BIBLES NET. COM
Dictionary]
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Jokneam – gathered by the people,
(Josh. 19:11; 21:34), a city “of Carmel” (12:22),
i.e., on Carmel, allotted with its suburbs to the Merarite
Levites. It is the modern Tell Kaimon, about 12 miles
south-west of Nazareth, on the south of the river
Kishon.
Jokshan – snarer, the second son
of Abraham and Keturah (Gen. 25:2, 3; 1 Chr. 1:32).
Joktan – little, the second of
the two sons of Eber (Gen. 10:25; 1 Chr. 1:19). There is an
Arab tradition that Joktan (Arab. Kahtan) was the
progenitor of all the purest tribes of Central and Southern
Arabia.
Joktheel – subdued by God. (1.) A
city of Judah near Lachish (Josh. 15, 38). Perhaps the ruin
Kutlaneh, south of Gezer.
(2.) Amaziah, king of Judah, undertook a great expedition
against Edom (2 Chr. 25:5-10), which was completely
successful. He routed the Edomites and slew vast numbers of
them. So wonderful did this victory appear to him that he
acknowledged that it could have been achieved only by the
special help of God, and therefore he called Selah (q.v.),
their great fortress city, by the name of Joktheel (2 Kings
14:7).
The son of Rechab, and founder of the Rechabites (q.v.), 2
Kings 10:15; Jer. 35:6, 10.
(2.) The son of Shimeah, David’s brother (2 Sam. 13:3).
He was “a very subtil man.”
Amittai of Gath-hepher. He was a prophet of Israel, and
predicted the restoration of the ancient boundaries (2
Kings 14:25-27) of the kingdom. He exercised his ministry
very early in the reign of Jeroboam II., and thus was
contemporary with Hosea and Amos; or possibly he preceded
them, and consequently may have been the very oldest of all
the prophets whose writings we possess. His personal
history is mainly to be gathered from the book which bears
his name. It is chiefly interesting from the two-fold
character in which he appears, (1) as a missionary to
heathen Nineveh, and (2) as a type of the “Son of
man.”
professes to give an account of what actually took place in
the experience of the prophet. Some critics have sought to
interpret the book as a parable or allegory, and not as a
history. They have done so for various reasons. Thus (1)
some reject it on the ground that the miraculous element
enters so largely into it, and that it is not prophetical
but narrative in its form; (2) others, denying the
possibility of miracles altogether, hold that therefore it
cannot be true history.
Jonah and his story is referred to by our Lord (Matt.
12:39, 40; Luke 11:29), a fact to which the greatest weight
must be attached. It is impossible to interpret this
reference on any other theory. This one argument is of
sufficient importance to settle the whole question. No
theories devised for the purpose of getting rid of
difficulties can stand against such a proof that the book
is a veritable history.
There is every reason to believe that this book was written
by Jonah himself. It gives an account of (1) his divine
commission to go to Nineveh, his disobedience, and the
punishment following (1:1-17); (2) his prayer and
miraculous deliverance (1:17-2:10); (3) the second
commission given to him, and his prompt obedience in
delivering the message from God, and its results in the
repentance of the Ninevites, and God’s long-sparing
mercy toward them (ch. 3); (4) Jonah’s displeasure at
God’s merciful decision, and the rebuke tendered to the
impatient prophet (ch. 4). Nineveh was spared after
Jonah’s mission for more than a century. The history of
Jonah may well be regarded “as a part of that great
onward movement which was before the Law and under the Law;
which gained strength and volume as the fulness of the
times drew near.”, Perowne’s Jonah.
Jonas – (1.) Greek form of Jonah
(Matt. 12:39, 40, 41, etc.).
(2.) The father of the apostles Peter (John 21:15-17) and
Andrew; but the reading should be (also in 1:42), as in the
Revised Version, “John,” instead of Jonas.
Jonathan – whom Jehovah gave, the
name of fifteen or more persons that are mentioned in
Scripture. The chief of these are, (1.) A Levite descended
from Gershom (Judg. 18:30). His history is recorded in
17:7-13 and 18:30. The Rabbins changed this name into
Manasseh “to screen the memory of the great lawgiver
from the stain of having so unworthy an apostate among his
near descendants.” He became priest of the idol image
at Dan, and this office continued in his family till the
Captivity.
(2.) The eldest son of king Saul, and the bosom friend of
David. He is first mentioned when he was about thirty years
of age, some time after his father’s accession to the
throne (1 Sam. 13:2). Like his father, he was a man of
great strength and activity (2 Sam. 1:23), and excelled in
archery and slinging (1 Chr. 12:2;2 Sam. 1:22). The
affection that evidently subsisted between him and his
father was interrupted by the growth of Saul’s
insanity. At length, “in fierce anger,” he left
his father’s presence and cast in his lot with the
cause of David (1 Sam. 20:34). After an eventful career,
interwoven to a great extent with that of David, he fell,
along with his father and his two brothers, on the fatal
field of Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:2, 8). He was first buried at
Jabesh-gilead, but his remains were afterwards removed with
those of his father to Zelah, in Benjamin (2 Sam.
21:12-14). His death was the occasion of David’s famous
elegy of “the Song of the Bow” (2 Sam. 1:17-27).
He left one son five years old, Merib-baal, or Mephibosheth
(2 Sam. 4:4; comp. 1 Chr. 8:34).
(3.) Son of the high priest Abiathar, and one who adhered
to David at the time of Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sam.
15:27, 36). He is the last descendant of Eli of whom there
is any record.
(4.) Son of Shammah, and David’s nephew, and also one
of his chief warriors (2 Sam. 21:21). He slew a giant in
Gath.
Jonath-elem-rechokim – dove of
the dumbness of the distance; i.e., “the silent dove
in distant places”, title of Ps. 56. This was probably
the name of some well known tune or melody to which the
psalm was to be sung.
portion of Dan (Josh. 19:46; A.V., “Japho”), on a
sandy promontory between Caesarea and Gaza, and at a
distance of 30 miles north-west from Jerusalem. It is one
of the oldest towns in Asia. It was and still is the chief
sea-port of Judea. It was never wrested from the
Phoenicians. It became a Jewish town only in the second
century B.C. It was from this port that Jonah “took
ship to flee from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah
1:3). To this place also the wood cut in Lebanon by
Hiram’s men for Solomon was brought in floats (2 Chr.
2:16); and here the material for the building of the second
temple was also landed (Ezra 3:7). At Joppa, in the house
of Simon the tanner, “by the sea-side,” Peter
resided “many days,” and here, “on the
house-top,” he had his “vision of tolerance”
(Acts 9:36-43). It bears the modern name of Jaffa, and
exibituds all the decrepitude and squalor of cities ruled
over by the Turks. “Scarcely any other town has been
so often overthrown, sacked, pillaged, burned, and
rebuilt.” Its present population is said to be about
16,000. It was taken by the French under Napoleon in 1799,
who gave orders for the massacre here of 4,000 prisoners.
It is connected with Jerusalem by the only carriage road
that exists in the country, and also by a railway completed
in 1892. It is noticed on monuments B.C. 1600-1300, and was
attacked by Sannacharib B.C. 702.
of the kings of Israel (2 Kings 8:16, 25, 28). He was the
son of Ahab.
(2.) Jehoram, the son and successor of Jehoshaphat on the
throne of Judah (2 Kings 8:24).
descender;” Arab. Nahr-esh-Sheriah, “the
watering-place” the chief river of Palestine. It flows
from north to south down a deep valley in the centre of the
country. The name descender is significant of the fact that
there is along its whole course a descent to its banks; or
it may simply denote the rapidity with which it
“descends” to the Dead Sea.
It originates in the snows of Hermon, which feed its
perennial fountains. Two sources are generally spoken of.
(1.) From the western base of a hill on which once stood
the city of Dan, the northern border-city of Palestine,
there gushes forth a considerable fountain called the
Leddan, which is the largest fountain in Syria and the
principal source of the Jordan. (2.) Beside the ruins of
Banias, the ancient Caesarea Philippi and the yet more
ancient Panium, is a lofty cliff of limestone, at the base
of which is a fountain. This is the other source of the
Jordan, and has always been regarded by the Jews as its
true source. It rushes down to the plain in a foaming
torrent, and joins the Leddan about 5 miles south of Dan
(Tell-el-Kady). (3.) But besides these two historical
fountains there is a third, called the Hasbany, which rises
in the bottom of a valley at the western base of Hermon, 12
miles north of Tell-el-Kady. It joins the main stream about
a mile below the junction of the Leddan and the Banias. The
river thus formed is at this point about 45 feet wide, and
flows in a channel from 12 to 20 feet below the plain.
