INC – JOH

Volume I, pages 809–828 of the 1732 edition, from INC to JOH: everything printed on these pages, in order.

Continued from Impure

involuntary touching of an unclean creature, See Lev. xxii. 4.the use of Marriage, &c. Others did not exclude people from the commerce of life, but only separated the person from his relations in his own house, so that he could come no nearer them than to such a particular distance; as women who had newly lain in, or were under the infirmities common to their sex, whosoever touched them became impure for the whole day until the evening.

Many of these pollutions were purified, as we have said, by bathing. Others were expiated by sacrifices; others by a certain water, or lye, made with the ashes of a red heifer, which was sacrificed upon the great Numb. xix. 10, 11, 12, &c.day of Expiation. When the Leper was cured of his leprosy, he went to the Temple, and there offered a sacrifice of two birds, one whereof was killed, the other Lev. xiv. 1, 2, 3, &c.set at liberty. He who had been polluted by touching a dead body, or by being present at funerals, was to be purified with the water of expiation, whereof we have been speaking; and this upon pain of death. That man who should come near a woman while her usual infirmities were upon her, was condemned to death; and Lev. xx. 18.the woman also, if the matter were brought to a hearing before the Judge. The woman who had been delivered of a boy or a girl came to the Tabernacle after the prescribed time, and there offered a turtle and a lamb for her expiation; or if she were poor, two turtles, or two young pigeons.

The Impurities of this kind, which the Law of Moses hath expressed¹ with so much accuracy and care, were only figures of other more important Impurities, which were likewise carefully described by it; such as the sins and iniquities committed against God, or faults committed against our neighbour. The Saints and Prophets of the Old Testament have very well discovered this difference; and our Saviour in the Gospel has strongly inculcated, that they are not outward and corporeal pollutions, which render us unacceptable to God, but such inward pollutions as infect the soul, and are violations of Justice, Truth, and Charity.

I. IMRI, the son of Omri, father of 1 Chr. ix. 4.Ammihud.

II. IMRI, the father of Zaccer in the Nehem. iii. 2.time of Nehemiah.

INCAMPMENTS, of the Israelites in the wilderness. 1. Rameses; 2. Succoth; 3. Etham; 4. Pihahiroth; 5. Baal-zephon; 6. Near the Red Sea, after their passage; 7. In the wilderness of Sur; 8. Marah; 9. Elim; 10. Near the Red Sea; 11. In the wilderness of Sin; 12. Dophkah; 13. Alush; 14. Rephidim; 15. Mount Horeb; 16. Sinah; 17. Tabera, or burning; 18. The Graves of Lust; 19. Kadesh-barnea; 20. Hazeroth; 21. Rithmah; 22. Rimmon-parez; 23. Libnah; 24. Rissah; 25. Kehelathah; 26. Shapher; 27. Adar or Haradah; 28. Makheloth; 29. Taheth; 30. Tarah; 31. Mithcah; 32. Hashminah; 33. Moseroth, (the same, perhaps, as Hazeroth;) 34. Bene-jaakan; 35. Horchagidgad; 36. Jotbathah, (the same, perhaps, as the Graves of Lust;) 37. Ebronah; 38. Elath; 39. Ezion-gaber; 40. Mozeroth, or Mount Hor; 41. Zalmonah; 42. Tunon; 43. Oboth; 44. Jjeabarim; 45. Zared; 46. Mothen; 47. Nahaliel; 48. Bamoth-Arnon; 49. Dibon -gad; 50. Almon-Diblathaim. We shall not stay here to fix the situation of all these places, nor tell what happened in each of them; because we shall speak of them in the several articles under which we shall particularly reduce them.

Numb. xi. 3. Deut. ix. 22. תבערה Tabiera.INCENDIUM. The name of Incendium or Incensio, in Hebrew, Taberah, was given to the incampment whither the Hebrews came after they had decamped from Sinai. This place was so called because God, being provoked by the murmurs of the Israelites, who complained that they had no flesh to eat, sent a fire among them, which consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp, and destroyed a great number of the Israelites.

INCENSE, Censers. Incense is an aromatick and odoriferous gum. It issues out of a tree, surnamed by the antients Thurifera, the leaves whereof are like those of a pear-tree, according to Theophrastus. They make incisions in it in the dog-days, in order to draw out the gum. Male Incense is the best; it is round, white, fat within, and kindles into a flame as soon as it is put upon the fire. It is likewise called Oliban. Female Incense is soft, more gummy, and less agreeable to the smell than the other. That of Saba was the best, and most esteemed by the ancients; they speak of it with great approbation.

To offer incense was an office peculiar to the Priests; they entered twice every day into the Holy, namely, morning and evening, to burn Incense there. Upon the great day of Expiation, the High Priest took up with a spoon Incense or

Perfume pounded, and ready to be put into the Censer, and threw it upon the fire the moment he went into the Sanctuary; that so the smoke which rose from the Censer, might prevent his looking with too much curiosity on the Ark and Mercy-seat: God threatens him with death upon failing to perform this Numb. xvi. 13.ceremony. The Levites were not to touch the Censers; and we know what a terrible punishment Corah, Dathan, and Abiram suffered, for imprudently arrogating to themselves this honour. The Censers of the ancient Ibid. 31, 32, 33. Rev. v. 8.Hebrews were very different from those made use of at this day; they did not hang by great chains; they were a sort of chafingdishes, or perfuming-pans, with, or even without, handles; which the High Priest placed upon the Altar of Incense, or carried into the Sanctuary. S. John in the Revelations, speaking of the Censers held by the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders, calls them by the name of dishes only, or gold cups full of Incense; Phialas aureas plenas odoramentorum: which give us an idea of Censers very different from those used at present. In the medals of Simon Maccabæus, we see smoking Censers like a cup, or a chalice with a foot to it. See the Medals which we have taken care to have engraved at the end of this Dictionary.

INCENSE, incensum, sometimes signifies in Scripture the sacrifices and fat of victims which were offered: as in this passage, Aaron 1 Chr. vi. 49,and his Sons burnt Incense upon the Altar of burnt offerings and on the Altar of Incense. We know that no Incense was offered on the Altar of burnt-offerings; but that victims were burnt thereupon as an odour agreeable to the Lord.

INCEST, an unlawful Conjunction of persons related within the degrees prohibited by the laws of God and the Church. By Incest is meant rather the crime committed by this Conjunction, than the Conjunction itself; which at certain times and in certain cases is not looked upon to be criminal: for in the beginning of the world, and again long after the deluge, marriages between brothers and sisters, aunts and nephews, and cousin germans were allowed. The sons of Adam and Eve could marry no otherwise; no more than the sons and daughters of Noah’s children, for a certain time. In the time of Abraham and Isaac, these Marriages were still permitted, and among the Persians much later; since it is said to be esteemed neither criminal nor ignominious, among the remains of the old Persians, even at this day.

There are some Authors who believe, that Marriages between brothers and sisters, and other near relations, were permitted, or at least tolerated, till the time of the Mosaick Law; that the first who prohibited Lev. xviii. 24, 25.them among the Hebrews was their Legislator; that among other people they were allowed even after him. Others hold the contrary; and it is hard to prove either of these opinions, for want of historical monuments of those ancient times. What we know certainly is, that God detests these Alliances, and forbids his people to pollute themselves with any of these things, for in all these the nations were defiled, which he was to cast out before them. He declares, that he will punish the detestable sins of this land, which abhors its own inhabitants, and throws them up with loathsomness. He begins his ordinances, on the subject of Incests, and other unlawful Conjunctions, with these words: Ye shall not do according to the customs of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt; ye shall not conduct yourselves according to the manners of the land of Canaan, whither I am bringing you. Ye shall observe my ordinances and precepts. All which intimates, that Incests were common and authorized in Egypt and Palestine.

The Marriages prohibited by the law, are, 1. between the son and his mother, or between the father and his daughter; and between the son and his mother-in-law. 2. Between brothers and sisters, whether they are both by the same father and mother, or by one or the other of them only. 3. Between the grand-father and grand-mother, and their grand-son or grand-daughter. 4. Between the daughter of the father’s wife, and the son of the same father, which returns almost to what has been said in the second article. 5. Between the aunt and the nephew; but the Jews pretend that it was lawful for the uncle to marry his neice. 6. Between the father-in-law and the motherin-law. 7. Between the brother-in-law and the sister-in-law. There is an exception to this law; which is, that when a man dies without children, his brother was obliged to marry his widow, in order to provide heirs for him. 8. The same man is forbidden to marry both the mother and the daughter; or the daughter of his wife’s son, or the daughter of his daughter. 9. His wife’s sister, as Jacob, who married both Rachel and Leah. But some translate the Hebrew thus; When thou marryest a wife, thou shalt not take a second: and many maintain, that this passage forbids Polygamy, which was only tolerated afterwards.

* Druf. Junius. Hammond. Willet. Indæi Caraitæ.All these degrees of relation, wherein it was not lawful to contract Marriage, are comprehended in the four following verses:

Moses forbids all these incestuous marriages, upon pain of being cut off: Whosoever Lev. xviii. 19.shall commit any of these abominations shall be cut off from among their people; that is to say, shall be put to death. This is plain, because adultery, and other crimes, which the Law in other places subjects to the penalty of death, are here made liable to the same punishment, of cutting off from among their people. And in the twentieth chapter, where some of these laws are repeated, these crimes are made capital: for example, If any one lieth Lev. xx. 11, 19.with his mother in law, let them be both punished with death. And he who having married the mother, marries afterwards the daughter shall be burnt alive with her. The generality of civilized people have looked upon incests as abominable crimes: some have punished them with death; and none but barbarians have allowed of them. St. Paul speaking of the incestuous man at Corinth, says, that he had committed a crime unknown and abhor’d even among the Heathens: It is reported commonly, that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

Tamar’s Incest with her father-in-law Judah is very well known: the Scripture does not condemn it; nay, it seems rather to approve it; and Judah, who designed to have her burnt for an Adultress, acknowledges at last that she was more righteous than he; because, he maliciously deferr’d marrying her to his youngest son Shelah, who should have wedded her according to the law, which obliges one brother to marry the widow of Gen. xxxviii. 24, 26.another, upon his dying without children.

Lot’s Incest with his two daughters can be excused only by his ignorance, and the simplicity of his daughters, who believed, or pretended to believe, that after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah there remained no more men upon the earth to marry them, and perpetuate the race of mankind. Gen. xix. 31, &c.The manner wherein they drew near unto their father, shews that they looked upon this action as unlawful, and that they did not at all question but their father would have abominated it, if they had not put it out of his power to have any knowledge of it, by making him drunk.

