Ishi - my husband, a symbolical name used in Hos. 2:16
Ishmael settled in the land of Paran, a region lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai; and "God was with him, and he became a great archer" (Gen. 21:9-21). He became a great desert chief, but of his history little is recorded. He was about ninety years of age when his father Abraham died, in connection with whose burial he once more for a moment reappears. On this occasion the two brothers met after being long separated. "Isaac with his hundreds of household slaves, Ishmael with his troops of wild retainers and half-savage allies, in all the state of a Bedouin prince, gathered before the cave of Machpelah, in the midst of the men of Heth, to pay the last duties to the 'father of the faithful,' would make a notable subject for an artist" (Gen. 25:9). Of the after events of his life but little is known. He died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven years, but where and when are unknown (25:17). He had twelve sons, who became the founders of so many Arab tribes or colonies, the Ishmaelites, who spread over the wide desert spaces of Northern Arabia from the Red Sea to the Euphrates (Gen. 37:25, 27, 28; 39:1), "their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them."
(2.) The son of Nethaniah, "of the seed royal" (Jer. 40:8, 15). He plotted against Gedaliah, and treacherously put him and others to death. He carried off many captives, "and departed to go over to the Ammonites."
(2.) Son of Obadiah, and viceroy of Zebulun under David and Solomon (1 Chr. 27:19).
Ishmeelites - (Gen. 37:28; 39:1, A.V.) should be "Ishmaelites," as in the Revised Version.
This name Israel is sometimes used emphatically for the true Israel (Ps. 73:1: Isa. 45:17; 49:3; John 1:47; Rom. 9:6; 11:26).
After the death of Saul the ten tribes arrogated to themselves this name, as if they were the whole nation (2 Sam. 2:9, 10, 17, 28; 3:10, 17; 19:40-43), and the kings of the ten tribes were called "kings of Israel," while the kings of the two tribes were called "kings of Judah."
After the Exile the name Israel was assumed as designating the entire nation.
Extent of the kingdom. In the time of Solomon the area of Palestine, excluding the Phoenician territories on the shore of the Mediterranean, did not much exceed 13,000 square miles. The kingdom of Israel comprehended about 9,375 square miles. Shechem was the first capital of this kingdom (1 Kings 12:25), afterwards Tirza (14:17). Samaria was subsequently chosen as the capital (16:24), and continued to be so till the destruction of the kingdom by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:5). During the siege of Samaria (which lasted for three years) by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser died and was succeeded by Sargon, who himself thus records the capture of that city: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" (2 Kings 17:6) into Assyria. Thus after a duration of two hundred and fifty-three years the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end. They were scattered throughout the East.
"Judah held its ground against Assyria for yet one hundred and twenty-three years, and became the rallying-point of the dispersed of every tribe, and eventually gave its name to the whole race. Those of the people who in the last struggle escaped into the territories of Judah or other neighbouring countries naturally looked to Judah as the head and home of their race. And when Judah itself was carried off to Babylon, many of the exiled Israelites joined them from Assyria, and swelled that immense population which made Babylonia a second Palestine."
After the deportation of the ten tribes, the deserted land was colonized by various eastern tribes, whom the king of Assyria sent thither (Ezra 4:2, 10; 2 Kings 17:24-29).
In contrast with the kingdom of Judah is that of Israel. (1.) "There was no fixed capital and no religious centre. (2.) The army was often insubordinate. (3.) The succession was constantly interrupted, so that out of nineteen kings there were no less than nine dynasties, each ushered in by a revolution. (4.) The authorized priests left the kingdom in a body, and the priesthood established by Jeroboam had no divine sanction and no promise; it was corrupt at its very source." (Maclean's O. T. Hist.)
Issachar, Tribe of, during the journey through the wilderness, along with Judah and Zebulun (Num. 2:5), marched on the east of the tabernacle. This tribe contained 54,400 fighting men when the census was taken at Sinai. After the entrance into the Promised Land, this tribe was one of the six which stood on Gerizim during the ceremony of the blessing and cursing (Deut. 27:12). The allotment of Issachar is described in Josh. 19:17-23. It included the plain of Esdraelon (=Jezreel), which was and still is the richest portion of Palestine (Deut. 33:18, 19; 1 Chr. 12:40).
The prophetic blessing pronounced by Jacob on Issachar corresponds with that of Moses (Gen. 49:14, 15; comp. Deut. 33:18, 19).
