larger, according to Dr. Shaw, than all the brooks and streams of the
Holy Land united together; and, excepting the Nile, is by far the most
considerable river either of the coast of Syria or of Barbary. He
computed it to be about thirty yards broad, and found it nine feet deep
at the brink. This river, which divides the country into two unequal
parts, has been commonly said to issue from two fountains, or to be
formed by the junction of two rivulets, the Jor and the Dan; but the
assertion seems to be totally destitute of any solid foundation. The
Jewish historian, Josephus, on the contrary, places its source at
Phiala, a fountain which rises about fifteen miles from Cæsarea
Philippi, a little on the right hand, and not much out of the way to
Trachonitis. It is called Phiala, or the Vial, from its round figure;
its water is always of the same depth, the bason being brimful, without
either shrinking or overflowing. From Phiala to Panion, which was long
considered as the real source of the Jordan, the river flows under
ground. The secret of its subterraneous course was first discovered by
Philip, the tetrarch of Trachonitis, who cast straws into the fountain
of Phiala, which came out again at Panion. Leaving the cave of Panion,
it crosses the bogs and fens of the lake Semichonitis; and after a
course of fifteen miles, passes under the city of Julias, the ancient
Bethsaida; then expands into a beautiful sheet of water, named the lake
of Gennesareth; and, after flowing a long way through the desert,
empties itself into the lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea. As the cave
Panion lies at the foot of Mount Lebanon, in the northern extremity of
Canaan, and the lake Asphaltites extends to the southern extremity, the
river Jordan pursues its course through the whole extent of the country
from north to south. It is evident, also, from the history of Josephus,
that a wilderness or desert of considerable extent stretched along the
river Jordan in the times of the New Testament; which was undoubtedly
the wilderness mentioned by the evangelists, where John the Baptist came
preaching and baptizing. The Jordan has a considerable depth of water.
Chateaubriand makes it six or seven feet deep close at the shore, and
about fifty paces in breadth a considerable distance from its entrance
into the Dead Sea. According to the computation of Volney, it is hardly
sixty paces wide at the mouth; but the author of “Letters from
Palestine” states, that the stream when it enters the lake Asphaltites,
is deep and rapid, rolling a considerable volume of waters; the width
appears from two to three hundred feet, and the current is so violent,
that a Greek servant belonging to the author, who attempted to cross it,
though strong, active, and an excellent swimmer, found the undertaking
impracticable. It may be said to have two banks, of which the inner
marks the ordinary height of the stream; and the outer, its ancient
elevation during the rainy season, or the melting of the snows on the
summits of Lebanon. In the days of Joshua, and, it is probable, for many
ages after his time, the harvest was one of the seasons when the Jordan
overflowed his banks. This fact is distinctly recorded by the sacred
historian: “And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the
feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the
water; for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,”
Joshua iii, 15. This happens in the first month of the Jewish year,
which corresponds with March, 1 Chronicles xii, 15. But in modern times,
whether the rapidity of the current has worn the channel deeper than
formerly, or whether its waters have taken some other direction, the
river seems to have forgotten his ancient greatness. When Maundrell
visited Jordan on the thirtieth of March, the proper time for these
inundations, he could discern no sign or probability of such
overflowing; nay, so far was it from overflowing, that it ran, says our
author, at least two yards below the brink of its channel. After having
descended the outer bank, he went about a furlong upon the level strand,
before he came to the immediate bank of the river. This inner bank was
so thickly covered with bushes and trees, among which he observed the
tamarisk, the willow, and the oleander, that he could see no water till
he had made his way through them. In this entangled thicket, so
conveniently planted near the cooling stream, and remote from the
habitations of men, several kinds of wild beasts were accustomed to
repose, till the swelling of the river drove them from their retreats.
