JABBOK. A major river in Transjordan, identified with Nahr ez-Zerqa, a tributary that enters the Jordan River c. halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Here Jacob brings his family into safety before his meeting with Esau (Gen 32). Later it was considered the northern border of the territories that were awarded the tribes of Reuben and Gad after the victory over Sihon (Deut 3:16).
JABESH. A city in Gilead of importance to Israel’s early history. In the Period of Judges, the men from Jabesh did not participate in the campaign against Benjamin. As punishment, every person in the city apart from the virgins were killed and the maidens given to the surviving Benjaminites (Judg 21:7-14). Later Saul came to their assistance when the Ammonites besieged Jabesh (1 Sam 11:1-11). The people of Jabesh paid the debt because of the help from Saul as they took his body from the walls of Beth-Shan and buried his bones at Jabesh (1 Sam 31:11-13).
Jabesh is normally located somewhere alongside the Wadi el-Yabis in Transjordan that has preserved the name.
JABIN. A King of Hazor who rallied the Canaanites against Joshua and the Israelites. His coalition included the kings of Galilee, and the kings of the Jordan Valley south of Lake Kinneret, but also the northern part of the coastal plain. The battle took place at the Waters of Merom but was a lost cause for the Canaanites. Following his victory, Joshua conquered Hazor and burned it to the ground (Josh 11). This tradition from Israel’s past may be in conflict with the narrative in Judges 4 about Deborah’s and Barak’s victory over a Canaanite coalition headed by Sisera, “the captain” of Jabin’s army (Judg 4:2). Since Sisera is the principal enemy of the story of Judges 4-5, it is sometimes asserted that Jabin is an intruder in this text.
JACOB. The third patriarch and the son of Isaac and Rebecca, and the brother of Esau. Jacob was the father of twelve sons, the apical ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. He also fathered a daughter, Dinah. Jacob’s importance for the biblical tradition is evident. After having wrestled with God/the angel of God (Gen 32:23-30), he was accorded the name of “Israel,” because he fought against God and was victorious—a word play on the popular interpretation of the name of Israel.
The traditions about Jacob are mainly found in the complex of narratives that goes from Genesis 25 to Genesis 36, although Jacob also has a role to play in the Joseph novella (Gen 37-50). The Jacob tradition opens when Jacob was born as a twin, the younger brother of Esau who treacherously lost his right as the firstborn to Jacob (Gen 25:19-34), and it comes to its first conclusion when he returned from his exile in Mesopotamia and reunited with his family. The first part of the tradition narrates how Jacob was forced to leave his country after having cheated Esau. In Mesopotamia he found a new family in the house of Laban, his mother’s brother, and here he married the two daughters of Laban, Rachel and Leah. The second part of the Jacob tradition has him moving back to Canaan as a very rich man reconciled with his brother. In the center of the Jacob tradition stands the narrative about the birth of his sons (Gen 29:31-30:24, with an appendix on Benjamin’s birth and Rachel’s death in Gen 35:16-20). In the Joseph Novella, Jacob appears mostly in the role of the old father. The initiative is left to his sons. Jacob ended up in Egypt, where he died, but his body was brought back to Hebron and buried in the cave acquired by Abraham (Gen 50).
The story about Jacob is an artful and highly literary narrative built up as a kind of “ring composition,” ending very much in the same way as it started. In the beginning of the narrative, Jacob breaks with his father and brother; at the end they are all reconciled. In the beginning, God appears in front of the sleeping Jacob and promises him a safe journey and return (Gen 28:10-22), and toward the end of the story God approaches Jacob, seemingly with less friendly intentions (Gen 32:23-30).
Generally, modern readings of the Jacob narratives pay little attention to its value as a historical source but are more interested in its literary meanings. Formerly, scholars used to link events in the narratives to episodes in Israel’s historical past. Thus the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau (Gen 33) was seen as a reflection on peaceful coexistence in Transjordan between Israelite and Edomite tribes in the days of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Mostly the Old Testament let Jacob have a very high standing among its heroes. However, a different image of Jacob appears in the Book of Hoshea (Hoshea 12) where he is blamed for his moral conduct. In spite of this, it is the general opinion that Jacob was truly the heros eponymos of the Kingdom of Israel in ancient times. Thus, the name of Jacob is sometimes used—for example, in prophetic literature—in biblical books as a second name of this kingdom.
JAEL. A Kenite woman, who after the battle between the Israelites and the Canaanites at the Brook of Kishon, killed the fleeing Canaanite general Sisera when he rested in her tent (Judg 4:17-22). For this deed she is praised in the Song of Deborah (Judg 5:24-27).
JAFO. Joppa in the New Testament, modern Jaffa. A city on the Mediterranean coast, located at the southern end of modern Tel Aviv. Mentioned in Egyptian documents of the New Kingdom, when Thutmose conquered the city c. 1500 B.C.E., and again in the Amarna Letters. Although said to be in the territory of Dan (Josh 19:46), Jafo was not an Israelite or Judean city but evidently populated by the Philistines. It was conquered by Sennacherib in 701 B.C.E. during his campaign against Hezekiah of Judah. According to an inscription from Sidon, in the sixth century B.C.E. the city was donated by the king of Persia to Eshmunezer, the king of Sidon. In the Old Testament prophetic Book of Jonah, it is narrated how the prophet Jonah fled by ship from Jafo.