Ithrite - two of David's warriors so designated (2 Sam. 23:38; 1 Chr. 11:40).
(2.) A native of Gath, a Philistine, who had apparently the command of the six hundred heroes who formed David's band during his wanderings (2 Sam. 15:19-22; comp. 1 Sam. 23:13; 27:2; 30:9, 10). He is afterwards with David at Mahanaim, holding in the army equal rank with Joab and Abishai (2 Sam. 18:2, 5, 12). He then passes from view.
Izhar - oil, one of the sons of Kohath, and grandson of Levi (Ex. 6:18, 21; Num. 16:1).
Izrahite - the designation of one of David's officers (1 Chr. 27:8).
Jaakan - he twists, one of the sons of Ezer, the son of Seir the Horite (1 Chr. 1:42).
Jaakobah - heel-catcher, a form of the name Jacob, one of the descendants of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:36).
Jaalam - concealer, the second of Esau's three sons by Aholibamah (Gen. 36:5, 14).
Jaanai - mourner, one of the chief Gadites (1 Chr. 5:12).
Jaasau - fabricator, an Israelite who renounced his Gentile wife after the Return (Ezra 10:37).
(2.) The son of Shaphan (Ezek. 8:11).
(3.) The son of Azur, one of the twenty-five men seen by Ezekiel (11:1) at the east gate of the temple.
(4.) A Maachathite (2 Kings 25:23; Jer. 40:8; 42:1). He is also called Azariah (Jer. 43:2).
Jaaziah - comforted by Jehovah, a descendant of Merari the Levite (1 Chr. 24:26,27).
Jaaziel - comforted by God, a Levitical musician (1 Chr. 15:18).
Jabesh - dry. (1.) For Jabesh-Gilead (1 Sam. 11:3,9,10).
(2.) The father of Shallum (2 Kings 15:10, 13, 14), who usurped the throne of Israel on the death of Zachariah.
This city was afterwards taken by Nahash, king of the Ammonites, but was delivered by Saul, the newly-elected king of Israel. In gratitude for this deliverance, forty years after this, the men of Jabesh-Gilead took down the bodies of Saul and of his three sons from the walls of Beth-shan, and after burning them, buried the bones under a tree near the city (1 Sam. 31:11-13). David thanked them for this act of piety (2 Sam. 2:4-6), and afterwards transferred the remains to the royal sepulchre (21:14). It is identified with the ruins of ed-Deir, about 6 miles south of Pella, on the north of the Wady Yabis.
(2.) A place inhabited by several families of the scribes (1 Chr. 2:55).
(2.) Another king of Hazor, called "the king of Canaan," who overpowered the Israelites of the north one hundred and sixty years after Joshua's death, and for twenty years held them in painful subjection. The whole population were paralyzed with fear, and gave way to hopeless despondency (Judg. 5:6-11), till Deborah and Barak aroused the national spirit, and gathering together ten thousand men, gained a great and decisive victory over Jabin in the plain of Esdraelon (Judg. 4:10-16; comp. Ps. 83:9). This was the first great victory Israel had gained since the days of Joshua. They never needed to fight another battle with the Canaanites (Judg. 5:31).
(2.) A town on the border of Naphtali (Josh. 19:33). Its later name was Kefr Yemmah, "the village by the sea," on the south shore of Lake Merom.
Jabneh - building, (2 Chr. 26:6), identical with Jabneel (Josh. 15:11).
Jachan - mourner, one of the chief Gadite "brothers" in Bashan (1 Chr. 5:13).
Jachin - firm. (1.) The fourth son of Simeon (Gen. 46:10), called also Jarib (1 Chr. 4:24).
(2.) The head of one of the courses (the twenty-first) of priests (1 Chr. 24:17).
(3.) One of the priests who returned from the Exile (1 Chr. 9:10).
When Isaac was about 160 years of age, Jacob and his mother conspired to deceive the aged patriarch (Gen. 27), with the view of procuring the transfer of the birthright to himself. The birthright secured to him who possessed it (1) superior rank in his family (Gen. 49:3); (2) a double portion of the paternal inheritance (Deut. 21:17); (3) the priestly office in the family (Num. 8:17-19); and (4) the promise of the Seed in which all nations of the earth were to be blessed (Gen. 22:18).