This circumstance gave occasion to that beautiful allusion of the
prophet: “He shall come up like a lion, from the swelling of Jordan,
against the habitation of the strong,” Jer. xlix, 19. The figure is
highly poetical and striking. It is not easy to present a more terrible
image to the mind, than a lion roused from his den by the roar of the
swelling river, and chafed and irritated by its rapid and successive
encroachments on his chosen haunts, till, forced to quit his last
retreat, he ascends to the higher grounds and the open country, and
turns the fierceness of his rage against the helpless sheep cots, or the
unsuspecting villages. A destroyer equally fierce, and cruel, and
irresistible, the devoted Edomites were to find in Nebuchadnezzar and
his armies.
The water of the river at the time of Maundrell’s visit was very turbid,
and too rapid to allow a swimmer to stem its course. Its breadth might
be about twenty yards; and in depth, it far exceeded his height. The
rapidity and depth of the river, which are admitted by every traveller,
although the volume of water seems now to be much diminished, illustrate
those parts of Scripture which mention the fords and passages of Jordan.
It no longer, indeed, rolls down into the Salt Sea so majestic a stream
as in the days of Joshua; yet its ordinary depth is still about ten or
twelve feet, so that it cannot even at present be passed but at certain
places. Of this well known circumstance, the men of Gilead took
advantage in the civil war, which they were compelled to wage with their
brethren: “The Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the
Ephraimites:--then they took him, and slew him at the passages of
Jordan,” Judg. xii, 6. The people of Israel, under the command of Ehud
availed themselves of the same advantage in the war with Moab: “And they
went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and
suffered not a man to pass over,” Judg. iii, 28. But although the state
of this river in modern times completely justifies the incidental
remarks of the sacred writers, it is evident that Maundrell was
disconcerted by the shallowness of the stream, at the time of the year
when he expected to see it overflowing all its banks; and his
embarrassment seems to have increased when he contemplated the double
margin within which it flowed. This difficulty, which has perhaps
occurred to some others, may be explained by a remark which Dr. Pococke
has made on the river Euphrates: The bed of the Euphrates, says that
writer, was measured by some English gentlemen at Beer, and found to be
six hundred and thirty yards broad; but the river only two hundred and
fourteen yards over; then they thought it to be nine or ten feet deep in
the middle; and were informed that it sometimes rises twelve feet
perpendicularly. He observed that it had an inner and outer bank; but
says, it rarely overflows the inner bank; that when it does, they sow
water mellons and other fruits of that kind, as soon as the water
retires, and have a great produce. From this passage, Mr. Harmer argues:
“Might not the overflowings of the Jordan be like those of the
Euphrates, not annual, but much more rare?” The difficulty, therefore,
will be completely removed, by supposing, that it does not, like the
Nile, overflow every year, as some authors, by mistake, had supposed,
but, like the Euphrates, only in some particular years; but when it does
it is in the time of harvest. If it did not in ancient times annually
overflow its banks, the majesty of God in dividing its waters to make
way for Joshua and the armies of Israel, was certainly the more striking
to the Canaanites; who, when they looked upon themselves as defended in
an extraordinary manner by the casual swelling of the river, its breadth
and rapidity being both so extremely increased, yet, found it in these
circumstances part asunder, and leave a way on dry land for the people
of Jehovah. The common receptacle into which the Jordan empties his
waters, is the lake Asphaltites, from whence they are continually
drained off by evaporation. Some writers, unable to find a discharge for
the large body of water which is continually rushing into the lake, have
been inclined to suspect it had some communication with the
Mediterranean; but, beside that we know of no such gulf, it has been
demonstrated by accurate calculations, that evaporation is more than
sufficient to carry off the waters of the river. It is, in fact, very
considerable, and frequently becomes sensible to the eye, by the fogs
with which the lake is covered at the rising of the sun, and which are
afterward dispersed by the heat.