After this it flows, “with a swift current and a
much-twisted course,” through a marshy plain for some
6 miles, when it falls into the Lake Huleh, “the
waters of Merom” (q.v.).
During this part of its course the Jordan has descended
about 1,100 feet. At Banias it is 1,080 feet above
sea-level. Flowing from the southern extremity of Lake
Huleh, here almost on a level with the sea, it flows for 2
miles “through a waste of islets and papyrus,”
and then for 9 miles through a narrow gorge in a foaming
torrent onward to the Sea of Galilee (q.v.).
“In the whole valley of the Jordan from the Lake Huleh
to the Sea of Galilee there is not a single settled
inhabitant. Along the whole eastern bank of the river and
the lakes, from the base of Hermon to the ravine of
Hieromax, a region of great fertility, 30 miles long by 7
or 8 wide, there are only some three inhabited villages.
The western bank is almost as desolate. Ruins are numerous
enough. Every mile or two is an old site of town or
village, now well nigh hid beneath a dense jungle of thorns
and thistles. The words of Scripture here recur to us with
peculiar force: ‘I will make your cities waste, and
bring your sanctuaries unto desolation…And I will bring
the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell
therein shall be astonished at it…And your land shall be
desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy
her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate’ (Lev.
26:31-34).”, Dr. Porter’s Handbook.
From the Sea of Galilee, at the level of 682 feet below the
Mediterranean, the river flows through a long, low plain
called “the region of Jordan” (Matt. 3:5), and by
the modern Arabs the Ghor, or “sunken plain.”
This section is properly the Jordan of Scripture. Down
through the midst of the “plain of Jordan” there
winds a ravine varying in breadth from 200 yards to half a
mile, and in depth from 40 to 150 feet. Through it the
Jordan flows in a rapid, rugged, tortuous course down to
the Dead Sea. The whole distance from the southern
extremity of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is in a
straight line about 65 miles, but following the windings of
the river about 200 miles, during which it falls 618 feet.
The total length of the Jordan from Banias is about 104
miles in a straight line, during which it falls 2,380 feet.
There are two considerable affluents which enter the river
between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, both from the
east. (1.) The Wady Mandhur, called the Yarmuk by the
Rabbins and the Hieromax by the Greeks. It formed the
boundary between Bashan and Gilead. It drains the plateau
of the Hauran. (2.) The Jabbok or Wady Zerka, formerly the
northern boundary of Ammon. It enters the Jordan about 20
miles north of Jericho.
The first historical notice of the Jordan is in the account
of the separation of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 13:10).
“Lot beheld the plain of Jordan as the garden of the
Lord.” Jacob crossed and recrossed “this
Jordan” (32:10). The Israelites passed over it as
“on dry ground” (Josh. 3:17; Ps. 114:3). Twice
afterwards its waters were miraculously divided at the same
spot by Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:8, 14).
The Jordan is mentioned in the Old Testament about one
hundred and eighty times, and in the New Testament fifteen
times. The chief events in gospel history connected with it
are (1) John the Baptist’s ministry, when “there
went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and were
baptized of him in Jordan” (Matt. 3:6). (2.) Jesus
also “was baptized of John in Jordan” (Mark 1:9).
Joseph – remover or increaser.
(1.) The elder of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel (Gen.
30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of his birth, said,
“God hath taken away [Heb. ‘asaph] my
reproach.” “The Lord shall add [Heb. yoseph] to
me another son” (Gen. 30:24). He was a child of
probably six years of age when his father returned from
Haran to Canaan and took up his residence in the old
patriarchal town of Hebron. “Now Israel loved Joseph
more than all his children, because he was the son of his
old age,” and he “made him a long garment with
sleeves” (Gen. 37:3, R.V. marg.), i.e., a garment long
and full, such as was worn by the children of nobles. This
seems to be the correct rendering of the words. The phrase,
however, may also be rendered, “a coat of many
pieces”, i.e., a patchwork of many small pieces of
divers colours.
When he was about seventeen years old Joseph incurred the
jealous hatred of his brothers (Gen. 37:4). They
“hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto
him.” Their anger was increased when he told them his
dreams (37:11).
Jacob desiring to hear tidings of his sons, who had gone to
Shechem with their flocks, some 60 miles from Hebron, sent
Joseph as his messenger to make inquiry regarding them.
Joseph found that they had left Shechem for Dothan, whither
he followed them. As soon as they saw him coming they began
to plot against him, and would have killed him had not
Reuben interposed. They ultimately sold him to a company of
Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces (shekels) of silver
(about $2, 10s.), ten pieces less than the current value of
a slave, for “they cared little what they had for him,
if so be they were rid of him.” These merchants were
going down with a varied assortment of merchandise to the
Egyptian market, and thither they conveyed him, and
ultimately sold him as a slave to Potiphar, an
“officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the
guard” (Gen. 37:36). “The Lord blessed the
Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake,” and
Potiphar made him overseer over his house. At length a
false charge having been brought against him by
Potiphar’s wife, he was at once cast into the state
prison (39; 40), where he remained for at least two years.
After a while the “chief of the cupbearers” and
the “chief of the bakers” of Pharaoh’s
household were cast into the same prison (40:2). Each of
these new prisoners dreamed a dream in the same night,
which Joseph interpreted, the event occurring as he had
said.
This led to Joseph’s being remembered subsequently by
the chief butler when Pharaoh also dreamed. At his
suggestion Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the
king’s dreams. Pharaoh was well pleased with
Joseph’s wisdom in interpreting his dreams, and with
his counsel with reference to the events then predicted;
and he set him over all the land of Egypt (Gen. 41:46), and
gave him the name of Zaphnath-paaneah. He was married to
Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On, and thus became
a member of the priestly class. Joseph was now about thirty
years of age.
As Joseph had interpreted, seven years of plenty came,
during which he stored up great abundance of corn in
granaries built for the purpose. These years were followed
by seven years of famine “over all the face of the
earth,” when “all countries came into Egypt to
Joseph to buy corn” (Gen. 41:56, 57; 47:13, 14). Thus
“Joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land
of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which
they bought.” Afterwards all the cattle and all the
land, and at last the Egyptians themselves, became the
property of Pharaoh.
During this period of famine Joseph’s brethren also
came down to Egypt to buy corn. The history of his dealings
with them, and of the manner in which he at length made
himself known to them, is one of the most interesting
narratives that can be read (Gen. 42-45). Joseph directed
his brethren to return and bring Jacob and his family to
the land of Egypt, saying, “I will give you the good
of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
Regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land is
yours.” Accordingly Jacob and his family, to the
number of threescore and ten souls, together with “all
that they had,” went down to Egypt. They were settled
in the land of Goshen, where Joseph met his father, and
“fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good
while” (Gen. 46:29).
The excavations of Dr. Naville have shown the land of
Goshen to be the Wady Tumilat, between Ismailia and
Zagazig. In Goshen (Egyptian Qosem) they had pasture for
their flocks, were near the Asiatic frontier of Egypt, and
were out of the way of the Egyptian people. An inscription
speaks of it as a district given up to the wandering
shepherds of Asia.
Jacob at length died, and in fulfilment of a promise which
he had exacted, Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father
in “the field of Ephron the Hittite” (Gen.
47:29-31; 50:1-14). This was the last recorded act of
Joseph, who again returned to Egypt.
“The ‘Story of the Two Brothers,’ an Egyptian
romance written for the son of the Pharaoh of the
Oppression, contains an episode very similar to the
Biblical account of Joseph’s treatment by
Potiphar’s wife. Potiphar and Potipherah are the
Egyptian Pa-tu-pa-Ra, ‘the gift of the sun-god.’
The name given to Joseph, Zaphnath-paaneah, is probably the
Egyptian Zaf-nti-pa-ankh, ‘nourisher of the living
one,’ i.e., of the Pharaoh. There are many instances in
the inscriptions of foreigners in Egypt receiving Egyptian
names, and rising to the highest offices of state.”
By his wife Asenath, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim (Gen. 41:50). Joseph having obtained a promise from
his brethren that when the time should come that God would
“bring them unto the land which he sware to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob,” they would carry up his bones
out of Egypt, at length died, at the age of one hundred and
ten years; and “they embalmed him, and he was put in a
coffin” (Gen. 50:26). This promise was faithfully
observed. Their descendants, long after, when the Exodus
came, carried the body about with them during their forty
years’ wanderings, and at length buried it in Shechem,
in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of
Hamor (Josh. 24:32; comp. Gen. 33:19). With the death of
Joseph the patriarchal age of the history of Israel came to
a close.
The Pharaoh of Joseph’s elevation was probably Apepi,
or Apopis, the last of the Hyksos kings. Some, however,
think that Joseph came to Egypt in the reign of Thothmes
III. (see PHARAOH ¯T0002923), long after the expulsion
of the Hyksos.