Soon after his acquisition of his father's blessing (Gen. 27), Jacob became conscious of his guilt; and afraid of the anger of Esau, at the suggestion of Rebekah Isaac sent him away to Haran, 400 miles or more, to find a wife among his cousins, the family of Laban, the Syrian (28). There he met with Rachel (29). Laban would not consent to give him his daughter in marriage till he had served seven years; but to Jacob these years "seemed but a few days, for the love he had to her." But when the seven years were expired, Laban craftily deceived Jacob, and gave him his daughter Leah. Other seven years of service had to be completed probably before he obtained the beloved Rachel. But "life-long sorrow, disgrace, and trials, in the retributive providence of God, followed as a consequence of this double union."
At the close of the fourteen years of service, Jacob desired to return to his parents, but at the entreaty of Laban he tarried yet six years with him, tending his flocks (31:41). He then set out with his family and property "to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan" (Gen. 31). Laban was angry when he heard that Jacob had set out on his journey, and pursued after him, overtaking him in seven days. The meeting was of a painful kind. After much recrimination and reproach directed against Jacob, Laban is at length pacified, and taking an affectionate farewell of his daughters, returns to his home in Padanaram. And now all connection of the Israelites with Mesopotamia is at an end.
Soon after parting with Laban he is met by a company of angels, as if to greet him on his return and welcome him back to the Land of Promise (32:1, 2). He called the name of the place Mahanaim, i.e., "the double camp," probably his own camp and that of the angels. The vision of angels was the counterpart of that he had formerly seen at Bethel, when, twenty years before, the weary, solitary traveller, on his way to Padan-aram, saw the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder whose top reached to heaven (28:12).
He now hears with dismay of the approach of his brother Esau with a band of 400 men to meet him. In great agony of mind he prepares for the worst. He feels that he must now depend only on God, and he betakes himself to him in earnest prayer, and sends on before him a munificent present to Esau, "a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob." Jacob's family were then transported across the Jabbok; but he himself remained behind, spending the night in communion with God. While thus engaged, there appeared one in the form of a man who wrestled with him. In this mysterious contest Jacob prevailed, and as a memorial of it his name was changed to Israel (wrestler with God); and the place where this occured he called Peniel, "for", said he, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (32:25-31).
After this anxious night, Jacob went on his way, halting, mysteriously weakened by the conflict, but strong in the assurance of the divine favour. Esau came forth and met him; but his spirit of revenge was appeased, and the brothers met as friends, and during the remainder of their lives they maintained friendly relations. After a brief sojourn at Succoth, Jacob moved forward and pitched his tent near Shechem (q.v.), 33:18; but at length, under divine directions, he moved to Bethel, where he made an altar unto God (35:6,7), and where God appeared to him and renewed the Abrahamic covenant. While journeying from Bethel to Ephrath (the Canaanitish name of Bethlehem), Rachel died in giving birth to her second son Benjamin (35:16-20), fifteen or sixteen years after the birth of Joseph. He then reached the old family residence at Mamre, to wait on the dying bed of his father Isaac. The complete reconciliation between Esau and Jacob was shown by their uniting in the burial of the patriarch (35:27-29).
Jacob was soon after this deeply grieved by the loss of his beloved son Joseph through the jealousy of his brothers (37:33). Then follows the story of the famine, and the successive goings down into Egypt to buy corn (42), which led to the discovery of the long-lost Joseph, and the patriarch's going down with all his household, numbering about seventy souls (Ex. 1:5; Deut. 10:22; Acts 7:14), to sojourn in the land of Goshen. Here Jacob, "after being strangely tossed about on a very rough ocean, found at last a tranquil harbour, where all the best affections of his nature were gently exercised and largely unfolded" (Gen. 48). At length the end of his checkered course draws nigh, and he summons his sons to his bedside that he may bless them. Among his last words he repeats the story of Rachel's death, although forty years had passed away since that event took place, as tenderly as if it had happened only yesterday; and when "he had made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost" (49:33). His body was embalmed and carried with great pomp into the land of Canaan, and buried beside his wife Leah in the cave of Machpelah, according to his dying charge. There, probably, his embalmed body remains to this day (50:1-13).
