Ishbi-benob Ish-bosheth Ishi Ishmael Ishmaiah Ishmeelites Ishtob Island Israel Israel, Kingdom of Issachar Italian band Italy Ithamar Ithrite Ittai Ituraea Ivah Ivory Izhar Izrahite Jaakan Jaakobah Jaala Jaalam Jaanai Jaare-oregim Jaasau Jaasiel Jaaz-aniah Jaazer Jaaziah Jaaziel Jabal Jabbok Jabesh Jabesh-Gilead Jabez Jabin Jabneel Jabneh Jachan Jachin Jachin and Boaz Jacinth Jacob Jacob's Well Jaddua Jadon Jael
my seat at Nob, one of the Rephaim, whose spear was three
hundred shekels in weight. He was slain by Abishai (2 Sam.
21:16, 17).
man of shame or humiliation, the youngest of Saul's four sons,
and the only one who survived him (2 Sam. 2-4). His name was
originally Eshbaal (1 Chr. 8:33; 9:39). He was about forty years
of age when his father and three brothers fell at the battle of
Gilboa. Through the influence of Abner, Saul's cousin, he was
acknowledged as successor to the throne of Saul, and ruled over
all Israel, except the tribe of Judah (over whom David was
king), for two years, having Mahanaim, on the east of Jordan, as
his capital (2 Sam. 2:9). After a troubled and uncertain reign
he was murdered by his guard, who stabbed him while he was
asleep on his couch at mid-day (2 Sam. 4:5-7); and having cut
off his head, presented it to David, who sternly rebuked them
for this cold-blooded murder, and ordered them to be immediately
executed (9-12).
my husband, a symbolical name used in Hos. 2:16 (See BAALI
link )
God hears. (1.) Abraham's eldest son, by Hagar the concubine
(Gen. 16:15; 17:23). He was born at Mamre, when Abraham was
eighty-six years of age, eleven years after his arrival in
Canaan (16:3; 21:5). At the age of thirteen he was circumcised
(17:25). He grew up a true child of the desert, wild and
wayward. On the occasion of the weaning of Isaac his rude and
wayward spirit broke out in expressions of insult and mockery
(21:9, 10); and Sarah, discovering this, said to Abraham, "Expel
this slave and her son." Influenced by a divine admonition,
Abraham dismissed Hagar and her son with no more than a skin of
water and some bread. The narrative describing this act is one
of the most beautiful and touching incidents of patriarchal life
(Gen. 21:14-16). (See HAGAR link )
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."
heard by Jehovah. (1.) A Gibeonite who joined David at Ziklag,
"a hero among the thirty and over the thirty" (1 Chr. 12:4).
(2.) Son of Obadiah, and viceroy of Zebulun under David and
Solomon (1 Chr. 27:19).
(Gen. 37:28; 39:1, A.V.) should be "Ishmaelites," as in the
Revised Version.
man of Tob, one of the small Syrian kingdoms which together
constituted Aram (2 Sam. 10:6,8).
(Heb. 'i, "dry land," as opposed to water) occurs in its usual
signification (Isa. 42:4, 10, 12, 15, comp. Jer. 47:4), but more
frequently simply denotes a maritime region or sea-coast (Isa.
20:6, R.V.," coastland;" 23:2, 6; Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:6, 7).
(See CHITTIM link ) The shores of the Mediterranean are
called the "islands of the sea" (Isa. 11:11), or the "isles of
the Gentiles" (Gen. 10:5), and sometimes simply "isles" (Ps.
72:10); Ezek. 26:15, 18; 27:3, 35; Dan. 11:18).
the name conferred on Jacob after the great prayer-struggle at
Peniel (Gen. 32:28), because "as a prince he had power with God
and prevailed." (See JACOB link ) This is the common name
given to Jacob's descendants. The whole people of the twelve
tribes are called "Israelites," the "children of Israel" (Josh.
3:17; 7:25; Judg. 8:27; Jer. 3:21), and the "house of Israel"
(Ex. 16:31; 40:38).
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.
(B.C. 975-B.C. 722). Soon after the death of Solomon, Ahijah's
prophecy (1 Kings 11:31-35) was fulfilled, and the kingdom was
rent in twain. Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, was
scarcely seated on his throne when the old jealousies between
Judah and the other tribes broke out anew, and Jeroboam was sent
for from Egypt by the malcontents (12:2,3). Rehoboam insolently
refused to lighten the burdensome taxation and services which
his father had imposed on his subjects (12:4), and the rebellion
became complete. Ephraim and all Israel raised the old cry,
"Every man to his tents, O Israel" (2 Sam. 20:1). Rehoboam fled
to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:1-18; 2 Chr. 10), and Jeroboam was
proclaimed king over all Israel at Shechem, Judah and Benjamin
remaining faithful to Solomon's son. War, with varying success,
was carried on between the two kingdoms for about sixty years,
till Jehoshaphat entered into an alliance with the house of
Ahab.