JAIR. A judge in Israel, from Gilead, who functioned for 22 years (Judg 10:3-5). He belongs to the list of five judges (Judg 10:1-5; 12:8-15) who together judged Israel for 70 years but left no records about their exploits.
JARMUTH. A Canaanite city that participated in the coalition headed by the king of Jerusalem against Joshua (Josh 10). It is normally located at Tel Jarmuth, 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem. It was part of the tribal territory of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:35). A second Jarmuth was located within the confines of Issa-char but considered a city of the Levites (Josh 21:29). Although it is mentioned in an Egyptian inscription of Sety I (c. 1294-1279 B.C.E.) as located in the vicinity of Beth-Shan, its present location is unknown.
JAVAN. The Hebrew rendering of Greek Ionian, in the Old Testament one of the sons of Japheth (Gen 10:2). See also GREEKS.
JEBUS, JEBUSITES. According to the Old Testament, Jebus is the old name of Jerusalem, and the Jebusites its inhabitants. The Jebusites belonged among the pre-Israelite nations of Canaan (Gen 15:21) and according to the traditions of the Old Testament they lived traditionally in the central highlands of Palestine. The identification of Jebus with Jerusalem is, however, a problematic one. Every document from the ancient Near East that refers to Jerusalem lists the city as Jerusalem. Thus in the Amarna Letters, Jerusalem is called Urusalimmu. There is no evidence of Jebus and the Jebusites outside of the Old Testament. Some scholars reckon Jebus to be a different place from Jerusalem; other scholars prefer to see the name of Jebus as a kind of pseudo-ethnic name without any historical background.
JEHOAHAZ, JOAHAZ. The name of a king of Israel and a king of Judah.
1. The son of Jehu and king of Israel (815-799 B.C.E.). The Old Testament describes his period as a low point in the history of Israel, when Hazael of Damascus had almost crushed Israel and only a vestige of its former greatness was left. The story about the Aramaean siege of Samaria (1 Kgs 20), which the Old Testament places in the reign of Ahab, may describe events in the time of Jehoahaz.
2. The son of Josiah, king of Judah 609 B.C.E. He reigned for only three months before being dethroned by Necho and imprisoned in Egypt, where he died (2 Kgs 23:30-34). He was also called Shallum (Jer 22:11).
JEHOASH, JOASH. The name of a number of persons in the Old Testament, including a king of Judah and one of Israel.
1. Jehoash the Abiezrite, an influential man from Manasseh and the father of the judge Gideon (Judg 6:11).
2. Jehoash, king of Judah (c. 836-797 B.C.E.) and only surviving son of Ahaziah of Judah. The infant Jehoash was spared the fate of his family, which Queen Athaliah wiped out after the death of her son, Ahaziah. He was hidden from Athaliah within the temple complex in Jerusalem (see Temple, temple of Jerusalem). The high priest Jehoiada, who had directed the revolt against Athaliah, brought him from the temple and presented him to the people and had him elected as king of Judah (2 Kgs 11). The only events of importance from his reign narrated by the Old Testament include the repair of the temple of Jerusalem and his tribute to Hazael of Damascus who had attacked Judah but spared the city of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 12). Joash was assassinated by his own people.
3. Jehoash, king of Israel (799-784 B.C.E.), the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu. In his time, the fortunes of war between Israel and Damascus changed when the Assyrians conquered Damascus c. 800 B.C.E., and Jehoash succeeded in recovering parts of the territories lost to Damascus (2 Kgs 13:22-25). When Amaziah of Judah challenged Jehoash, Jehoash defeated the Judean forces at Beth-Shemesh and went on to plunder the temple of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 14:8-14).
JEHOIACHIN. The son and successor of Jehoiakim. He had only reigned for three months when the Babylonians (see Assyria and Babylonia) conquered Jerusalem in 597 B.C.E. and carried the young king away to a lifelong exile in Mesopotamia (2 Kgs 24:817). After the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 B.C.E., Jehoiachin was released from the prison and lived at the Babylonian court (2 Kgs 25:27-30). Babylonian documents show that his prison may have been a kind of “golden cage,” where the royal family of Judah was kept under relatively comfortable conditions.
JEHOIADA. The high priest of Yahweh at the temple of Jerusalem. Jehoiada organized the revolt against Queen Athaliah who had eliminated the royal house of the Kingdom of Judah—except the infant Jehoash and promoted the election of the seven-year-old Jehoash—the last surviving prince of David’s line—to be king of Judah (2 Kgs 11).