When Ammon the son of David offered to dishonour his sister Tamar in an incestuous manner, this Princess said to him, Brother, have a care how you commit this action, which would bring reproach upon me in Israel, and would make the world take you for a mad man; But speak unto the king our father, demand me for your wife, and he will not refuse your request. Tamar supposed therefore, that marriages between brothers and sisters were lawful. But whatever the opinion was of this young Princess, and whatever her intention might be, it is certain, that the Law expresly forbids these marriages; as has been just now shewn.

INCHANTMENTS. The law of God condemns Inchantments and Inchanters. It makes use of several terms to denote Inchantments. 1. Lackash, which signifies properly to speak with a low voice, like Magicians in their evocations, and magical operations. Moses uses the word Latim, secrets, when he speaks of the Inchantments wrought by Pharaoh’s Magicians. The name of Caschap² is likewise imployed, whereby they are meant who practice Jugling, Legerdemain, Tricks and Witchery, in order to cheat peoples eyes and senses. The term Chabar, is also made use of, which signifies properly, to bind, assemble, associate, reunite; which takes place principally in those who charm Serpents, who tame them, and make them Sociare, adunare.gentle and sociable, which before were fierce, dangerous, and untractable.

We have examples of all these several ways of Inchanting. In the Scripture it is common for Magicians, Sorcerers, and Inchanters to speak in a low voice, and as it were whispering: they are called Ventriloqui, because they spoke as one would think from the bottom of their Stomachs; they affected secrecy, and mysterious ways, to conceal the vanity, ridiculous folly, or infamy of their pernicious art. Their pretended Magick consisted often in their cunning tricks only, in their nimbleness, or in some natural secrets, which ignorant people were not acquainted with; for this reason they affected obscurity and night, or would shew their skill only before the ignorant, or in the presence of mean persons, and were apprehensive of nothing so much as serious examination, broad daylight, and the presence of understanding people.

As to the Inchantments practised by Pharaoh’s Magicians, in order to imitate all the miracles which were wrought by Moses, it must be said, either that they were mere witchcraft, and illusion, whereby they cheated the eyes of the spectators³; or that if they performed such miracles, and produced real changes of their rods, of the waters of the Nile, and every thing besides, they did this by the application of second causes to the production of effects,

Exod. viii. 18, 19. Deut. xiii. 12, &c.which depend originally and essentially on the power of God, and by giving certain forms to, or impressing certain motions on a created substance a; and as these impressions, changes, and motions were above the known power of nature, they were thought to be miraculous. But God never permits miracles produced by evil spirits to be such as might necessarily induce us to fall into errors; for either he will set limits to their power, as he did to Pharaoh’s Magicians, who being unable to produce Flies, were obliged to acknowledge the finger of God to be concerned in what Moses did; or they will discover Pindar Pyth. Ode 4.themselves by their bad doctrine, their impiety, or the irregularity of their conduct, which are the marks described by Moses for discerning a false from a true Prophet: If there ariseth among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee saying, let us go after other gods and serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, Ps. lviii. 5.&c.

The Inchantments of serpents, the cure of wounds by charms, the metamorphoses mentioned by St. Austin and Apuleius, of a man into an ass, a camel, or any other creature, were common among the ancients. The Psalmist speaks of the serpent or deaf asp that stoppeth her ears, lest she should hear the voice of the charmers, charming wisely, with art, industry and cunning; the Hebrew literally runs thus, The voice of those who speak low, and of those who make use of charms with skill; or the voice of him who tameth, who softneth the serpents. Jeremiah, on the Jer. viii. 17. Eccl. x. 11.part of God, threatneth the Jews, and says to them, Behold, I will send serpents among you, which will not be charmed: And Ecclesiastes, A babbler is like those serpents against Job xl. 25.which charms have no power. Job likewise speaks of Inchanters by whose power serpents were burst asunder, Shall the Inchanter cause the Leviathan to burst? And Ecclesiasticus, Who will pity a charmer that Ecclus. xii. 13.is bitten with a serpent?

Aug. de Genesi ad litter. l. xix. 28.St. Austin confesses that the Marsians, or people of Italy, had formerly the secret of inchanting serpents: Any one would say, that serpents understood the language of this people, so obedient do we see them to their orders: as soon as the Marsian has done speaking they come out of their holes. The charmers are often satisfied with driving serpents from some certain Canton.

Primum quas valli spatium comprendit Lucan. Pharsal. l. 9. ver. 913.arenas, Expurgat cantu, verbisq; fugacibus angues.

Sometimes they made them burst:

Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces.

Ovid Metamorph. fab. 2. de Medea.At other times they benumb’d them, lulled them asleep, lamed them, and took away their fierceness:

Virg. Æneid. 7. Nearch. apud Strabon. l. 15.Spargere qui somnos cantuq; manuq; solebat.

Origen⁴ and Eusebius⁵ speak of the charming serpents, as a thing in their time very common in Palestine. Nearchus, who followed Alexander the Great in his expeditions, says, that the Indians scarce make use of any other remedies against the biting of serpents besides Inchantments, and that there are some who travel up and down the country professing this art, and making a livelihood of it. The Psylli and the Marsi not only cured the wounds by sucking them, but sold magical plates, which were to serve as preservatives against the biting of serpents.

Arnob. l. 2.To charm diseases, to stop the blood by Inchantments, to cure the bitings of serpents, to charm the gout, and sprains, are things very common in antiquity. Pindar affirms, that Chiron the Centaur cured all sorts of diseases by his charms; and that Æsculapius cured all sorts of fevers, ulcers, wounds and pains, by gentle charms, by potions, topical remedies, or incisions. Homer Homer. Odyss. T.assures us, that the blood which issued out of Ulysses’s wound was stopp’d by using Inchantments. Cato produces certain verses Cato de Re Rust. c. 160.which were pronounced in order to heal a limb that was put out of joint.

Musick likewise and singing, which is a kind of charm and Inchantment, were sometimes made use of to cure certain diseases of the mind, or at least caused by the disorder of the mind, or the emotion of the passions. Galen says, that he had a great Galen. de sanitate tuenda, l. 1. c. 8.deal of experience in this particular, and that he could farther produce the authority of Æsculapius his countryman, who by the help of melody and musick relieved those whose constitutions were impaired by too great heat: and Plato says, that the midwives Plato Theætet. p. 145.of Athens had the secret of making the delivery of women more easy by certain charms and Inchantments.

The Hebrews, a people extremely superstitious, did not indeed carry so far the⁶

use of charms and Inchantments in the cure of diseases, because they were restrained by their law which prohibited Magick and Inchantments, and because their Kings and Priests were equally vigilant in preventing these disorders, and stopping the course of them. Notwithstanding all this, we see some footsteps among them of this superstitious manner of curing diseases. Nay, there are some who pretend even to authorize it by the example of Moses, who ordered a brazen Serpent with wings to be set upon a pole, that they who had been bitten by Serpents, Numb. xxi. 8.called Saraph, might be healed by looking at it. We have already observed that the custom of inchanting serpents, and charming their bitings, was common among the Israelites, since Jeremiah threatens Jer. viii. 17.them in the name of God with sending Serpents among them, against whose biting the Inchanter should have no virtue; and in Ecclesiasticus it is said, that no one will pity a charmer bitten with a Serpent. Saul imployed musick and the sound of David’s harp, to procure relief in his fits of melancholy, and while the Devil who tormented him had possession of him.

Joseph. Antiq. l. 8. 6. 11.Josephus assures us, that Solomon received from God the art of healing diseases, and the power of expelling Devils; that he composed charms or Inchantments against diseases, and exorcisms against Devils. He adds, that this way of healing was still in his time very much in use among the Jews; that there was a Jew whose name was Eleazer, master of this secret, who, with the help of a ring, wherein was set a certain root shewn by Solomon, had delivered several possessed persons in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian and his sons. King Hezekiah observing how much the brazen Serpent composed by Moses was abused, commanded it to be broke in pieces. He 2 Kings xviii. 4.burnt likewise, as they say, the books of medicine whereof Solomon was thought to be the Author.

INCREDULOUS. They are so called who refuse their assent to truths declared to them, and resist the evidence of such reasons as are produced for them, or do not attend to them. The Jews, to whom our Saviour preached the Gospel, were almost all incredulous. Many bad Christians are so, with respect to the mysteries of our Religion. Incredulity is not so much a defect of the understanding, as of the heart.

The Latin text of Scripture sometimes uses the word Incredibilis instead of Incredulus; for example, speaking of Lot’s wife, who was changed into a pillar of Salt: Incredibilis animæ stans figmentum salis. And the Author of Ecclesiasticus, the Adultress does not believe in the law of the Lord: In lege Altissimi incredibilis fuit. And Baruch, Eramus incredibiles ad Dominum Deum nostrum. It is to be observed, that these three places here cited by me are not of St. Jerom’s translation, but in the old vulgate.

1 Pet. iii. 20.St. Peter in his first Epistle speaks of the unbelieving Spirits, to whom Jesus Christ preached when he descended into Hell. His qui in carcere erant Spiritibus veniens predicavit, qui increduli fuerant aliquando, quando expectabant patientiam Dei in diebus Noe. These Incredulous Spirits are the Souls of men, who lived in Noah’s time, and believed not this holy Patriarch’s preaching. They were informed of Christ’s coming, of his resurrection, and descending into Hell; but this did but increase their misery and despair: because as they dyed in incredulity and impenitency, they were not in a condition to be benefited by the Redemption which Jesus Christ went to publish in Hell, to those just persons who waited for his coming.

Some of the ancient Fathers⁷ believed, that as our Saviour descended into Hell, he preached there to Infidels and Heathens, that if they continued incredulous, their damnation should be inexcusable; that some believed at his preaching and were converted; these by his means were admitted with him into Heaven: But this opinion has not many followers: the Church believes, that they who die in sin and impenitency are irrevocably damned. See the Commentators on this passage of St. Peter. We shall touch upon it further in the article Spirits.

Bill. Orient. p. 447. Hend & Send p. 804.INDIA. The Indies derive their name from the river Indus, one of the largest in that country; the limits whereof are to the west Persia; to the north Great Tartary; to the east China; and to the south the Indian Sea. The Indus and the Ganges are the principal rivers belonging to this country. The soil is very fruitful in Rice, Millet, Fruits, and Spices. Silk and Cotton are very common there: There are Elephants in this country, Camels, Monkeys, and green and red Parroquets; Mines of gold and silver, Diamonds and Rubies, &c. and there are very beautiful Pearls to be fished up along their coasts.

