JESIAS (B 'Etriaj, A •Utratat, AV Josias), 1 Es 8". —In Ezr 8' Jeshaiah.
JESIMIEL (Sn?-!?;).— The eponym of a Simeonit« family, 1 Ch 4*". See Genealogy.
JESSE v. (etj-m. and meaning doubtful ; perh. 'wcaltliy,'v'='',Ges.,butsee Oxf.lIcb.Lcx.; 'ItaaixL). — Father of David. As grandson of the wealthy Boaz (Ru 4" -', 1 Ch 2", Mt 1», Lk 3»), it is natural to suppose that he was one of the elders of Bethle- hem (1 S 16*) ; but the biblical narrative is not clear on tills point. He is called ' the Bethlulieinite 1 S 16'- '» 17", and 'the Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah,' 1 S 17". We cannot draw any safe in ference as to his position from the fact that liif youngest son kept the sheep, or from the sinijvle present of farm ]iroduce which he sends, now to the king (1 S 10-"), now to the captain (1 S 17"). The Targ. on 2 S 21" calls him 'a weaver of the veil of tne house of the sanctuary,' but that is merely an attempt to explain ' .I.aare-oregim.' When first introduced into the history (1 S 17", on the various exjdaiiations of which see Wellh. and Driver) he is 'an old man,' 'stricken in j'ears among men,' and lie probably did not live to witness the royal dignity of the lad whom he had once thought too insignificant to share in the sacrificial feast (1 S IG"). In 1 S '20=» David mentions his brother as superintending the family sacrifice. This may be due to the great age of Jesse, but it is also possible that we Tiave here a survival of the custom according to which the eldest son was the family priest. We last hear of Jesse alive in 1 S 22^- *, when David, mindful of his ancestress Ruth, entrusts his parents to the care of the king of Moab. A Jewish tradition states that the Moabites killed them, but 1 S 22* implies that they rejoined David when he left the cave of Adullam.
There are two slight difficulties connected with Jesse's family, (a) According to 1 S IG"- " 17" he had eight sons ; seven only are named in the genealogy, 1 Ch 2"-". The Syriac and Arabic versions here insert ' Eliba the seventh ' from 1 Ch 27", but there we should probably read • Eliab,' with the LXX. Jerome (Qu. Heb. on 1 S 17", 2 S 21") says that the prophet Nathan, or Jonathan son of Shammah, was reckoned as ona of his sons. (/3) In 2 S 17" Abigail is called the daughter of Nahash ; accordingly Jewish tradition (Targ. on Ru 4^, Is 14", Jerome, Qu. Heb. in loc.) identifies Jesse with Nahash ('serpent'), explaining the double name on the grouna that he had no other sin than that original sin which the old serpent introduced into the world. Stanley [Jewish Ch., Lect. 22) suggests that the same woman was first wife of Nahash, king of Ammon, and mother by him of Abigail and Zeruiah, and subsequently wife of Jesse, and mother of his sons. This theory derives some slight support from the friendliness of Nahash and his sons to David (2 S KP 17"), and also from the genealogy (1 Ch 2"), where Abigail and Zeruiah are not called the daughters of Jesse, but the sisters of his sons. It is possible, however, that B^nj-n; in 2 S 17^* is, as Wellh. thinks, a textual error. See Nahash.
It is interesting to note that wliUe in his life- time, and in the next generation, ' the son of Jesse ' was a contemptuous epithet for David (cf. Jg 9=*, 1 S 22", Is 7*- °- '• '), and is so used by Saul (1 S 2ff"-^-" 22'-«), by Doeg (1 S 22»), by NabaJ (25"), by Sheba (2 S 20'), and by the ten tribea
JESUS
JESUS CHRIST
603
(1 K 121''), yet the prophet Isaiah (11'") associates one of the most sublime Messianic predictions with the Slock (z'.^) of Jesse, 'the root (-Ti^) of Jesse,' and tliis lionorilic use of the phrase passed to »ater writers, 1 Ch 1U» 29-^ I's 72*\ Ac IS--.
N. J. D. WlIlTK. JESUS, the Gr. form ('Itjo-oDs) of the name Joshua (^'.'x^^',) or Jeshua (>?"•:':), is employed as a desiL'uation of — 1. Josluia the son of Xun (AV of 1 .Mac 2'i', 2 Es T^'. Sir 4(5', Ac 7", He 4', in all of which passages UV has Joshi-a). 2. Je.shua fjoshuaj. tlie hisjh priest contemporary with Zerulilialifl (I Es .V«-*<-^'!-<«- ■» (i- '.)'», Sir 4i)i-, where both AV an<l KV have in every instance JKSI;-). 3. The Levite { 1 Es S'^- *« S'-a 9*») who in Ezr 2*'> ?," is called Jeslma. 4. An ancestor of our Lord (Mc :i-' HV, wliere AV has Jose). 5. Je.sus, son of Siracli. See Sikach. 6. 7. See the next two articles.
JESUS CHRIST.** —
Mtltiuil of l/iiH iirticU.
1, Sl'KVKV op CnVItlTIONS.
A. I.'XTKnxAr, coxDiTiosS: GovERsuBST, Sects, iso
Parties. b. isterxm. cospitio.vs : thb istits of religious
TUOVailT ASH LIFE.
1. Goju-Tul conditions ; (a) the darker and (^) the
bri;;liter side of contemporary 'Tudaisui.
2. The s|.eeial seed-plot of Christianity.
8. The .Messianic expectation. Literature. IL The Prni.ir Mimstky.
A. PSEI.mi.VARr /'KRIOD: from THE BaPTISUTO TBS
( ALL OF THE LBADLSU APOSTLES.
i. '1 Ite lta[itist and the Baptism ; (a) the Baptist's liesitation. {&) tlie Voice from Heaven, (y) Apocrypha! details, (6) Synoptic and Jo- liannean versions. Literature, H. The Teni|»tation.