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. (See CAPTIVITY
link )
"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). (See KINGS
link )
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.)
hired (Gen. 30:18). "God hath given me," said Leah, "my hire
(Heb. sekhari)...and she called his name Issachar." He was
Jacob's ninth son, and was born in Padan-aram (comp. 28:2). He
had four sons at the going down into Egypt (46:13; Num. 26:23,
25).
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).
the name of the Roman cohort to which Cornelius belonged (Acts
10:1), so called probably because it consisted of men recruited
in Italy.
Acts 18:2; 27:1, 6; Heb. 13:24), like most geographical names,
was differently used at different periods of history. As the
power of Rome advanced, nations were successively conquered and
added to it till it came to designate the whole country to the
south of the Alps. There was constant intercourse between
Palestine and Italy in the time of the Romans.
palm isle, the fourth and youngest son of Aaron (1 Chr. 6:3). He
was consecrated to the priesthood along with his brothers (Ex.
6:23); and after the death of Nadab and Abihu, he and Eleazar
alone discharged the functions of that office (Lev. 10:6, 12;
Num. 3:4). He and his family occupied the position of common
priest till the high priesthood passed into his family in the
person of Eli (1 Kings 2:27), the reasons for which are not
recorded. (See ZADOK link )
two of David's warriors so designated (2 Sam. 23:38; 1 Chr.
11:40).
near; timely; or, with the Lord. (1.) A Benjamite, one of
David's thirty heroes (2 Sam. 23:29).
(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.
a district in the north-east of Palestine, forming, along with
the adjacent territory of Trachonitis, the tetrarchy of Philip
(Luke 3:1). The present Jedur comprehends the chief part of
Ituraea. It is bounded on the east by Trachonitis, on the south
by Gaulanitis, on the west by Hermon, and on the north by the
plain of Damascus.
overturning, a city of the Assyrians, whence colonists were
brought to Samaria (2 Kings 18:34; 19:13). It lay on the
Euphrates, between Sepharvaim and Henah, and is supposed by some
to have been the Ahava of Ezra (8:15).
(Heb. pl. shenhabbim, the "tusks of elephants") was early used
in decorations by the Egyptians, and a great trade in it was
carried on by the Assyrians (Ezek. 27:6; Rev. 18:12). It was
used by the Phoenicians to ornament the box-wood rowing-benches
of their galleys, and Hiram's skilled workmen made Solomon's
throne of ivory (1 Kings 10:18). It was brought by the caravans
of Dedan (Isa. 21:13), and from the East Indies by the navy of
Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22). Many specimens of ancient Egyptian and
Assyrian ivory-work have been preserved. The word _habbim_ is
derived from the Sanscrit _ibhas_, meaning "elephant," preceded
by the Hebrew article (ha); and hence it is argued that Ophir,
from which it and the other articles mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22
were brought, was in India.
oil, one of the sons of Kohath, and grandson of Levi (Ex. 6:18,
21; Num. 16:1).
the designation of one of David's officers (1 Chr. 27:8).
he twists, one of the sons of Ezer, the son of Seir the Horite
(1 Chr. 1:42).
heel-catcher, a form of the name Jacob, one of the descendants
of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:36).
a wild she-goat, one of the Nethinim, whose descendants returned
from the Captivity (Neh. 7:58).
concealer, the second of Esau's three sons by Aholibamah (Gen.
36:5, 14).
mourner, one of the chief Gadites (1 Chr. 5:12).
forests of the weavers, a Bethlehemite (2 Sam. 21:19), and the
father of Elhanan, who slew Goliath. In 1 Chr. 20:5 called JAIR.
fabricator, an Israelite who renounced his Gentile wife after
the Return (Ezra 10:37).
made by God, one of David's body-guard, the son of Abner (1 Chr.
27:21), called Jasiel in 1 Chr. 11:47.
heard by Jehovah. (1.) The son of Jeremiah, and one of the chief
Rechabites (Jer. 35:3).
(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).
he (God) helps, a city of the Amorites on the east of Jordan,
and assigned, with neighbouring places in Gilead, to Gad (Num.
32:1, 35; Josh. 13:25). It was allotted to the Merarite Levites
(21:39). In David's time it was occupied by the Hebronites,
i.e., the descendants of Kohath (1 Chr. 26:31). It is mentioned
in the "burdens" proclaimed over Moab (Isa. 16:8, 9; Jer.
48:32). Its site is marked by the modern ruin called Sar or
Seir, about 10 miles west of Amman, and 12 from Heshbon. "The
vineyards that once covered the hill-sides are gone; and the
wild Bedawin from the eastern desert make cultivation of any
kind impossible."
comforted by Jehovah, a descendant of Merari the Levite (1 Chr.
24:26,27).
comforted by God, a Levitical musician (1 Chr. 15:18).
a stream, a descendant of Cain, and brother of Jubal; "the
father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle" (Gen. 4:20).
