Jotham Jehovah is perfect. (1.) The youngest of Gideon's seventy sons. He escaped when the rest were put to death by the order of Abimelech (Jdg 9:5). When "the citizens of Shechem and the whole house of Millo" were gathered together "by the plain of the pillar" (i.e., the stone set up by Joshua, Jos 24:26; compare Gen 35:4) "that was in Shechem, to make Abimelech king," from one of the heights of Mount Gerizim he protested against their doing so in the earliest parable, that of the bramble-king. His words then spoken were prophetic. There came a recoil in the feelings of the people toward Abimelech, and then a terrible revenge, in which many were slain and the city of Shechem was destroyed by Abimelech (Jdg 9:45). Having delivered his warning, Jotham fled to Beer from the vengeance of Abimelech (Jdg 9:7). (2.) The son and successor of Uzziah on the throne of Judah. As during his last years Uzziah was excluded from public life on account of his leprosy, his son, then twenty-five years of age, administered for seven years the affairs of the kingdom in his father's stead (Ch2 26:21, Ch2 26:23; Ch2 27:1). After his father's death he became sole monarch, and reigned for sixteen years (759-743 B.C.). He ruled in the fear of God, and his reign was prosperous. He was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, by whose ministrations he profited. He was buried in the sepulchre of the kings, greatly lamented by the people (Kg2 15:38; Ch2 27:7).
Journey (1.) A day's journey in the East is from 16 to 20 miles (Num 11:31). (2.) A Sabbath-day's journey is 2,000 paces or yards from the city walls (Act 1:12). According to Jewish tradition, it was the distance one might travel without violating the law of Exo 16:29. (See SABBATH.)
Jozabad Whom Jehovah bestows. (1.) One of the Benjamite archers who joined David at Ziklag (Ch1 12:4). (2.) A chief of the tribe of Manasseh (Ch1 12:20).
Jozachar Jehovah-remembered, one of the two servants who assassinated Jehoash, the king of Judah, in Millo (Kg2 12:21). He is called also Zabad (Ch2 24:26).
Jubal Jubilee, music, Lamech's second son by Adah, of the line of Cain. He was the inventor of "the harp" (Heb. kinnor , properly "lyre") and "the organ" (Heb. 'ugab , properly "mouth-organ" or Pan's pipe), Gen 4:21.
Jubilee A joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the fields (Lev 25:11, Lev 25:12). All landed property during that year reverted to its original owner (Lev. 25:13-34; Lev 27:16), and all who were slaves were set free (Lev. 25:39-54), and all debts were remitted. The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no record in Scripture of the actual observance of this festival, but there are numerous allusions (Isa 5:7, Isa 5:8, Isa 5:9, Isa 5:10; Isa 61:1, Isa 61:2; Eze 7:12, Eze 7:13; Neh. 5:1-19; Ch2 36:21) which place it beyond a doubt that it was observed. The advantages of this institution were manifold: (1.) It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. (2.) It would render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. (3.) It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. (4.) It would utterly do away with slavery. (5.) It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited. (6.) It would periodically rectify the disorders which crept into the state in the course of time, preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate.
Juda (1.) The patriarch Judah, son of Jacob (Luk 3:33; Heb 7:14). In Luk 1:39; Heb 7:14; Rev 5:5; Rev 7:5, the word refers to the tribe of Judah. (2.) The father of Simeon in Christ's maternal ancestry (Luk 3:30). (3.) Son of Joanna, and father of Joseph in Christ's maternal ancestry (Luk 3:26), probably identical with Abiud (Mat 1:13), and with Obadiah (Ch1 3:21). (4.) One of the Lord's "brethren" (Mar 6:3).
Judah Praise, the fourth son of Jacob by Leah. The name originated in Leah's words of praise to the Lord on account of his birth: "Now will I praise [Heb. odeh ] Jehovah, and she called his name Yehudah" (Gen 29:35). It was Judah that interposed in behalf of Joseph, so that his life was spared (Gen 37:26, Gen 37:27). He took a lead in the affairs of the family, and "prevailed above his brethren" (Gen 43:3; Gen 44:14, 16-34; Gen 46:28; Ch1 5:2). Soon after the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, Judah went to reside at Adullam, where he married a woman of Canaan. (See ONAN and TAMAR.) After the death of his wife Shuah, he returned to his father's house, and there exercised much influence over the patriarch, taking a principal part in the events which led to the whole family at length going down into Egypt. We hear nothing more of him till he received his father's blessing (Gen 49:8).
Judah, Tribe of Judah and his three surviving sons went down with Jacob into Egypt (Gen 46:12; Exo 1:2). At the time of the Exodus, when we meet with the family of Judah again, they have increased to the number of 74,000 males (Num 1:26, Num 1:27). Its number increased in the wilderness (Num 26:22). Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, represented the tribe as one of the spies (Num 13:6; Num 34:19). This tribe marched at the van on the east of the tabernacle (Num 2:3; Num 10:14), its standard, as is supposed, being a lion's whelp. Under Caleb, during the wars of conquest, they conquered that portion of the country which was afterwards assigned to them as their inheritance. This was the only case in which any tribe had its inheritance thus determined (Jos 14:6; Jos 15:13). The inheritance of the tribe of Judah was at first fully one-third of the whole country west of Jordan, in all about 2,300 square miles (Josh. 15). But there was a second distribution, when Simeon received an allotment, about 1,000 square miles, out of the portion of Judah (Jos 19:9). That which remained to Judah was still very large in proportion to the inheritance of the other tribes. The boundaries of the territory are described in Josh. 15:20-63. This territory given to Judah was divided into four sections. (1.) The south (Heb. negeb ), the undulating pasture-ground between the hills and the desert to the south (Jos 15:21.) This extent of pasture-land became famous as the favourite camping-ground of the old patriarchs. (2.) The "valley" (Jos 15:33) or lowland (Heb. shephelah ), a broad strip lying between the central highlands and the Mediterranean. This tract was the garden as well as the granary of the tribe. (3.) The "hill-country," or the mountains of Judah, an elevated plateau stretching from below Hebron northward to Jerusalem. "The towns and villages were generally perched on the tops of hills or on rocky slopes. The resources of the soil were great. The country was rich in corn, wine, oil, and fruit; and the daring shepherds were able to lead their flocks far out over the neighbouring plains and through the mountains." The number of towns in this district was thirty-eight (Jos 15:48). (4.) The "wilderness," the sunken district next the Dead Sea (Jos 15:61), "averaging 10 miles in breadth, a wild, barren, uninhabitable region, fit only to afford scanty pasturage for sheep and goats, and a secure home for leopards, bears, wild goats, and outlaws" (Sa1 17:34; Sa1 22:1; Mar 1:13). It was divided into the "wilderness of En-gedi" (Sa1 24:1), the "wilderness of Judah" (Jdg 1:16; Mat 3:1), between the Hebron mountain range and the Dead Sea, the "wilderness of Maon" (Sa1 23:24). It contained only six cities. Nine of the cities of Judah were assigned to the priests (Jos 21:9).
Judah Upon Jordan The Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, has this rendering in Jos 19:34. It has been suggested that, following the Masoretic punctuation, the expression should read thus, "and Judah; the Jordan was toward the sun-rising." The sixty cities (Havothjair, Num 32:41) on the east of Jordan were reckoned as belonging to Judah, because Jair, their founder, was a Manassite only on his mother's side, but on his father's side of the tribe of Judah (Ch1 2:5, Ch1 2:21).