JOSEPH, son of Jacob and Rachel, and brother to Benjamin, Gen. xxx, 22,
24. The history of Joseph is so fully and consecutively given by Moses,
that it is not necessary to abridge so familiar an account. In place of
this, the following beautiful argument by Mr. Blunt for the veracity of
the account drawn from the _identity_ of Joseph’s character, will be
read with pleasure:--I have already found an argument for the veracity
of Moses in the identity of Jacob’s character, I now find another in the
identity of that of Joseph. There is one quality, as it has been often
observed, though with a different view from mine, which runs like a
thread through his whole history, his affection for his father. Israel
loved him, we read, more than all his children; he was the child of his
age; his mother died while he was yet young, and a double care of him
consequently devolved upon his surviving parent. He made him a coat of
many colours; he kept him at home when his other sons were sent to feed
the flocks. When the bloody garment was brought in, Jacob in his
affection for him,--that same affection which, on a subsequent occasion,
when it was told him that after all Joseph was alive, made him as slow
to believe the good tidings as he was now quick to apprehend the sad; in
this his affection for him, I say, Jacob at once concluded the worst,
and “he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned
for his son many days, and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but
he refused to be comforted, and he said, For I will go down into the
grave unto my son mourning.”
Now, what were the feelings in Joseph which responded to these? When the
sons of Jacob went down to Egypt, and Joseph knew them, though they knew
not him; for they, it may be remarked, were of an age not to be greatly
changed by the lapse of years, and were still sustaining the character
in which Joseph had always seen them; while he himself had meanwhile
grown out of the stripling into the man, and from a shepherd boy was
become the ruler of a kingdom; when his brethren thus came before him,
his question was, “Is your father yet alive?” Gen. xliii, 7. They went
down a second time, and again the question was, “Is your father well,
the old man of whom ye spake, is he yet alive?” More he could not
venture to ask, while he was yet in his disguise. By a stratagem he now
detains Benjamin, leaving the others, if they would, to go their way.
But Judah came near unto him, and entreated him for his brother, telling
him how that he had been surety to his father to bring him back; how
that his father was an old man, and that this was the child of his old
age, and that he loved him; how it would come to pass that if he should
not see the lad with him he would die, and his gray hairs be brought
with sorrow to the grave; for “how shall I go to my father, and the lad
be not with me, lest, peradventure, I see the evil that shall come on my
father?” Here, without knowing it, he had struck the string that was the
tenderest of all. Joseph’s firmness forsook him at this repeated mention
of his father, and in terms so touching: he could not refrain himself
any longer; and, causing every man to go out, he made himself known to
his brethren. Then, even in the paroxysm which came on him, (for he wept
aloud, so that the Egyptians heard,) still his first words uttered from
the fulness of his heart were, “Doth my father yet live?” He now bids
them hasten and bring the old man down, bearing to him tokens of his
love and tidings of his glory. He goes to meet him; he presents himself
unto him, and falls on his neck, and weeps on his neck a good while; he
provides for him and his household out of the fat of the land; he sets
him before Pharaoh. By and by he hears that he is sick, and hastens to
visit him; he receives his blessing; watches his death bed; embalms his
body; mourns for him threescore and ten days; and then carries him, as
he had desired, into Canaan to bury him, taking with him, as an escort
to do him honour, “all the elders of Israel, and all the servants of
Pharaoh, and all his house, and the house of his brethren, chariots, and
horsemen, a very great company.” How natural was it now for his brethren
to think that the tie by which alone they could imagine Joseph to be
held to them was dissolved, that any respect he might have felt or
feigned for them must have been buried in the cave of Machpelah, and
that he would now requite to them the evil they had done! “And they sent
a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died,
saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the
trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil.”
And then they add of themselves, as if well aware of the surest road to
their brother’s heart, “Forgive, we pray thee, the trespass of the
servants of the God of thy father.” In every thing the father’s name is
still put foremost: it is his memory which they count upon as their
shield and buckler.
