and they visited the convents
of the Nitrian desert. Jerome's mind was evidently full of anxiety about
his translation of the Old Testament, for we find him in his letters
recording the conversations he had with learned men about disputed
readings and doubtful renderings; the blind Didymus of Alexandria, whom
he heard interpreting Hosea, appears to have been most useful. When they
returned to Palestine they all settled at Bethlehem, where Paula built
four monasteries, three for nuns and one for monks. She was at the head
of the nunneries until her death in 404, when Eustochium succeeded her;
Jerome presided over the fourth monastery. Here he did most of his
literary work and, throwing aside his unfinished plan of a translation
from Origen's Hexaplar text, translated the Old Testament directly from
the Hebrew, with the aid of Jewish scholars. He mentions a rabbi from
Lydda, a rabbi from Tiberias, and above all rabbi Ben Anina, who came to
him by night secretly for fear of the Jews. Jerome was not familiar
enough with Hebrew to be able to dispense with such assistance, and he
makes the synagogue responsible for the fully narrated in the first
seven chapters of Joshua. There must be some little exaggeration in the
statement that Jericho was totally destroyed; a hamlet large enough to
be enumerated among the towns of Benjamin (Josh. xviii. 21) must have
remained; but that it was small is shown by the fact that it was deemed
a suitable place for David's ambassadors to retire to after the
indignities put upon them by Hanun (2 Sam. x. 5; 1 Chron. xix. 5). Its
refortification was due to a Bethelite named Hiel, who endeavoured to
avert the curse of Joshua by offering his sons as sacrifices at certain
stages of the work (1 Kings xvi. 34). After this event it grew again
into importance and became the site of a college of prophets (2 Kings
ii. 4 sqq.) for whom Elisha "healed" its poisonous waters. The principal
spring in the neighbourhood of Jericho still bears (among the foreign
residents) the name of Elisha; the natives call it, Ain es-Sultan, or
"Sultan's spring." To Jericho the victorious Israelite marauders
magnanimously returned their Judahite captives at the bidding of the
prophet Oded (2 Chron. xxviii. 15). Here was fought the last fight
between the Babylonians and Zedekiah, wherein the kingdom of Judah came
to an end (2 Kings xxv. 5; Jer. xxxix. 5, lii. 8). In the New Testament
Jericho is connected with the well-known stories of Bar-Timaeus (Matt.
xx. 29; Mark x. 46; Luke xviii. 35) and Zacchaeus (Luke xix. 1) and with
the good Samaritan (Luke x. 30).
The extra-Biblical history of Jericho is as disastrous as are the
records preserved in the Scriptures. Bacchides, the general of the
Syrians, captured and fortified it (1. Macc. ix. 50), Aristobulus
(Jos. _Ant._ XIV. i. 2) also took it, Pompey (ib. XIV. iv. 1) encamped
here on his way to Jerusalem. Before Herod its inhabitants ran away
(ib. XIV. xv. 3) as they did before Vespasian (_Wars_, IV. viii. 2).
The reason of this lack of warlike quality was no doubt the enervating
effect of the great heat of the depression in which the city lies,
which has the same effect on the handful of degraded humanity that
still occupies the ancient site.
Few places in Palestine are more fertile. It was the city of palm
trees of the ancient record of the Israelite invasion preserved in
part in Judg. i. 16; and Josephus speaks of its fruitfulness with
enthusiasm (_Wars_ IV. 8, 3). Even now with every possible hindrance
in the way of cultivation it is an important centre of fruit-growing.
The modern er-Riha is a poor squalid village of, it is estimated,
about 300 inhabitants. It is not built exactly on the ancient site.
Indeed, the site of Jericho has shifted several times. The mound of
Tell es-Sultan, near "Elisha's Fountain," north of the modern village,
no doubt covers the Canaanite town. There are two later sites, of
Roman or Herodian date, one north, the other west, of this. It was
probably the crusaders who established the modern site. An old tower
attributed to them is to be seen in the village, and in the
surrounding mountains are many remains of early monasticism.
Aqueducts, ruined sugar-mills, and other remains of ancient industry
abound in the neighbourhood. The whole district is the private
property of the sultan of Turkey. In 1907-8 the Canaanite Jericho was
excavated under the direction of Prof. Sellin of Vienna.
See "The German Excavations at Jericho," _Pal. Explor. Fund, Quart.
Statem._ (1910), pp. 54-68.