The text of the Jezirah is divided into six chapters, which are subdivided into sections. Its style is purelj' dogmatic, having the air and character of aphorisms, or theorems laid down with an absolute authority. The abstract character is, however, relieved by an ha- gadistic adtlition which relates the conversion of Abram from Chalda;an idolatry to pure theism, so treated as to render the work a kind of monologue of that patri- arch on the natural world, as a monument or manifesta- tion of the glory of the one only God. The book of Jezirah has been published with five commentaries (^lantua, 15G"2) ; with a Latin translation and notes by Kittangelius (Amst. 1642), and with a German transla- tion and notes by IMeyer (Lpzg. 1830). See Griitz, in Frankel's Monatsschrift, viii, 67 sq., 103 sq., 140 sq. ; Steinschneider, Catalog. Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bocll. col. 335 sq., 552, 639 sq. ; Fiirst, Bibliotk. Jud. i, 27 sq. ; ii, 258 sq. See Pantheism.
Jezli'ah (Heb. Yizliah', ilNibt% perh. Jraww out, i. e. presereed ; Sept. 'le^X/a v. T.'Ie'C\iac,Y\i\g. Jezlia), one of the " sons" of Elpaal, and apparently a chief Ben- jamite resident at Jerusalem (1 Chron. viii, 18). B.C. prob. cir. 588.
Jezo'ar [some Jez'odrl (1 Chron. iv, 7). See
ZOAH.
Jezrahi'ah (Neh. xii, 42). See Israhiah, 2.
Jez'reel (Heb. Yizreel,' i>X?"iP, once ^X^lti- - Kings ix, 10; sown by God; Sept. 'l£^pa//X, but some- times 'If^pt/'/X, 'ie^oii]\,'ltL,gai\ or 'le^pasX ; Josephus 'lt(T(idr]\a, Ant, viii, 13, 6 ; liOQatka, Ant. ix, 6, 4), the name of two places and of several men.
1. A town in the tribe of Issachar (Josh, xix, 18), where the kings of Israel had a palace (2 Sam. ii, 8 sq.), and where the court often resided (1 Kings xviii, 45 ; xxi, 1 ; 2 Kings ix, 30), although Samaria was the me- tropolis of that kingdom. It is most frequently men- tioned in the history of the house of Ahab. " In the neighborhood, or within the town probably, was a tem- ple and grove of Astarte, with an establishment of 400 priests supported by Jezebel (1 Kings xvi,33; 2 Kings X, 11). The palace of Ahab (1 Kings xxi, 1 ; xviii, 46), probably containing his ' ivory house' (1 Kings xxii, 39), was on the eastern side of the city, forming part of the city wall (comp. 1 Kings xxi, 1 ; 2 Kings ix, 25, 30, 33). The seraglio, in which Jezebel lived, was on the city wall, and had a high window facing eastward (2 Kings ix, 30). Close by, if not forming part of this se- raglio (as Josephus supposes, Ant. ix, 6, 4), was a watch- tower, on which a sentinel stood, to give notice of ar- rivals from the disturbed district beyond the Jordan (2 Kings ix, 17). This watch-tower, v.-ell-known as ' the tower in Jezreel,' may possibly have been the tower or migdal near which the Egyptian army was encamped in the battle between Necho and Josiah {llerod. ii, 159). An ancient square tower which stands amongst the hovels of the modern village may be its representative.
The gateway of the city on the east was also the gate- way of the palace (2 Kings ix, 34). Immediately i:i front of the gateway, and under the city wall, was an open space, such as existed before the neighboring city of Bethshan (2 Sam. xxi, 12), and is usually found by the walls of Eastern cities, under the name of 'the mounds' (see Arabian Nights, passim), whence the dogs, the scavengers of the East, prowled in search of offal (2 Kings ix, 25). See Jezebel. A little further east, but adjacent to the royal domain (1 Kings xxi, 1), was a smooth tract of land cleared out of the uneven valley (2 Kings i, 25), which belonged to Naboth, a citizen of Jezreel (2 Kings ix, 1), by a hereditary right (1 Kings xxi, 3) ; but the royal grounds were so near that it would have easily been turned into a garden of herbs for the royal use (2 Kings xxi, 2). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar (1 Kings xxi, 17)" (Smith). Here was the vineyard of Naboth, which Ahab coveted to enlarge the palace-grounds (1 Kings xviii, 45, 46 ; xxi), and here Jehu executed his dreadful commission against the house of Ahab, when Jezebel, Jehoram, and all who were connected with that wretehed dynasty per- ished (2 Kings ix, 14-37 ; x, 1-11) . These horrid scenes appear to have given the kings of Israel a distaste for this residence, as it is not again mentioned in their his- tory. It is, however, named by Hosea (i,4; compare i, 11; ii, 22); and in Judith (i, 8; iv, 3; vii, o) it occurs under the name of Ksdraelon {'Errc'prfXwv), near Do- thaim. In the days of Eusebius and .Jerome it -was still a large village, 12 E. rr.iles from Scythopolis and 10 from Legio, callecl Esdraela ('Efrc^pajjXa, Onomast. s. v. 'if^- QaikX, Jezrael) ; and in the same age it again occurs as Straddu (Ilin. Ilieros. p. 586). Nothing more is heard of it till the time of the Crusades, when it was called by the Franks Parvum Gerinnm, and by the Arabs Zeriii (an evident corruption of the old name) ; and it is de- scribed as commanding a wide prospect — on the east to the mountains of Gilead, and on the west to INIount Car- mel (Will. Tyr. xxii, 26). But this line of identification seems to have been afterwards lost sight of, and Jezreel came to be identified with Jenin. Indeed, the village of Zerin ceased to be mentioned by travellers till Tur- ner, Buckingham, and others after them again brought it into notice ; and it is still more lately that the iden- tification of Zerin and Jezreel has been restored (Eau- mor, Puldstina, p. 155 ; Schubert, iii, 164 ; Elliot, ii, 379 ; liobinson, iii, 164).