The name Joseph denotes the two tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh in Deut. 33:13-17; the kingdom of Israel in Ezek.
37:16, 19, Amos 5:6; and the whole covenant people of
Israel in Ps. 81:4.
(2.) One of the sons of Asaph, head of the first division
of sacred musicians (1 Chr. 25:2, 9).
(3.) The son of Judah, and father of Semei (Luke 3:26).
Other two of the same name in the ancestry of Christ are
also mentioned (3:24, 30).
(4.) The foster-father of our Lord (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23).
He lived at Nazareth in Galilee (Luke 2:4). He is called a
“just man.” He was by trade a carpenter (Matt.
13:55). He is last mentioned in connection with the journey
to Jerusalem, when Jesus was twelve years old. It is
probable that he died before Jesus entered on his public
ministry. This is concluded from the fact that Mary only
was present at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. His
name does not appear in connection with the scenes of the
crucifixion along with that of Mary (q.v.), John 19:25.
(5.) A native of Arimathea, probably the Ramah of the Old
Testament (1 Sam. 1:19), a man of wealth, and a member of
the Sanhedrim (Matt. 27:57; Luke 23:50), an
“honourable counsellor, who waited for the kingdom of
God.” As soon as he heard the tidings of Christ’s
death, he “went in boldly” (lit. “having
summoned courage, he went”) “unto Pilate, and
craved the body of Jesus.” Pilate having ascertained
from the centurion that the death had really taken place,
granted Joseph’s request, who immediately, having
purchased fine linen (Mark 15:46), proceeded to Golgotha to
take the body down from the cross. There, assisted by
Nicodemus, he took down the body and wrapped it in the fine
linen, sprinkling it with the myrrh and aloes which
Nicodemus had brought (John 19:39), and then conveyed the
body to the new tomb hewn by Joseph himself out of a rock
in his garden hard by. There they laid it, in the presence
of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Joses, and other
women, and rolled a great stone to the entrance, and
departed (Luke 23:53, 55). This was done in haste,
“for the Sabbath was drawing on” (comp. Isa.
53:9).
(6.) Surnamed Barsabas (Acts 1:23); also called Justus. He
was one of those who “companied with the apostles all
the time that the Lord Jesus went out and in among
them” (Acts 1:21), and was one of the candidates for
the place of Judas.
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)
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 ¯T0000099) 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.”
Josiah – healed by Jehovah, or
Jehovah will support. The son of Amon, and his successor on
the throne of Judah (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chr. 34:1). His
history is contained in 2 Kings 22, 23. He stands foremost
among all the kings of the line of David for unswerving
loyalty to Jehovah (23:25). He “did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way
of David his father.” He ascended the throne at the
early age of eight years, and it appears that not till
eight years afterwards did he begin “to seek after the
God of David his father.” At that age he devoted
himself to God. He distinguished himself by beginning a war
of extermination against the prevailing idolatry, which had
practically been the state religion for some seventy years
(2 Chr. 34:3; comp. Jer. 25:3, 11, 29).
In the eighteenth year of his reign he proceeded to repair
and beautify the temple, which by time and violence had
become sorely dilapidated (2 Kings 22:3, 5, 6; 23:23; 2
Chr. 34:11). While this work was being carried on, Hilkiah,
the high priest, discovered a roll, which was probably the
original copy of the law, the entire Pentateuch, written by
Moses.
When this book was read to him, the king was alarmed by the
things it contained, and sent for Huldah, the
“prophetess,” for her counsel. She spoke to him
words of encouragement, telling him that he would be
gathered to his fathers in peace before the threatened days
of judgment came. Josiah immediately gathered the people
together, and engaged them in a renewal of their ancient
national covenant with God. The Passover was then
celebrated, as in the days of his great predecessor,
Hezekiah, with unusual magnificence. Nevertheless,
“the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great
wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah”
(2 Kings 22:3-20; 23:21-27; 2 Chr. 35:1-19). During the
progress of this great religious revolution Jeremiah helped
it on by his earnest exhortations.
Soon after this, Pharaoh-Necho II. (q.v.), king of Egypt,
in an expedition against the king of Assyria, with the view
of gaining possession of Carchemish, sought a passage
through the territory of Judah for his army. This Josiah
refused to permit. He had probably entered into some new
alliance with the king of Assyria, and faithful to his word
he sought to oppose the progress of Necho.
The army of Judah went out and encountered that of Egypt at
Megiddo, on the verge of the plain of Esdraelon. Josiah
went into the field in disguise, and was fatally wounded by
a random arrow. His attendants conveyed him toward
Jerusalem, but had only reached Hadadrimmon, a few miles
south of Megiddo, when he died (2 Kings 23:28, 30; comp. 2
Chr. 35:20-27), after a reign of thirty-one years. He was
buried with the greatest honours in fulfilment of
Huldah’s prophecy (2 Kings 22:20; comp. Jer. 34:5).
Jeremiah composed a funeral elegy on this the best of the
kings of Israel (Lam. 4:20; 2 Chr. 35:25). The outburst of
national grief on account of his death became proverbial
(Zech. 12:11; comp. Rev. 16:16).
letter of the Greek alphabet, used metaphorically or
proverbially for the smallest thing (Matt. 5:18); or it may
be = yod, which is the smallest of the Hebrew letters.
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).
journey in the East is from 16 to 20 miles (Num.
11:31).
(2.) A Sabbath-day’s journey is 2,000 paces or yards
from the city walls (Acts 1:12). According to Jewish
tradition, it was the distance one might travel without
violating the law of Ex. 16:29.
Jozabad – whom Jehovah bestows.
(1.) One of the Benjamite archers who joined David at
Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:4).
(2.) A chief of the tribe of Manasseh (1 Chr. 12:20).
Jozachar – Jehovah-remembered,
one of the two servants who assassinated Jehoash, the king
of Judah, in Millo (2 Kings 12:21). He is called also Zabad
(2 Chr. 24:26).
Lamech’s second son by Adah, of the line of Cain. He
was the inventor of “the harp” (Heb. kinnor,
properly “lyre”) and “the organ” (Heb.
‘ugab, properly “mouth-organ” or Pan’s
pipe), Gen. 4:21.
clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial
festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this
year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were
only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the
fields (Lev. 25:11, 12). All landed property during that
year reverted to its original owner (13-34; 27:16-24), and
all who were slaves were set free (25:39-54), and all debts
were remitted.
The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of
trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no
record in Scripture of the actual observance of this
festival, but there are numerous allusions (Isa. 5:7, 8, 9,
10; 61:1, 2; Ezek. 7:12, 13; Neh. 5:1-19; 2 Chr. 36:21)
which place it beyond a doubt that it was observed.
The advantages of this institution were manifold. “1.
It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a
few to the detriment of the community at large. 2. It would
render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute
poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. 3. It
would preclude those inequalities which are produced by
extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man
domineer over another. 4. It would utterly do away with
slavery. 5. It would afford a fresh opportunity to those
who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again
their career of industry in the patrimony which they had
temporarily forfeited. 6. It would periodically rectify the
disorders which crept into the state in the course of time,
preclude the division of the people into nobles and
plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate.”
Juda – (1.) The patriarch Judah,
son of Jacob (Luke 3:33; Heb. 7:14). In Luke 1:39; Heb.
7:14; Rev. 5:5; 7:5, the word refers to the tribe of
Judah.
(2.) The father of Simeon in Christ’s maternal ancestry
(Luke 3:30).
(3.) Son of Joanna, and father of Joseph in Christ’s
maternal ancestry (26), probably identical with Abiud
(Matt. 1:13), and with Obadiah (1 Chr. 3:21).
(4.) One of the Lord’s “brethren” (Mark 6:3).
Judah – praise, the fourth son of
Jacob by Leah. The name originated in Leah’s words of
praise to the Lord on account of his birth: “Now will
I praise [Heb. odeh] Jehovah, and she called his name
Yehudah” (Gen. 29:35).
It was Judah that interposed in behalf of Joseph, so that
his life was spared (Gen. 37:26, 27). He took a lead in the
affairs of the family, and “prevailed above his
brethren” (Gen. 43:3-10; 44:14, 16-34; 46:28; 1 Chr.
5:2).
Soon after the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, Judah
went to reside at Adullam, where he married a woman of
Canaan. After the death of his wife Shuah, he returned
to his father’s house, and there exercised much
influence over the patriarch, taking a principal part in
the events which led to the whole family at length going
down into Egypt. We hear nothing more of him till he
received his father’s blessing (Gen. 49:8-12).
disruption took place at Shechem, at first only the tribe
of Judah followed the house of David. But very soon after
the tribe of Benjamin joined the tribe of Judah, and
Jerusalem became the capital of the new kingdom (Josh.
