names,) was the fourth son of Japheth, and the father of all those
nations which were included under the name of Grecians, or Ionians, as
they were invariably called in the east. Javan had four sons, by whom
the different portions of Greece Proper were peopled: Elisha, Tharsis,
Chittim, and Dodanim. Elisha, Eliza, or Ellas, as it is written in the
Chaldee, and from whom the Greeks took the name of Hέλληνες, settled in
the Peloponnesus; where, in the Elysian fields and the river Ilissus,
his name is still preserved. Tharsis settled in Achaia; Chittim, in
Macedonia; and Dodanim, in Thessaly and Epirus; where the city of Dodona
gives ample proof of the origin of its name. But the Greeks did not
remain pure Javanim. It appears from history that, at a very early age,
they were invaded and subjugated by the Pelasgi, a Cuthite race from the
east, and by colonies of Phenicians and Egyptians from the south: so
that the Greeks, so famous in history, were a compound of all these
people. The aboriginal Greeks were called Jaones, or Jonim; from which
similarity of sound, the Jonim and the Javanim, although belonging to
two essentially different families, have been confounded together. Javan
is the name used in the Old Testament for Greece and the Greeks. See
DIVISION OF THE EARTH.
JEALOUSY, WATERS OF. See ADULTERY.
JEBUS, the son of Canaan, Gen. x, 16, and father of the people of
Palestine called Jebusites. Their dwelling was in Jerusalem and round
about, in the mountains. This people were very warlike, and held
Jerusalem till David’s time, Josh. xv, 65; 2 Sam. v, 6, &c.
JEDUTHUN, a Levite of Merari’s family, and one of the four great masters
of music belonging to the temple, 1 Chron. xvi, 38, 41, 42; xv, 17;
Psalm lxxxix, title. He is the same as Ethan. Some of the Psalms are
said to have been composed by him; such as the eighty-ninth,
thirty-ninth, sixty-second, seventy-seventh; all of which go under his
name. Some believe, that David, having composed these Psalms, gave them
to Jeduthun and his company to sing; and that this is the reason of
their going by this name. But there are some Psalms which have the name
of Jeduthun, that seem to have been composed either during the
captivity, or after it; and consequently the name of Jeduthun prefixed
to them, can signify nothing else, but that some of his descendants, and
of Jeduthun’s class, composed them long after the death of the famous
Jeduthun, one of their ancestors.
JEHOAHAZ, otherwise SHALLUM, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jer.
xxii, 11. Josiah having been wounded mortally by Necho, king of Egypt,
and dying of his wounds at Megiddo, Jehoahaz was made king in his room,
though he was not Josiah’s eldest son, 2 Kings xxiii, 30, 31, 32. He was
in all probability thought fitter than any of his brethren to make head
against the king of Egypt. He was twenty-three years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned about three months only in Jerusalem, in the
year of the world 3395. King Necho, at his return from the expedition
against Carchemish, provoked at the people of Judah for having placed
this prince upon the throne without his consent, sent for him to Riblah,
in Syria, divested him of the kingdom, loaded him with chains, and sent
him into Egypt, where he died, Jer. xxii, 11, 12. Jehoiakim, or Eliakim
his brother, was made king in his room.
JEHOIACHIN, otherwise called Coniah, Jer. xxii, 24, and Jeconiah, 1
Chron. iii, 17, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and grandson of
Josiah. He ascended the throne, and reigned only three months. It seems
he was born about the time of the first Babylonish captivity, A. M.
3398, when Jehoiakim, or Eliakim, his father, was carried to Babylon.
Jehoiakim returned from Babylon, and reigned till A. M. 3405, when he
was killed by the Chaldeans, in the eleventh year of his reign; and was
succeeded by this Jehoiachin, who reigned alone three months and ten
days; but he reigned about ten years in conjunction with his father.
Thus 2 Kings xxiv, 8, is reconciled with 2 Chron. xxxvi, 9. In the
former of these passages, he is said to have been eighteen when he began
to reign, and in Chronicles only eight; that is, he was only eight when
he began to reign with his father, and eighteen when he began to reign
alone. He was a bad man, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, Jer.
xxii, 24. The time of his death is uncertain; and the words of the
Prophet Jeremiah, xxii, 30, are not to be taken in the strictest sense;
since he was the father of Salathiel and others, 1 Chron. iii, 17, 18;
Matt. i, 12.
