JERUSHA

kingdom in 1187, when Jerusalem fell to Saladin. For a brief interval, from 1229 to 1244, the German Christians held the city by treaty; but In 1244 the Kharezmian massacre swallowed up the last relics of Christian occupation. In 1517itwasconqueredbySultanSelimi., and since then it has been a Turkish city. The present walls were erected by Suleiman the Magnificent (1642). In recent years the population has enormously increased, owing to the establishment of Jewish refugee colonies and various communities of European settlers; there has also been an extraordinary development of monastic life within and around the city. R. A. S. Macalister.

JERUSHA (2 K 16»=JERUSHAH 2 Ch 27'). — Mother of Jotham king of Judah.

JESAIAS. — See Jeshaiah, 4.

JESHAIAH.— 1. A grandson of Zerubbabel (1 Ch 32')-2. One of the sons of Jeduthun (1 Ch 25'- "). 3. A Levite (1 Ch 26^'). 4. The chief of the BenS-Elam who returned (Ezr 8' [1 Es 8" Jesaias]). 6. Chief of the Merarites (Ezr 8" [1 £s 8" Osaias]). 6. A Benjamite (Neh 11').

JESHANAH. — A town taken from Jeroboam by Abijah (2 Ch 13"). It is the modern 'Ain Slnia, about 3i miles north of Bethel.

JESHARELAH. — See Ashabblah.

JESHEBEAB.— A Levite, the head of the fourteenth course (1 Ch 24").

JESHER.— A son of Caleb (1 Ch 2'*).

JESHIMON. — This word, derived from a Heb. root meaning 'to be waste or desolate,' is used either as a common noun (=' desert,' 'wilderness') or (with the art., 'the Jeshimon') as a proper name (Nu 21»i' 23^', 1 S 23"- » 26'- '). In the latter usage the reference is either to the waste country in the Jordan valley N. of the Dead Sea and east of the river (so apparently in Numbers), or to the eastern part of the hill-country of Judah on the western shore of the Dead Sea (so 1 Sam.).

JESHISHAl.— A Gadite family (1 Ch 6»).

JESHOHAIAH.— A Simeonite family (1 Ch 4»).

JESHUA (another form of Joshua) . —1 . Joshua theson of Nun (Neh 8"). 2. The head of the ninth course of priests (1 Ch 24"). 3. A Levite in the time of Eezekiah (2 Ch 31"). 4. A man of the house of Pahath-moab whose descendants returned with Zerub. (Ezr 2«, Neh 7" [1 Es 5" Jesus]); perhaps identical with No. 2 above. 6. A Levitical house or its successive heads in the times of Zerub., Ezra, and Nehemiah; mentioned in connexion with the building of the Temple (Ezr 3»), the explana-tion of the Law (Neh 8', cf. 9*'), and the sealing of the covenant (10»). Cf. also Ezr 2" [1 Es 5» Jesus] 8^3 [1 ES.8M Jesus], Neh 7" 12«- ". 6. The high priest who along with Zerub. headed the first band of exiles. In Ezr. and Neh. he is called Jeshua, in Hag. and Zee. Joshua, He took a leading part in the erection of the altar of burnt-offering and the laying of the foundations of the Temple (Ezr 3™). In Hag. and Zee. he is frequently coupled with Zerub., after these prophets had begun to stimulate the people to undertake building operations in earnest (Hag 1'- «■ », Zee 3'^- &'■ ")• He is eulogized in Sir 4912 [Jesus]. 7. A priestly family, Ezr 2» = Neh 7" = ! Es 5« [Jesus]. 8. A town in the south of Judah (Neh 11"). The site is possibly at the ruin Sa'wi west of Tell 'Arad and south of 'Attlr.