18:28), which was called the kingdom of Judah. It was very
small in extent, being only about the size of the Scottish
county of Perth.
For the first sixty years the kings of Judah aimed at
re-establishing their authority over the kingdom of the
other ten tribes, so that there was a state of perpetual
war between them. For the next eighty years there was no
open war between them. For the most part they were in
friendly alliance, co-operating against their common
enemies, especially against Damascus. For about another
century and a half Judah had a somewhat checkered existence
after the termination of the kingdom of Israel till its
final overthrow in the destruction of the temple (B.C. 588)
by Nebuzar-adan, who was captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s
body-guard (2 Kings 25:8-21).
The kingdom maintained a separate existence for three
hundred and eighty-nine years. It occupied an area of 3,435
square miles. (See ISRAEL, KINGDOM)
Judah, Tribe of – Judah and his
three surviving sons went down with Jacob into Egypt (Gen.
46:12; Ex. 1:2). At the time of the Exodus, when we meet
with the family of Judah again, they have increased to the
number of 74,000 males (Num. 1:26, 27). Its number
increased in the wilderness (26:22). Caleb, the son of
Jephunneh, represented the tribe as one of the spies (13:6;
34:19). This tribe marched at the van on the east of the
tabernacle (Num. 2:3-9; 10:14), its standard, as is
supposed, being a lion’s whelp. Under Caleb, during the
wars of conquest, they conquered that portion of the
country which was afterwards assigned to them as their
inheritance. This was the only case in which any tribe had
its inheritance thus determined (Josh. 14:6-15;
15:13-19).
The inheritance of the tribe of Judah was at first fully
one-third of the whole country west of Jordan, in all about
2,300 square miles (Josh. 15). But there was a second
distribution, when Simeon received an allotment, about
1,000 square miles, out of the portion of Judah (Josh.
19:9). That which remained to Judah was still very large in
proportion to the inheritance of the other tribes. The
boundaries of the territory are described in Josh.
15:20-63.
This territory given to Judah was divided into four
sections. (1.) The south (Heb. negeb), the undulating
pasture-ground between the hills and the desert to the
south (Josh. 15:21.) This extent of pasture-land became
famous as the favourite camping-ground of the old
patriarchs. (2.) The “valley” (15:33) or lowland
(Heb. shephelah), a broad strip lying between the central
highlands and the Mediterranean. This tract was the garden
as well as the granary of the tribe. (3.) The
“hill-country,” or the mountains of Judah, an
elevated plateau stretching from below Hebron northward to
Jerusalem. “The towns and villages were generally
perched on the tops of hills or on rocky slopes. The
resources of the soil were great. The country was rich in
corn, wine, oil, and fruit; and the daring shepherds were
able to lead their flocks far out over the neighbouring
plains and through the mountains.” The number of towns
in this district was thirty-eight (Josh. 15:48-60). (4.)
The “wilderness,” the sunken district next the
Dead Sea (Josh. 15:61), “averaging 10 miles in
breadth, a wild, barren, uninhabitable region, fit only to
afford scanty pasturage for sheep and goats, and a secure
home for leopards, bears, wild goats, and outlaws” (1
Sam. 17:34; 22:1; Mark 1:13). It was divided into the
“wilderness of En-gedi” (1 Sam. 24:1), the
“wilderness of Judah” (Judg. 1:16; Matt. 3:1),
between the Hebron mountain range and the Dead Sea, the
“wilderness of Maon” (1 Sam. 23:24). It contained
only six cities.
Nine of the cities of Judah were assigned to the priests
(Josh. 21:9-19).
Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, has this
rendering in Josh. 19:34. It has been suggested that,
following the Masoretic punctuation, the expression should
read thus, “and Judah; the Jordan was toward the
sun-rising.” The sixty cities (Havoth-jair, Num.
32:41) on the east of Jordan were reckoned as belonging to
Judah, because Jair, their founder, was a Manassite only on
his mother’s side, but on his father’s side of the
tribe of Judah (1 Chr. 2:5, 21-23).
Judah. (1.) The patriarch (Matt. 1:2, 3).
(2.) Son of Simon (John 6:71; 13:2, 26), surnamed Iscariot,
i.e., a man of Kerioth (Josh. 15:25). His name is uniformly
the last in the list of the apostles, as given in the
synoptic (i.e., the first three) Gospels. The evil of his
nature probably gradually unfolded itself till “Satan
entered into him” (John 13:27), and he betrayed our
Lord (18:3). Afterwards he owned his sin with “an
exceeding bitter cry,” and cast the money he had
received as the wages of his iniquity down on the floor of
the sanctuary, and “departed and went and hanged
himself” (Matt. 27:5). He perished in his guilt, and
“went unto his own place” (Acts 1:25). The
statement in Acts 1:18 that he “fell headlong and
burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed
out,” is in no way contrary to that in Matt. 27:5. The
sucide first hanged himself, perhaps over the valley of
Hinnom, “and the rope giving way, or the branch to
which he hung breaking, he fell down headlong on his face,
and was crushed and mangled on the rocky pavement
below.”
Why such a man was chosen to be an apostle we know not, but
it is written that “Jesus knew from the beginning who
should betray him” (John 6:64). Nor can any answer be
satisfactorily given to the question as to the motives that
led Judas to betray his Master. “Of the motives that
have been assigned we need not care to fix on any one as
that which simply led him on. Crime is, for the most part,
the result of a hundred motives rushing with bewildering
fury through the mind of the criminal.”
(3.) A Jew of Damascus (Acts 9:11), to whose house Ananias
was sent. The street called “Straight” in which
it was situated is identified with the modern “street
of bazaars,” where is still pointed out the so-called
“house of Judas.”
(4.) A Christian teacher, surnamed Barsabas. He was sent
from Jerusalem to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas with
the decision of the council (Acts 15:22, 27, 32). He was a
“prophet” and a “chief man among the
brethren.”
apostles there were two who bore this name, (1) Judas (Jude
1:1; Matt. 13:55; John 14:22; Acts 1:13), called also
Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18); and (2)
Judas Iscariot (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:19). He who is called
“the brother of James” (Luke 6:16), may be the
same with the Judas surnamed Lebbaeus. The only thing
recorded regarding him is in John 14:22.
Judea – After the Captivity this
name was applied to the whole of the country west of the
Jordan (Hag. 1:1, 14; 2:2). But under the Romans, in the
time of Christ, it denoted the southernmost of the three
divisions of Palestine (Matt. 2:1, 5; 3:1; 4:25), although
it was also sometimes used for Palestine generally (Acts
28:21).
The province of Judea, as distinguished from Galilee and
Samaria, included the territories of the tribes of Judah,
Benjamin, Dan, Simeon, and part of Ephraim. Under the
Romans it was a part of the province of Syria, and was
governed by a procurator.
Jude, Epistle of – The author was
“Judas, the brother of James” the Less (Jude
1:1), called also Lebbaeus (Matt. 10:3) and Thaddaeus (Mark
3:18). The genuineness of this epistle was early
questioned, and doubts regarding it were revived at the
time of the Reformation; but the evidences in support of
its claims are complete. It has all the marks of having
proceeded from the writer whose name it bears.
There is nothing very definite to determine the time and
place at which it was written. It was apparently written in
the later period of the apostolic age, for when it was
written there were persons still alive who had heard the
apostles preach (ver. 17). It may thus have been written
about A.D. 66 or 70, and apparently in Palestine.
The epistle is addressed to Christians in general (ver. 1),
and its design is to put them on their guard against the
misleading efforts of a certain class of errorists to which
they were exposed. The style of the epistle is that of an
“impassioned invective, in the impetuous whirlwind of
which the writer is hurried along, collecting example after
example of divine vengeance on the ungodly; heaping epithet
upon epithet, and piling image upon image, and, as it were,
labouring for words and images strong enough to depict the
polluted character of the licentious apostates against whom
he is warning the Church; returning again and again to the
subject, as though all language was insufficient to give an
adequate idea of their profligacy, and to express his
burning hatred of their perversion of the doctrines of the
gospel.”
The striking resemblance this epistle bears to 2 Peter
suggests the idea that the author of the one had seen the
epistle of the other.
The doxology with which the epistle concludes is regarded
as the finest in the New Testament.
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)
Judgment hall – Gr. praitorion
(John 18:28, 33; 19:9; Matt. 27:27), “common
hall.” In all these passages the Revised Version
renders “palace.” In Mark 15:16 the word is
rendered “Praetorium” (q.v.), which is a Latin
word, meaning literally the residence of the praetor, and
then the governor’s residence in general, though not a
praetor. Throughout the Gospels the word
“praitorion” has this meaning (comp. Acts 23:35).