JEHOIAKIM. The son of Josiah who was placed on the throne of Judah by Pharaoh Necho, who had arrested his brother and brought him to Egypt. Necho also ordered the name of the king changed from Eliakim to Jehoiakim, who was obligated to pay a heavy tribute to Egypt (2 Kgs 24:33-35). Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years (609-598 B.C.E). Following Nebuchadnezzar’s victory over the Egyptians in 605 B.C.E., Jehoiakim was forced to submit to the Babylonians but he soon revolted. As a consequence, Nebuchadnezzar moved against Judah and Jerusalem and conquered the city in 597 B.C.E. By that time Jehoiakim had died. The Old Testament has little good to say about Jehoiakim, who is also described as the adversary and tormentor of the prophet Jeremiah.
JEHORAM, JORAM. The name of a king of Israel and a king of Judah.
1. Joram, king of Israel 853-842 B.C.E. He succeeded his brother Ahaziah on the throne (2 Kgs 3:1). In alliance with Jehoshaphat of Judah, he conducted a campaign against Mesha of Moab (2 Kgs 3). He died at Megiddo from the wound he received from Jehu (2 Kgs 9:24).
2. King of Judah c. 849-842 B.C.E., the son of Jehoshaphat. Married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab (2 Kgs 8:16-24.26). In his time Edom rejected the yoke of Judah and liberated Tibna.
It has been proposed that these two Jehorams are as a matter of fact one and the same person, a theory not without foundation, the confusing information in the Old Testament about the kings of this period taken into consideration.
JEHOSHAPHAT. King of Judah, 974-850 B.C.E. Jehoshaphat, and his father Asa, are praised by the historiographers of the Old Testament but little in the way of real information has been preserved from his time, except that his trade enterprise out of Ezion-geber met with little success (1 Kgs 22:41-50).
JEHU. King of Israel 842-815 B.C.E. Jehu, the son of Nimshi, was an Israelite general who was anointed king by a prophet sent out to Ramoth-Gilead by Elisha. He returned to Jezreel where he killed King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah, Jezebel, the queen of Ahab, as well as the royal family of Israel and a number of Judean princes (2 Kgs 9-10). His period was one of decline for Israelite power. The alliance between a series of Syrian and Palestinian states that fought successfully against the Assyrians at Qarqar in 853 B.C.E. soon broke down and fierce competition broke out between its members, especially Israel and Damascus, now ruled by Hazael. When the Assyrians attacked Damascus (841 B.C.E.), Jehu submitted to Assyrian power and paid tribute, an event not recorded by the Old Testament but presented on a famous inscription of Shalmaneser III (858-823 B.C.E.) that also carries a portrait of Jehu, the son of Omri (meaning Israel). In spite of his political problems, Jehu founded a dynasty that was to last for almost a hundred years.
JEHU, THE SON OF HANANI. A prophet from the time of Baasha who prophesied about the downfall of the house of Baasha (1 Kgs 16:1-4). In the Books of Chronicles, the chronicles of Jehu is supposed to be one of the sources of knowledge about King Jehoshaphat of Judah (2 Chron 20:34).
JEHU, DYNASTY. The royal house of the Kingdom of Israel that ruled the country from c. 842-752 B.C.E. The kings belonging to this dynasty were Jehu, Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah. Jehu, the founder of the dynasty, inherited a politically mighty and economically affluent country but in his time most of the former glory of Israel vanished in fights for survival against the Aramaeans from Damascus who stripped Israel of most of its possessions east of the Jordan River. The latter part of the rule of the House of Jehu witnessed a certain restoration of Israelite power, especially in the days of Jeroboam II when Israel returned to a state of relative, if short-lived, prosperity.
JEPHTHAH. A judge in Israel whose office lasted for six years (Judg 11). Jephthah, a man from Gilead and an outlaw and head of a gang of highwaymen, was called upon by his fellow countrymen to help them against the Ammonites. Jephthah was victorious but lost his daughter because of a vow to God to sacrifice the first living being of his household to greet him when he returned from the war—a motive for the sacrifice of the child well-known from Greek tradition (Judg 11). Later he led the Gileadites in a war against the Ephraimites that led to the “Shibboleth” incident when fleeing Ephraimites were executed when they failed to pronounce the Hebrew word shibboleth correctly (Judg 12).
JERAHMEEL. Either once an independent tribe or a branch of the tribe of Judah, in the Old Testament considered the brother of Caleb (1 Chron 2:25-29). Their tribal area should be sought in southern Palestine or in the Negeb.
JEREMIAH. The son of Hilkiah, of the priestly family of Anatot. The second among the great prophets of the Old Testament, who, according to the book carrying his name, prophesied in the days of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah of the Kingdom of Judah (Jer 1:2-3). Jeremiah survived the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E.; indeed, he was rescued by the Babylonians from his prison at Nebuchadnezzar’s instruction to Nebuzaradan. He opposed the policies of the last kings of Judah and, while he foresaw the destruction of the city and its temple (Jer 7; 26), he also, on the brink of disaster, redeemed his family possessions at Anatot as a sign that there would be a future for his people in spite of the impending national disaster (Jer 32). After the fall of Jerusalem, he was entertained by the Babylonian governor Gedaliah, but after Gedaliah’s death he was forced by other Judeans to seek refuge in Egypt. His book is generally considered a firsthand source of information about the last years of the Kingdom of Judah. It is, however, a problem that he, although he should have begun his office in 626 B.C.E. (Jer 1:2), does not mention Josiah’s reform, which according to 2 Kings took place in 623 B.C.E. (2 Kgs 22:3).
