IVORY (adj. i\e4>dvrivoi, noun rb iXefdvrivov, fr. A^<^as ; Skr. ebhas, Lat. ebur, Fr. ivoire). — Ivory- was prized by all the civilized nations of antiquity. The OT contains a dozen references to its beauty and value. ' Every article of ivory ' (Rev 18^^) was found in the market of the apocalyptic Babylon (Rome). It was used for the adornment of palaces, for sculpture, for the inlaying of furniture and chariots, for numberless domestic and decorative objects. *Ebur Indicum' (Hor. Car. I. xxxi. 6; cf. Verg. Georg. i. 57) wjis known to everyone. Statues (Georg. i. 480), sceptres (Ov. ATet. i. 178), lyres (Hor. Car. II. xi. 22), scabbards (Ov. 3Iet. iv. 148), sword-hilts (Verg. ^7i. xi. 11), seals (Cic. Verr. II. iv. 1), couches (Hor. Sat. II. vi. 103), doors (Verg. ^n. vi. 148), curule chairs (Hor. Ep. I. vi. 54) are samples of Roman workmanship in ivory. As the substance is so hard and durable, many ivory works of art have come down from the ancient world. James Strahan.
JACINTH (MkivOos, Ital. giaeintd). — Jacinth, or hyacinth, is tlie colour of the eleventh foundation- stone of the New Jerusalem (Rev 2P"). The cui- rasses of apocalyptic horsemen are partly hyacinth- ine (9"). The MklvOo? of the ancients was probably our sapphire (21^0 [RVm]). The modem hyacinth, a variety of zircon, of yellowish red colour, may have been the stone known in Gr. as Xoyijpiov and in Heb. as leshem (the RV of Ex 28i» 39^2 has ' jacinth ' where the AV has ' ligure ') ; but Flinders Petrie (HDB iv. 620) suggests that the latter was yellow quartz or agate. Many Greek and Roman ' hyacinths,' used for intaglios and cameos, were probably only garnets. James Strahan.
JACOB ('IoK(i/3). — Jacob, the younger son of Isaac, was the father of the twelve patriarchs who were the heads of the tribes of Israel.
The story of the ante-natal struggle of Esau and Jacob (to which allusion is made in Hos 12^), and of tiie oracle spoken to their mother (Ro 9" || Gn 25^), is a folk-tale which vividly reflects the rival- ries of Israel and Edom. The Hebrews boasted of their superiority to the powerful kindred race which dwelt on their southern border. To be more than a match for those hereditary foes, gaining the advantage over them either by force of arms or by nimbleness of wit, was a point of national honour. By hook or by crook the Israelites rarely failed to come off victorious over the Edomites. And the popular mind liked to tliink that tlie cliaracter- istics and fortunes of the two rival nations were
mysteriously foreshadowed before the birth of their far-off ancestors. From the beginning God chose the younger son for Himself, and decreed that the elder should be servant to the younger. In the words of a prophet who on this matter expresses the general belief, God loved Jacob, bnt hated Esau (Mai P- *). St. Paul uses this Divine prefer- ence to illustrate that principle of election which he sees operating all through the history of Isi'ael, and of which he finds startling contemporary evi- dence in the nation's apostasy from the Messiah, and God's choice of the Gentiles. That the elder brother (and nation) should serve the younoer, that the natural heir should be foredoomed to lose the birthright and the blessing, that (apart from good or evil) the one should appear to be accepted and the other rejected — all this was evidence of an inscrutable selectiveness, by which God works out His universal purpose (^ /car' ^kXoytjc tov OeoD irp69e<ris [see ESAU]). The election of grace (iKXojT] xdpiTos) is the central idea in St. Paul's philosophy of history. It is an attempt to give a rationale of the fact that ' Universal History, the history of what man lias accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here' (Carlyle, On Heroes and Hero-Wor- ship, Lect. i.).
In a speech before the Sanhedrin, Stephen made allusion to the stoiy of Jacob's sending his sons down to Egypt, of Joseph's sending for his father, and of Jacob s descent into Egypt and death there (Ac V* ^'^' ^*). As an evidence of Jacob's faith, tha
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writer of Hebrews selects a death-bed scene (ll'')- ' He blessed the two sons of Joseph,' giving them one of the finest benedictions ever uttered by human lips, invoking the God of history, provi- dence, and grace to be their Shepherd-God (Gn 4gi5. 16) Then ' he worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff.' In the original (Gn 47^^) this act precedes the blessing, and while the LXX reads 'upon the top of his staff",' other versions, includ- ing the English, have 'on the bed.' The differ- ence of reading is due to Heb. punctuation (■"icEn 'the staff,' nEsn 'the bed'), and does not greatly alter the sense. Jacob, who is here the ideal Israelite, gives conscious or unconscious proof of his faith by taking leave of life with a high dignity and solemnity. Meekly submitting himself to the will of God, he teaches all his posterity to worship the ' God of Jacob ' with tlieir latest breath.
Steplien refers (Ac 7*') to David's desire ' to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.' Here, too, Jacob is not an individual but a nation. The usage was common in every epoch of Hebrew literature: in the earliest period — 'Come, curse me Jacob ' . . . ' Who can count the dust of Jacob ? ' (Nu 23^- ") ; in the Exile—' Fear not, thou worm Jacob ' (Is 41") ; and in the Maccabsean age, when Judas ' made Jacob glad with his acts ' (1 Mac 3'') ; after which it was naturally taken over into the NT. Jacob's other name ' Israel' had the same two senses, personal and national, a circum- stance which gives piquancy to the Pauline dictum (Ro 9^) : ' Not all who are of Israel (i.e. born of the patriarch) are Israel ' (i.e. the chosen people of God). Many of them are only o'laparjX Kara aapKa, Israelites by birth, whereas in a higher sense all Christians are 6 'lirparjX toO 6eoO (Gal G'"). Natur- ally the name ' Jacob ' never acquired this new meaning : Israel was the ideal people of God, whether Jewish or Gentile, Jacob the actual Jewish nation composed of very imperfect human beings. The two words are appropriately com- bined in St. Paul's prevision of a far-off' Divine event which must be the goal of history: 'All Israel shall be saved, for ... a Deliverer . . . shall turn away iniquity from Jacob' (Ro IP^).