Pilate’s official residence when he was in Jerusalem
was probably a part of the fortress of Antonia.
The trial of our Lord was carried on in a room or office of
the palace. The “whole band” spoken of by Mark
were gathered together in the palace court.
Judgment seat – (Matt. 27:19), a
portable tribunal (Gr. bema) which was placed according as
the magistrate might direct, and from which judgment was
pronounced. In this case it was placed on a tesselated
pavement, probably in front of the procurator’s
residence.
secret decisions of God’s will (Ps. 110:5; 36:6). (2.)
The revelations of his will (Ex. 21:1; Deut. 6:20; Ps.
119:7-175). (3.) The infliction of punishment on the wicked
(Ex. 6:6; 12:12; Ezek. 25:11; Rev. 16:7), such as is
mentioned in Gen. 7; 19:24,25; Judg. 1:6,7; Acts 5:1-10,
etc.
sentence that will be passed on our actions at the last day
(Matt. 25; Rom. 14:10, 11; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess.
1:7-10).
The judge is Jesus Christ, as mediator. All judgment is
committed to him (Acts 17:31; John 5:22, 27; Rev. 1:7).
“It pertains to him as mediator to complete and
publicly manifest the salvation of his people and the
overthrow of his enemies, together with the glorious
righteousness of his work in both respects.”
The persons to be judged are, (1) the whole race of Adam
without a single exception (Matt. 25:31-46; 1 Cor. 15:51,
52; Rev. 20:11-15); and (2) the fallen angels (2 Pet. 2:4;
Jude 1:6).
The rule of judgment is the standard of God’s law as
revealed to men, the heathen by the law as written on their
hearts (Luke 12:47,48; Rom. 2:12-16); the Jew who
“sinned in the law shall be judged by the law”
(Rom. 2:12); the Christian enjoying the light of
revelation, by the will of God as made known to him (Matt.
11:20-24; John 3:19). Then the secrets of all hearts will
be brought to light (1 Cor. 4:5; Luke 8:17; 12:2,3) to
vindicate the justice of the sentence pronounced.
The time of the judgment will be after the resurrection
(Heb. 9:27; Acts 17:31).
As the Scriptures represent the final judgment “as
certain [Eccl. 11:9], universal [2 Cor. 5:10], righteous
[Rom. 2:5], decisive [1 Cor. 15:52], and eternal as to its
consequences [Heb. 6:2], let us be concerned for the
welfare of our immortal interests, flee to the refuge set
before us, improve our precious time, depend on the merits
of the Redeemer, and adhere to the dictates of the divine
word, that we may be found of him in peace.”
Judith – Jewess, the daughter of
Beeri the Hittite, and one of Esau’s wives (Gen.
26:34), elsewhere called Aholibamah (36:2-14).
Julia – a Christian woman at Rome
to whom Paul sent his salutations (Rom. 16:15), supposed to
be the wife of Philologus.
Augustan cohort, or the emperor’s body-guard, in whose
charge Paul was sent prisoner to Rome (Acts 27:1, 3, 43).
He entreated Paul “courteously,” showing in many
ways a friendly regard for him.
Junia – (Rom. 16:7), a Christian
at Rome to whom Paul sends salutations along with
Andronicus.
Juniper – (Heb. rothem), called
by the Arabs retem, and known as Spanish broom; ranked
under the genus genista. It is a desert shrub, and abounds
in many parts of Palestine. In the account of his journey
from Akabah to Jerusalem, Dr. Robinson says: “This is
the largest and most conspicuous shrub of these deserts,
growing thickly in the water-courses and valleys. Our Arabs
always selected the place of encampment, if possible, in a
spot where it grew, in order to be sheltered by it at night
from the wind; and during the day, when they often went on
in advance of the camels, we found them not unfrequently
sitting or sleeping under a bush of retem to shelter them
from the sun. It was in this very desert, a day’s
journey from Beersheba, that the prophet Elijah lay down
and slept beneath the same shrub” (1 Kings 19:4, 5).
It afforded material for fuel, and also in cases of
extremity for human food (Ps. 120:4; Job 30:4). One of the
encampments in the wilderness of Paran is called Rithmah,
i.e., “place of broom” (Num. 33:18).
“The Bedawin of Sinai still burn this very plant into
a charcoal which throws out the most intense heat.”
Jupiter – the principal deity of
the ancient Greeks and Romans. He was worshipped by them
under various epithets. Barnabas was identified with this
god by the Lycaonians (Acts 14:12), because he was of
stately and commanding presence, as they supposed Jupiter
to be. There was a temple dedicated to this god outside the
gates of Lystra (14:13).
Justice – is rendering to every
one that which is his due. It has been distinguished from
equity in this respect, that while justice means merely the
doing what positive law demands, equity means the doing of
what is fair and right in every separate case.
Justice of God – that perfection
of his nature whereby he is infinitely righteous in himself
and in all he does, the righteousness of the divine nature
exercised in his moral government. At first God imposes
righteous laws on his creatures and executes them
righteously. Justice is not an optional product of his
will, but an unchangeable principle of his very nature. His
legislative justice is his requiring of his rational
creatures conformity in all respects to the moral law. His
rectoral or distributive justice is his dealing with his
accountable creatures according to the requirements of the
law in rewarding or punishing them (Ps. 89:14). In
remunerative justice he distributes rewards (James 1:12; 2
Tim. 4:8); in vindictive or punitive justice he inflicts
punishment on account of transgression (2 Thess. 1:6). He
cannot, as being infinitely righteous, do otherwise than
regard and hate sin as intrinsically hateful and deserving
of punishment. “He cannot deny himself” (2 Tim.
2:13). His essential and eternal righteousness immutably
determines him to visit every sin as such with merited
punishment.
Justification – a forensic term,
opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the
judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of
those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and
treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as
conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon
(q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims
of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is
the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not
relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in
the strictest sense; and so the person justified is
declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards
arising from perfect obedience to the law (Rom.
5:1-10).
It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by
God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and
passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ
(Rom. 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a
man without righteousness, but a declaration that he
possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever
satisfies the law, namely, Christ’s righteousness (2
Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:6-8).
The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed
or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith is called a “condition,” not
because it possesses any merit, but only because it is the
instrument, the only instrument by which the soul
appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness
(Rom. 1:17; 3:25, 26; 4:20, 22; Phil. 3:8-11; Gal. 2:16).
The act of faith which thus secures our justification
secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.);
and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not
lead to licentiousness (Rom. 6:2-7). Good works, while not
the ground, are the certain consequence of justification
(6:14; 7:6). (See GALATIANS, EPISTLE.)
Justus – (1.) Another name for
Joseph, surnamed Barsabas. He and Matthias are mentioned
only in Acts 1:23. “They must have been among the
earliest disciples of Jesus, and must have been faithful to
the end; they must have been well known and esteemed among
the brethren. What became of them afterwards, and what work
they did, are entirely unknown” (Lindsay’s Acts of
the Apostles).
(2.) A Jewish proselyte at Corinth, in whose house, next
door to the synagogue, Paul held meetings and preached
after he left the synagogue (Acts 18:7).
(3.) A Jewish Christian, called Jesus, Paul’s only
fellow-labourer at Rome, where he wrote his Epistle to the
Colossians (Col. 4:11).
Juttah – extended, a Levitical
city in the mountains or hill-country of Judah (Josh.
15:55; 21:16). Its modern name is Yutta, a place about 5
1/2 miles south of Hebron. It is supposed to have been the
residence of Zacharias and Elisabeth, and the birthplace of
John the Baptist, and on this account is annually visited
by thousands of pilgrims belonging to the Greek Church
(Luke 1:39).
city in the extreme south of Judah, near to Idumaea (Josh.
15:21), the birthplace of Benaiah, one of David’s chief
warriors (2 Sam. 23:20; 1 Chr. 11:22). It was called also
Jekabzeel (Neh. 11:25), after the Captivity.
Kadesh – holy, or Kadesh-Barnea,
sacred desert of wandering, a place on the south-eastern
border of Palestine, about 165 miles from Horeb. It lay in
the “wilderness” or “desert of Zin”
(Gen. 14:7; Num. 13:3-26; 14:29-33; 20:1; 27:14), on the
border of Edom (20:16). From this place, in compliance with
the desire of the people, Moses sent forth “twelve
spies” to spy the land. After examining it in all its
districts, the spies brought back an evil report, Joshua
and Caleb alone giving a good report of the land
(13:18-31). Influenced by the discouraging report, the
people abandoned all hope of entering into the Promised
Land. They remained a considerable time at Kadesh. Because of their unbelief, they were condemned
by God to wander for thirty-eight years in the wilderness.