The history of Jacob is referred to by the prophets Hosea (12:3, 4, 12) and Malachi (1:2). In Micah 1:5 the name is a poetic synonym for Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes. There are, besides the mention of his name along with those of the other patriarchs, distinct references to events of his life in Paul's epistles (Rom. 9:11-13; Heb. 12:16; 11:21). See references to his vision at Bethel and his possession of land at Shechem in John 1:51; 4:5, 12; also to the famine which was the occasion of his going down into Egypt in Acts 7:12 (See LUZ ¯T0002335;
"Unfortunately, the well of Jacob has not escaped that misplaced religious veneration which cannot be satisfied with leaving the object of it as it is, but must build over it a shrine to protect and make it sacred. A series of buildings of various styles, and of different ages, have cumbered the ground, choked up the well, and disfigured the natural beauty and simplicity of the spot. At present the rubbish in the well has been cleared out; but there is still a domed structure over it, and you gaze down the shaft cut in the living rock and see at a depth of 70 feet the surface of the water glimmering with a pale blue light in the darkness, while you notice how the limestone blocks that form its curb have been worn smooth, or else furrowed by the ropes of centuries" (Hugh Macmillan).
At the entrance of the enclosure round the well is planted in the ground one of the wooden poles that hold the telegraph wires between Jerusalem and Haifa.
Jaddua - known. (1.) One of the chiefs who subscribed the covenant (Neh. 10:21).
(2.) The last high priest mentioned in the Old Testament (Neh. 12:11, 22), sons of Jonathan.
Jadon - judge, a Meronothite who assisted in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:7).
Jagur - place of sojourn, a city on the southern border of Judah (Josh. 15:21).
Jah - a contraction for Jehovah (Ps. 68:4).
Jahath - union. (1.) A son of Shimei, and grandson of Gershom (1 Chr. 23:10).
(2.) One of the sons of Shelomoth, of the family of Kohath (1 Chr. 24:22).
(3.) A Levite of the family of Merari, one of the overseers of the repairs of the temple under Josiah (2 Chr. 34:12).
Jahaziel - beheld by God. (1.) The third son of Hebron (1 Chr. 23:19).
(2.) A Benjamite chief who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:4).
(3.) A priest who accompanied the removal of the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chr. 16:6).
(4.) The son of Zechariah, a Levite of the family of Asaph (2 Chr. 20:14-17). He encouraged Jehoshaphat against the Moabites and Ammonites.
Jahdai - grasper, a descendant of Caleb, of the family of Hezron (1 Chr. 2:47).
Jahzeel - allotted by God, the first of the sons of Naphtali (Gen. 46:24).
Jahzerah - returner, the son of Meshullam, and father of Adiel (1 Chr. 9:12).
(2.) The eighth judge of Israel, which he ruled for twenty-two years. His opulence is described in Judg. 10:3-5. He had thirty sons, each riding on "ass colts." They had possession of thirty of the sixty cities (1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chr. 2:23) which formed the ancient Havoth-jair.
(3.) A Benjamite, the father of Mordecai, Esther's uncle (Esther 2:5).
(4.) The father of Elhanan, who slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath (1 Chr. 20:5).
Jakeh - pious, the father of Agur (Prov. 30:1). Nothing is known of him.
Jakim - establisher. (1.) Chief of the twelfth priestly order (1 Chr. 24:12).
(2.) A Benjamite (1 Chr. 8:19).
(3.) Margin in Matt. 1:11 means Jehoiakim.
Jalon - lodger, the last of the four sons of Ezra, of the tribe of Judah (1 Chr. 4:17).
Jambres - one of those who opposed Moses in Egypt (2 Tim. 3:8).
(2.) The son of Alphaeus, or Cleopas, "the brother" or near kinsman or cousin of our Lord (Gal. 1:18, 19), called James "the Less," or "the Little," probably because he was of low stature. He is mentioned along with the other apostles (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). He had a separate interview with our Lord after his resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7), and is mentioned as one of the apostles of the circumcision (Acts 1:13). He appears to have occupied the position of head of the Church at Jerusalem, where he presided at the council held to consider the case of the Gentiles (Acts 12:17; 15:13-29: 21:18-24). This James was the author of the epistle which bears his name.
(2.) It was addressed to the Jews of the dispersion, "the twelve tribes scattered abroad."
(3.) The place and time of the writing of the epistle were Jerusalem, where James was residing, and, from internal evidence, the period between Paul's two imprisonments at Rome, probably about A.D. 62.
(4.) The object of the writer was to enforce the practical duties of the Christian life. "The Jewish vices against which he warns them are, formalism, which made the service of God consist in washings and outward ceremonies, whereas he reminds them (1:27) that it consists rather in active love and purity; fanaticism, which, under the cloak of religious zeal, was tearing Jerusalem in pieces (1:20); fatalism, which threw its sins on God (1:13); meanness, which crouched before the rich (2:2); falsehood, which had made words and oaths play-things (3:2-12); partisanship (3:14); evil speaking (4:11); boasting (4:16); oppression (5:4). The great lesson which he teaches them as Christians is patience, patience in trial (1:2), patience in good works (1:22-25), patience under provocation (3:17), patience under oppression (5:7), patience under persecution (5:10); and the ground of their patience is that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, which is to right all wrong (5:8)."