JEHOIAKIM, or ELIAKIM, the brother and successor of Jehoahaz, king of
Judah, was advanced to the throne by Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, A. M.
3395, 2 Kings xxiii, 34. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and did
evil in the sight of the Lord. When Jerusalem was taken by
Nebuchadnezzar, this prince was also taken and put to death, and his
body thrown into the common sewer, according to the prediction of
Jeremiah, xxii, 18, 19.
JEHOSHAPHAT, king of Judah, son of Asa, king of Judah, and Azabah,
daughter of Shilhi, ascended the throne at the age of thirty-five, and
reigned twenty-five years. He had the advantage over Baasha, king of
Israel; and he placed good garrisons in the cities of Judah and of
Ephraim, which had been conquered by his father. God was with him,
because he was faithful. He demolished the high places and groves. In
the third year of his reign he sent some of his officers, with priests
and Levites, through all the parts of Judah, with the book of the law,
to instruct the people. God blessed the zeal of this prince, who was
feared by all his neighbours. The Philistines and Arabians were
tributaries to him. He built several houses in Judah in the form of
towers, and fortified several cities. He generally kept an army of
eleven hundred thousand men, without reckoning the troops in his strong
holds. This number seems prodigious for so small a state as that of
Judah; but, probably, these troops were only an enrolled militia.
The Scripture reproaches Jehoshaphat for his alliance with Ahab, king of
Israel, 1 Kings xx; 2 Chronicles xviii. Some time after, he went to
visit Ahab in Samaria; and Ahab invited him to march with him against
Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat consented, but first asked for an opinion
from a prophet of the Lord. Afterward, he went into the battle in his
robe, and the enemy supposed him to be Ahab; but he crying out, they
discovered their mistake, and Jehoshaphat returned in peace to
Jerusalem. The Prophet Jehu reproved him for assisting Ahab, 2 Chron.
xix, 1, 2, 3, &c. Jehoshaphat repaired this fault by the good
regulations, and the good order, which he established in his dominions,
both as to civil and religious affairs, by appointing honest and able
judges, by regulating the discipline of the priests and Levites, and by
enjoining them to perform their duty with punctuality. After this, in
the year 3108, the Moabites, Ammonites, and other nations of Arabia
Petræa, declared war against Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx, 1, 2, 3, &c. They
advanced to Hazaron-Tamar, otherwise Engedi. Jehoshaphat went with his
people to the temple, and put up prayers to God. Jahaziel, the son of
Zechariah, by the Spirit of the Lord, encouraged the king, and promised
that the next day he should obtain a victory without fighting.
Accordingly, these people being assembled the next day against Judah,
quarrelled, and killed one another; and Jehoshaphat and his army had
only to gather their spoils. This prince continued to walk in the ways
of the Lord; yet he did not destroy the high places, and the hearts of
the people were not entirely directed to the God of their fathers.
Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years, and was buried in
the royal sepulchre; and his son, Jehoram reigned in his stead.
2. JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF. This valley is a deep and narrow glen, which
runs from north to south, between the Mount of Olives and Mount Moriah;
the brook Cedron flowing through the middle of it, which is dry the
greatest part of the year, but has a current of a red colour, after
storms, or in rainy seasons. The Prophet Joel, iii, 2, 12, says, “The
Lord will gather all nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will
plead with them there.” Abenezra is of opinion, that this valley is the
place where King Jehoshaphat obtained a signal victory over the
Moabites, Ammonites, and Meonians of Arabia Petræa, 2 Chron. xx, 1, &c,
toward the Dead Sea, beyond the wilderness of Tekoah, which after that
event was called the valley of blessing, verse 26. Others think it lies
between the walls of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Cyril, of
Alexandria, on Joel iii, says that this valley is but a few furlongs
distant from Jerusalem. Lastly, some maintain that the ancient Hebrews
had named no particular place the valley of Jehoshaphat; but that Joel
intended generally the place where God would judge the nations, and will
appear at the last judgment in the brightness of his majesty.
_Jehoshaphat_, in Hebrew, signifies “the judgment of God.” It is very
probable that the valley of Jehoshaphat, that is, of God’s judgment, is
symbolical, as well as the valley of slaughter, in the same chapter.
From this passage, however, the Jews and many Christians have been of
opinion, that the last judgment will be solemnized in the valley of
Jehoshaphat.
JEHOVAH, יהוה the proper and incommunicable name of the Divine Essence.