They took their journey from Kadesh into the deserts of
Paran, “by way of the Red Sea” (Deut. 2:1). (One
theory is that during these thirty-eight years they
remained in and about Kadesh.)
At the end of these years of wanderings, the tribes were a
second time gathered together at Kadesh. During their stay
here at this time Miriam died and was buried. Here the
people murmured for want of water, as their forefathers had
done formerly at Rephidim; and Moses, irritated by their
chidings, “with his rod smote the rock twice,”
instead of “speaking to the rock before their
eyes,” as the Lord had commanded him (comp. Num.
27:14; Deut. 9:23; Ps. 106:32, 33). Because of this act of
his, in which Aaron too was involved, neither of them was
to be permitted to set foot within the Promised Land (Num.
20:12, 24). The king of Edom would not permit them to pass
on through his territory, and therefore they commenced an
eastward march, and “came unto Mount Hor”
(20:22).
This place has been identified with ‘Ain el-Kadeis,
about 12 miles east-south-east of Beersheba.
Kadesh – the sacred city of the
Hittites, on the left bank of the Orontes, about 4 miles
south of the Lake of Homs. It is identified with the great
mound Tell Neby Mendeh, some 50 to 100 feet high, and 400
yards long. On the ruins of the temple of Karnak, in Egypt,
has been found an inscription recording the capture of this
city by Rameses II. Here the sculptor “has chiselled in deep
work on the stone, with a bold execution of the several
parts, the procession of the warriors, the battle before
Kadesh, the storming of the fortress, the overthrow of the
enemy, and the camp life of the Egyptians.”
Kadmiel – before God; i.e., his
servant, one of the Levites who returned with Zerubbabel
from the Captivity (Neh. 9:4; 10:9; 12:8).
Kadmonites – Orientals, the name
of a Canaanitish tribe which inhabited the north-eastern
part of Palestine in the time of Abraham (Gen. 15:19).
Probably they were identical with the “children of the
east,” who inhabited the country between Palestine and
the Euphrates.
Kanah – reedy; brook of reeds.
(1.) A stream forming the boundary between Ephraim and
Manasseh, from the Mediterranean eastward to Tappuah (Josh.
16:8). It has been identified with the sedgy streams that
constitute the Wady Talaik, which enters the sea between
Joppa and Caesarea. Others identify it with the river’
Aujeh.
(2.) A town in the north of Asher (Josh. 19:28). It has
been identified with ‘Ain-Kana, a village on the brow
of a valley some 7 miles south-east of Tyre. About a mile
north of this place are many colossal ruins strown about.
And in the side of a neighbouring ravine are figures of
men, women, and children cut in the face of the rock. These
are supposed to be of Phoenician origin.
Johanan and Jonathan, who for a time were loyal to
Gedaliah, the Babylonian governor of Jerusalem (Jer. 40:8,
13, 15, 16).
Karkaa – a floor; bottom, a place
between Adar and Azmon, about midway between the
Mediterranean and the Dead Sea (Josh. 15:3).
Karkor – foundation, a place in
the open desert wastes on the east of Jordan (Judg. 8:10),
not far beyond Succoth and Penuel, to the south. Here
Gideon overtook and routed a fugitive band of Midianites
under Zeba and Zalmunna, whom he took captive.
tribe of Zebulun assigned to the Levites of the family of
Merari (Josh. 21:34). It is identical with Kattath (19:15),
and perhaps also with Kitron (Judg. 1:30).
Kartan – double city, a town of
Naphali, assigned to the Gershonite Levites, and one of the
cities of refuge (Josh. 21:32). It was probably near the
north-western shore of the Sea of Tiberias, identical with
the ruined village el-Katanah.
Kattath – (Josh. 19:15), a town
of Asher, has been identified with Kana el Jelil.
Kedar – dark-skinned, the second
son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13).
It is the name for the nomadic tribes of Arabs, the
Bedouins generally (Isa. 21:16; 42:11; 60:7; Jer. 2:10;
Ezek. 27:21), who dwelt in the north-west of Arabia. They
lived in black hair-tents (Cant. 1:5). To “dwell in
the tents of Kedar” was to be cut off from the worship
of the true God (Ps. 120:5). The Kedarites suffered at the
hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 49:28, 29).
last-named of the sons of Ishmael (Gen. 25:15).
easternmost, a city of Reuben, assigned to the Levites of
the family of Merari (Josh. 13:18). It lay not far
north-east of Dibon-gad, east of the Dead Sea.
Kedesh – sanctuary. (1.) A place
in the extreme south of Judah (Josh. 15:23). Probably the
same as Kadesh-barnea (q.v.).
(2.) A city of Issachar (1 Chr. 6:72). Possibly Tell Abu
Kadeis, near Lejjun.
(3.) A “fenced city” of Naphtali, one of the
cities of refuge (Josh. 19:37; Judg. 4:6). It was assigned
to the Gershonite Levites (Josh. 21:32). It was originally
a Canaanite royal city (Josh. 12:22), and was the residence
of Barak (Judg. 4:6); and here he and Deborah assembled the
tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali before the commencement of
the conflict with Sisera in the plain of Esdraelon,
“for Jehovah among the mighty” (9, 10). In the
reign of Pekah it was taken by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings
15:29). It was situated near the “plain” (rather
“the oak”) of Zaanaim, and has been identified
with the modern Kedes, on the hills fully four miles
north-west of Lake El Huleh.
It has been supposed by some that the Kedesh of the
narrative, where Barak assembled his troops, was not the
place in Upper Galilee so named, which was 30 miles distant
from the plain of Esdraelon, but Kedish, on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee, 12 miles from Tabor.
Kedron – the valley, now quite
narrow, between the Mount of Olives and Mount Moriah. The
upper part of it is called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The
LXX., in 1 Kings 15:13, translate “of the cedar.”
The word means “black,” and may refer to the
colour of the water or the gloom of the ravine, or the
black green of the cedars which grew there. John 18:1,
“Cedron,” only here in New Testament.
Kehelathah – assembly, one of the
stations of the Israelites in the desert (Num. 33:22,
23).
Keilah – citadel, a city in the
lowlands of Judah (Josh. 15:44). David rescued it from the
attack of the Philistines (1 Sam. 23:1-8); but the
inhabitants proving unfaithful to him, in that they sought
to deliver him up to Saul (13), he and his men
“departed from Keilah, and went whithersoever they
could go.” They fled to the hill Hareth, about 3 miles
to the east, and thence through Hebron to Ziph (q.v.).
“And David was in the wilderness of Ziph, in a
wood” (1 Sam. 23:15). Here Jonathan sought him out,
“and strengthened his hand in God.” This was the
last interview between David and Jonathan (23:16-18). It is
the modern Khurbet Kila. Others identify it with
Khuweilfeh, between Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis) and
Beersheba, mentioned in the Amarna tablets.
assisted Ezra in expounding the law to the people (Neh.
8:7; 10:10).
assembly of God. (1.) The third son of Nahor (Gen.
22:21).
(2.) Son of Shiphtan, appointed on behalf of the tribe of
Ephraim to partition the land of Canaan (Num. 34:24).
(3.) A Levite (1 Chr. 27:17).
Kenath – possession, a city of
Gilead. It was captured by Nobah, who called it by his own
name (Num. 32:42). It has been identified with Kunawat, on
the slopes of Jebel Hauran (Mount Bashan), 60 miles east
from the south end of the Sea of Galilee.
Kenaz – hunter. (1.) One of the
sons of Eliphaz, the son of Esau. He became the chief of an
Edomitish tribe (Gen. 36:11, 15, 42).
(2.) Caleb’s younger brother, and father of Othniel
(Josh. 15:17), whose family was of importance in Israel
down to the time of David (1 Chr. 27:15). Some think that
Othniel (Judg. 1:13), and not Kenaz, was Caleb’s
brother.
(3.) Caleb’s grandson (1 Chr. 4:15).
Kenites – smiths, the name of a
tribe inhabiting the desert lying between southern
Palestine and the mountains of Sinai. Jethro was of this
tribe (Judg. 1:16). He is called a “Midianite”
(Num. 10:29), and hence it is concluded that the Midianites
and the Kenites were the same tribe. They were wandering
smiths, “the gipsies and travelling tinkers of the old
Oriental world. They formed an important guild in an age
when the art of metallurgy was confined to a few”
(Sayce’s Races, etc.). They showed kindness to Israel
in their journey through the wilderness. They accompanied
them in their march as far as Jericho (Judg. 1:16), and
then returned to their old haunts among the Amalekites, in
the desert to the south of Judah. They sustained afterwards
friendly relations with the Israelites when settled in
Canaan (Judg. 4:11, 17-21; 1 Sam. 27:10; 30:29). The
Rechabites belonged to this tribe (1 Chr. 2:55) and in the
days of Jeremiah (35:7-10) are referred to as following
their nomad habits. Saul bade them depart from the
Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:6) when, in obedience to the divine
commission, he was about to “smite Amalek.” And
his reason is, “for ye showed kindness to all the
children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.”