The Eastern people divide the Indies into two parts, called Hend and Send. The word Send signifies properly the river Indus, and all that country takes its name from hence, which lies on this side of it westward, and on the other side eastward of this river, all along the current of it, and principally towards the

Esth. i. 1.mouth of it. The land of Hend is to the east of Send, and extends principally along the Ganges, to the east and west of this river, from the source to the mouth of it, having the gulf of Persia to the west, the Indian Ocean to the south, to the east large desarts, which separate it from China, and to the north the country of the Azaës or Tartars. The whole country of Hend and Send taken together, is divided into three parts. The first is called Giuzurat, and by us Guzerate, or Decan; this is the most western part: the second goes by the name of Manibar, which we call Malabar; it lies to the east and south of Guzerate: the third and most eastern part Mabar or Mebar, a word which signifies in Arabic a ferry or passage, because from thence people cross over to China. It lies all intirely beyond the gulf of Bengal, and the great city of Canacor or Cancanor is the capital of it.

The Ancients sometimes comprized Ethiopia under the name of the Indies, and the Persians still at this day call an Ethiopian a black Indian. And the histories of the eastern people inform us, that the Indians desired Bishops of Symon the Syrian, Jacobite Patriarch of Alexandria⁸; the Ethiopick Ocean of the Ancients, is our Indian Ocean.

There is mention of the Indies in some places of the Scripture. For example, in the book of Esther, it is said, that Abasuerus reigned from the Indies to Ethiopia; in the Hebrew from Hoddo to Cush. By the name Hoddo all Interpreters understand the Indiesמהדו ועד כוש Mehoddo vead Chusch.; and by Cush Ethiopia, or the country which separates Arabia from Egypt. It is certain that Darius the son of Hystaspes, whom we believe to be the same as Abasuerus, reigned over some Provinces in the Indies, properly so called; and that the Herodot. l. 3. c. 94. Idem. l. 3. c. 97. Job. xxviii. 16. 1 Macc. vi. 37. לא תערך לה כתםEthiopians paid certain tributes to him, which are set down in Herodotus. Job likewise speaks of India. Non conferetur tinctis Indiæ coloribus. But the Hebrew reads, It cannot be valued with the Chethem of Ophir. Now the word Chethem is taken for Gold; see Ophir. In the Maccabees, the guide of an Elephant is called an Indian, because generally true Indians were chosen to conduct these creatures. The Indian sat upon the beast’s neck, and with an iron rod, which was bent, pricked his ear, and made him turn which way he would. The best authors of antiquity do likewise commonly call the master of an Elephant, of what nation soever he may be, an Indian.

Ex. xxviii. 38. Ex. xxxix. 7. Ps. xvii. 5.INIQUITY. By this word not only sin is meant, but the punishment likewise of sin, and expiation of it; for example, it is said, Aaron will bear the iniquities of the people; he will atone for them. And in another place, The Lord visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. He sometimes causes the external effects of his wrath to fall upon the children of criminal parents.

Lev. v. 1. xvii. 16. xix. 8, &c. Lev. xvi. 22. 1 Sam. xxv. 28.To bear his Iniquity, to endure the punishment of it, to be obliged to expiate it. Azazel or the Scape-goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities of the people unto a land not inhabited. He shall be led to a precipice, and thrown down, in order to be an expiatory victim for the whole multitude. Aufer iniquitatem famulæ tuæ, said Abigail to David, let not the fault of my husband Nabal be imputed to me.

The man of Iniquity, the child of Iniquity, the hand of Iniquity, the workers of Iniquity, signify a wicked man, a wicked child, sinful men, a criminal behaviour, &c. Torrentes iniquitatis conturbaverunt me. In the Hebrew, The torrents of Belial made me afraid⁹. The wicked have fallen upon Ps. xlix. 6.me like a torrent. The Iniquity of my heels shall compass me about. The punishment of my iniquities, which pursue me gradually, will on a sudden lay hold on me. Shall the Ps. xciv. 20. Acts i. 18.throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? Is it possible, O my God, that thou shouldest be in concert with the throne of iniquity, with the Chaldeans, those proud and unjust rulers, who abuse their power that they may overwhelm us with calamities? Judas purchased a field with the reward of Iniquity; or rather he furnished the Chief Priests with wherewithal to purchase one, by restoring to them the reward of his treachery.

Ex. xxviii. 38.To bear Iniquity, to expiate it. The Priests bear the Iniquity of the people, they are charged with the expiation of it. Aaron shall bear the Iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in Lev. x. 17.all their holy gifts. Wherefore have ye not eaten of sin offerings in the holy place, seeing it is most holy; and God hath given it you to bear the Iniquity of the Congregation.

To bear Iniquity, speaking of common Israelites, signifies bearing the punishment of their faults, the being obliged to expiate them, or to be even chastised for them, according to the nature of the things,

Lev. v. 1.and the judgment of the Priests or Judges. If a man is called upon to give testimony of any thing whereof he was a witness, 1 Sam. xv. 25.and will not discover it, he shall bear his Iniquity; he shall be punished with death: for so bearing his Iniquity is generally explained. See Lev. xix. 8. xx. 17, 19, 20. xxiv. 15. Numb. ix. 13. xvi. 31, &c. It must be confessed however that sometimes To bear his Iniquity, particularly when the matter in question is something secret, or of less consequence, for the expiation whereof the Law ordains certain sacrifices, that to bear his Iniquity, then signifies no more than to expiate his sin, and offer the sacrifices prescribed by Moses. We know that sin and Iniquity are used in Scripture not only for the sin committed, but likewise for the punishment of sin, and for the victim which is offered as an atonement for it.

The bearing sin, is used likewise for the forgiving it, taking it away, for the absolution and pardon of it. Thus Saul says to Samuel, Nunc porta quæso peccatum meum, & revertere mecum: Bear my sin, excuse, forgive it, &c. And Jesus Christ in the Gospel John. i. 29.is called the Lamb of God, that beareth or taketh away the sins of the world; who expiates them by his death, who pardons them in those who repent of them. And in Isaiah, If. liii. 4, 12.Truly he hath born our sorrows. And again, he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

INNOCENS, INNOCENT, INNOCENCY. The signification of this word is known sufficiently. The Hebrews made innocence to consist chiefly in an exemption from external faults committed contrary to the law; hence it is that they often join innocens with manibus: Innocens manibus & Pf. xxiii. 4. Gen. xxxvii. 22. Pf. xxvi. 6. Joseph.mundo corde. Manus vestras servate innocentes. I will wash my hands in innocency. And again Psalm lxxiii. 13. Then have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. Josephus acknowledges no other sins besides those which are put in execution. Sins in thought, in his account, are not punished by God.

To be innocent, is used sometimes for being exempt from punishment. I will not Jer. xlvi. 28. Jer. xlix. 12. נקח לא אנקרtreat you as one innocent: literally, I will not make thee innocent, I will chastise thee, but like a kind father. And in another place speaking to the Edomites, They who have not (so much) deserved to drink of the cup of my wrath, have tasted of it, et tu quasi innocens relinqueris? Non eris innocens, sed bibes. And Nahum, ch. i. ver. 3. Dominus mandans non faciet innocentiam. God is ready to exercise vengeance, he will make no one innocent: he will spare no one. And Moses Exod. xxxiv. 7. Nullus apud te per se innocens est. In the Hebrew. Thou shalt make no one innocent. No sin shall remain unpunished. Thou, O Lord, says the Pf. xvii. 25.Psalmist, cum viro innocente innocens eris. Thou treatest the just as just, the good as good; thou never doest confound the guilty with the innocent.

Job xxvii. 5. Job ii. 3, 9.Job being accused by his friends, declares that he will never renounce his innocency: Non recedam ab innocentia mea. I will suffer continually, and will not confess, that God punishes me for my sins. God tells Satan, that notwithstanding the evils which he had inflicted on him, he still retained his innocency. Adhuc retinens innocentiam. And Job’s wife insults him in these words, Adhuc permanes in simplicitate tua? or innocentia tua according to the Hebrew. Thou continuest as firmly attached to thy duty, as submissive to the will of God, as before thy misfortunes.

Matt. ii. 16, 17.INNOCENTS. By this name the Church calls those infants which were massacred by Herod’s order at Bethlehem and within its liberties, from the age of two years old and under, with a design of including the new king of the Jews in this slaughter, whose birth he was informed of by the wise men, who came from the east. See the articles Herod the Great, and Magi. Herod concealing his wicked intentions, desired the Magi to search with care for the new king, and when they had found him, to come and give him an account of it. But they being warned by an angel in a dream, secretly retired out of Judea, and returned another way into their own country. Herod observing that he had been deceived by them, sent to Bethlehem¹⁰, and throughout the liberties thereof, and commanded all the children to be killed there, from two years old and under, a bimatu & infra; according to the time, when, as the wise men told him, the star first appeared to them. The Greeks in their Menology, and the Ethiopians in their Liturgy, affirm, that the number of the children massacred at Bethlehem, and the places round about, amounted to fourteen thousand; which is not at all credible. But the worship of these Innocents is certainly very ancient in the Church, which has always looked upon them as the first fruits and bloom of the martyrs¹¹. Their relicks are shewn in several places. The Latin Church celebrates their Festival upon the 28th of December, and the Greeks on the 29th.

It is very surprizing, that Josephus the historian should say nothing of this massacre. This makes people think, that the

number of children, who were thus put to death, was not so large as the Greeks, Ethiopians, and Muscovites will have it. Some assert, that it was upon this occasion that Augustus declared, it was better to be Herod’s hog than his son. Augustus being informed, says Macrobius, that Herod king of Macrob. l. 2. c. 4. Saturnal.the Jews had put to death his own son, among the children whom he had caused to be executed in Syria, said, that a man had better be this Prince’s hog, than his son. It is probable enough that the Emperor might at the same time learn the death of the Innocents, and that of Antipater, whom his father Herod ordered to be dispatched five days before his own death; and that upon this occasion, he used the expression related by Macrobius. There was not above six weeks difference between the death of the Innocents and that of Antipater. We have spoken of the flight of Jesus Christ into Egypt in our Saviour’s life, and in the article, Flight into Egypt. As to what S. Matthew says, that at the time when these Innocents were massacred, the accomplishment was seen of this prophecy by Jeremiah: A voice was heard from Ramah, &c. It is our opinion, that the Jerem. xxxii. 15.primary sense of this prophecy relates to the carrying away the ten tribes into captivity; and that S. Matthew accommodated it to the circumstances in question. See Ramah.