That this divine name, Jehovah, was well known to the Heathens, there
can be no doubt. Sanchoniathon writes _Jebo_; Diodorus, the Sicilian,
Macrobius, St. Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Jerom, and Origen, pronounce
_Jao_; Epiphanius, Theodoret, and the Samaritans, _Jabe_, _Javé_. We
likewise find in the ancients, _Jahoh_, _Javo_, _Javu_, _Jaod_. The
Moors call their god _Jaba_, whom some believe to be the same as
Jehovah. The Latins, in all probability, took their _Javis_, or _Jovis
Pater_, from Jehovah.
The Jews, after their captivity in Babylon, out of an excessive and
superstitious respect for this name, left off to pronounce it, and thus
lost the true pronunciation. The Septuagint generally renders it Κύριος,
“the Lord.” Origen, St. Jerom, and Eusebius, testify that in their time
the Jews left the name of Jehovah written in their copies in Samaritan
characters, instead of writing it in the common Chaldee or Hebrew
characters; which shows their veneration for this holy name: and the
fear they were under, lest strangers, who were not unacquainted with the
Chaldee letters and language, should discover and misapply it. The Jews
call this name of God the Tetragrammaton, or the name with four letters.
It would be waste of time and patience to repeat all that has been said
on this incommunicable name: it may not be amiss, however, to remind the
reader, 1. That although it signifies the state of being, yet it forms
no verb. 2. It never assumes a plural form. 3. It does not admit an
article, or take an affix. 4. Neither is it placed in a state of
construction with other words; though other words may be in construction
with it. It seems to be a compound of יה, _the essence_, and הוה,
_existing_; that is, _always existing_; whence the word _eternal_
appears to express its import; or, as it is well rendered, “He who is,
and who was, and who is to come,” Rev. i, 4; xi, 17; that is, eternal,
as the schoolmen speak, both _a parte ante_, and _a parte post_. Compare
John viii, 58. It is usually marked by an abbreviation, ו, in Jewish
books, where it must be alluded to. It is also abbreviated in the term
יה, _Jah_, which, the reader will observe, enters into the formation of
many Hebrew appellations. See JAH.
JEHU, the son of Jehoshaphat, and grandson of Nimshi, captain of the
troops of Joram the king of Israel, was appointed by God to reign over
Israel, and to avenge the sins committed by the house of Ahab, 1 Kings
xix, 16. The Prophet Elisha received a commission to anoint him; but the
order does not appear to have been executed until more than twenty years
afterward, and then it was done by one of the sons of the prophets, 2
Kings ix, 1–3. Jehu was then at the siege of Ramoth-Gilead, commanding
the army of Joram, the king of Israel, when a young prophet appeared,
who took him aside from the officers of the army, in the midst of whom
he was sitting, and, when alone in a chamber, poured oil on his head,
and said to him, “Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over
Israel; thou shalt smite the house of Ahab, and avenge the blood of the
prophets which hath been shed by Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab
shall perish, and I will make it as that of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat,
and that of Baasha, the son of Ahijah. Jezebel shall be eaten by the
dogs in the fields of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her,” 2
Kings ix, 1–10. No sooner had the prophet delivered his message, than,
to avoid being known, he instantly withdrew; and Jehu, returning to the
company of his brother officers, was by them interrogated respecting
what had taken place. He informed them that a prophet had been sent from
God to anoint him to the kingly office; on which they all rose up, and
each taking his cloak, they made a kind of throne for Jehu, and then
sounding the trumpets, cried out, “Jehu is king.” Joram, who at that
time reigned over the kingdom of Israel, was then at Jezreel in a state
of indisposition, having been wounded at the siege of Ramoth-Gilead.
Jehu, intending to surprise him, immediately gave orders that no one
should be permitted to depart out of the city of Ramoth, and himself set
off for Jezreel. As he approached that city, a centinel gave notice that
he saw a troop coming in great haste; on which Joram despatched an
officer to discover who it was; but Jehu, without giving the latter any
answer, ordered him to follow in his rear. Joram sent a second, and Jehu
laid upon him the same command. Finding that neither of them returned,
Joram himself, accompanied by Ahaziah, king of Judah, proceeded in his
chariot toward Jehu, whom they met in the field of Naboth the
Jezreelite. Joram inquired, “Is it peace, Jehu?” To which the latter
replied, “How can there be peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother
Jezebel, and her witchcrafts, are so many?” Joram instantly took the
alarm, and, turning to Ahaziah, said, “We are betrayed.” At the same
time Jehu drew his bow, and smote Joram between his shoulders, so that
the arrow pierced his heart, and he died in his chariot. Jehu then gave
orders that his body should be cast out into the field of Naboth the
Jezreelite, thus fulfilling the prediction of the Prophet Elijah, 2
Kings ix, 11–26.
