• AV 'Had Zimri peace who slew his master?' is an improb- ahle rendering, and even RV (text) ' Is it peace, thou Zimn, thy master's muitlerer?' seems hardly to suit the occasion. Our rendering is supported by Kautzsch's A T, ' Geht es Sirari wohl ? ' and by Keuss, * Wie geht's du Sirari?' which is paraphrased by the latter, ' Ei guten Tag du Canaille ! '
t The correct text is t^» yv>xiKa. The copyist who added rov seems to have understood the 'angel' of the Church as the bishop. The name * Jezebel ' must be understood s^inboUcally and not as the real name of the woman against whom the denunciation is uttered. She appears to have been a false prophetess (within the Christian Church, and not belonging to Judaism or heathenism) whose teaching had a licentious tendency. to*3»ik(» and u^ixii/f* being probably used in a literal ami not a figurative sense. Bousset (see his exhaustive note) thinks there is not sufficient evidence to warrant the interesting suggestion of Schurer, that Jezebel in this text is the priestess of the Chaldeean Sibyl, Sambethe, who ia believed by Scntirer tc have had a sanctuary at Tbyatira.
Important crisis in Israel's history, but he for his ' furious driving,' and she for her painted face !
LiTERATCKB.— W. B. Smith, OrJC p. 237, Propk. Jtr. 18, T6 ; WcUhauscn, llitt. of Itr. and Jud. 66 : Kueneu, Rel. Itr. L 8550. ; HeuM, Dot AT, L 3fi7 ; Comill, Der uraet. Prophet- itmu$, SOf. J. A. Selbie.
JEZELU8 ('I^fijXot).— 1. (B 'I^flj/Xot) 1 Es 8". In Ezr 8» Jahaziel. 2. 1 Es 8". In Ezr 8» Jkhiel.
JEZER (-rr 'form,' 'purpose'; LXX Gn 46« •Iffaaap, Nu 26" B 'liaep, k'lfapi, 1 Ch 7" B 'Icai^ip, A 'Zaap). — The head of the Jezerites ('Tf'C, B 'leaepel, A 'Urpi), a family of Naphtali. See GENE- ALOGY.
JEZIEL {Wr,^erS,'})(\rKethtbh;B"Iw^\,A'AM>')- — A Benjamite who joined David at Ziklag, 1 Ch 12*.
JEZRAHIAH (n;ir!n=' J' will shine,' Luc. K°-* 'Iffpidt, K*BA omit, Neh 12«).— The leader of the (singers at the solemn dedication of the walls of Jerus. in the time of Nehemiah. In 1 Ch T"** the same name is rendered Izrahiah.
JEZREEL (SNni! ' God soweth ').—!. A Judahite (1 Ch 4'). See Genealogy. 2. The symbolical name of Hosea's eldest son (Hos I*), given in token of the prophet's disapproval of the massacre of Ahab'a family at J., and his expectation that divine vengeance would speedily overtake the dynasty of its perpetrator, Jehu. See Hosea, p. 421*. 3. J. is used in Hos2'"' " as a name for Israel, with a play upon the etymology of the word.
JEZREEL i'^mpx ' God soweth ' ; LXX A 'ItirpaA, 'ItfpoA, 'Iffpa^X, 'Effoa^ ; B 'Iaf7)\, 'Iirpo^X, 'Ej'fpfA ; Joa.Ant. VIII. xiii. 6, Ifp^i"))Xa; VIII. xv. 4,6,'Ici'^pi;Xa, var. 'Ifdpa,etc.). — This is the Heb. name of the great plain ('!• pty. Jot. 17", Jg 6*^, Hos 1") now generally called Esdraelon, and by the Arabs known as Mer) ibn-'Amr. In modern times it has been applied especially to the vale between Jebel Duhy and Gilboa, sloping E. towards Beis&n (see Es- DRAELON). Jezreel * is the name also of —
1. A city in the territory of Issachar (Jos 19"), the site of which is now occupied by the village of Zer'tn. This identification is beyond question. The two names are practically identical ; the soft initial yod of the Heb. is dropped, and, as is not unusual, the Heb. -el is replaced by the Arab, -in in the modem word. Similar instances are found in Beilin for Bethel, and Tsma'in for Ishinael. Eusebius and Jerome (OS' 208. 52, 165. 14) place Jezreel in the great plain between Legio (Khdn Lejjun) and Scythopolis (Beisdn), and the Bor- deaux Pilgrim (A.D. 333) gives the distance from Beisftn as 12 Roman miles, conditions quite met by Zer'in. Eusebius and Jerome speak of Esdrculn, and the Bordeaux Pilgrim of Strndcla, both obvious modifications of the Greek name of Jezreel. In Crusading times it was called Parvum Gerinum (William of Tyre, xxii. 6), and in 1173 Benjamin of Tudela mentions Zarein d""!]) as Jezreel. (The Constantinople ed. gives pni, but it is full of errors). Brocardus (c. vii. 176, 177) speaks of Zarein, and notes the fine Wew whicli it commands. Sir John Maundeville says, ' 5 miles Irom Nain is the city of .Tezreel, which was for- merly called Zarim ' (Enrly Travels in Parsrinr, Bohn's ed. p. 184). Robinson observes that from the 14th cent, to the beginning of the 19th the identification was lost sight of. He was himself the Sift to put it on a secure basis (BKP iii. 161-168 [» u. 318-3-25]).
* The plain probably derived \Xa name from the dty, and not riM Mnd (see Buddc, liicM. u 5am. 40(1.). VOL. II.— 43
The beautiful and commanding situation of Jezreel amply warranted the distinction conferred upon it by Ahab and Jezebel. Mount Gilboa terminates to the N. in boli*. blufTs which descend steeply into the vale of Jezreel, and to the N.W. throws off a low sinking promontory, thrust like a wedge between the vale of Jezreel and the great bay of Esdraelon, which sweeps round by the ba-sa of Gilboa to Jenln. Guarded on the N. by pre- cipitous cliffs about 100 ft. in height, with the splendid rampart of Gilboa S. and S.E., it is a position of considerable strength, being easiest of approach from the S.W. Here, at an elevation of 200 ft. above the plain, stands the village of Zer'tn. The hovels that form the village, some thirty in number, built on a mound of rubbish, are mean and dirty, and the general aspect is one of squalor. Tlie inhabitants have been corrupted by travellers, and have learned to prey upon all who pass, while tlie street dogs heie have an evil reputation for savageness.