Jaffa is now famous for its orange gardens and orchards, each of which has an unlimited supply of water. ' The entire plain seems to cover a river of vast breadth, percolating through the sand en route to the sea' (W. M. Thomson, loc. cit.).
LrrERATtjRE.— E. Schiirer, HJP n. i. [18S5] 79-S3 ; G. A. Smith, HGUL, ls97, p. 136 f. ; H. B. Tristram, Bible Places, 1897, p. 70 f. ; V. Guerin, Description giographitjue . . , de la Palestine: ' Jud6e,' 1809, i. If. JAMES iSTRAHAN.
JOSEPH ('Iu(Tri(f>).—i. The elder of Jacob's two sons by Rachel, the eleventh Patriarch, the ancestor of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. In St. Stephen's address before the Sanhedrin reference is made to Joseph's being sold by his brothers, God's presence with him in Egypt, his promotion to be governor of the land, his manifes- tation of himself to his brethren, his invitation to his father and all iiis kindred to migrate to Egypt (Ac 7"'^"'), and finally, at a much later date, the rise of a Pharaoh who ' knew not Joseph ' (7^*).
The question of the historicity of the narrative In Genesis was never raised by the Apostolic Church, nor by the modern Church till the dawn of the age of criticism. The critical verdict is that the story is based upon facts which have been idealized in the spirit of the earlier Hebrew prophets. That the tradition of a Hebrew minister in Egypt, who saved the country in time of famine, 'should be true in essentials is by no means improbable ' (J. Skinner, Genesis [ICC, 1910] 441). Driver thinks it credible that an actual person, named Joseph, 'underwent substantially the experiences recounted of him in Qn.'{HDB ii. 771b). gee H. Gunkel, Genesis, 1910, p. 356 f.
In He 11^^ allusion is made to the blessing re- ceived by Joseph's two sons from his dying father. In IP^ Joseph is placed on the roll of the ' elders' — saints of the OT — who by their words and deeds gave evidence of their faith. The particular facts selected as proving his grasp of things unseen — which is the essence of faith (ll-*) — are his death- bed prediction of the exodus of the children of Israel and his commandment regarding the dis- posal of his bones (Gn oO'^''- ^^ ; cf. Jos 24^^). Tliough he was an Egyptian governor, speaking the Egyptian language, and married to an Egyp- tian wife, he was at heart an unchanged Hebrew, and his dying eyes beheld the land from which he had been exiled as a boy, the homeland of every true Israelite.
2. Joseph Barsabbas, surnamed Justus, was one of those who accompanied Jesus during His whole public ministry and witnessed His Resurrection. He was therefore nominated, along with Matthias, for the office made vacant by the treachery and death of Judas Iscariot (Ac 1^^"-^). After prayer ' the lot fell upon Matthias' (1^^). It is admitted
even by radical critics that Jesus deliberately chose twelve disciples (corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel), and it was natural that these should seek to keep their sacred number un- impaired. The name 'Barsabbas' (or ' Barsabas,' C, Vulg., Syrr.) has been variously explained as 'child of the Sabbath,' 'son of Sheba,' 'warrior,' or ' old man's son.' The Roman surname Justus was adopted in accordance with a Jewish custom which prevailed at the time — cf. ' John whose sur- name was Marcus' (Ac 12i^- ^s), and ' Saul, who is also Paulus' (IS''). It is a natural conjecture — no more — that this Joseph was the brother of Judas Barsabbas (15^^). Eusebius (HE i. 12) regards him as one of 'the Seventy' (Lk 10'), and records (iii. 39) that a ' wonderful event happened respect- ing Justus, surnamed Barsabbas, who, though he drank a deadly poison, experienced nothing in- jurious {/xrjdev a-rjoes), by the grace of God.'
3. Joseph, surnamed Barnabas (Ac 4^*). See Barnabas. James Strahan.
JOSEPHUS. — For a proper understanding of the Apostolic Age there are, apart from the Epistles of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles, no documents of such value as the writings of Josephus.
1. Life and character. — We have an account of the life of Josephus from his own pen. He was born in Jerusalem in A.D. 37, his father being Matthias, a priest of noble lineage, and belonging to the first course of the priesthood, i.e. Jojarib, while on his mother's side he was connected with the royal Hasmon«an house. He was a child of excellent parts, and received a superior education. He studied the principles of the three main sects of Judaism under professional teachers of each, and lived for three years in the society of an ascetic hermit named Banus — a discipline then regarded as a desideratum of good breeding (we find something of the same kind in the early life of Seneca). At the age of nineteen he attached himself to the Pharisaic party. In A.D. 64 he visited Rome, where, through the influence of a Jewish actor named Alityrus, he succeeded in gaining the ear of the Empress Poppsea — first the mistress, and from A.D. 62 tiie wife, of Nero— and so securing the liberation of some Jewish priests who had been put in bonds by Felix. Josephus had scarcely re- turned to Jerusalem when, in A.D. 66, he was drawn into the movement which, springing from the long-accumulating hatred of Rome among the Jews, and fanned by the agitation of certain fana- tics, soon burst forth in the lurid flames of revolt and war. It is true that the more eminent priestly ranks to which Josephus belonged, as also the leaders of the Pharisaic party, were altogether averse to an insurrection against the overwhelming power of the Roman Empire. Presently, however, the movement resolved itself so decisively into a national cause, a war of the Lord, that Josephus was quite unable to stand aloof. He undertook the command of Galilee, where, in spite of the personal hostility of the zealot John of Gischala, he organized the Jewish defence during the winter of 66-67. For six weeks he withstood with great skill and daring the Roman assault upon Jotapata, a fortress commanding the line of approach from Ptolemais, and then played his part with such address that, falling into the hands of the Romans as the last survivor of the siege, he caught the personal notice of Vespasian by means of a pro- phecy. His life was spared, and when his predic- tion was at length fulfilled by the proclamation of A'^espasian as Emperor (3 July, A.D. 69), he re- gained his freedom. From that time he called himself Flavius Josephus, and for the remainder of the war — during the siege of Jerusalem — the erstwhile leader in the rebellion acted as advise?