Jehu next proceeded to Jezreel, where Jezebel herself at that time
resided. As he rode through the streets of the city, Jezebel, who was
standing at her window and looking at him, exclaimed, “Can he who has
killed his master hope for peace?” Jehu, lifting up his head and seeing
her, commanded her servants instantly to throw her out at the window;
which they did, and she was immediately trampled to death under the
horses’ feet as they traversed the city. To complete her destiny, and
fulfil the threatenings of Elijah, the dogs came and devoured her
corpse; so that when Jehu sent to have her buried, her bones only were
found, 2 Kings ix, 27–37. After this, Jehu sent to inform the
inhabitants of Samaria, who had the bringing up of Ahab’s seventy
children, that they might select which of them they thought proper to
place upon the throne of Israel. But overwhelmed with fear, they replied
that they were Jehu’s servants, and would in all things obey him. He
then commanded them to put to death all the king’s children, and send
their heads to him; which was accordingly done on the following day.
Jehu also caused to be put to death all Ahab’s relatives and friends,
the officers of his court, and the priests whom he had entertained at
Jezreel, 2 Kings x, 1–11. After this, Jehu proceeded to Samaria, and on
his way thither met the friends of Ahaziah, king of Judah, who were
going to Jezreel to salute the children of Ahab’s family, with the death
of whom they were as yet unacquainted. They were forty-two in number;
but Jehu gave orders to have them apprehended and put to death. Soon
after this, he met with Jonathan, the son of Rechab; and taking him up
into his chariot, “Come with me,” said he, “and see my zeal for the
Lord.” And when he was come to Samaria he extirpated every remaining
branch of Ahab’s family, without sparing an individual. Then convening
the people of Samaria, he said, “Ahab paid some honours to Baal, but I
will pay him greater. Send now and gather together all the ministers,
priests, and prophets of Baal.” When they were all assembled in Baal’s
temple, Jehu commanded to give each of them a particular habit, to
distinguish them; at the same time directing that no stranger should
mingle with them; and then ordered his people to put them all to the
sword, not sparing one of them; the image of Baal was also pulled down,
broken to pieces, and burned, the temple itself destroyed, and the place
where it stood reduced to a dunghill, 2 Kings x, 12–28.
Such were the sanguinary exploits of Jehu toward the idolatrous house of
Ahab; but he acted agreeably to divine direction, and the Lord in these
instances so far approved his conduct, as to promise him that his
children should sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.
Yet, though Jehu had been the instrument in the hand of God for taking
vengeance on the profane house of Ahab, we find him accused in Scripture
of not entirely forsaking the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin in worshipping the golden calves, 2 Kings x, 29, 31.
It appears also that, in executing the divine indignation on the wicked
house of Ahab, he was actuated more by the spirit of ambition and
animosity than the fear of God, or a regard to the purity of his
worship. And thus it is that God, in the course of his providence, makes
use of tyrants and wicked men, as his instruments to execute his
righteous judgments in the earth. After a reign of eight-and-twenty
years over Israel, Jehu died, and was succeeded by his son, Jehoahaz;
but his reign was embittered by the war which Hazael, king of Syria,
long waged against him, 2 Kings x, 32–36. His four descendants, who
succeeded him in the throne, were Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II. and
Zechariah.
JEPHTHAH, one of the judges of Israel, was the son of Gilead by a
concubine, Judges xi, 1, 2. His father having several other children by
his lawful wife, they conspired to expel Jephthah from among them,
insisting that he who was the son of a strange woman should have no part
of the inheritance with them. Like Ishmael, therefore, he withdrew, and
took up his residence beyond Jordan, in the land of Tob, where he
appears to have become the chief of a banditti, or marauding party, who
probably lived by plunder, Judges xi, 3. In process of time, a war broke
out between the Ammonites and the children of Israel who inhabited the
country beyond Jordan; and the latter, finding their want of an intrepid
and skilful leader, applied to Jephthah to take the command of them. He
at first reproached them with the injustice they had done him, in
banishing him from his father’s house; but he at length yielded to their
importunity, on an agreement that, should he be successful in the war
against the Ammonites, the Israelites should acknowledge him for their
chief, Judges xi, 4–11.