JERICHO. An important city and oasis located in the Jordan valley c. 10 kilometers northwest of the Dead Sea. It is located c. 250 meters below sea level in an almost tropical and highly fertile environment. In the Old Testament it is also occasionally called the “City of Palms” (e.g., Deut 34:3). It was conquered by Joshua (Josh 5-6) and totally destroyed. A curse was put on the man who was going to rebuild Jericho that he shall lose his two sons (Josh 6:26), and it falls on Hiel, who in the days of Ahab rebuilt the city (1 Kgs 16:34).
Jericho is located at Tell es-Sultan on the eastern outskirts of the modern city and oasis of Ariha. It was excavated in the 19th century, and again at the beginning of the 20th century. Excavations were resumed during the British mandate and again between 1952 and 1958. On Tell es-Sultan a settlement existed with roots reaching far back into the Mesolithic period (10th millennium B.C.E.). It was continuously inhabited for most of the Stone Age, abandoned sometime in the fourth millennium, but rebuilt in the Early Bronze Age, and after a new hiatus in its settlement again in the Middle Bronze Age. The city was destroyed c. 1550 B.C.E. and not rebuilt before the seventh century B.C.E. The Iron Age settlement was destroyed probably in connection with the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of Judah in 587 B.C.E. The tell was never resettled.
JEROBOAM. The name of two kings of Israel.
1. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the first king of post-Solomonic Israel (932-911 B.C.E.) (1 Kgs 11:26-14:20). Jeroboam was in Solomon’s service but was forced to flee to Egypt where he was received at the court. After Solomon’s death he returned and participated in the meeting at Shechem between Rehoboam and the representatives of the northern tribes. When the negotiations broke down, Jeroboam was elected as king of Israel. Among his acts, the Old Testament sees his installation of the royal worship of golden calves at Bethel and Dan as proof of his wickedness and condemns him as the archetypical bad king. The downfall of his dynasty was foreseen by the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh.
2. Jeroboam II, the son of King Jehoash of the Kingdom of Israel (784-753 B.C.E.). In spite of the negative evaluation of Jeroboam in the Old Testament, he not only reconquered lost parts of the kingdom, but also Damascus and Hamath. In conclusion, his period may represent the last flourishing of the Kingdom of Israel (2 Kgs 14:23-29).
JERUBBAAL. The second name of Gideon. The name includes a play on words. Jerubaal means, according to the Old Testament, “he who fought against Baal,” but according to normal rules for Hebrew names, the true meaning of the name should be “Baal fights” (in favor of the carrier of the name).
JERUSALEM. The capital of David and Solomon, and following the dissolution of their empire, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem belonged to the tribal area of Judah, although the Judeans were not able to conquer it (Josh 15:63; see, however, also Judg 1:8). The city, formerly known as Jebus, was conquered by David and turned into his capital and the center of official religion (2 Sam 5-6). It kept its status, and was even enlarged in the days of Hezekiah, as the center of Judah until it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C.E. Rebuilt during the Persian period, it survived the vagaries of war and peace until 70 C.E., when the Roman army led by the later emperor Titus copied Nebuchadnezzar’s deed from more than 600 years before.
Historically and archaeologically Jerusalem poses a number of problems. It is mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts but at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age was hardly a well-fortified city of notice. It is also mentioned in the Amarna letters. Some letters carry the name of the king of Jerusalem, but so far Jerusalem of the Late Bronze Age has not appeared in the archaeological remains, although Jerusalem has been extensively but at the same time—because it is now a modern densely populated city—sporadically excavated over a period of more than 130 years. Jerusalem of the Empire of David and Solomon also presents a problem as until now very little if anything has emerged from the ground dating to the 10th century B.C.E., conventionally the century of David and Solomon.
Although the dating of discoveries from the 10th and ninth century is the subject of a heavy debate among archaeologists and historians, little speaks in favor of a major city located at Jerusalem at this time. The city began to flourish as a provincial town in the ninth century B.C.E. Its first period of greatness came after Sennacherib’s siege of the city that left it unharmed while at the same time most other Judean cities, including the former important city of Lachish, were destroyed. Hezekiah enlarged the city limits of Jerusalem considerably. It has been estimated that toward the end of the Kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem housed more than 20,000 people (in contrast to the maximal 2,000 of the 10th century B.C.E.). The effects of the Babylonian conquest are easy to recognize not only because of the massive destruction layers dating from this time, but also because of the poor resettlement of the city in the fifth-fourth century B.C.E. Only in the Hellenistic period did Jerusalem regain its former greatness.
JESSE. An Ephratite from Bethlehem, the grandson of the Moabite woman Ruth, and the father of David (1 Sam 16:1; see also Ruth 4:17.22). In his house, the prophet Samuel anointed David to be the future king of Israel (1 Sam 16:1-13).
