Jot, or, rather. Iota ('Iwra), the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (i), derived from the Hebrew yod (■1), and answering to the i (j) or y of European languages. Its name was employed metaphorically to express the minutest trifle. It is. in fact, one of several metaphors derived from the alphabet, as when
alpha, the first letter, and omega, the last, are em- ployed to express the beginning and the end. We are not to suppose, however, that this proverb was ex- clusively apposite in the Greek language. The same practical allusion equally existed in Hebrew, some curi- ous examples of which may be seen in Wetstein and Lightfoot. One of these may here suffice : In the Tal- mud (Sanhed. xx, 2) it is fabled that the book of Deu- teronomy came and prostrated itself before God, and said, " O Lord of the universe, thou hast written in me thy law, but now a testament defective in some parts is de- fective in aU. Behold, Solomon endeavors to root the MtcTJod out of me" (i. e. in the text, D'^d: riS'n'^ x'b, "he shall not multiply wives," Deut. xvii, 17). "The holy, blessed God answered — Solomon, and a thousand such as he, shall perish, but the least word shall not perish out of thee." This is, in fact, a parallel not only to the usage, but the sentiment, as conveyed in iMatt. v, 18, " One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." — Kitto. The propriety of the use of this letter for such a proverb is especially evident from the fact that it is the smallest letter of the Heb. alphabet like- wise, being, in fact, often dispensed with as a mater lee- tionis, and very liable to be omitted in writing or mis- taken for a part of some other letter. See Tittle.
Jotapata. See Jii»iitiiah-el.
Jot'bah (Heb. Yotbah^ 'n'2'^\ goodness ; Sept. 'iH- (ia V. r. 'liTaxa, Josephus 'iTajiarr), Ant. x, 3, 2), a town, probably of Judah, the residence of Haruz, whose daughter Meshullemeth became the wife of king Ma- nasseh and mother of Amon (2 Kings xxi, 19). M. de Saulcy (Narrat. i, 94, note) suggests its identity with Yitma, a village almost in ruins on the north side of the valley (wady Eibah), north of Lebonah and south of Nablus (Robinson's Researches, ii, 92) ; but this would lie within the precincts of the late kingdom of Israel. It is usually identified with Jotbath or Jotbatha of the Exode (Numb, xxiii, 33, 34 ; Deut. x, 7), as the names are essentially the same in the Heb. ; but the latter is spoken of only as a region, not an inhabited town, and is out of the bounds of the Jewish monarchy. " The Arabic equivalent for Jotbah is et-Taiyib, or et-Taiyi- beh, and no less than three sites of this name are met with in modem Palestine. One is considerably south of Hebron (Robinson, Bib. Res. ii, 472) ; another to the west of that city {ib. p. 427-429) ; and the third is north of Jerusalem, in the country of Benjamin. This last is most likely to answer to Jotbah, for the two first-named places are very insignificant, and never can have been of much importance ; whereas this is described by Dr. Robinson as crowning a conspicuous hill^ skirted by fer- tile basins of some breadth, . . . full of gardens of olives and fig-trees. The remarkable position (he adds) would not probably have been left unoccupied in ancient times (Biblic. Res. ii, 121, 124). In a subsequent visit to the place he was struck both with the depth and quahty of the soil, which were more than one would anticipate in so rocky a region {Later Bib. Res.']}. 290). These ex- tracts explain while they justify the signification ' good- ness.' which belongs both to Jotbah and Taiyibeh" (Fairbaim, s. v.). Against this identification, however, there lie two not very strong objections, namely, its dis- tance from Jerusalem, and the fact of the probable co- incidence of this site with that of Ophrah (q. v.).
Jot'bath (Deut. x, 7). See Jotbathah.
Jot'bathah [some Jofba'fhah'] (Heb. Yoiba'thah, nr'2::'^, goodness, i. Q. pleasantness, compare Agathopolis [the name is the same with il'Z':^'^, Jotbah, v>ith tl para- gogic appended] ; Sept. 'lenliaBd v. r. Tatf3a^a, etc. ; Auth. Vers, in Deut. x, 7, " Jotbath"), the thirty-fourth station of the Israelites during their wandering in the desert, situated between Hor-hagidgad and Ebronah (Numb. xxxiii,33,34), and again their forty-first station, between Gudgodah and the Red Sea (Dent, x, 7), de- scribed m the latter passage as " a laud of rivers (,0"^?^,
JOTHA^I
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JOURNEY
y^intcT-hrool-s) of waters." The locality thus indicated IS probably the expanded valley near the confluence of wady Jerafeh in its southern part with wady Mukutta cl-Tiiwarik and others (Robinson's Researches, i, 261), especiaUy wady cl-Adbeh,yf'lnch. nearly approaches the Heb. name (Jour. Sac. Lit. April, 1860, p. 47-49). This is generally a region answering to the description of fertiUtv (Bonar's Desert of Sinai, p. 295). Schwarz {Pal- estine, p. 213), however, thinks wady Tuba, nearer the Akabah, is meant. See Exode.
Jo'tham (Heb. Yotham', t:T\i^,.Movah is upright; Sept. and N. Test. 'Io;«Sa/i, but 'luiaMn in 1 Chron. ii, 47 ; 'Idjva^av v. r. 'IwaSav in 1 Chron. iii, 12 ; v. r. "Iw- 0o/i in 1 Chron. v, 17; v. r. 'lujabav in 2 Chron. xxvi, 21 ; V. r. Xiiivuiav in 2 Chron. xxvi,23 ; Josephus 'loid- Sianoc, A nt. v, 7, 2 ; ix, 1 1 , 2 sq. ; Vulg. Joathan and Jo- atham ; Auth. Vers. " Joatham," Matt, i, 9), the name of several men.