It is not the singular beauty of these scenes, or the moral lesson they
teach, excellent as it is, with which I am now concerned, but simply the
perfect artless consistency which prevails through them all. It is not
the constancy with which the son’s strong affection for his father had
lived through an interval of twenty years’ absence, and, what is more,
through the temptation of sudden promotion to the highest estate;--it is
not the noble-minded frankness with which he still acknowledges his
kindred, and makes a way for them, “shepherds” as they were, to the
throne of Pharaoh himself;--it is not the simplicity and singleness of
heart which allow him to give all the first-born of Egypt, men over whom
he bore absolute rule, an opportunity of observing his own comparatively
humble origin, by leading them in attendance upon his father’s corpse to
the valleys of Canaan and the modest cradle of his race;--it is not, in
a word, the grace, but the _identity_, of Joseph’s character, the light
in which it is exhibited by himself, and the light in which it is
regarded by his brethren, to which I now point as stamping it with marks
of reality not to be gainsayed.
Some writers have considered Joseph as a type of Christ; and it requires
not much ingenuity to find out some resemblances, as his being hated by
his brethren, sold for money, plunged into deep affliction, and then
raised to power and honour, &c; but as we have no intimation in any part
of Scripture that Joseph was constituted a figure of our Lord, and that
this was one design of recording his history at length, all such
applications want authority, and cannot safely be indulged. The account
seems rather to have been left for its moral uses, and that it should
afford, by its inimitable simplicity and truth to nature, a point of
irresistible internal evidence of the truth of the Mosaic narrative.
2. JOSEPH, the husband of Mary, and reputed father of Jesus, was the son
of Jacob, and grandson of Matthan, Matt. i, 15, 16. The place of his
stated residence was Nazareth, particularly after the time of his
marriage. We learn from the evangelists that he followed the occupation
of a carpenter, Matt. xiii, 55; and that he was a just man, or one of
those pious Israelites who looked for the coming of the Messiah, Matt.
i, 19. It is probable that Joseph died before Christ entered upon his
public ministry; for upon any other supposition we are at a loss to
account for the reason why Mary, the mother of Jesus, is frequently
mentioned in the evangelic narrative, while no allusion is made to
Joseph; and, above all, why the dying Saviour should recommend his
mother to the care of the beloved disciple John, if her husband had been
then living, John xix, 25–27.
3. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, a Jewish senator, and a believer in the divine
mission of Jesus Christ, John xix, 38. St. Luke calls him a counsellor,
and also informs us that he was a good and just man, who did not give
his consent to the crucifixion of Christ, Luke xxiii, 50, 51. And though
he was unable to restrain the sanhedrim from their wicked purposes, he
went to Pilate by night, and solicited from him the body of Jesus.
Having caused it to be taken down from the cross, he wrapped it in
linen, and laid it in his own sepulchre, which, being a rich man, he
appears to have recently purchased, and then closed the entrance with a
stone cut purposely to fit it, Matt. xxvii, 57–60; John xix, 38–42.
JOSHUA, the son of Nun. He was of the tribe of Ephraim, and born A. M.
2460. He devoted himself to the service of Moses, and in Scripture he is
commonly called the servant of Moses, Exodus xxiv, 13; xxxiii, 11;
Deuteronomy i, 38, &c. His first name was Hosea, or Oshea; Hoseah
signifying _saviour_; Jehoshua, _the salvation of God_, or _he will
save_. The first opportunity which Joshua had to signalize his valour
was in the war made by the divine command against the Amalekites, Exodus
xvii, 9, 10. He defeated and routed their whole army. When Moses
ascended Mount Sinai to receive the law of the Lord, and remained there
forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking, Joshua remained
with him, though, in all probability, not in the same place, nor with
the same abstinence, Exod. xxiv, 13; xxxii, 17. Joshua was “filled with
the spirit of wisdom,” qualifying him for the arduous and important
station of governing Israel, to which he was called by the special
command of God, Num. xxvii, 18–20; Deut. xxxi, 7, 14; xxxiv, 9; Joshua
i, 5. His piety, courage, and disinterested integrity are conspicuous
throughout his whole history; and, exclusive of the inspiration which
enlightened his mind and writings, he derived divine information,
sometimes by immediate revelation from God, Joshua iii, 7; v, 13–15; at
others from the sanctuary, through the medium of Eleazar, the high
priest, the son of Aaron, who, having on the breast plate, presented
himself before the mercy seat on which the Shechinah, or visible symbol
of the divine presence, rested, and there consulted Jehovah by the Urim
and Thummim, to which an answer was returned by an audible voice.