JETHRO. The priest of Midian, and the father-in-law of Moses (Exod 3:1). Jethro is also called Reuel (Exod 2:18), or Hobab (Jud 4:11). He acted as the advisor of Moses in juridical matters (Exod 18:13-27). The connection between Jethro the Midianite and Moses the Levite has often been seen as an indication of an early relationship between the Israelites and the Midianites.
JEWS. The terms “Jew” and “Jewish” are rather confusing as far as the Old Testament is concerned. Christian scholarship has regularly distinguished between Israelites and Jews, the former denoting the population of ancient Palestine organized as the twelve tribes of Israel (see Twelve tribe system), and Jews becoming the name of the post-exilic population that centered on Jerusalem and the worship of YHWH in its temple. Sometimes the distinction is made in a rather confusing way between people of Palestinian origin—that is, the Israelites—before and after the exile—that is, the Jews. Thus the inhabitants of Elephantine (see Elephantine Papyri) are often seen as members of a Jewish colony. Jew is a late development of Judean, a person coming from Judah—or Jehud. In Western tradition, it was related to the practitioners of a special religion, Judaism, sometimes also but erroneously referred to as a special race, and this distinction was probably already made in antiquity, distinguishing the Jews from other segments of the Palestinian population such as the Samaritans and the Philistines.
For reasons of clarity, Israelites are the descendants of Jacob, alias Israel, in the Old Testament considered one nation until they were divided after Solomon’s death. Then the distinction applies between the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. It has sometimes been assumed that the Judeans adopted the term Israelite after the fall of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E. Nevertheless, all sources point to the term “Judean” being used about the subjects of the king of Judah until exilic times in the early sixth century B.C.E. Only after the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948 did Israel become the common name of the new Jewish nation, although its inhabitants are generally called Israelis, not Israelites.
JEZEBEL. A Tyrian (see Tyre), the daughter of King Ethbaal (Ittobaal) who was married to Ahab of Israel (1 Kgs 16:29-31). The portrait of Jezebel in the Old Testament is extremely negative, making her the source of much of the calamity that befell the house of Omri. The Old Testament also shows her to have been a very active queen handling state business on her own and interfering in juridical matters as well, as when she arranged for the execution of Naboth (1 Kgs 21). She is said to have been highly active in religious affairs supporting the cult of (presumably) the Tyrian god of Baal Shamen. When victorious Jehu entered Jezreel, she ridiculed him as a wretched usurper and was instantly killed on his order (2 Kgs 9:30-37).
JEZREEL. A city at the foot of Gilboa overlooking the eastern section of the Jezreel Valley, identified as Tel Jezreel c. 4 kilometers east of modern Afulah. In the Old Testament, it is a royal city, the place of the Naboth incident (1 Kgs 21) and here Jezebel the queen of Ahab met her cruel end at the hands of Jehu (2 Kgs 9:30-37). Excavations at Jezreel in the 1990s have discovered extensive fortifications from the ninth to eighth century but hardly a royal palace.
JEZREEL, VALLEY OF. An important and fertile valley in northern Israel that goes from modern Haifa along the northern slope of Carmel and Gilboa to Beth-Shan. This valley was the site of a series of important cities including Taanach, Megiddo, Jezreel, and Beth-Shan. It was a contested area and the scene of the decisive battle between Israel and the Philistines that led to the death of Saul (1 Sam 31).
JOAB. David’s nephew and general (2 Sam 8:16) and one of Zeruiah’s sons. Joab was David’s most loyal henchman, never failing in his obligations to the king but often acting as a very independent person, although always with David’s interests in mind. During the negotiations between Abner and David, Joab killed Abner at Hebron (2 Sam 3:26-27). He was the first Israelite to enter Jebusite Jerusalem (1 Chron 11:6). He conquered in David’s name Rabba Ammon (see Ammon, Ammonites), but at the same time had Uriah killed (2 Sam 12:26-31). He negotiated the reconciliation between David and Absalom (2 Sam 14:28-33), but later he killed Absalom against the king’s clear order to spare his son (2 Sam 18:9-17). When David dismissed him as his commander in chief and put Amasa in his place, he murdered Amasa and regained his position as the commanding officer of David’s forces against Sheba (2 Sam 20). On his deathbed, David instructed Solomon to get rid of Joab, and when Joab supported Adonijah against Solomon, he was killed at the altar of the sanctuary by Benaiah (1 Kgs 2:28-31).
JOAHAZ. See JEHOAHAZ.
JOASH. See JEHOASH.
JONADAB. The name of two persons in the Old Testament.
1. A relative of David who acted as counselor to Amnon who planned to rape his half sister Tamar (2 Sam 13:3-5).
2. The head of the Rechabites who participated in Jehu’s rebellion against the house of Omri (2 Kgs 10). At a later date, the Rechabites reckoned Jonadab as their eponymous ancestor (Jer 35).