INROLMENT, made by Augustus, under Cirinus, or Cyrenius, Governor of Syria, Luke ii. 1, 2. See above the article Cyrenius.

INSTRUMENTS of Musick. See hereafter the article Musick.

INTELLECTUS. This word, which signifies Understanding, Intelligence, is to be met with before several Psalms. For example, Pf. xxxii. 1. לדוד משכילPf. xlii. 1. משכיל לבני קרחIntellectus ipsi David; Intellectus filiis Core; or filiis Core ad Intellectum; Intellectus Asaph; Intellectus Ethan; Intellectus Emath, &c. The Hebrew, Maschil le David, signifies either that this Psalm is a moral and instructive song, or that it is profound, and requires a particular study, and application, to understand it¹². The Hebrews think that the Psalms with this title are some of those which were explain’d at the same time that they were recited.

By Intellectus is sometimes understood good success, good fortune, happiness; because in Hebrew the word Shakal, which signifies Intellectus, signifies likewise prosperity and good success; for example, Initium Pf. cx. 10. Ps. cxviii.sapientiæ timor Domini; intellectus bonus omnibus facientibus eum. God heaps blessings upon those who fear him. And in another place, Appropinquet deprecatio mea in conspectu tuo, juxta eloquium tuum da mihi intellectum. Hear my prayers, and according to thy promises, give me good success in my undertakings. In Joshua, Ut intelligas Josh. i. 7, 8.cuncta quæ agis, that thou mayest succeed in thy undertakings. And again, Tunc diriges viam tuam & intelliges eam.

INTENDANTS, or Governors of Judea. See Governors.

INTERCALATION. By this name they call the Jewish custom of adding a thirteenth month to their Lunar year, at the end of every two or three years; that is to say, that in the revolution of the Cycle of nineteen years, there are seven of thirteen months each, and the rest are only of twelve months. When an intercalary month is added to the year, this month is placed between February and March, and then there is a first and second Adar; and the latter is called Ve-Adar, as if we should say, and again Adar, or Adar a second time.

The necessity of this Intercalation arises from their following the course of the moon in their year; whereas we follow the course of the sun. In the Solar year we intercalate one day every four years, in the month of February, and this fourth year is called Bissextile, because we reckon for two days together the sixth of the Calends of March, that is to say, the 24th and 25th of February; which, in the Bissextile years, instead of eight and twenty, has nine and twenty days. This Intercalation is founded on the six hours wanting eleven minutes, which the sun imploys in performing its course, beyond the 365 days which compose the common Solar year.

The Intercalation of the Jews, is owing on the contrary to all the Lunar months being not so long by twelve hours, or thereabouts, as the Solar months; which at the end of three years, makes nine and twenty or thirty days. See the article Months.

INTERDICT, Anathema. See the titles Anathema, Excommunication, and Corban.

JOAB, the son of Zeruiah, David’s sister, and brother to Abishai, and Asahel. Joab was one of the most valiant men, and greatest generals in David’s time; but then he was one of the most cruel, revengeful, and imperious men of his age.

He performed some great services for David, and was always firm to his interests. He was commander in chief of his troops, when as yet he was no more than king of Judah. The first action recorded in Scripture, wherein he 2 Sam. ii. 13,14,&c.signalized himself, was that of the battle of Gibeon against Abner, the principal person in Ishbosheth, the son of Saul’s party¹³. The advantage was entirely on Joab’s side; but Asahel his brother was killed in the manner related by us in the article Asahel, and in that of Abner. To revenge his death, Joab treacherously killed Abner, who came to Hebron, in order to make an alliance with David, and reduce all Israel to his obedience. David abhorred so base an action; but did not dare to 2 Sam. iii. 27,39. 2 Sam. xi. 12.punish Joab for it, who was become in some sort formidable to him.

After David had been acknowledged king by all Israel¹⁴, he laid siege to Jerusalem, and promised to make him Captain General of his armies, who should first mount the walls, and beat off the Jebusites. 1 Chr. xi. 16.Joab was the first who appeared upon the walls, and by his valour very well deserved to be continued in an imployment, which he was already possessed of. He had a principal share in the Wars which David carried on against the Syrians and Edomites. He subdued the Ammonites, and procured the destruction of the brave Uriah at the siege of Rabbah their Capital. It was he who interceeded for Absalom’s return from exile, and prevailed with David to receive this young Prince again into his good graces, and permit him to have the honour of appearing at court as formerly. But altho he shewed himself to be very much a friend to Absalom in his disgrace; he was as much his enemy after his rebellion. 2 Sam. xviii. 1, 2, 3—13,14. 2 Sam. xix. 5, 6.He overcame him in a set battle near Mahanaim; and being informed that he hung by the neck upon an Oak, he pierced him through with his own hands, and killed him, though he very well knew, that David had given contrary orders, to him in particular, and to the whole army, to preserve his son Absalom. And when the king discovered too much sorrow for the death of his son, Joab ventured to say, in no very respectful manner, You have confounded all your servants with shame, who have exposed their lives to preserve yours, your wives, and childrens: you love those who hate you, and do not love your friends. You have this day shewn us, that you have no consideration for your Officers and Soldiers; and that if Absalom had lived, and we had all perished in the battle, you would have been overjoyed. Rise therefore immediately, shew your self, and speak to your servants; otherwise I swear by the Lord to you, that not a man will remain with you this night, and that you will be in greater danger than ever you was.

David resented Joab’s insolence; but was not in a condition to reprimand him in the manner he desired. When Sheba the son of Bichri began to set up the standard of rebellion, and the people generally resorted to him, David commanded Amasa¹⁵; to get some troops together in the Tribe of Judah, 2 Sam. xx. 3,4,5,&c. 2 Sam. xx. 19,20,21. &c. 2 Sam. xx. 23.and pursue him; thus excluding Joab, who had been till then Commander in chief of all the forces of Israel. But Amasa being a little too slow in coming, David directed Abishai, Joab’s brother, to pursue Sheba. Joab accompanied him with the Cherethites and Pelethites of the King’s guard. Amasa arrived soon after, and being on his way to join Abishai and Joab at Gibeon, Joab making as if he would kiss him, plunged his poniard in his belly. Thus died Amasa, who was to have been General of the Troops of Israel. Joab brought the war with Sheba to a very happy conclusion, without risking a battle, or exposing the Kings troops; because they threw the head of Sheba to him over the walls of Abela, which he was preparing to besiege. He returned to Jerusalem, and David left him the general command of his armies, probably in consideration of the great service which he had just then been doing him.

When David by the impulse of an evil Spirit, and a curiosity which was blameable¹⁶, undertook to number his people; he gave Joab a commission to this purpose. He did all he could to divert the King from this resolution; but being obliged to obey, he did so, not without regret, and executed what the king had commanded, in part only. David 1 Chr. xxi. 6.himself acknowledged his fault, and God punished him for it in a very severe manner.

1 Kings i. 1,2,3,4. &c.Adonijah David’s son, observing himself after the death of Absalom to be the eldest of the royal family, considered how he might procure himself to be acknowledged King. David was very much advanc’d in years, and concerned himself but little with the affairs of Government. People

1 Kings ii. 5, 6, 7.were not ignorant of his design to leave the Crown to Solomon: but as this Prince was as yet very young, Adonijah flattered himself, that with the assistance of a powerful party, which he had formed, he might be able to exclude him, and get into the throne of Israel. He took care principally to engage Joab General of the army, and Abiathar the High-Priest, in his interest; and at a great entertainment, which he made near the fountain of Siloam for the leaders of his party, he was saluted King by them¹⁷. But David having been seasonably informed of what had passed, ordered Solomon to be crowned, and anointed by the High-Priest Zadok, and the Prophet Nathan, and placed him on the throne in the view of all the people. Adonijah, upon receiving this news fled to the Temple, as a sanctuary, and Joab with the rest retired to their houses.

Joab by this last step made David more and more averse to him, so that perceiving himself sometime after to be near his end¹⁸, he said to Solomon, Thou knowest in what manner Joab the son of Zerviah has treated me, and what he did to the the two Generals of the army of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he assassinated, and whose blood he shed in time of peace, with as little remorse as if he had been actually at war with them. Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let him not in his old age go down in peace to the grave. Some time after the death of David, Joab being informed that the young King had caused Adonijah to be put to death, who had desired Abishag of him for his wife, and that he had banished the High-Priest Abiathar to his country-house at Anathoth, thought it high time to provide for his own security: he fled therefore into the Temple, and laid hold on the horns of the Altar, in order to preserve his life. But Solomon did not think the privilege of the Sanctuary a just obstacle to his design of putting him to death. He sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, who required him to quit his asylum; but Joab answering that he would not, and would die upon the spot, Solomon gave orders for dispatching him at the foot of the Altar, which were accordingly executed. Thus died Joab. He was buried by Benaiah in his own house in the wilderness¹⁹.

JOACHIN, otherwise Jechoniah or Jehoiachin. See Jehoiachin.

I. JOAH, the son of Zimmah, and grandson of Gershom the Levite, 1 Chr. vi. 21.

II. JOAH, secretary to king Josiah; employed by him in repairing the Temple, 2 Chr. xxxiv. 8.

III. JOAH, the son of Asaph²⁰, was sent by Hezekiah king of Judah with Eliakim and Shebna, to answer the proposals of Rabshakeh, who was appointed by king Sennacherib to execute this Commission.

Luke iii. 23. Aug. l. 23. contra Faust. c. 9. Vide T. 5. nov. Edit. S. Hieronym. p. 44.JOAKIM, the husband of S. Anna, and father to the blessed Virgin; grandfather to Jesus Christ after the flesh. We believe him to be the same as Eli mentioned in St. Luke. Eli, Eliakim, and Joakim, are properly the same name. The name of Joakim, father of the blessed Virgin, is not to be met with in the canonical writings of the New Testament; but has been adopted by the Greek and Latin Churches. In the Latin principally, since the festival of S. Anna and S. Joakim has been celebrated, and among the Greeks long before. S. Austin, in his answer to Faustus the Manichee, says, that the name of Joakim being known only from apocryphal writings, could not be made use of as an argument. But among the Greeks this name is to be met with in writings of the greatest antiquity. The Proto-evangelium, or preparatory Gospel of S. James, which is a work composed by the Ebionites in the Apostles times, or at least in the second age of the Church, says a great deal of Joakim and Anne. The apocryphal Gospel of the birth of Mary speaks of them likewise. This book is thought to have been composed by Seleucus, an Author in the second Age.