Joshua succeeded Moses in the government of Israel about the year of the
world 2553, and died at Timnath-serah in the hundred and tenth year of
his age, A. M. 2578. He was about the age of eighty-four when he
received the divine command to pass over Jordan, and take possession of
the promised land, Joshua i, 1, 2. Having accomplished that arduous
enterprise, and settled the chosen tribes in the peaceable possession of
their inheritance, he retired to Shechem, or, according to some Greek
copies, to Shiloh; where he assembled the elders of Israel, the heads of
families, the judges and other officers; and, presenting themselves
before God, he recapitulated the conduct of Divine Providence toward
them, from the days of Abraham to that moment; recounted the miraculous
and gracious dispensations of God toward their fathers and themselves;
reminded them of their present enviable lot, and concluded his solemn
address with an exhortation in these emphatic words: “Now, therefore,
fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth; and put away the
gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in
Egypt; and serve ye the Lord,” Joshua xxiv.
The book of Joshua continues the sacred history from the period of the
death of Moses to that of the death of Joshua and of Eleazar; a space of
about thirty years. It contains an account of the conquest and division
of the land of Canaan, the renewal of the covenant with the Israelites,
and the death of Joshua. There are two passages in this book which show
that it was written by a person contemporary with the events it records.
In the first verse of the fifth chapter, the author speaks of himself as
being one of those who had passed into Canaan: “And it came to pass when
all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan
westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea,
heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the
children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted.”
And from the twenty-fifth verse of the following chapter, it appears
that the book was written before the death of Rahab: “And Joshua saved
Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she
had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the
messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” Though there is not a
perfect agreement among the learned concerning the author of this book,
yet by far the most general opinion is, that it was written by Joshua
himself; and, indeed, in the last chapter it is said that “Joshua wrote
these words in the book of the law of God;” which expression seems to
imply that he subjoined this history to that written by Moses. The last
five verses, giving an account of the death of Joshua, were added by one
of his successors; probably by Eleazar, Phinehas, or Samuel.
JOSIAH, king of Judah, deserves particular mention on account of his
wisdom and piety, and some memorable events that occurred in the course
of his reign. He succeeded to the throne, upon the assassination of his
father Amon, at the age of eight years, B. C. 640; and at a period when
idolatry and wickedness, encouraged by his father’s profligate example,
very generally prevailed. Josiah, who manifested the influence of pious
and virtuous principles at a very early age, began, in his sixteenth
year, to project the reformation of the kingdom, and to adopt means for
restoring the worship of the true God. At the age of twenty years he
vigorously pursued the execution of the plans which he had meditated. He
began with abolishing idolatry, first at Jerusalem, and then through
different parts of the kingdom; destroying the altars which had been
erected, and the idols which had been the objects of veneration and
worship. He then proceeded, in his twenty-sixth year, to a complete
restoration of the worship of God, and the regular service of the
temple. While he was prosecuting this pious work, and repairing the
temple, which had been long neglected, and which had sunk into a state
of dilapidation, the book of the law, which had been concealed in the
temple, was happily discovered. This was, probably, a copy of the the
Pentateuch, which had been lodged there for security by some pious
priest in the reign of Ahaz or Manasseh. Josiah, desirous of averting
from himself and the kingdom threatened judgments, determined to adhere
to the directions of the law, in the business of reformation which he
had undertaken; and to observe the festivals enjoined by Moses, which
had been shamefully neglected. With this view he assembled all the
elders of the people in the temple at Jerusalem; and, having ascended
the throne, read the book of the Mosaic law, and then entered into a
solemn covenant to observe the statutes and ordinances which it
enjoined. To this covenant the whole assembly testified their consent.