JONAH. The son of Amittai who in the prophetic book carrying his name was sent to Nineveh to preach to the Ninevites. Instead of traveling to Nineveh, Jonah fled by ship from Jafo but ended up being swallowed by a “big fish.” When he escaped from the fish, he decided it was wise to obey the Lord and travel to Nineveh to deliver his preaching to its inhabitants who—contrary to his expectations—responded positively to his demand for conversion. The Book of Jonah is a comic narrative without relation to any historical event, although Jonah is supposed to have been active as a prophet in the days of Jeroboam II of Israel (2 Kgs 14:25).
JONATHAN. Several persons share the name of Jonathan. The more important are:
1. Jonathan, the oldest son of King Saul and his designated heir to the throne. As told by the Old Testament, the opening of Jonathan’s career was auspicious. In an audacious military feat, Jonathan surprised a Philistine contingent at the pass of Michmash and slaughtered it (1 Sam 13-14). However, he broke the king’s order to fast during the battle. Divine intervention exposed his crime but he was saved from punishment by the intervention of the army. The incident shows that Jonathan could not be the person chosen for kingship by Yahweh. He could not be the successor of Saul. Thus the way was paved for David’s advance toward kingship. Jonathan became the friend of young David and they concluded an alliance (1 Sam 19). At a later meeting, he accepted David as the future king (1 Sam 23:16-18) but was killed together with his father and most of his brothers at the battle at Gilboa (1 Sam 31). It is impossible to know the historical accuracy of the information about Jonathan. The Jonathan story follows the theme of the tragic hero so beloved by people of ancient times. In spite of all his qualities, he lost his life in order to give place to a more successful contender.
2. The son of the priest Abiatar who acted as David’s spy together with Ahimaaz, the son of the priest Zadok (2 Sam 17.17-21). After David’s death Jonathan joined his father in supporting Adonijah and it was his destiny to be the one to break the news about Solomon’s ascension to Adonijah and his party (1 Kgs 1:42-48).
JORAM. See JEHORAM.
JORDAN RIVER. The name of, by far, the greatest river in the land of the Bible, normally considered the eastern border of the land of Canaan and often functioning as the border of the Israelite kingdoms, although part of the area to the east of the river was also inhabited by the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The sources of the Jordan River are in Lebanon and especially on the slopes of Mt. Hermon. It follows a north-south course bringing it down to Kinnereth (the Sea of Galilee). To the south of Kinnereth it continues its course to the Dead Sea. In spite of the importance attached to this river, it is not very broad, more a brook than a proper river, and fordable in several places.
JOSEPH (PERSON), AND THE JOSEPH NOVELLA. Joseph was the firstborn son of Jacob and Rachel whose arrogance awoke the envy of his brothers who sold him to Midianite or Kenite traders, who again sold him to Potiphar, the captain of the Pharaoh’s bodyguard. After having been to the jail because of the false accusation of rape, he was enlisted by the Pharaoh as supervisor of the grain supply and in this position he saved Egypt during a seven-year-long famine. He married Asenath, the daughter of the Egyptian priest at On. Finally, he was joined by his family in Egypt. The Joseph novella (Gen 37-50) is a highly sophisticated novel, by some Egyptologists held to be very late (from the Saitic Period, that is, seventh-sixth century B.C.E.). Although little in the story of Joseph is historical, it has a historical backdrop in Egyptian history where people from Asia occasionally rose to very high positions, although Joseph has never been identified among these officials.
JOSEPH (TRIBE). Sometimes also called “the House of Joseph,” that is, the descendants of Jacob’s son Joseph. Joseph appears in tribal lists in the Book of Genesis. From the Book of Exodus and onward, the tribe is replaced by Ephraim and Manasseh, reckoned to be the two sons of Joseph (see also Twelve tribe system). Probably there never was a tribe of Joseph. The distribution in the tribal lists may be the result of literary considerations rather than historical remembrance.
JOSEPHUS. A Jewish historian who participated in the Jewish rebellion against the Romans (66-70 C.E.). When he was captured, he went into Roman service supported by the imperial Flavian family, including the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. In Rome he wrote “The Jewish Antiquities,” a history of ancient Israel, and “The Jewish War,” a report of the abortive rebellion against the Romans. He died c. 100 C.E. In his Jewish Antiquities, his main source is the Old Testament and he has little additional information, although he sometimes includes traditions of his own.
JOSHUA. 1. Joshua (the name means “Yahweh is salvation”) was the Israelite conqueror of Canaan, nominated as “the servant of Moses” already in the desert (Exod 24:13) and installed by Moses as his successor (Num 27:12-23). After Moses’ death he took command over the Israelite tribes and commanded the campaign in Canaan. Here he conquered Jericho and Ai, and reduced the Canaanites to servants of the Israelites (Josh 6-9). When he had finished the conquest, he distributed the territories of Canaan between the Israelite tribes. At the end of his life, he summoned the leaders of Israel to Shechem in order to renew Israel’s covenant with Yahweh (Josh 24). When he died, he was buried at Timnath-serah in the hill land of Ephraim (Josh 24:30).
