We can only conclude, therefore, that all that is certain about Jannes and Jambres is that they were the names of two men who were believed in the ApostoUc Age to have been the leaders of the
magicians who withstood INIoses, and that they have been made the centre of pious legends and the cause of much critical ingenuitv.
W. F. Cobb. JASON ('lacrwy). — Jason is a Greek name, often adopted by Jews of the Dispersion, sometimes as not unlike the names Joseph or Joshua.
1. In Ac IT^"'-, the host of St. Paul and Silas at Thessalonica, who was seized with other converts and dragged before the politarchs. These authori- ties bound over Jason and his friends in security that there should be no further disturbance and perhaps that St. Paul should leave the city and not return (see Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, 1895, p. 230 f .).
2. In Ro 16'^, a person whose greetings St. Paul sends to his readers with greetings from Timothy, Lucius, and Sosipater, all of whom he describes as his 'kinsmen,' i.e. fellow-Jews or perhaps members of the same tribe. It is quite probable that 1 and 2 are the same man. T. B. Allwoethy.
JASPER (I'ao-TTtj, from Assyr. aspii). — The king on the heavenly throne is like a jasper stone (Rev 4^) ; the luminary of the New Jerusalem is like a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal (21") ; and the first foundation stone of the wall is a jasper. The jasper of mineralogy is an opaque, compact variety of quartz, variously coloiu-ed — red, brown, yellow, or green. As this stone does not answer the description 'clear as crystal,' some think that the diamond is meant (Smith's DB s.v.), while others suggest the opal {EBis.v.). The taa-ms of the LXX (Ex2820) may have been the dark green jasper, which was known to the Egyptians and the early Greeks.
James Strahan.
JEALOUSY. — Jealousy, as the translation of i^rjXoi (vb. ^7]\6o}), denotes the state of mind which arises from the knowledge or fear or suspicion of rivalry. (1) It is often begotten of self-love. Those who have come out of heathen darkness into Christian light should no longer walk in strife and jealousy (Ro 13"), which are characteristics of the carnal or selfish mind (1 Co 3^). Bitter jealousy {^rjXov TTiKpdv) and faction, in which rivals are ' each jealous of the other, as the stung are of the adder' {King Lear, v. i.56 f. ), and exult over (Kara/cavxao-^e) every petty triumph achieved, are an antithesis of Christianity, a lying against the truth (Ja 3^*). Where jealousy and faction are, there is anarchy {aKaTacTTaffia) and every vile deed (3^^). The Jewish opponents of the gospel were filled with jealousy, e.g. in Jerusalem (Ac 5") and Pisidian Antioch (13^5). 'Jealousies' (f^Xot, 2 Co 12^0, Gal 520)_are the inward movements or outward manifestations of this un-Christian feehng.
(2) But the heat of jealousy (cf. ^^^.^) is not always false fire. To the Corinthians St. Paul says, ' I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy' (fiyXcD yap ii/xas deov ^-q\(p, 2 Co 11"), i.e. with a jealousy Hke that of God. In the OT Jahweh is the husband of Israel, loving her and claiming all her love ; in which sense He_ is a jealous God. A somewhat similar jealousy is once ascribed to Christ (in Jn 2^^ f^Xos, 'zeal') ; and St. Paul, who has betrothed the Corinthian Church to the Lord, and hopes to present her as a pure bride to Him, is jealous over her on His behalf, feeling the bare thought that she may after all give herself to another to be intolerable. Some take OeoD ^rjXq) to mean 'with a zeal for God,' but the context de- mands a stricter sense of the word.
James Strahan.
JEPHTHAH ('le^^af).— Jephthah, the Gileadite warrior Avho became the conqueror of the Ammon- ites, and whose vow compelled him to sacrifice his own daughter (Jg 11-12), is named among the men
634
JERICHO
JERUSALEM
of the OT who achieved great things by faith (He IF^). He is mentioned after Samson, though he was historically earlier, the author probably trust- ing his memory, or not being over-studious of minute accuracy. James Strahan.
JERICHO {'lepix'i, WH 'l€peixti>).—The fall of the walls of Jericho is mentioned as an illustration of the miracle-working power of Israel's faith (He 11*"). Enervated by the heat and fertility of the deep valley in which the city stood, the inhabitants of Jericho were always un-warlike, and the story in Jos 6 gives an idea of the astonishing ease with which their stronghold was captured. The site of Jericho shifted several times. The Canaanite city has been identihed with a tell or mound, 1200 ft. long and about 50 ft. high, beside Elisha's Fountain. This has now been carefully explored under the direction of E. Sellin of Vienna, and the mud walls of the old town laid bare. See ' The German Ex- cavations at Jericho,' in PEFSt, 1910, pp. 54-68.
James Strahan.
JERUSALEM. -1. The name Two forms occur
in the NT : (a) lepova-aXrj/x, the ' genuinely national form,' 'hieratic and Hebraising,' used 'where a certain sacred significance is intended, or in solemn appeals ' ; it occurs forty times in Acts, and is also found in the letters of St. Paul, in Hebrews, and in the Apocalypse ; it is indeclinable, and without the article except when accompanied by an adjec- tive ; (6) TepoadXvfia, the hellenized form, favoured by Joseplius, and occurring over twenty times in Acts, and in the narrative section of Galatians. As a rule it is a neuter plural, with or without the article. In each case the aspirate is doubtful. For a discussion of the forms see G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, i. 25911".; W. M. Kamsay, Luke the Physician, London, 1908, p. 51 tf. ; and T. Zahn, Introduction to the NT, Eng. tr., Edinburgh, 1909, ii. 592 ft'.