This description indicates that he led a wandering life.
a pouring out, or a wrestling, one of the streams on the east of
Jordan, into which it falls about midway between the Sea of
Galilee and the Dead Sea, or about 45 miles below the Sea of
Galilee. It rises on the eastern side of the mountains of
Gilead, and runs a course of about 65 miles in a wild and deep
ravine. It was the boundary between the territory of the
Ammonites and that of Og, king of Bashan (Josh. 12:1-5; Num.
21:24); also between the tribe of Reuben and the half tribe of
Manasseh (21:24; Deut. 3:16). In its course westward across the
plains it passes more than once underground. "The scenery along
its banks is probably the most picturesque in Palestine; and the
ruins of town and village and fortress which stud the
surrounding mountain-side render the country as interesting as
it is beautiful." This river is now called the Zerka, or blue
river.
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.
a town on the east of Jordan, on the top of one of the green
hills of Gilead, within the limits of the half tribe of
Manasseh, and in full view of Beth-shan. It is first mentioned
in connection with the vengeance taken on its inhabitants
because they had refused to come up to Mizpeh to take part with
Israel against the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 21:8-14). After the
battles at Gibeah, that tribe was almost extinguished, only six
hundred men remaining. An expedition went against Jabesh-Gilead,
the whole of whose inhabitants were put to the sword, except
four hundred maidens, whom they brought as prisoners and sent to
"proclaim peace" to the Benjamites who had fled to the crag
Rimmon. These captives were given to them as wives, that the
tribe might be saved from extinction (Judg. 21).
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.
affiction. (1.) A descendant of Judah, of whom it is recorded
that "God granted him that which he requested" (1 Chr. 4:9, 10).
(2.) A place inhabited by several families of the scribes (1
Chr. 2:55).
discerner; the wise. (1.) A king of Hazor, at the time of the
entrance of Israel into Canaan (Josh. 11:1-14), whose overthrow
and that of the northern chief with whom he had entered into a
confederacy against Joshua was the crowning act in the conquest
of the land (11:21-23; comp. 14:6-15). This great battle, fought
at Lake Merom, was the last of Joshua's battles of which we have
any record. Here for the first time the Israelites encountered
the iron chariots and horses of the Canaanites.
(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).
built by God. (1.) A town in the north boundary of Judah (Josh.
15:11), called afterwards by the Greeks Jamnia, the modern
Yebna, 11 miles south of Jaffa. After the fall of Jerusalem
(A.D. 70), it became one of the most populous cities of Judea,
and the seat of a celebrated school.
(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.
building, (2 Chr. 26:6), identical with Jabneel (Josh. 15:11).
mourner, one of the chief Gadite "brothers" in Bashan (1 Chr.
5:13).
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).
the names of two brazen columns set up in Solomon's temple (1
Kings 7:15-22). Each was eighteen cubits high and twelve in
circumference (Jer. 52:21, 23; 1 Kings 7:17-21). They had
doubtless a symbolical import.
properly a flower of a reddish blue or deep purple (hyacinth),
and hence a precious stone of that colour (Rev. 21:20). It has
been supposed to designate the same stone as the ligure (Heb.
leshem) mentioned in Ex. 28:19 as the first stone of the third
row in the high priest's breast-plate. In Rev. 9:17 the word is
simply descriptive of colour.
one who follows on another's heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26;
27:36; Hos. 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac
by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father
was fifty-nine and Abraham one hundred and fifty-nine years old.
Like his father, he was of a quiet and gentle disposition, and
when he grew up followed the life of a shepherd, while his
brother Esau became an enterprising hunter. His dealing with
Esau, however, showed much mean selfishness and cunning (Gen.
25:29-34).
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). (See HEBRON link )
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
link BETHEL link )
(John 4:5, 6). This is one of the few sites in Palestine about
which there is no dispute. It was dug by Jacob, and hence its
name, in the "parcel of ground" which he purchased from the sons
of Hamor (Gen. 33:19). It still exists, but although after
copious rains it contains a little water, it is now usually
quite dry. It is at the entrance to the valley between Ebal and
Gerizim, about 2 miles south-east of Shechem. It is about 9 feet
in diameter and about 75 feet in depth, though in ancient times
it was no doubt much deeper, probably twice as deep. The digging
of such a well must have been a very laborious and costly
undertaking.
"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.
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.
judge, a Meronothite who assisted in rebuilding the walls of
Jerusalem (Neh. 3:7).
mountain-goat, the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judg. 4:17-22).
When the Canaanites were defeated by Barak, Sisera, the captain
of Jabin's army, fled and sought refuge with the friendly tribe
of Heber, beneath the oaks of Zaanaim. As he drew near, Jael
invited him to enter her tent. He did so, and as he lay wearied
on the floor he fell into a deep sleep. She then took in her
left hand one of the great wooden pins ("nail") which fastened
down the cords of the tent, and in her right hand the mallet, or
"hammer," used for driving it into the ground, and stealthily
approaching her sleeping guest, with one well-directed blow
drove the nail through his temples into the earth (Judg. 5:27).
She then led Barak, who was in pursuit, into her tent, and
boastfully showed him what she had done. (See SISERA link
DEBORAH link )
Index