The modem hyacinth includes the bright-red varieties of zircon ; a silicate of zirconia with a little oxide of iron. It crj'stallizes in the form of a square prism or octahedron, and is found at Assouan on the Nile, Auvergne, Bohemia, and other volcanic countries. Large crystals have been obtained from Siberia and Ceylon.
E. Hull.
JACKAL. — This word is not found in the text of AV. It occurs in text of RV as the equivalent of tanntm (Is 34", Jer 9" 10^2 49** 51", Mic I*), which is tr. AV 'dragon.' We prefer in these passages the tr. wolves (see Dr.^gon 1). In one passage (.Jer 14') RV text tr. tanntm, 'jackals,' marg. 'the crocodile,' AV text 'dragons.' In two places (Is 13M 3414) Q.-x 'iyyim Is wrouglv tr'' in AV 'wild beasts of the islands,' RV 'w"olves.' The word 'iyytm, however, is etj'mologically equivalent to the Arab. ben(it-dwa, which means jackals. We think, therefore, that it should be so tr'' here. If our views are accepted, the first passage would read 'and the jackals {'iyyim) shall cry in their castles, and the wolves (tannim) in their pleasant palaces,' and the second (including latter clause of v.'') ' an habitation for wolves {tannim), a court for ostriches, and the wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the jackals {'iyyim),'
Jackal also occurs in RVm as the equivalent of shU'M (Jg \b\ Neh 4', Ps 63'", La 5'»), text AV and RV 'fox.' See Moore on Jg 15^, and art. Fox, p. 64*, where the meaning of shu'&l is more fully discussed. G. E. Post.
JACOB (apy^: ' supnlanter' [see below] ; la/cw^). — 1. Son of Isaac and Rebekah, also called Israel, the father of the twelve patriarchs, who were the reputed ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. The history of Jacob is contained in parts of Gn 25''-50'^ — the narrative being chiefly JE, the
Eassages (so far as they relate to Jacob) which elong to P being 25='"> 26*^- ^ 27'^-28» 29--'- ^s 3118b (from 'and all'), 33'*' 34 (partly: see below), 35»-u>.ii>.m.28« 36 (in the main: v.*^' in particular belong here), 37'-^ (to 'Jacob'), 46"" 47'>-*' (to 'dwell'), '-"•«!> (from 'and they'), =« 483-»-' 49" (to 'sons'), =8" (from 'and blessed them'), s^-s^ SC-- ". As in most other places in Gn, P gives little more than a skeleton of the facts, the picturesque, lifelike narratives are almost en- tirely the work of J and E. J and E are here closely interwoven : the distinction between them Toll be noted where necessary ; but in general these two narratives appear to have covered largely, when intact, the same ground, and, though exhibiting sometimes divergent traditions, to have been sub- stantially similar in their contents.
The birth of Jacob is recounted in Gn 25^"". * Perhaps also fragments in 30i«- 4^ »i>. »fc 368.
Isaac must be pictured as still dwelling by the well Heer-lahai-roi, near Beersheba (25'"') ; Re- bekah, like Sarah before her, was barren ; lint in consequence of Isaac's prayer to J", she became fruitful. The Hebrews loved to picture the char- acters and fortunes of the peoples with whom they were themselves acquainted, as foreshadowed in their ancestors (ef. Gn 9-^--'' 16'^) : and in the case of the ancestors of Israel and Edom the rivalry which became such a marked feature in latei generations, began even before their birth. The twin fathers of the two nations struggled together in the womb : their mother, concerned at such an ill-omened occurrence, went to inquire of J", — we may suppose, at the sanctuary of Beersheba (21^ 2ga-23)_ _ and received in answer the oracular declaration, couched in poetical form : —
TSvo nations are in thy womb,
And two peoples even from thy bowels shall be parted asunder ; • And one people shall be stronger than the other people, And the elder shall serve the younger.
When the time came for Rebekah to be delivered, the elder of the twins, we read, was born with the hand of the younger holding his heel, — i.e. en- deavouring to hold him back, and to secure the first place for himself : so early did Jacob's charac- teristic nature display itself. From this circum- stance, it is said, he was called Jacob (^pu:), i.e. ' one who takes by the heel,' ' endeavours to trip up or supplant,' from npy ' a heel.'
This, at least, is the idea which the name Jacob suggested to the Hebrew car. Dpy is 'to take by the heel,' Uos I'J^'-if (with allusion to the same occurrence), 'to trip up,' 'supplant,' fig. ' to defraud.' ' deceive," Jer 93(-i), ' trust ye not in any brother, (or every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will go about with slandere'; 3*1?]; Jer 17** is 'deceitful,' and -i;?;^ 2K 101s* is 'Bubtilty.' It is another question whether this explanation expresses the actual meaning of the name. It has been supposed, for instance, that Jacob is really an elliptical form oi Jakoh'fl: in this case El, 'God,' would be the subject of the verb (like IshmaU, * God heareth,' Itrd'il, * God per- sisteth,* i'erahm^'ct, 'God is compassionate '),t and the word might be explained from the Arab. ' God follows,' or (from conj. IVT) ' God rewards.' t In fact there is now evidence that the name is much older than the dat« at which, according to the Biblical narrative, Jacob must have lived : Mr. Pinches has found on contract tablets of the age of Khammurabi (c. 2300 B.C.) the personal name i'a'kub.ilu (analogous to Yashup-iht, yarbi- till, VattUik-Uu, Yakbar-iUi, etc., of the same age);§ and according to Hommel (AHT 203), the contracted form Yahubu occurs likemse. I-Xirther, in the lists of lis places in Palestine conquered by Thothmes m. (B.c. 1503-1449, Sayce and Petrie), which are inscribed on the pylons of the temple at Karnak, there occur (Nos. 78 and 102) the nanies Y-Sa-p-'a-rq. and Y-'k-b-'d.rq. These names (the Egyp. r standing, as is well known, also forOcan be only ^HtO' Joseph-'el &nd '?KDpy* cTa^ofr- 'it ; and we learn consequently that places bearing these names (cf. for the form the place-names Jezre'el, Jabne'tl Jos 151' r = Jabnth 2 Ch 206), YipUaKil Jos 1914. 27, Yekabze'et Neh 1125, Yirpe'it Jos 18'^ existed in Palestine, apparently in tha tentral