Thus “God is not unrighteous to forget the kindnesses
shown to his people; but they shall be remembered another
day, at the farthest in the great day, and recompensed in
the resurrection of the just” (M. Henry’s
Commentary). They are mentioned for the last time in
Scripture in 1 Sam. 27:10; comp. 30:20.
Kenizzite – (1.) The name of a
tribe referred to in the covenant God made with Abraham
(Gen. 15:19). They are not mentioned among the original
inhabitants of Canaan (Ex. 3:8; Josh. 3:10), and probably
they inhabited some part of Arabia, in the confines of
Syria.
(2.) A designation given to Caleb (R.V., Num. 32:12; A.V.,
Kenezite).
Kerchief – mentioned only Ezek.
13:18, 21, as an article of apparel or ornament applied to
the head of the idolatrous women of Israel. The precise
meaning of the word is uncertain. It appears to have been a
long loose shawl, such as Oriental women wrap themselves in
(Ruth 3:15; Isa. 3:22). Some think that it was a long veil
or head-dress, denoting by its form the position of those
who wore it.
face-paint = cosmetic-box, the name of Job’s third
daughter (Job. 42:14), born after prosperity had returned
to him.
Kerioth – cities. (1.) A town in
the south of Judah (Josh. 15:25). Judas the traitor was
probably a native of this place, and hence his name
Iscariot. It has been identified with the ruins of
el-Kureitein, about 10 miles south of Hebron. (See HAZOR
¯T0001694 [4]).
(2.) A city of Moab (Jer. 48:24, 41), called Kirioth (Amos
2:2).
marg., a Hebrew word, rendered, A.V., pl. “pieces of
money,” marg., “lambs;” Josh. 24:32,
“pieces of silver;” Job 42:11, “piece of
money”). The kesitah was probably a piece of money of
a particular weight, cast in the form of a lamb. The
monuments of Egypt show that such weights were used.
Kettle – a large pot for cooking.
The same Hebrew word (dud, “boiling”) is rendered
also “pot” (Ps. 81:6), “caldron” (2
Chr. 35:13), “basket” (Jer. 24:2). It was used
for preparing the peace-offerings (1 Sam. 2:13, 14).
Keturah – incense, the wife of
Abraham, whom he married probably after Sarah’s death
(Gen. 25:1-6), by whom he had six sons, whom he sent away
into the east country. Her nationality is unknown. She is
styled “Abraham’s concubine” (1 Chr. 1:32).
Through the offshoots of the Keturah line Abraham became
the “father of many nations.”
Scripture. It is called in Hebrew maphteah, i.e.,
the opener (Judg. 3:25); and in the Greek New Testament
kleis, from its use in shutting (Matt. 16:19; Luke
11:52; Rev. 1:18, etc.). Figures of ancient Egyptian keys
are frequently found on the monuments, also of Assyrian
locks and keys of wood, and of a large size (comp. Isa.
22:22).
The word is used figuratively of power or authority or
office (Isa. 22:22; Rev. 3:7; Rev. 1:8; comp. 9:1; 20:1;
comp. also Matt. 16:19; 18:18). The “key of
knowledge” (Luke 11:52; comp. Matt. 23:13) is the
means of attaining the knowledge regarding the kingdom of
God. The “power of the keys” is a phrase in
general use to denote the extent of ecclesiastical
authority.
Job’s second daughter (42:14), born after prosperity
had returned to him.
Keziz – abrupt; cut off, a city
of the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 18:21).
Kibroth-hattaavah – the graves of
the longing or of lust, one of the stations of the
Israelites in the wilderness. It was probably in the Wady
Murrah, and has been identified with the Erweis el-Ebeirig,
where the remains of an ancient encampment have been found,
about 30 miles north-east of Sinai, and exactly a day’s
journey from ‘Ain Hudherah.
“Here began the troubles of the journey. First,
complaints broke out among the people, probably at the
heat, the toil, and the privations of the march; and then
God at once punished them by lightning, which fell on the
hinder part of the camp, and killed many persons, but
ceased at the intercession of Moses (Num. 11:1, 2). Then a
disgust fell on the multitude at having nothing to eat but
the manna day after day, no change, no flesh, no fish, no
high-flavoured vegetables, no luscious fruits…The people
loathed the ‘light food,’ and cried out to Moses,
‘Give us flesh, give us flesh, that we may
eat.'” In this emergency Moses, in despair, cried
unto God. An answer came. God sent “a prodigious
flight of quails, on which the people satiated their
gluttonous appetite for a full month. Then punishment fell
on them: they loathed the food which they had desired; it
bred disease in them; the divine anger aggravated the
disease into a plague, and a heavy mortality was the
consequence. The dead were buried without the camp; and in
memory of man’s sin and of the divine wrath this name,
Kibroth-hattaavah, the Graves of Lust, was given to the
place of their sepulchre” (Num. 11:34, 35; 33:16, 17;
Deut. 9:22; comp. Ps. 78:30, 31)., Rawlinson’s Moses,
p. 175. From this encampment they journeyed in a
north-eastern direction to Hazeroth.
Kibzaim – two heaps, a city of
Ephraim, assigned to the Kohathite Levites, and appointed
as a city of refuge (Josh. 21: 22). It is also called
Jokmeam (1 Chr. 6:68).
Kid – the young of the goat. It
was much used for food (Gen. 27:9; 38:17; Judg. 6:19;
14:6). The Mosaic law forbade to dress a kid in the milk of
its dam, a law which is thrice repeated (Ex. 23:19; 34:26;
Deut. 14:21). Among the various reasons assigned for this
law, that appears to be the most satisfactory which regards
it as “a protest against cruelty and outraging the
order of nature.” A kid cooked in its mother’s
milk is “a gross, unwholesome dish, and calculated to
kindle animal and ferocious passions, and on this account
Moses may have forbidden it. Besides, it is even yet
associated with immoderate feasting; and originally, I
suspect,” says Dr. Thomson (Land and the Book),
“was connected with idolatrous sacrifices.”
turbid, the winter torrent which flows through the Valley
of Jehoshaphat, on the eastern side of Jerusalem, between
the city and the Mount of Olives. This valley is known in
Scripture only by the name “the brook Kidron.”
David crossed this brook bare-foot and weeping, when
fleeing from Absalom (2 Sam. 15:23, 30), and it was
frequently crossed by our Lord in his journeyings to and
fro (John 18:1). Here Asa burned the obscene idols of his
mother (1 Kings 15:13), and here Athaliah was executed (2
Kings 11:16). It afterwards became the receptacle for all
manner of impurities (2 Chr. 29:16; 30:14); and in the time
of Josiah this valley was the common cemetery of the city
(2 Kings 23:6; comp. Jer. 26:23).
Through this mountain ravine no water runs, except after
heavy rains in the mountains round about Jerusalem. Its
length from its head to en-Rogel is 2 3/4 miles. Its
precipitous, rocky banks are filled with ancient tombs,
especially the left bank opposite the temple area. The
greatest desire of the Jews is to be buried there, from the
idea that the Kidron is the “valley of
Jehoshaphat” mentioned in Joel 3:2.
Below en-Rogel the Kidron has no historical or sacred
interest. It runs in a winding course through the
wilderness of Judea to the north-western shore of the Dead
Sea. Its whole length, in a straight line, is only some 20
miles, but in this space its descent is about 3,912 feet.
Recent excavations have brought to light the fact that the
old bed of the Kidron is about 40 feet lower than its
present bed, and about 70 feet nearer the sanctuary wall.
Kinah – an elegy, a city in the
extreme south of Judah (Josh. 15:22). It was probably not
far from the Dead Sea, in the Wady Fikreh.
Kine – (Heb. sing. parah, i.e.,
“fruitful”), mentioned in Pharaoh’s dream
(Gen. 41: 18). Here the word denotes “buffaloes,”
which fed on the reeds and sedge by the river’s
brink.
generally used to denote one invested with authority,
whether extensive or limited. There were thirty-one kings
in Canaan (Josh. 12:9, 24), whom Joshua subdued. Adonibezek
subdued seventy kings (Judg. 1:7). In the New Testament the
Roman emperor is spoken of as a king (1 Pet. 2:13, 17); and
Herod Antipas, who was only a tetrarch, is also called a
king (Matt. 14:9; Mark 6:22).