The ark was restored to its proper place; the temple was purified;
idolatrous utensils were removed, and those appropriate to the worship
of God substituted in their room. After these preparations, the passover
was observed with singular zeal and magnificence. This took place in the
eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign: but, in pursuing his laudable plans
of reformation, he was resisted by the inveterate habits of the
Israelites; so that his zealous and persevering efforts were
ineffectual. Their degeneracy was so invincible, that the almighty
Sovereign was provoked to inflict upon them those calamities which were
denounced by the Prophet Zephaniah. In the thirty-second year of
Josiah’s reign, Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, advanced with his army
against Carchemish, a city situated on the river Euphrates. He was
opposed by the king of Judah; so that a bloody battle ensued at Megiddo,
in which Josiah received a mortal wound, which terminated in his death,
after he had been conveyed to Jerusalem, in the thirty-ninth year of his
reign, B.C. 609. His death was greatly lamented by all his subjects; and
an elegy was written on the occasion by the Prophet Jeremiah, which is
not now extant, 2 Kings xxii, xxiii; 2 Chronicles xxxiv, xxxv.
JUBAL, a son of Lamech, the inventor of musical instruments, Gen. iv,
21.
JUBILEE, among the Jews, denotes every fiftieth year; being that
following the revolution of seven weeks of years; at which time all the
slaves were made free, and all lands reverted to their ancient owners.
The jubilees were not regarded after the Babylonish captivity. The
political design of the law of the jubilee was to prevent the too great
oppression of the poor, as well as their being liable to perpetual
slavery. By this means the rich were prevented from accumulating lands
for perpetuity, and a kind of equality was preserved through all the
families of Israel. The distinction of tribes was also preserved, in
respect both to their families and possessions; that they might be able,
when there was occasion, on the jubilee year, to prove their right to
the inheritance of their ancestors. Thus, also, it would be known with
certainty of what tribe or family the Messiah sprung. It served, also,
like the Olympiads of the Greeks, and the Lustra of the Romans, for the
readier computation of time. The jubilee has also been supposed to be
typical of the Gospel state and dispensation, described by Isaiah lxi,
1, 2, in reference to this period, as “the acceptable year of the Lord.”
The word _jubilee_, in a more modern sense, denotes a grand church
solemnity or ceremony celebrated at Rome, in which the pope grants a
plenary indulgence to all sinners; at least, to as many as visit the
churches of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. The jubilee was first
established by Boniface VII., in 1300, which was only to return every
hundred years; but the first celebration brought in such store of
wealth, that Clement VI., in 1343, reduced it to the period of fifty
years. Urban VI., in 1389, appointed it to be held every thirty-five
years, that being the age of our Saviour; and Paul II. and Sixtus IV.,
in 1475, brought it down to every twenty-five, that every person might
have the benefit of it once in his life. Boniface IX. granted the
privilege of holding jubilees to several princes and monasteries; for
instance, to the monks of Canterbury, who had a jubilee every fifty
years; when people flocked from all parts to visit the tomb of
Thomas-a-Becket. Afterward, jubilees became more frequent: there is
generally one at the inauguration of a new pope; and he grants them as
often as the church or himself have occasion for them. To be entitled to
the privileges of the jubilee, the bull enjoins fasting, alms, and
prayers. It gives the priests a full power to absolve in all cases even
those otherwise reserved to the pope; to make commutations of vows, &c;
in which it differs from a plenary indulgence. During the time of
jubilee, all other indulgences are suspended.