JEBUS, the son of Canaan, Gen. x, 16, and father of the people of Palestine called Jebusites. Their dwelling was in Jerusalem and round about, in the mountains. This people were very warlike, and held Jerusalem till David’s time, Josh. xv, 65; 2 Sam. v, 6, &c.
JEDUTHUN, a Levite of Merari’s family, and one of the four great masters of music belonging to the temple, 1 Chron. xvi, 38, 41, 42; xv, 17; Psalm lxxxix, title. He is the same as Ethan. Some of the Psalms are said to have been composed by him; such as the eighty-ninth, thirty-ninth, sixty-second, seventy-seventh; all of which go under his name. Some believe, that David, having composed these Psalms, gave them to Jeduthun and his company to sing; and that this is the reason of their going by this name. But there are some Psalms which have the name of Jeduthun, that seem to have been composed either during the captivity, or after it; and consequently the name of Jeduthun prefixed to them, can signify nothing else, but that some of his descendants, and of Jeduthun’s class, composed them long after the death of the famous Jeduthun, one of their ancestors.
JEHOAHAZ, otherwise SHALLUM, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jer. xxii, 11. Josiah having been wounded mortally by Necho, king of Egypt, and dying of his wounds at Megiddo, Jehoahaz was made king in his room, though he was not Josiah’s eldest son, 2 Kings xxiii, 30, 31, 32. He was in all probability thought fitter than any of his brethren to make head against the king of Egypt. He was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned about three months only in Jerusalem, in the year of the world 3395. King Necho, at his return from the expedition against Carchemish, provoked at the people of Judah for having placed this prince upon the throne without his consent, sent for him to Riblah, in Syria, divested him of the kingdom, loaded him with chains, and sent him into Egypt, where he died, Jer. xxii, 11, 12. Jehoiakim, or Eliakim his brother, was made king in his room.
JEHOIACHIN, otherwise called Coniah, Jer. xxii, 24, and Jeconiah, 1 Chron. iii, 17, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and grandson of Josiah. He ascended the throne, and reigned only three months. It seems he was born about the time of the first Babylonish captivity, A. M. 3398, when Jehoiakim, or Eliakim, his father, was carried to Babylon. Jehoiakim returned from Babylon, and reigned till A. M. 3405, when he was killed by the Chaldeans, in the eleventh year of his reign; and was succeeded by this Jehoiachin, who reigned alone three months and ten days; but he reigned about ten years in conjunction with his father. Thus 2 Kings xxiv, 8, is reconciled with 2 Chron. xxxvi, 9. In the former of these passages, he is said to have been eighteen when he began to reign, and in Chronicles only eight; that is, he was only eight when he began to reign with his father, and eighteen when he began to reign alone. He was a bad man, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, Jer. xxii, 24. The time of his death is uncertain; and the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, xxii, 30, are not to be taken in the strictest sense; since he was the father of Salathiel and others, 1 Chron. iii, 17, 18; Matt. i, 12.
JEHOIAKIM, or ELIAKIM, the brother and successor of Jehoahaz, king of Judah, was advanced to the throne by Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, A. M. 3395, 2 Kings xxiii, 34. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and did evil in the sight of the Lord. When Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, this prince was also taken and put to death, and his body thrown into the common sewer, according to the prediction of Jeremiah, xxii, 18, 19.
JEHOSHAPHAT, king of Judah, son of Asa, king of Judah, and Azabah, daughter of Shilhi, ascended the throne at the age of thirty-five, and reigned twenty-five years. He had the advantage over Baasha, king of Israel; and he placed good garrisons in the cities of Judah and of Ephraim, which had been conquered by his father. God was with him, because he was faithful. He demolished the high places and groves. In the third year of his reign he sent some of his officers, with priests and Levites, through all the parts of Judah, with the book of the law, to instruct the people. God blessed the zeal of this prince, who was feared by all his neighbours. The Philistines and Arabians were tributaries to him. He built several houses in Judah in the form of towers, and fortified several cities. He generally kept an army of eleven hundred thousand men, without reckoning the troops in his strong holds. This number seems prodigious for so small a state as that of Judah; but, probably, these troops were only an enrolled militia.