Pet. Alex. Can. 13.St. Peter of Alexandria makes mention of the death of Zechary father to S. John Baptist, who was killed between the Temple and the Altar, and of St. Elizabeth’s flight, which are circumstances taken from the preparatory Gospel of St. James. Gregory of Nyssa cites Nyssen. orat. in Natale Domini, p. 778, 779.the same work, and relates other circumstances from it: for example, that Zechary still maintained the blessed virgin, even after her conception to be a virgin. He adds, that her father was an Israelite of eminent piety, who had a barren wife, that his wife, by reason of her barrenness, not being able to partake of the privileges, which were allowed women who had born children; desired of God that he would be pleased to bless his marriage, and at the same time devoted the fruit of it, which she should bring into the world, to God. God was pleased to give him the virgin Mary, who was educated at the Temple, till the time when she was disposed of to Joseph, that he might be the guardian of her virginity.

These are particulars which he relates at large; and it is very visible, that he took them from the book which I have been speaking of, and which has been handed down to us. We meet with almost the same things in a discourse of Eustathius of AntiochEustat. Antioch. in Hexaemeron. upon the Hexaemeron, and S. Epiphanius²¹; which shews the antiquity of this tradition. From these sources S. John Damascenus²², Vincent of Beauvis²³, and Fulbert of Chartres²⁴, have borrowed what they have said concerning the blessed Virgin’s death. The tradition of Joakim’s being the father of Mary, was so general in the east, that even Mahomet speaks of it in his Alcoran.

Alcoran. Surat. 3.I do not mention this with a design of attributing any authority to the apocryphal books, wherein the name of Joakim is to be met with; but only to prove the antiquity of this tradition in the Church. Neither the Ebionites, nor Manichees, nor Seleucus, had any interest in deceiving us with regard to the names of Joakim and Anne. They had learned these names from others, and reported them in their works with a design only of procuring a better reception of them from the Catholicks. This is a summary account of what we read in S. James’s preparatory Gospel, which is the most ancient monument, wherein the name of Joakim, the Virgin’s father, is to be met with. Joakim was a man of power in Israel, who at all solemn festivals made magnificent sacrifices in the Temple. Upon a certain day, when he intended to present his offering, one Reuben told him, that it was not lawful for him, because he had no posterity in Israel. Joakim, with great confusion, hereupon retired into the wilderness, where he had large flocks. There he continued forty days, exercising himself in fasting and prayer. Anne, his wife, on her part, being incensed at the reproaches of one of her maid-servants, went into her garden, and there lamented bitterly the misfortune of her barrenness. An angel declared to her that God had heard her prayer; and at that very time another angel told the same thing to Joakim.

Damian. homil. 46. p. 106. Bernard. Ep. 174.Joakim returning to his house, Anne conceived, and brought forth a daughter, whom they named Mary. Three years after they presented her at the Temple, where she was fed by the hand of an angel, till she was twelve years old. Then she was given to Joseph, in order to his being the guardian of her virginity. From this time there is nothing more said either of Joakim or Anne; and Cedrenus tells us, that the blessed Virgin lost her father and mother at twelve years of age. They who please may consult the Bollandists on Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. c. 5. initio.the 19th of March upon this subject, and M. de Tillemont, tom. 1. not. 2. concerning the blessed Virgin, and our Dissertation, wherein we attempt to reconcile S. Matthew and S. Luke, as to the point of our Saviour’s Genealogy: this is prefixed to our Comment on S. Luke. The worship of S. Joakim and S. Anne is very ancient in the east; but it is more modern in the west. In the time of Peter Damian, and S. Bernard, there was no knowledge of it remaining. It is said, that Pope Julius appointed the feast of S. Joakim to be observed upon the 20th of March, about the year 1510. In a Martyrology printed in 1491, it is set down at the 9th of December. Pius V. struck it out of the Roman Breviary: but Gregory XV. replaced it there, at the 20th of March in 1620. See Bollandus and M. de Tillemont, and M. Bayle’s Dictionary, under the name of Joachim; this author however is to be read with great precaution, by reason of the scandalous liberties taken by him.

II. JOAKIM, High Priest of the Jews. We know nothing particularly of his life, except that he succeeded Joshua the son of Jozedek his father, after the return of the Jews from the captivity; and that he lived under Xerxes king of Persia.

Luke viii. 3.III. JOAKIM, otherwise Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah High Priest of the Jews, in the reign of Manasseh and Josiah. He is more generally known by the name of Hilkiah, or Eliakim, Judith iv. 6, 14.

JOANNA, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, was one of those women who followed our Saviour in his travels, and assisted him with their fortunes. S. Luke observes, that these women had been delivered by Jesus Christ from evil Spirits, which possessed them, or cured of diseases with which they had been afflicted. The wife of Chuza was either a widow, or followed Jesus Christ with the consent of her husband. It was a custom among the Jews, for men who dedicated themselves to preaching, to take some women of piety with them, who attended and served them. This was practised without any scandal. We Hieron. in Matt. xxvii. alii.know nothing particularly concerning the life of Joanna, the wife of Chuza.

I. JOASH, the father of Gideon, Judg. vi. 11.

II. JOASH, the son of Amelek, who by the command of King Ahab detained the Prophet Micaiah in prison, 1 Kings xxii. 26.

III. JOASH, one of the descendants of Shelab the son of Judah. See the Hebrew, 1 Chr. iv. 22. In the Vulgate he is called Securus, the Certain.

IV. JOASH, the son of Abaziah king of Judah. When the impious Athaliah was informed, that Jehu had killed Abaziah, and all those of the royal family 2 Chr.xxii. 8, 9,10. & 2 Kingsxi. 1, &c.of Judah, whom he had met with, she undertook intirely to extinguish the race of the Kings, that she might secure the Crown to herself²⁵. She ordered therefore all the Princes her grand-children to be murdered; for she was the mother of Abaziah, who had been lately massacred by Jehu, and reigned sometime in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, God did not permit her to succeed intirely in her ambitious design. Jehoshebah or Jehoshabath the daughter of King Joram sister of Abaziah, and wife to the High-Priest Jehoiada by stratagem conveyed away young Joash, who was then a child, thereby rescuing him from the cruelty of Athaliah, and lodged him in the Temple with his nurse, in a place so private, that Athaliah had no knowledge of it. There he abode six years: but in the seventh year²⁶, Jehoiada procured him to be secretly acknowledged King by the principal Officers, who had the care of the Temple, and without noise convened there as many as possible of the Priests and Levites, upon the Sabbath day, when the ministers of the Lord, who were to serve the week following, succeeded those who had been the week before upon duty. Jehoiada took such proper measures, and gave orders so well concerted to his people, that young Joash was placed upon the throne, and saluted King in the Temple, before the Queen had any the least notice of it. As soon as she heard the acclamations of the people, she hastened thither with all speed: but the High-Priest commanded her to be seized, and she was killed without the Temple.

2 Kings xii. 6, 7, 8, 9. & 2 Chr. xxiv. 5, 6, 7.Joash received the Diadem, together with the Book of the Law, from the hands of Jehoiada; and the High-Priest in the young King’s name made a covenant between the Lord, the King and the people, to the end that the people for the future might continue faithful to God with great exactness and duty. He likewise obliged the people to take an oath of fidelity and obedience to the King. After which Joash was conducted to the Royal Palace, and seated on the throne of his Ancestors. Then the people flocked to the Temple of Baal, who was the Deity adored by Athaliah; broke in pieces the Statue of the God, and killed his Priest at the foot of his Altar. Joash was but seven years old, when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years at Jerusalem²⁷. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. He governed his people with great justice, and made himself acceptable to God, as long as he was guided by the High-Priest Jehoiada. Nevertheless he did not abolish the High-Places, and the people still sacrificed, and offered Incense there.

Jehoiada in the King’s minority, had issued out his orders for collecting the Offerings which were made voluntarily to the Holy Place with design of carrying on the work of repairing the Temple: but his orders were ill executed till the twentieth year of Joash²⁸. Then this Prince directed chests to be made at the entrance of the Temple, and had an account given to him of what money was put into them, that it might be faithfully employed in the reparations of the House of God. Jehoiada dying at the age of an hundred and thirty years²⁹, Joash was led away by the evil counsels of his courtiers, who had before been restrained by the High-Priest’s authority. They began to forsake the Temple of the Lord, and addict themselves to the worship of Idols, and Groves consecrated to false gods, or rather to Asteroth the goddess of the Groves; which drew the wrath of god upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Then the Spirit of God came upon the High-Priest Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, and he addressed himself to the people, in these terms, thus saith the Lord, Why do you violate the precepts of your God, and why have ye forsaken him? You will hereby bring upon yourselves a multitude of evils, and the Lord in his turn will forsake you. Upon these words, They who heard him, fell upon him, and stoned him according to the order, which they had received to this purpose from the King³⁰. Zechariah as he was expiring spoke these words, May God observe the treatment I receive from you, and revenge my death. It was not long before God inflicted upon Joash, the just punishment of his ingratitude to Jehoiada, whose son he had so lately stoned. Hazael King of Syria came and laid siege to Gath, which belonged to the Kings of Judah; and having taken it, he marched against Jerusalem. Joash in order to redeem himself from the difficulties of a Siege, and from the danger of being plundered, took what money he could find in the Temple, which had been offered there and consecrated by Abaziah his father, Jehoram his grand-father, and himself,

with what besides he had in the Royal Treasury, and gave it to Hazael, thereby prevailing with him to draw off his troops.

It is believed that the year after³¹ the Syrian army marched again into the territories of Judah: but Hazael was not there in person. The Syrians made great havock in the Land, defeated the troops of Joash, entered Jerusalem, put to death the princes of Judah, and sent a great booty to the King of Syria at Damascus. It is remarkable, that the Syrians were few in number, when they routed the army of Israel, which was infinitely stronger. They treated Joash himself with great ignominy; they accused, and in all probability convicted him of breach of faith, and neglecting to perform his promises³². They afterwards returned, and left him extremely ill; and his very servants rose against him, and killed him in his bed, to revenge the blood of Zechariah the High-Priest, which had been shed by him. He was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but not in the Royal Sepulchre³³. Amaziah reigned in his stead.

V. JOASH, king of Israel, son and successor of Jehoahaz. He was declared king in his father’s life time, in the year of the world 3163, and he reign’d alone in the year 3165, before J. C. 835, before the vulgar Æra 839. He reigned sixteen years in 2 Kings xiii.10,11. 12.Samaria, including the two years that he reigned with his father. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and imitated Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. We do not know many particulars of his reign; but we know that the Lord appointed him to re-establish the affairs of the kingdom of Israel, which had been put into very great confusion under Jehoahaz his father.2 Kings xiii. 5. 2 Kings xiii. 14, 15. &c.