JESHURUN. — A poetic or a pet-name for Israel which occurs four times in the OT (Dt 32" 33'- »>, Is 442). It is found in the later writings, and repre-sents a patriotic feeling that Israel was =vaahar-El, 'the upright of God.' If this be so, then we may accept the rendering of Jeshurun as the 'righteous little people.' In Balaam's elegy, ' Let me die the death of the righteous ' seems to refer to the Israel of the pre-

JESUS CHRIST

ceding clause, and in Ps 83' the thought which underlies Jeshurun appears, if we adopt the tempting reading: ' Truly God is good to the upright.' W. F. Cobb.

JESIAS (1 Es 8") =Ezr 8' Jeshaiah.

JESHHIEL. — The eponym of a Simeonite family

(1 Ch m.

JESSE (more correctly/isftai, cf., as regards formation, Ittai; perhaps an abbreviated form; the meaning of the name is quite uncertain). — A Bethlehemite, best known as the father of David. The earliest historical mention of him (1 S 1712; see David,!§ 1) represents him as already an old man. On this occasion he sends David to the Israelite camp with provisions for his brothers; this was destined to be a long separation between Jesse and his son, for after David's victory over the Philistine giant he entered definitely into Saul's service. There are two other accounts, each of which purports to mention Jesse for the first time: 1 S 16"-, in which Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint David; and 1 S 16", in which Jesse's son is sent for to play the harp before Saul. Nothing further is heard of Jesse until we read of him and his 'house' coming to David in the 'cave' of AduUam; David then brings his father and mother to Mizpeh of Moab, and entrusts them to the care of the kingof Moab (IS 22'-'). This is the last we hear of him. In Is 11' the 'stock of Jesse' is mentioned as that from which the Messiah is to issue; the thought probably being that of the humble descent of the Messiah as contrasted with His glorious Kingdom which is to be. W. O. E. Oesteblby.

JESUS, the Gr. form of the name Joshua or Jeshua, is employed as a designation of — 1. Joshua the son of Nun (AV of 1 Mac 2» 2 Es 7", Sir 46', Ac 7«, He 4s, in all of which passages RV has Joshua). 2. 1 Es 5" = Jeshua of Ezr 2= and Neh 7". 3. 1 Es 6"=Jeshua of Ezr 2" and Neh 7>'. 4. Jeshua (Joshua), the high priest (1 Es SS- 8- «. 66. 68. 70 62 9", Sir 49>2). 5. A Levite (1 Es 5»- " 8" g^s) who in Ezr 2" 3» is called Jeshua. 6. An ancestor of our Lord (Lk 3" RV, where AV has Jose). 7. Jesus, sou of Sirach. 8. Jesus called Justus, a Jewish Christian residing in Rome, saluted by St. Paul in Col 4". 9. See next article.

JESUS CHRIST.— There is no historical task which is more important than to set forth the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, and none to which it is so difBcult to do justice. The importance of the theme is suflSciently attested by the fact that it is felt to be His due to reckon a new era from the date of His birth. From the point of view of Christian faith there is nothing in time worthy to be set beside the deeds and the words of One who is adored as God manifest in the flesh, and the Saviour of the world. In the perspective of universal history. His influence ranks with Greek culture and Roman law as one of the three most valuable elements in the heri-tage from the ancient world, while it surpasses these other factors in the spiritual quaUty of its effects. On the other hand, the superlative task has its peculiar diffi-culties. It is quite certain that a modern European makes many mistakes when trying to reproduce the conditions of the distant province of Oriental antiquity in which Jesus Uved. The literary documents, more-over, are of no great compass, and are reticent or obscure in regard to many matters which are of capital interest to the modern biographer. And when erudition has done its best with the primary and auxiUary sources, the historian has still to put the heart-searching question whether he possesses the quaUfications that would enable him to understand the character, the experience, and the purpose of Jesus. 'He who would worthily write the Lite of Jesus Christ must have a pen dipped in the imaginative sympathy of a poet, in the prophet's fire, in the artist's charm and grace, and in the reverence and purity of the saint' (Stewart, The Life of Christ, 1906, p. vi.).

1. The Literary Sources. — (A) Canonical: (1) The

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