One of the most remarkable features in con- nexion with the Jews in the apostolic times was their world-wide dispersion. From Spain in the West to the Persian Gulf in the East Jews had settled in every large city. Their exclusive re- ligion and their contempt of the heathen kept them together as a community within the larger population where they found a home, and their capacity for commerce often enabled them to be- come extremely wealthy. Their exclusiveness and the commercial dishonesty of many of them led to their being hated by the common people, while their wealth made them exceedingly useful to rulers and princes, who thus were induced to pro- tect them. The Dispersion was one of the most important factors in the spread of the Christian faith in apostolic and sub-apostolic times. Wher- ever the apostolic missionaries went, they found a Jewish synagogue, where they had access not merely to the Jewish population, but to the more earnest among the heathen who had been attracted by the monotheism and the moral characteristics of Judaism, and who often formed the nucleus of a Christian Church. The Jewish religion was toler- ated in the Roman Empire, being regarded as a religio licita ; and, so long as Christianity grew up and flourished in the shelter of the synagogue, it too might be regarded as enjoying the same toler- ation. This fact no doubt enabled the new faith to secure a footing in these early days. In the Acts of the Apostles we see how the Roman pro- consul Gallio (18^--") simply regards Christianity as an insignificant variation of Judaism, and the same view is taken by King Agrippa (263-), as well as by the town-clerk of Ephesus (19"). The author of the Acts is careful to state these favour- able opinions of officials. Probably, however, the popular hatred of the Jews, which was always smouldering and ready to burst forth at any
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JOB
moment among the excitable populace, was one of the first causes of Christian persecution, as it took some considerable time before Christianity was fully recognized as an independent religion. The Jews themselves became the most persistent and implacable persecutors of the Christians. They were ever ready to stir up the disaffected people and divert attention from themselves by turning it on the adherents of the new faith. Probably the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius (Ac 18^) was the result of dissensions re- garding the new religion, which had sprung from Judaism and threatened to overwhelm it. The reference of Suetonius [Claudius, 2o) to Chrestus, which is probably a mistake for Christus, seems to favour this idea, although various views have been taken of the passage (cf. K. J. Knowling, EGT, 'Acts,' p. 384 f.).
In Rome, as well as in many other cities of the Empire, Jews obtained considerable influence, in spite of the popular aversion to them. Their wealth opened many doors which otherwise would have remained shut against them. Jews, and especially Jewesses, were to be found in many prominent Roman families, and intermarriage between Jewish women and Gentiles was by no means uncommon. Thus Eunice, the mother of Timothy (Ac 16^), was a Jewess who had married a Greek, Avhile Drusilla, the wife of Felix the governor of Syria (Ac 24^), is also described as a Jewess. In both references the word simply implies that the women belonged to the ancient race of Israel, without any thought of the particular tribe from which they may have claimed descent.
LrrERATURB.— H. H. Milman, History of the Jews^, 1863 ; J. J. I. Dolling-er, Heidenthum und Judenthum, 1857 ; O. Holtz- mann, NTZG, 1895 ; E. Schiirer, GJV^, 1901-11 ; A. Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung-, 1906; A. Berliner, Geschichte der Juden in Rom, 1893; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, St. Paul the Traveller, 1895 ; R. J. Know- ling, EGT, ' Acta,' 1900, M. Dods, EGT, ' The Gospel of St. John,' 1897 ; Sanday-Headlam, Romans^ (ICO, 1902) ; artt. in HDB and EBi. W. F. BOYD.
JEZEBEL.— Jezebel is referred to in the NT in Rev 2-*' : ' I have somewhat against thee, because thou dost tolerate the woman Jezebel who calleth herself a prophetess, and teacheth my servants to commit fornication and to eat of things oifered to idols and leadeth them astray.' [Some MSS, KCP and about 10 minuscules, insert <rov after yvvalKa, so as to give the sense * thy wife,' but the (Tov is placed in the margin by WH and rejected by Nestle. It probably reflects some copyist's view that the 'angel' of the Church was its bishop.] The passage goes on to say that her misdoing was of some standing, that the woman gave no sign of amending her ways, and that therefore she and her companions in sin would be cast into a bed, or triclinium, defined as great affliction, while her children would be smitten with death. One result of this punishment would l)e that all the Churches would recognize Jesus as the Searcher of the thoughts and wills. Further, tills Jezebel taught what she and her followers called 'tlie deep things,' to which the author sardonically adds 'of Satan.'
It is fairly clear from these hints what ' Jezebel ' stands for. In the first place, the opprobrious term may mark an actual prophetess. For Thya- tira possessed a temi)le of Artemis and a temple of a local hero Tyrimnus taken over by Apollo, while outside the city was the cell of an Eastern Sibyl knoAvn as Sambethe (CIG 3509: Fabius Zosimus set up a burial-place for himself and his sweetest wife Aurelia Pontiana in a vacant place in front of the city in the neighbourhood or quarter where was a fane of the Chakhean Sambethe [vol. ii, p. 840]. The date is probably about A.D. 120).