Elisha falling sick of the disease whereof he died³⁴, Joash came to see him, and wept before the prophet, saying, O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. Elisha desired him to bring a bow and arrows to him; and when they were brought he said, Put thine hand upon the bow; and at the same time Elisha put his hands upon the King’s, as it were to direct him, where to shoot, and said; Open the window and shoot, he did so: and Elisha said, This is the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria. Thou shalt obtain victory over the Syrians at Aphek, so as utterly to exterminate them. He said again, Take the arrows and shoot against the ground, he did so; he smote the ground three times and stayed. Then the man of God was wroth with him, and said, If thou hadst smitten the ground five, six, or seven times, thou hadst conquered Syria, and entirely destroyed it, but thou shalt smite Syria but twice. After this Elisha died; and Joash recovered from Benhadad King of Syria, the son and successor of Hazael, all the cities which Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz his father. Joash beat Benhadad in three battles³⁵, and reunited to the kingdom of Israel all the cities which had been dismembred from it, 2 Kings xiii. 25.and usurped by the Kings of Syria.

Joash after this reigned a long time peaceably. Amaziah King of Judah having been victorious over the Edomites, sent a challenge to him³⁶, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face. Joash sent Ambassadors to him with this reply. The 2 Cor. xv. 17, 18.thistle that groweth upon Lebanus sent to the Cedar of Lebanus, saying, Give thy daughter in marriage to my son. But at the same time the beasts of the forest of Lebanus passed by, and trode down the thistle. Thou hast defeated Edom, and thy heart is swelled with pride, stay at home in peace. Why doest thou persue after thy own misery, and that of thy people? But Amaziah would not hearken to him. Joash therefore took the field: Amaziah was routed, and taken in the battle. Joash entred Jerusalem, and ordered four hundred cubits of the city walls to be demolished, from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate. He took all the treasures of the Temple, and the Royal Palace, and returned in triumph to Samaria. He died there in peace soon after this victory³⁷, and 2 Kings iii. 13.was succeeded by Jeroboam.

JOAZAR, High-Priest of the Jews, successor to Matthias the son of Theophilus in the year of the world 4000, the year of Jesus Christ’s birth. He was succeeded by his brother Eleazar in the year of the world 4004, and was created High-Priest a second time in 4010, and enjoyed this dignity till 4016. Then Ananus the son of Seth succeeded him. Joazar, otherwise Azar, was brother to Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the High-Priest, and wife to Herod the Great. Archelaus at his return from Rome deposed Joazar in

4004, because he was engaged against him Joseph. Antiq. l. 17. c. 15.with the seditious. Some time after Joazar was restored by the Romans, for whom he had declared in 4010. Lastly Cyrenius Governor of Syria being come into Judea, in 4016, deposed Joazar and substituted Antiq. l. 18. c. 1, 3.Ananus in his place.

I. JOB, the third son of Issachar, Gen. xlvi. 13.

II. JOB, so celebrated for his patience, and the constancy of his piety and virtue, dwelt in the land of Uz, or in the Ausitis, in east Edom, not far from Bozra. There are different opinions concerning his original, and the time wherein he lived. At the end of the Greek and Arabic copies of Job, and in the old Latin Vulgate, we read these words, and they are there said to be taken from the Syriac. Job dwelt in the Ausitis, upon the confines of Idumæa and Arabia; his name at first was Jobab. He maried an Arabian Woman, by whom he had a son, called Ennon. For his part he was the son of Zerah, of the posterity of Esau, and a native of Bozrah; so that he was the fifth from Abraham. He reigned in Edom; and the Kings before and after him reigned in this order. Balak the son of Beor, in the city of Dinhabah, after him Job, otherwise called Jobab. Job was succeeded by Husham prince of Teman. After him reigned Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the fields of Moab. The name of his city was Arith. Job’s friends who came to visit him were Eliphaz, of the posterity of Esau, and King of Teman, Bildad King of the Shuhites, and Zophar the King of the Naamathites.

This is the most antient account we have of Job’s Genealogy. Aristeus, Philo, and Polyhistor³⁸, acknowledged this Genealogy to be true: the old Greek and Latin Fathers did the same, and cited this addition; and Theodotion has preserved it in his translation of the book of Job. We see no good reason for rejecting this tradition, which is derived, probably, from the Jews, and was received by the primitive Fathers. In tracing it we find Job to have been contemporary with Moses.

Abraham.

Isaac.

Jacob. Esau. Levi. Reuel. Amram. Zerah. Moses. Jobab.

1 Chr. i. 35---44.

Job was a man of great probity, virtue Job i. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c.and religion, and he was possessed of very great riches, which consisted in cattle and Job i. 3.slaves; whereof, at that time, the wealth even of princes chiefly was made up, especially in Arabia and Edom. His family was numerous; for he had seven sons and three daughters, and probably by the same wife. Lastly, he was in great repute among all the eastern people, and those who dwelt on both sides of the Euphrates. His sons, by turns, made entertainments for each other; and when they had gone through the circle of their days of feasting, Job sent to them, purified them, and offered burnt-offerings for each of them; to the end that God might pardon them, if they had committed any faults against him. For his part he tells us himself, that he was infinitely averse not only to Injustice, Idolatry, Fraud, and Adultery; but that he avoided xxix. 7. xxxi. 26.evil thoughts, and dangerous looks, and that he had made a covenant with his eyes not so much as to cast a glance upon a Job xxxi. 9. Job xxix. 13, 14, 15, 16. Job i. 6, 7, 8, &c.woman; that he was naturally compassionate to the miseries of the poor; that he was a father to the orphan, protector to the widow, a guide to the blind, and a support to the lame.

Now there was a day when the sons of God, or the Angels, came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan appeared with them. The Lord asked him, whether he had observed Job, and his way of living. Satan answered, that Job had reason to love and fear the Lord, since he had blessed him with so much riches. But, added he, put thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. God permitted Satan to tempt Job, and gave him power over all that he had, but forbad him to touch his person. Satan therefore going out from the presence of the Lord, made use of the permission which God had given him. He began with his Oxen. A company of Sabeans, people of Arabia, fell upon Job’s husbandmen, put them to the sword, and carried away all the Oxen. One servant only escaped to carry the news of this accident. While he was telling what had happened, a second came and told Job, that fire from Heaven had fallen upon his Sheep, and those who kept them, and had reduced them all to ashes: and that he alone had escaped to tell him.

He had not done speaking, when a third person came to Job, and said, the Chaldeans being divided into three bands, fell upon thy Camels, and have carried them away: they have killed all thy servants, and I only am escaped to tell thee. While he was relating this, another came, and said, While thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking in their eldest brother’s

house, an impetuous wind blew suddenly upon it, and it fell down upon them, and they were all crushed to death under the ruins of it. I alone am escaped to bring thee this news. Then Job rent his clothes, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, saying, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Satan once more presented himself before Job xi. 1, 2, 3. &c.the Lord; and the Lord asking him if he had not considered the patience of Job in the midst of all the evils wherewith he had afflicted him, Satan replied, Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life; but put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. The Lord answered, Behold, he is in thine hand, but touch not his life. Satan therefore smote him with dreadful sores from head to foot, and Job being seated on a dunghil, with a potsherd scraped off the corruption which issued from his ulcers. Then came his wife and said, Doest thou still retain thy simplicity and piety, Curse God, and then die. Job answered her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. In the mean time three of, Job’s friends were made acquainted with the misfortunes which had happened to him, and came each of them out of his own country to visit him; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shubite, and Zophar the Naamathite. There was a fourth likewise, whose name was Elihu the Buzite, who appears in cap. xxxii. of Job, and has a Job xxxii. 2. Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram.part in their dialogue. These friends therefore visited Job, and lifting up their eyes at a distance to view him, they did not know him. At last as they came nearer to him, they began to weep, to tear their clothes, and throw dust into the air, that it might fall upon their heads. They continued for seven days sitting on the ground by him, without saying any thing to him. But at last Job broke silence, and complained bitterly of his misery. His friends making no distinction between the evils wherewith Job iii. 1, 2, 3, &c.God tries those whom he loves, and the afflictions wherewith he punishes the wicked, took Job’s complaints for so many marks of his impatience, and accused him of impiety towards God, inviting him to return to him by repentance, and humbly to submit to his justice, since he suffered nothing but what he had very well deserved by his preceding crimes.

Job being convinced of his own innocence, and assured that he had the testimony of his conscience, on the contrary maintained, that his sufferings were greater than his faults, and proved, that God sometimes chastised the righteous to try them only, to give them an opportunity of growing up more to perfection; or lastly, because it was his good pleasure for reasons unknown to mankind. These were Job’s principles. His friends were of a different opinion. The whole book of Job, and all the discourses contained in it, are to this purpose. To terminate this dispute, God appears in a cloud, and decides in favour of Job xxxviii. xxxix. xl. xli.Job; nevertheless without approving the harsh expressions, which the extremity of his sorrow, and the warmth of dispute, had, as it were, wrested from him. He humbly acknowledged his fault, and asked forgiveness for it. The Lord condemns Job’s friends, and enjoins them to expiate their sins with sacrifices, which he directs them to offer by the hands of Job. He drives away the devil, and restrains his power, restores Job to health, gives him double the riches which he before possessed, blesses him with a beautiful and numerous family, and crowns an holy life with an happy death. This is the substance of Job’s history.

The time wherein this pious man lived is a point very much contested. But supposing him to have been contemporary with Moses³⁹, and fixing the time of his trial to some years after the departure of the Hebrews out of Egypt, (it cannot be placed earlier, because he speaks of this event;) he might have lived till the time of Othniel. Supposing, for example, that he was afflicted by God seven years after the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt in the year of the world 2520, before J.C. 1480, before the vulgar Æra 1484, and having lived an hundred and forty years after his recovery, as he himself says, he must have been dead in 2660, two years before the death of Othniel. Some believe⁴⁰ that he lived seventy years in prosperity, and that after his misfortunes, God doubled this number. By

which account he must have lived in all two hundred and ten years; supposing his afflictions to have continued but a year. They who affirm that he lay seven years or even longer under his diseases, may in proportion increase the number assigned by us; for in this we have nothing very certain.