This title is applied to God (1 Tim. 1:17), and to Christ,
the Son of God (1 Tim. 6:15, 16; Matt. 27:11). The people
of God are also called “kings” (Dan. 7:22, 27;
Matt. 19:28; Rev. 1:6, etc.). Death is called the
“king of terrors” (Job 18:14).
Jehovah was the sole King of the Jewish nation (1 Sam. 8:7;
Isa. 33:22). But there came a time in the history of that
people when a king was demanded, that they might be like
other nations (1 Sam. 8:5). The prophet Samuel remonstrated
with them, but the people cried out, “Nay, but we will
have a king over us.” The misconduct of Samuel’s
sons was the immediate cause of this demand.
The Hebrew kings did not rule in their own right, nor in
name of the people who had chosen them, but partly as
servants and partly as representatives of Jehovah, the true
King of Israel (1 Sam. 10:1). The limits of the king’s
power were prescribed (1 Sam. 10:25). The officers of his
court were, (1) the recorder or remembrancer (2 Sam. 8:16;
1 Kings 4:3); (2) the scribe (2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25); (3) the
officer over the house, the chief steward (Isa. 22:15); (4)
the “king’s friend,” a confidential companion
(1 Kings 4:5); (5) the keeper of the wardrobe (2 Kings
22:14); (6) captain of the bodyguard (2 Sam. 20:23); (7)
officers over the king’s treasures, etc. (1 Chr.
27:25-31); (8) commander-in-chief of the army (1 Chr.
27:34); (9) the royal counsellor (1 Chr. 27:32; 2 Sam.
16:20-23).
(For catalogue of kings of Israel and Judah see
chronological table in Appendix.)
Mark 1:14, 15; Luke 4:43) = “kingdom of Christ”
(Matt. 13:41; 20:21) = “kingdom of Christ and of
God” (Eph. 5:5) = “kingdom of David” (Mark
11:10) = “the kingdom” (Matt. 8:12; 13:19) =
“kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 13:41), all
denote the same thing under different aspects, viz.: (1)
Christ’s mediatorial authority, or his rule on the
earth; (2) the blessings and advantages of all kinds that
flow from this rule; (3) the subjects of this kingdom taken
collectively, or the Church.
Kingly office of Christ – one of
the three special relations in which Christ stands to his
people. Christ’s office as mediator comprehends three
different functions, viz., those of a prophet, priest, and
king. These are not three distinct offices, but three
functions of the one office of mediator.
Christ is King and sovereign Head over his Church and over
all things to his Church (Eph. 1:22; 4:15; Col. 1:18;
2:19). He executes this mediatorial kingship in his Church,
and over his Church, and over all things in behalf of his
Church. This royalty differs from that which essentially
belongs to him as God, for it is given to him by the Father
as the reward of his obedience and sufferings (Phil.
2:6-11), and has as its especial object the upbuilding and
the glory of his redeemed Church. It attaches, moreover,
not to his divine nature as such, but to his person as
God-man.
Christ’s mediatorial kingdom may be regarded as
comprehending, (1) his kingdom of power, or his
providential government of the universe; (2) his kingdom of
grace, which is wholly spiritual in its subjects and
administration; and (3) his kingdom of glory, which is the
consummation of all his providential and gracious
administration.
Christ sustained and exercised the function of mediatorial
King as well as of Prophet and Priest, from the time of the
fall of man, when he entered on his mediatorial work; yet
it may be said that he was publicly and formally enthroned
when he ascended up on high and sat down at the
Father’s right hand (Ps. 2:6; Jer. 23:5; Isa. 9:6),
after his work of humiliation and suffering on earth was
“finished.”
in Gen. 14:17; 2 Sam. 18:18, the name given to “the
valley of Shaveh,” where the king of Sodom met
Abram.
books of Kings formed originally but one book in the Hebrew
Scriptures. The present division into two books was first
made by the LXX., which now, with the Vulgate, numbers them
as the third and fourth books of Kings, the two books of
Samuel being the first and second books of Kings.
They contain the annals of the Jewish commonwealth from the
accession of Solomon till the subjugation of the kingdom by
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (apparently a period of
about four hundred and fifty-three years). The books of
Chronicles (q.v.) are more comprehensive in their contents
than those of Kings. The latter synchronize with 1 Chr.
28-2 Chr. 36:21. While in the Chronicles greater prominence
is given to the priestly or Levitical office, in the Kings
greater prominence is given to the kingly.
The authorship of these books is uncertain. There are some
portions of them and of Jeremiah that are almost identical,
e.g., 2 Kings 24:18-25 and Jer. 52; 39:1-10; 40:7-41:10.
There are also many undesigned coincidences between
Jeremiah and Kings (2 Kings 21-23 and Jer. 7:15; 15:4;
19:3, etc.), and events recorded in Kings of which Jeremiah
had personal knowledge. These facts countenance in some
degree the tradition that Jeremiah was the author of the
books of Kings. But the more probable supposition is that
Ezra, after the Captivity, compiled them from documents
written perhaps by David, Solomon, Nathan, Gad, and Iddo,
and that he arranged them in the order in which they now
exist.
In the threefold division of the Scriptures by the Jews,
these books are ranked among the “Prophets.” They
are frequently quoted or alluded to by our Lord and his
apostles (Matt. 6:29; 12:42; Luke 4:25, 26; 10:4; comp. 2
Kings 4:29; Mark 1:6; comp. 2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4, etc.).
The sources of the narrative are referred to (1) “the
book of the acts of Solomon” (1 Kings 11:41); (2) the
“book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah”
(14:29; 15:7, 23, etc.); (3) the “book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel” (14:19; 15:31;
16:14, 20, 27, etc.).
The date of its composition was some time between B.C. 561,
the date of the last chapter (2 Kings 25), when Jehoiachin
was released from captivity by Evil-merodach, and B.C. 538,
the date of the decree of deliverance by Cyrus.
Kinsman – Heb. goel, from root
meaning to redeem. The goel among the Hebrews was the
nearest male blood relation alive. Certain important
obligations devolved upon him toward his next of kin. (1.)
If any one from poverty was unable to redeem his
inheritance, it was the duty of the kinsman to redeem it
(Lev. 25:25,28; Ruth 3:9, 12). He was also required to
redeem his relation who had sold himself into slavery (Lev.
25:48, 49).
God is the Goel of his people because he redeems them (Ex.
6:6; Isa. 43:1; 41:14; 44:6, 22; 48:20; Ps. 103:4; Job
19:25, etc.).
(2.) The goel also was the avenger (q.v.) of blood (Num.
35:21) in the case of the murder of the next of kin.
Kir – a wall or fortress, a place
to which Tiglath-pileser carried the Syrians captive after
he had taken the city of Damascus (2 Kings 16:9; Amos 1:5;
9:7). Isaiah (22:6), who also was contemporary with these
events, mentions it along with Elam. Some have supposed
that Kir is a variant of Cush (Susiana), on the south of
Elam.
Kir-haraseth – built fortress, a
city and fortress of Moab, the modern Kerak, a small town
on the brow of a steep hill about 6 miles from Rabbath-Moab
and 10 miles from the Dead Sea; called also Kir-haresh,
Kir-hareseth, Kir-heres (Isa. 16:7, 11; Jer. 48:31, 36).
After the death of Ahab, Mesha, king of Moab (see MOABITE
STONE ¯T0002586), threw off allegiance to the king of
Israel, and fought successfully for the independence of his
kingdom. After this Jehoram, king of Israel, in seeking to
regain his supremacy over Moab, entered into an alliance
with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and with the king of Edom.
The three kings led their armies against Mesha, who was
driven back to seek refuge in Kir-haraseth. The Moabites
were driven to despair. Mesha then took his eldest son, who
would have reigned in his stead, and offered him as a
burnt-offering on the wall of the fortress in the sight of
the allied armies. “There was great indignation
against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to
their own land.” The invaders evacuated the land of
Moab, and Mesha achieved the independence of his country (2
Kings 3:20-27).
Kirjath – city, a city belonging
to Benjamin (Josh. 18:28), the modern Kuriet el-‘Enab,
i.e., “city of grapes”, about 7 1/2 miles
west-north-west of Jerusalem.
Kirjathaim – two cities; a double
city. (1.) A city of refuge in Naphtali (1 Chr. 6:76).
(2.) A town on the east of Jordan (Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:9,
10). It was assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37).
In the time of Ezekiel (25:9) it was one of the four cities
which formed the “glory of Moab” (comp. Jer.
48:1, 23). It has been identified with el-Kureiyat, 11
miles south-west of Medeba, on the south slope of Jebel
Attarus, the ancient Ataroth.
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