While Joshua and the conquest tradition were formerly believed to be historical information, at least in part, historical and archaeological investigations have now created a scenario for the history of Palestine in the late second millennium B.C.E. that makes an Israelite conquest of Canaan as described in the Book of Joshua, our main source of knowledge about Joshua, totally unlikely. See also SETTLEMENT OF ISRAEL.
2. The son of Jozadak, the high priest who after the exile and together with Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem that was finished in 516 B.C.E. (Hag 1:12-15; Ezra 3).
JOSHUA, BOOK OF. The sixth book of the Old Testament and normally considered the opening of the Deuteronomistic History. The main subjects of the Book of Joshua are the Israelite conquest of Canaan (see also Settlement of Israel) and the partition of the country among the tribes of Israel (see also Twelve tribe system). The first part of the book is devoted to the description of the conquest of the two Canaanite cities of Jericho and Ai (Josh 2; 6, and 8, respectively), and the covenant with the inhabitants of Gibeon (Josh 9). After these war stories, a more general description follows of the Israelite conquest of the central and southern part of the country (Josh 10), and following this the northern part (Josh 11). The distribution of the land of Canaan among the nine tribes destined to live to the west of the Jordan River occupies the central part of the book (chapters 13-19). Because it was a tribe of priests, the tribe of Levi was not allowed a territory of its own. Nevertheless, a series of cities distributed all over the land of Israel was placed under Levite control (Josh 21). The final part of the Book of Joshua includes two occasions where Joshua summoned the leaders of the tribes to farewell meetings at Shiloh and Shechem (Josh 23-24). At the last occasion, Joshua pledges the people of Israel to take up the covenant with the Lord as a guarantee that they will stay in the country.
Scholarship gave up the Book of Joshua a long time ago as a valid source of knowledge of the Israelite settlement in Canaan. The Book of Judges presents a different and less complete picture of the conquest (Judg 1). Modern scholarship has demonstrated how far from reality the war history of the Book of Joshua really is. Nothing in the archaeological material indicates a violent shift of power in Palestine in the time of Joshua. It is clear that the Book of Joshua includes a kind of political program for the possession of the land of Israel that has little to do with history. The list of tribal territories in the central part of the book is often seen as a rather late compilation, dating at the earliest to Solomon’s time, but it could be much later. Some scholars have suggested a date as late as the time of Josiah.
JOSIAH. King of Judah 639-609 B.C.E. Josiah is best known from his extensive religious innovations in combination with his concentration of all official religion to the temple at Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22-23). This reform is said to have been inspired by an old law book found in the temple, sometimes identified with at least a part of the Book of Deuteronomy. Josiah’s reform therefore generally carries the name of the Deuteronomistic Reform. His acts at Bethel, where he destroyed the local sanctuary that was established by Jeroboam, the first independent king of Israel, and his move to Megiddo in order to confront Pharaoh Necho, where he was killed by the Egyptians, indicate that he had included in his kingdom much of the territory of central Palestine formerly belonging to the Assyrians. 2 Kings reckons Josiah the greatest king of Judah after David. Chronicles is less positive, saying that he died because he disobeyed the Lord (2 Chron 35:20-25).
JOSIAH’S REFORM. A religious reform with political overtones that took place in Jerusalem in 623 B.C.E. (2 Kgs 22-23). King Josiah centralized the official worship of Yahweh, the state god of Judah, at Jerusalem and banned local sanctuaries and moved their priests to Jerusalem. The reform is said to be based on the discovery of an old law book—some scholars say Deuteronomy or parts of Deuteronomy—within the temple compound (see Temple, Temple of Jerusalem). The reform is accordingly sometimes called “the Deuteronomistic Reform.” The reform was short-lived. Josiah’s son and successor abandoned its program. Archaeologically, there is little evidence of a change of religious habits within the territory of the Kingdom of Judah at the end of the seventh century B.C.E.
JOTHAM. 1. The youngest son of the Judge Gideon, who escaped the fate of his many brothers. These were executed by Abimelech (Judg 9:5). Jotham was the author of the famous fable about the trees seeking a king for themselves. They opted for a noble tree but in the end they got the thorn (Judg 9:7-15).
2. King of Judah, co-regent with his father Uzziah c. 750-742 B.C.E, and king c. 741-734 B.C.E. (2 Kgs 15:32-38). The Old Testament has little to say about Jotham but evaluates him positively.
JUDAH, KINGDOM OF. The name of the part of David’s and Solomon’s kingdom that remained in the possession of the Davidic dynasty after the division of the kingdom. After his death, the kingdom of Solomon was split into two sections: the Kingdom of Israel, also called “the Northern Kingdom,” embracing most of Solomon’s extensive realm, and the Kingdom of Judah, or the Southern Kingdom. Judah was soon to become a minor player in comparison to the Kingdom of Israel, although it reentered the scene of international politics after the Assyrian destruction of the Kingdom of Israel between 732 and 722 B.C.E. The Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E.
Historically, the story of the Kingdom of Judah preserved in the Old Testament will have to be revised as modern historical and archaeological investigations have made it likely that Judah only arose as a centralized state c. 800 B.C.E. Most of the previous history must be considered legendary.