His tomb has been shewn in several places. The most celebrated is that in the Trachonitis, towards the springs of Jordan, where for many ages a Pyramid has been Brocard. Adrichom. Tirin. Cotovic. alii.observed, which some believe to be Job’s tomb. It is placed between the cities of Teman, Shuah, and Naamath, which are supposed to have been in this country. The Chaldee Paraphrast, whose name is Cock, makes him to have lived in Armenia; and Travellers tell us, that Job’s Tomb is shewn there. But this Job is thought to have been a Mahometan captain, of modern date. Another Chaldee interpreter places Job at Constantinople. There is a tomb to be seen near the walls of this City, which some have taken for Job’s⁴¹: but it is an Arabian’s killed at the siege of Constantinople, in 672, and buried at the foot of the walls. In the sixth Age there was a Monastery at Constantinople, dedicated to S. Job⁴²; but it is not said that his body was there. Eusebius and S. Jerom assure us, that there was a traditional account of Job’s having dwelt at Astaroth-Carnaim, a city situated in the Batanæa beyond Jordan; and that his house was still to be seen there. The Scripture relates Dinhabah to have been the capital of Jobab’s kingdom, which Jobab we believe to be the same as Job. This City was in the Ausitis, or in Arabia Deserta. As we suppose Job and Jobab to be the same person, we must say likewise, that he lived and dyed at Dinhabah.

It has been maintained by some, that Holy Job’s relicks were at Rome, whither they are said to have been brought by Rhotaris King of the Lombards, in the seventh age. There they remained till the last age, Vid. Guall. Sanctuas. Pap. l. 4. c. 2.when they were stolen from thence by thieves, without any one’s knowing what afterwards became of them. We meet with the name of Job in the ancient Martyrologies with the title of Prophet, Saint, and Martyr. The worship of him is of great antiquity, and very extensive among the Greeks and Latins. The Greeks have chosen the sixth of May for celebrating the festival of S. Job, and herein they have been followed by the Christians of Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Russia, or Muscovy. The Latins keep his festival on the tenth of May. This, next to the Maccabees, brothers and martyrs, is the first Saint to whom the western Church has decreed publick and religious honours; and we know not of any Saint among the Patriarchs and Prophets to whom Churches have been consecrated, or chapels dedicated, in greater number than to this holy man. We see abundance of them, particularly in Spain and Italy; and he is invoked principally against the leprosy, itch, foul disease, and other distempers which relate to these. See M. Baillet’s lives of the Saints of the Old Testament, the tenth of May.

We have treated of Job’s disease in a particular dissertation printed before our Comment upon Job. Pineda examined the same subject long before us, and discovered two or three and thirty several kinds of diseases in this good man’s body. Bartholin⁴³ reckons up about twelve; and S. Chrysostom makes no scruple of saying⁴⁴, that Job endured all the evils that a man is capable of suffering, and that he suffered them in the utmost degree; that the Devil exhausted his whole stock of malice in tormenting him; in a word, that he was tried every way, and in his single body endured all the afflictions in the world. When we consider accurately all that Job in his Book says of himself, it seems to us, that the circumstances of his disease are for the most part symptoms of a leprosy; and we may affirm, that the Fathers and Commentators are generally of this opinion. S. Chrysostom, Apollinarius, Polychronius, Philip the Priest, venerable Bede, the author of the Sermons ad Fratres in eremo, cited under S. Austin’s name, Pineda, Bartholin, Bolduc, Vatablus, Cyprian of the Cistercians, and many others tell us so in an explicite, or at least in an implicite manner.

They who say that he was attacked with that infamous disease which is called the Neapolitan, or foul disease, agree almost in the same opinion, since this, in all probability, is no other than a leprosy. The Latin Church invokes S. Job in diseases of this nature, and Lazarettos and Hospitals, wherein care is taken of persons who have this scandalous distemper upon them, are for the most part dedicated to him. We do not mean hereby to cast any blemish upon the honour and sanctity of the Saint we are speaking of. People may have this disease upon them, without having committed any act of intemperance; and Travellers⁴⁵ inform us, that in the hot countries, it is communicated with such

great activity, that to converse familiarly with any person infected with it, is oftentimes sufficient to catch it. See our Dissertation on this Subject.

Some⁴⁶ have questioned whether there ever was such a person as Job, and have esteemed his book to be a fabulous history, and mere invention. Spinoza believed Job Origen. l. 6. contra Celsum.to have been a Pagan. Others say he lived before Moses; others, in the time of Moses; and others again, after him, and under the Judges. There are some who bring him so far backward as the time of David and Solomon c; others as far as the time of the captivity, or very near it. Lastly there are some Rabbins of opinion, that he lived in the reign of Ahasuerus and Esther, and that he had a School at Tiberias in Palestine, before he was carried away to Babylon. But there is no denying that there was such a person as Job, without contradicting Ezekiel, Tobit, and S. James, who Talmud. tract. Baba Batra. Ezek. xiv. 14. Tob. ii. 12, 15. James v. 11.speak of him as an holy man, and a true pattern of patience, without opposing the torrent of tradition among both Jews and Christians, and all the authority of the Greek and Latin Fathers. Job did not live under the Jewish law, and perhaps was not subject to the law of circumcision; and in this sense we may confess, that he was a Pagan, as Melchisedeck and some other good men are said to have been: but there is nothing odious or contemptible in the name of Heathen thus understood. Although the time wherein this holy man lived be still dubious, we cannot however place him so far back as the time of David and Solomon, and much less so far as to the captivity of Babylon, since he is cited by Tobit and Ezekiel as an old Patriarch, and speaks of Pharaoh, and the passage of the Red Sea, in a very express manner. Notwithstanding Job xxvi. 12. & xv. 24, 25.it is not impossible but that he who wrote his book, as we now have it, might have lived after David and Solomon: because he seems sometimes to allude to the Psalms, Jeremiah, and the Proverbs.

The eastern people relate several particulars of Job, which we do not read in Scripture. They deduce his Genealogy after this manner. Abraham, Isaac, Esau, Bibl. Orient. p. 81. Aiub.Razakh, Anosch, Job, or Aiub as they write it. Eutychius Patriarch of Alexandria makes him likewise to descend from Esau thus; Esau, Raguel, Razakh, Amos, Job. But there are some Arabian Historians Idem. p. 466. col. 1.who derive his descent from Ishmael, and pretend, that he is the first of the three Prophets sprung from Ishmael; which three Prophets in their account are Job, Jethro, and Mahomet. The same Authors believe, that his wife’s name was Rasima, and that she descended from Lot’s race, that is to say from the Moabites or Ammonites; that Job was afflicted with a sore disease for three years, as some say; as others, seven.

That having then recovered his health, at the age of 80, he had a son named Basch -Ben-Aiub or Basch the son of Job. Some other Historians declare, that he had five sons, with whom, they say, he made war against an Arabian nation which bordered upon Edom, and was called Dhal-Khefel: this name was given them because they were hip-shot, and in their legs and thighs resembled the hinder parts of a horse, much after the manner wherein the Centaurs are described. Job, assisted by his sons, extirpated this brutal people, who refused to receive the worship of one God, which he preached to them.

The Lord having blessed Job, and enriched him, the Devil grew envious at it, and presenting himself before God, told him, that Job served him purely out of interest; that if he would once withdraw his favours from him, Job would not pay his adorations to him once a day. God hereupon permitted him to deprive this holy man of his wealth and children, but he became not at all the less faithful in serving God, nor less submissive to his will.

This circumstance encreased the rage and envy of the Devil; he once more presented himself before the Lord and told him, that Job continued thus to serve him, only with the hopes of receiving new benefits from his liberality; but that if he afflicted him in his body, he would then see that he would intirely abandon his service, and would break out into loud murmurs against him. God therefore permitted the Devil once more to try Job with a dangerous disease, upon condition, notwithstanding, that he should spare his mouth, his eyes, and ears. Hereupon the Devil blowed such a pestilential heat upon him thro’ the nose, that the mass of his blood was immediately corrupted with it, and his whole Body became one ulcer, the stench whereof kept all those at a distance from him, who were inclinable to go near him.

They were obliged to put him out of the City in a very remote place, and notwithstanding all these misfortunes, Job still continued patient. His wife named Rasima, did not fail to carry him every thing that was necessary. The Devil for his part stole every thing away from her⁴⁷

that she had provided for him, and having at last reduced her to such a condition, that she had nothing wherewithal to relieve her husband, he appeared to her in the form of a woman that was bald, who told her, that if she would give her two tresses of her hair, which hung upon her neck, she would supply her every day with what was necessary for the subsistence of her husband. Rasima accepted this offer, and gave the old woman her two tresses.

The Devil went immediately to Job, and told him, that his wife had been surprized in the act of leudness, and her hair had been cut off. Job perceived very soon that her hair was wanting, and suspecting very much that she had suffered herself to be deluded by the Devil, he swore if he recovered his health, that he would severely chastise her for this fault. The Devil being very well satisfied with having got the better of Job’s patience, transformed himself immediately into an Angel of light, and declared to the people of the country, as one sent by God for that purpose, that Job had forfeited the favour of God, and that they ought not any longer to give credit to his words, nor permit him to abide among them; lest the wrath of God should be extended to their whole nation.

Job upon information of what had passed, had recourse to God, and said to him with confidence: Lord I am every way oppressed with grief; but thou art the most merciful of all those who shew mercy. As soon as this prayer was finished, God in a moment put an end to all the sufferings of Job. The Angel Gabriel descended from Heaven, took him by the hand, raised him from the place where he was, struck the earth with his foot, and caused a fountain of the purest water to spring out of it, wherein Job having washed his body, and drank of it, found he was on a sudden absolutely cured, and restored to perfect health; after this God restored him to his wealth, and multiplied it in such a manner, that to express the abundance of it the Arabian Authors say, a golden shower fell upon him.

BOOK OF JOB. Many various conjectures have been made concerning the Book of Job. Some have been of opinion, that Job himself wrote it at first, in Syriac or Arabic, and Moses or some other Israelite afterwards translated it into Hebrew. Others suppose Elihu, one of Job’s friends, to have been the Author of it, or Moses, Solomon, Isaiah, or some other writer still more modern. It is certain, that no decisive proof towards discovering the Author is furnished by the Book itself. So much seems to be out of all dispute, that he who composed it, whosoever he was, was a Jew by religion, and later than the time of Job. There are so many allusions in it to the expressions of the Scripture, that every one must believe it was very familiar to him. We have cited a great number of those allusions and parallel places which occur in Job and other sacred writers; and have set the arguments in their proper light, whereby each of these opinions are maintained, which are proposed with relation to the Author of this Book.