"Justification by works," which James contends for, is justification before man, the justification of our profession of faith by a consistent life. Paul contends for the doctrine of "justification by faith;" but that is justification before God, a being regarded and accepted as just by virtue of the righteousness of Christ, which is received by faith.
Jannes - one of the Egyptians who "withstood Moses" (2 Tim. 3:8).
(2.) A town of Northern Palestine, within the boundaries of Naphtali. It was taken by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 15:29).
Janum - slumber, a town in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:53).
After the Flood the earth was re-peopled by the descendants of Noah, "the sons of Japheth" (Gen. 10:2), "the sons of Ham" (6), and "the sons of Shem" (22). It is important to notice that modern ethnological science, reasoning from a careful analysis of facts, has arrived at the conclusion that there is a three-fold division of the human family, corresponding in a remarkable way with the great ethnological chapter of the book of Genesis (10). The three great races thus distinguished are called the Semitic, Aryan, and Turanian (Allophylian). "Setting aside the cases where the ethnic names employed are of doubtful application, it cannot reasonably be questioned that the author [of Gen. 10] has in his account of the sons of Japheth classed together the Cymry or Celts (Gomer), the Medes (Madai), and the Ionians or Greeks (Javan), thereby anticipating what has become known in modern times as the 'Indo-European Theory,' or the essential unity of the Aryan (Asiatic) race with the principal races of Europe, indicated by the Celts and the Ionians. Nor can it be doubted that he has thrown together under the one head of 'children of Shem' the Assyrians (Asshur), the Syrians (Aram), the Hebrews (Eber), and the Joktanian Arabs (Joktan), four of the principal races which modern ethnology recognizes under the heading of 'Semitic.' Again, under the heading of 'sons of Ham,' the author has arranged 'Cush', i.e., the Ethiopians; 'Mizraim,' the people of Egypt; 'Sheba and Dedan,' or certain of the Southern Arabs; and 'Nimrod,' or the ancient people of Babylon, four races between which the latest linguistic researches have established a close affinity" (Rawlinson's Hist. Illustrations).
(2.) One of the sons of David (2 Sam. 5:15), born in Jerusalem.
(3.) A town in the southern boundary of Zebulum (Josh. 19:12); now Yafa, 2 miles south-west of Nazareth.
(2.) A son of Ezra probably (1 Chr. 4:18).
Jarib - an adversary. (1.) A son of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:24).
(2.) One of the chiefs sent by Ezra to bring up the priests to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:16).
(3.) Ezra 10:18.
(2.) A Levitical city of the tribe of Issachar (Josh. 21:29), supposed by some to be the Ramah of Samuel (1 Sam. 19:22).
(2.) Ezra 10:29.
Jattir - pre-eminent, a city in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:48; 21:14).
(2.) A town or district of Arabia Felix, from which the Syrians obtained iron, cassia, and calamus (Ezek. 27:19).
Javelin - (1.) Heb. hanith, a lance, from its flexibility (1 Sam. 18:10, 11; 19:9, 10; 20:33).
(2.) Heb. romah, a lance for heavy-armed troops, so called from its piercing (Num. 25:7).
Jearim - forests, a mountain on the border of Judah (Josh. 15:10).
Jecoliah - able through Jehovah, the wife of King Amaziah, and mother of King Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:3).
Jedaiah - (1.) Invoker of Jehovah. The son of Shimri, a chief Simeonite (1 Chr. 4:37).
(2.) One of those who repaired the walls of Jerusalem after the return from Babylon (Neh. 3:10).
(3.) Knowing Jehovah. The chief of one of the courses of the priests (1 Chr. 24:7).
(4.) A priest in Jerusalem after the Exile (1 Chr. 9:10).
(2.) A Shimrite, one of David's bodyguard (1 Chr. 11:45). Probably same as in 12:20.
(3.) A Korhite of the family of Ebiasaph, and one of the gate-keepers to the temple (1 Chr. 26:2).
Jehaleleel - praiser of God. (1.) A descendant of Judah (1 Chr. 4:16).
(2.) A Levite of the family of Merari (2 Chr. 29:12).