JUDAH, TRIBE. Judah was the youngest son of Jacob and Leah, and the eponymous ancestor of the tribe of Judah. After the division of David’s and Solomon’s kingdom, Judah was also the name of the Southern Kingdom, in contrast to Israel, the Northern Kingdom.
The patriarch Judah saved the life of his brother Joseph (Gen 37:26-27). Another story describes his relation to his daughter-in-law Tamar, a relationship that led to the birth of Zera, an ancestor of the future king of Israel, David.
Historically, the name of Judah may at first have been linked to a region in ancient Palestine. The tribal territory of Judah was located south of Jerusalem, bordering in the south on the Negeb desert. In the east, the Desert of Judah marked the end of inhabitable land. Altogether the territory of Judah may not have exceeded c. 2,000 square kilometers. It has been suggested that the tribe of Judah may have been a relative newcomer among the tribes of Israel, tracing its historical origins back to Palestinian soil. Probably it was a coalition of tribes including Simeon, Caleb, Jerahmeel, and Othniel. The important part played by Judah in the Old Testament may have been colored by the fact that the Kingdom of Judah based its existence on the support of this tribe.
JUDGE. The conventional translation of Hebrew shophet, the title of the governors of Israel in the Period of the Judges. In the linguistic context of the West Semitic languages, Shophet is used about a magistrate who rules and makes decisions, in court as well as elsewhere in public service. Thus the term appears in later Punic and Roman sources as the name of the magistrates of Carthage, originally a Phoenician colony. In the Book of Judges the judges are described as saviors of Israel, a kind of dictator (in the Roman sense of the word) who appeared when Israel was in distress. The list of these savior judges includes Othniel, who saved Israel from Cushan-rishataim, Ehud (Judg 3:7-11), who killed the Moabite King Eglon (Judg 3:12-30), Deborah and Barak, who rallied the tribes to fight against Sisera and the Canaanites (Judg 4-5), Gideon, who disposed of the Midianite intruders (Judg 6-8), and Jephthah, who liberated Israel from the threat of the Ammonites (Judg 11).
In the narratives about these saviors of Israel, a list of judges appears that includes the names of a number of judges and a few particulars about them but no important information about their exploits. This list is broken up into two parts. The first part includes Tola and Jair (Judg 10:1-5), the second mentions Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (Judg 12:8-15). Altogether these five judges ruled Israel for 70 years. They have sometimes been seen as representatives of a different type of judge, officers of the Israelite tribal league. In the Book of Judges, Samson is the last savior of Israel in the Period of the Judges (Judg 13-16), but the Samson story is normally considered to belong to a different strand of tradition than the other stories about the heroic acts of the judges.
JUDGES, BOOK OF. The seventh book of the Hebrew Bible that covers the Period of the Judges. It is divided into the following sections: a review of the conquest that includes a more limited view of the Israelite conquest of Canaan sometimes believed to present a more historically correct picture of the early days of Israel in Canaan (Judg 1), the narratives about the saviors of Israel (Judg 2-12) (see Judge), the story about Samson, the great champion of Israel (Judg 13-16), and finally stories illustrating the dangers of being without a king (Judges 17-21).
JUDGES, PERIOD OF. In the Old Testament the period that connects the days of the conquest with the installation of the Hebrew kingdom. In the biblical literature, it was the time when the Israelite tribes acted more or less as autonomous political entities, although sometimes “governed” by a savior, who whenever Israel was in distress liberated it from its enemies. The pattern of political developments described by the Book of Judges includes an Israel that after the death of Joshua disobeyed the Lord and worshipped other gods. As a consequence, God sent enemies against Israel, and when Israel cried to the Lord for help, a savior appeared who liberated Israel. When the savior, for example, Ehud or Gideon, died, the process was repeated. As time went by, the institution of the savior was corrupted by more dubious savior figures like Jephthah and Samson. At the end of the Period of the Judges, the system broke down. In the words of the Old Testament, “in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The end of the Period of the Judges came with gruesome crimes and destructive wars among the Israelite tribes (Judges 19-21).
Although historical-critical scholarship has generally considered the Period of the Judges to constitute a historical phase in Israel’s early history, it has in recent scholarship become obvious that the Period of the Judges is a literary construct with little historical background. In historical terms the Period of the Judges belongs to the transition period between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, that is, c. 1250 and 950 B.C.E. Its chronology as described by the Old Testament is highly artificial, in many cases made up by so-called “round” numbers. Thus a period of 40 years follows Othniel’s disposal of Cushan-rishataim (Judg 3:11), a period of 80 years (2 × 40 years) comes after Ehud’s killing of Eglon (Judg 3:30). After Deborah’s and Barak’s victory over the Canaanites, there was peace for 40 years (Judg 5:31), and Gideon caused peace to prevail for another 40 years. Altogether the five judges Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon judged Israel for 70 years (Judg 10:1-5; 12:8-15). Instead of seeing the Period of the Judges as a historical period, scholars tend to consider it a “heroic time,” including stories of very much the same kind as Greek, Roman, or Germanic prehistory.