The original language of the Book of Job is Hebrew, but blended with many Arabic and Chaldee expressions; and several particular turns, which are not to be met with in Hebrew; for which reason this work is so obscure and difficult. It is written in verse, but not confined to any particular measure or cadence, and the beauty of these verses consists principally in noble expressions, bold and sublime thoughts, lively emotions, fine descriptions, and a great diversity of characters. I do not believe that in all antiquity there is a piece of poetry to be found which is more copious, more lofty, more magnificent, more diversified, more adorned, or more affecting than this. The Author, whosoever he was, has put in practise all the beauties of his art, to make the four persons whom he brings upon the stage, keep up each his proper character, and maintain the opinions which they were engaged to defend. The history, as to the substance and circumstances of it, is exactly true; the sentiments, reasons, and arguments of the several persons are very faithfully expressed: but it is very probable, that the terms and turn of expression are the Poet’s or the Writer’s, whosoever he may be.

Vide Synod. v. Oecumen. collat 4. art. 63. Jacobi v. 11. Suffe-rentiam beati Job auditis.As to the canonical authority of the Book of Job, it is generally acknowledged in the Greek and Latin Churches, wherein it has always been esteemed as an article of faith; and this opinion is derived from the Synagogue to the Christian Church. S. Paul in several places seems to quote the Book of Job; at least visibly alludes to it⁴⁸. S. James in his Epistle commends the patience of Job, and says, that it was well known to those he wrote to. Theodore, of Mopsuesta, accuses the Author of the Book of Job with a vain ostentation of profane sciences, with writing a fabulous and poetical history. He reproaches him likewise with making Job speak things inconsistent with the religion and piety of this holy man, and more proper to give offence than edify. But this famous and bold Critick judged of the Book of Job

only from the Greek version which he had in his hands, wherein indeed there are observed to be some allusions to fable, and poetical history. But if he had seen the original text, he would have remarked nothing like it. Some charge Luther also, and the Anabaptists, with rejecting the book of Job: but Schultet and Spanheim endeavour to justify Luther in this particular. As to all the difficulties which I have briefly set down, and several others which are proposed relating to the book and person of Job, the Reader, if he pleases, may consult Pineda’s Comment, or ours, and the history of Job by M. Spanheim.

I. JOBAB, the son of Zerah, and grandson to Esau, Gen. xxxvi. 33. 1 Chr. i. 44.

II. JOBAB, the son of Joktan, Gen. x. 28. & 1 Chr. i. 23.

III. JOBAB, king of Madon, Josh. xi. 1.

IV. JOBAB, the son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, 1 Chr. viii. 8.

V. JOBAB, the son of Elpaal, of the same Tribe, 1 Chr. viii. 18.

JOCHEBED, the wife of Amram, and mother of Miriam, Moses and Aaron. Several difficulties are started concerning the degree of relation between Amram and Jochebed. Ita Hebræi. Test. xii. Patriarch. Tostat. Usser. alii.Some assert, that Jochebed was the daughter immediately of Levi, and aunt to Amram her husband. This opinion they ground upon the Hebrew text, Exod. ii. 1. and vi. 20. and Numb. xxvi. 59. where she is called the daughter of Levi. Others maintain, that she was only cousin-german to Amram, being the daughter of one of Kobath’s brethren. The Chaldee upon Chap vi. 20. of Exodus says, that she was the daughter of Amram’s sister; and the Septuagint, that she was daughter to the same Amram’s brother. דודה Doda.The Hebrew text Doda, which we read here, does not always denote the same degree of relation between persons; and by the daughter of Levi may be understood either an immediate daughter, or a person descended from Aaron. So that neither the text of Scripture, nor the authority of Interpreters, who are so divided in their opinions, can determine this question. Nevertheless it seems to me most probable, that Jochebed was no more than cousin-german to Amram. 1. Had she been the immediate daughter of Levi, the disproportion between her age and Amram’s would have been too great. 2. Marriages between the aunt and nephew were forbidden by the Law, and we have no proof that they were allowed before. 3. By the daughter of Levi may be very well meant the grand-daughter, according to the stile of the Hebrews.

1 Sam. viii, 1, 2, &c.I. JOEL, the Prophet Samuel’s eldest son. Samuel being grown old⁴⁹, made his two sons Joel and Abiah Judges over Israel. They exercised their jurisdiction in the city of Beersheba at the southern extremity of Palestine. But they did not imitate the example of their Father; they received presents, and were unjust in their judgments; which obliged the elders of Israel to desire a king of Samuel.

II. JOEL, the son of Josibiah, of the Tribe of Simeon, 1 Chr. iv. 35.

III. JOEL, the son of Israbiah, of the tribe of Issachar, 1 Chr. vii. 3.

IV. JOEL, one of the valiant men of 1 Chr. xi. 38.David’s army.

V. JOEL, a Levite, one of the chief Musicians in David’s time, 1 Chr. xv. 7.

VI. JOEL, the son of Pedaiah, of the Tribe of Manasseh, 1 Chr. xxvii. 20.

Ita Epiphan. Doroth. Isidor. Hebræi.VII. JOEL, the son of Pethuel, the second of the twelve small Prophets, was, as is said, of the Tribe of Reuben, and city of Bethoron, or rather Betharan, for Bethoron was on this side Jordan in the Tribe of Ephraim, and Betharan was on the other side of the River in the Tribe of Reuben. Joel prophesied in the kingdom of Judah⁵⁰; and it is our opinion, that he did not appear there till after the removal of the ten Tribes, and the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. We do not know distinctly the year wherein he began to prophesy, nor that wherein he dyed. He speaks of a great famine, and an inundation of locusts which ravaged Judea: but as these are evils not uncommon in that country, and all sorts of events have not been registered in history, we can infer nothing from thence towards fixing the particular period of Joel’s prophecy.

S. Jerome, followed by many others both ancients and moderns, believed Joel to have been contemporary with Hosea, according to this rule laid down by him⁵¹, that when there is no certain proof of the time wherein any Prophet lived, we are to be directed in our conjectures by the time of the preceeding Prophet, whose epoch is better known. But this rule is not always certain, and should not hinder us from following another system, if we

have good reasons for doing so. The Hebrews maintain, that Joel prophesied under Manasseh, and think the Famine mentioned by him, to be the same as that which is taken notice of in Jerem. viii. 13. But if it be so, as there is probability enough it is, it must be said that Joel prophesied after Manasseh, since in the same place of Jeremiah, the Lord declares, that he is resolved to disperse his people amidst the nations, by reason of the sins committed by Manasseh, which implies that Manasseh was not then in being. We choose therefore rather to place Joel under Josiah King of Judah, in the same time with Jeremiah. Under the idea of an enemy’s army, he represents a cloud of Locusts, which in his time fell upon Judea, and caused great desolation. This together with the Caterpillars and the Drought, brought a terrible Famine upon the land. God being moved with the calamities and prayers of his people, scattered the Locusts, and the wind blew them into the Sea; these misfortunes were succeeded by plenty and fertility. After this the Prophet foretold the day of the Lord, Joel ii. 2, 3, &c.and the vengeance which he was to exercise in the valley of Jezreel. He speaks of the Teacher of Righteousness, whom God was Joel ii. 23.to send; of the Holy Spirit, which was to descend upon all flesh. He says that Joel ii. 28, 29.Jerusalem will eternally be inhabited; that Salvation will come out from thence; that Joel ii. 32.whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. All this relates to the Joel ii. 28, 29.new Covenant and the time of the Messiah.

JOELAH, the son of Jerobam, was one of those who espoused David’s party in the time of his disgrace, 1 Chr. xii. 7.

JOEZER, one of the gallant officers in 1 Chr. xi. 45.David’s army, 1 Chr. xii. 6.

JOHA, one of the bravest men in David’s army.

I. JOHANAN, the son of Careah, being informed that Ishmael, the son of 2 Kings xxv. 23. Jer. xl. 15, 16.Nethaniah, was come to Mizpah, with a design of killing Gedaliah, who had been left there by Nebuchadnezzar to govern the remnant of the people, who continued in the land; Johanan, I say, gave intelligence of it to Gedaliah, and made an offer of going himself to kill Ishmael, and by that means prevent the execution of his purpose. But Gedaliah refusing to credit him, was soon after massacred; in the year of the world 3417, before J. C. 583, before the vulgar Æra 587.

II. JOHANAN, the son of Josiah, 1 Chr. iii. 15. It is probable that Johanan died without issue, since the Scripture speaks no more of him.

III. JOHANAN, the son of Eliænai, one of the descendants of David by Zerobabel, 1. Chr. iii. ultimo.

IV. JOHANAN, High Priest of the Jews, son of Azariah the High Priest, and father to another Azariah, 1 Chr. vi. 9, 10. Some believe him to be the same as Jehoiada, the father of Zechariah, in the reign of Joash, king of Judah, 2 Chr. xix. 11, &c.

I. JOHN, in Hebrew, Johanan, signifies gentle, agreeable, or the grace of God, agreeable to God. The scripture tells us of several illustrious men whose name was John, Joanne, or Jochanan. The first is 1 Macc. ii. 1.John, the father of Mattathias, the celebrated Maccabee, who was descended from the Priests of Joiarib’s family.

II. JOHN, surnamed Gaddis, the son of Mattathias above mentioned, and brother of Judas, Jonathan and Simon, Maccabees: John Maccabee was treacherously killed by the sons of Jambri, as he was conducting the baggage belonging to his brethren the Maccabees, to the 1 Macc. ix. 36.Nabathites their Allies.

III. JOHN Hircanus, the son of Simon the Maccabee. See above Hircanus.

IV. JOHN the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ, and son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, was born in the Year of the world 4000, about six months before Jesus Christ. His birth, name, and employment were foretold to his father Zechary, when he was in the Temple of Jerusalem, where he was performing his functions as a Priest, according to the rank Luke i. 10, 11, &c.of his family. The Angel Gabriel appeared to him while he was in the Holy, and declared to him, that he would have a son whose name should be John, and whose birth would be the cause of universal Joy to all the world, that this son should be great in the sight of the Lord, that he should drink no wine, nor any other liquor proper to intoxicate, and should be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb; that he should convert many of the Children of Israel to the Lord; lastly, that he should come in the spirit and power of Elias, to bring back the children into the way of their fathers, and to prepare a perfect people for the Lord.

Zechary, who was old, and whose wife likewise was too far advanced in years to have children, expressed some diffidence in this matter: but the angel assured him of the truth of his promise, and said to him, I am Gabriel, deputed to you in order to declare this news to you; and this very moment you shall become dumb, until the day in which you shall see the accomplishment of what I tell you. Accordingly he became dumb that very instant; and returning home, Elizabeth conceived. But she kept herself concealed for five months, as if she had been ashamed of her being with child. In the sixth month,

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