The Scripture reproaches Jehoshaphat for his alliance with Ahab, king of Israel, 1 Kings xx; 2 Chronicles xviii. Some time after, he went to visit Ahab in Samaria; and Ahab invited him to march with him against Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat consented, but first asked for an opinion from a prophet of the Lord. Afterward, he went into the battle in his robe, and the enemy supposed him to be Ahab; but he crying out, they discovered their mistake, and Jehoshaphat returned in peace to Jerusalem. The Prophet Jehu reproved him for assisting Ahab, 2 Chron. xix, 1, 2, 3, &c. Jehoshaphat repaired this fault by the good regulations, and the good order, which he established in his dominions, both as to civil and religious affairs, by appointing honest and able judges, by regulating the discipline of the priests and Levites, and by enjoining them to perform their duty with punctuality. After this, in the year 3108, the Moabites, Ammonites, and other nations of Arabia Petræa, declared war against Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx, 1, 2, 3, &c. They advanced to Hazaron-Tamar, otherwise Engedi. Jehoshaphat went with his people to the temple, and put up prayers to God. Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, by the Spirit of the Lord, encouraged the king, and promised that the next day he should obtain a victory without fighting. Accordingly, these people being assembled the next day against Judah, quarrelled, and killed one another; and Jehoshaphat and his army had only to gather their spoils. This prince continued to walk in the ways of the Lord; yet he did not destroy the high places, and the hearts of the people were not entirely directed to the God of their fathers. Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years, and was buried in the royal sepulchre; and his son, Jehoram reigned in his stead.
2. Jehoshaphat, Valley of. This valley is a deep and narrow glen, which runs from north to south, between the Mount of Olives and Mount Moriah; the brook Cedron flowing through the middle of it, which is dry the greatest part of the year, but has a current of a red colour, after storms, or in rainy seasons. The Prophet Joel, iii, 2, 12, says, “The Lord will gather all nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there.” Abenezra is of opinion, that this valley is the place where King Jehoshaphat obtained a signal victory over the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meonians of Arabia Petræa, 2 Chron. xx, 1, &c, toward the Dead Sea, beyond the wilderness of Tekoah, which after that event was called the valley of blessing, verse 26. Others think it lies between the walls of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Cyril, of Alexandria, on Joel iii, says that this valley is but a few furlongs distant from Jerusalem. Lastly, some maintain that the ancient Hebrews had named no particular place the valley of Jehoshaphat; but that Joel intended generally the place where God would judge the nations, and will appear at the last judgment in the brightness of his majesty. Jehoshaphat, in Hebrew, signifies “the judgment of God.” It is very probable that the valley of Jehoshaphat, that is, of God’s judgment, is symbolical, as well as the valley of slaughter, in the same chapter. From this passage, however, the Jews and many Christians have been of opinion, that the last judgment will be solemnized in the valley of Jehoshaphat.
JEHOVAH, יהוה the proper and incommunicable name of the Divine Essence. That this divine name, Jehovah, was well known to the Heathens, there can be no doubt. Sanchoniathon writes Jebo; Diodorus, the Sicilian, Macrobius, St. Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Jerom, and Origen, pronounce Jao; Epiphanius, Theodoret, and the Samaritans, Jabe, Javé. We likewise find in the ancients, Jahoh, Javo, Javu, Jaod. The Moors call their god Jaba, whom some believe to be the same as Jehovah. The Latins, in all probability, took their Javis, or Jovis Pater, from Jehovah.
The Jews, after their captivity in Babylon, out of an excessive and superstitious respect for this name, left off to pronounce it, and thus lost the true pronunciation. The Septuagint generally renders it Κύριος, “the Lord.” Origen, St. Jerom, and Eusebius, testify that in their time the Jews left the name of Jehovah written in their copies in Samaritan characters, instead of writing it in the common Chaldee or Hebrew characters; which shows their veneration for this holy name: and the fear they were under, lest strangers, who were not unacquainted with the Chaldee letters and language, should discover and misapply it. The Jews call this name of God the Tetragrammaton, or the name with four letters. It would be waste of time and patience to repeat all that has been said on this incommunicable name: it may not be amiss, however, to remind the reader, 1. That although it signifies the state of being, yet it forms no verb. 2. It never assumes a plural form. 3. It does not admit an article, or take an affix. 4. Neither is it placed in a state of construction with other words; though other words may be in construction with it. It seems to be a compound of יה, the essence, and הוה, existing; that is, always existing; whence the word eternal appears to express its import; or, as it is well rendered, “He who is, and who was, and who is to come,” Rev. i, 4; xi, 17; that is, eternal, as the schoolmen speak, both a parte ante, and a parte post. Compare John viii, 58. It is usually marked by an abbreviation, ו, in Jewish books, where it must be alluded to. It is also abbreviated in the term יה, Jah, which, the reader will observe, enters into the formation of many Hebrew appellations. See [Jah].