Smith's Bible Dictionary

(Frankie) #1

(wealthy), the father of David, was the son of Obed, who again was the fruit of the union of
Boaz and the Moabitess Ruth. His great-grandmother was Rahab the Canaanite, of Jericho. (Matthew
1:5) Jesse’s genealogy is twice given in full in the Old Testament, viz., (Ruth 4:18-22) and 1Chr
2:5-12 He is commonly designated as “Jesse the Bethlehemite,” (1 Samuel 16:1,18; 17:58) but his
full title is “the Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah.” ch. (1 Samuel 17:12) He is an “old man” when
we first meet with him, (1 Samuel 17:12) with eight sons, ch. (1 Samuel 16:10; 17:12) residing at
Bethlehem. ch (1 Samuel 16:4,5) Jesse’s wealth seems to have consisted of a flock of sheep and
goats, which were under the care of David. ch. (1 Samuel 16:11; 17:34,35) After David’s rupture
with Saul he took his father and his mother into the country of Moab and deposited them with the
king, and there they disappear from our view in the records of Scripture. (B.C. 1068-61.) Who the
wife of Jesse was we are not told.
Jesui
(even, level), the son of Asher, whose descendants the Jesuites were numbered in the plains of
Moab at the Jordan of Jericho. (Numbers 26:44) (B.C. 1451.) He is elsewhere called Isui, (Genesis
46:17) and Ishuai. (1 Chronicles 7:30)
Jesuites
(the posterity of Jesui), The, a family of the tribe of Asher. (Numbers 26:44)
Jesurun
[Jeshurun]
Jesus
called Jestus, a Christian who was with St. Paul at Rome. (Colossians 4:11) (A.D. 57.)
(saviour).
•The Greek form of the name Joshua or Jeshua, a contraction of Jehoshua, that is, “help of Jehovah”
or “saviour.” (Numbers 13:16)
•Joshua the son of Nun. (Numbers 27:18; Hebrews 4:8) [Jehoshua]
Jesus Christ
“The life and character of Jesus Christ,” says Dr. Schaff, “is the holy of holies in the history of
the world.”
•NAME.—The name Jesus signifies saviour. It is the Greek form of Jehoshua (Joshua). The name
Christ signifies anointed. Jesus was both priest and king. Among the Jews priests were anointed,
as their inauguration to their office. (1 Chronicles 16:22) In the New Testament the name Christ
is used as equivalent to the Hebrew Messiah (anointed), (John 1:41) the name given to the
long-promised Prophet and King whom the Jews had been taught by their prophets to expect.
(Matthew 11:3; Acts 19:4) The use of this name, as applied to the Lord, has always a reference
to the promises of the prophets. The name of Jesus is the proper name of our Lord, and that of
Christ is added to identify him with the promised Messiah. Other names are sometimes added to
the names Jesus Christ, thus, “Lord,” “a king,” “King of Israel,” “Emmanuel,” “Son of David,”
“chosen of God.” II. BIRTH.—Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, God being his father,
at Bethlehem of Judea, six miles south of Jerusalem. The date of his birth was most probably in
December, B.C. 5, four years before the era from which we count our years. That era was not used
till several hundred years after Christ. The calculations were made by a learned monk, Dionysius
Exiguus, in the sixth century, who made an error of four years; so that to get the exact date from
the birth of Christ we must add four years to our usual dates; i.e. A.D. 1882 is really 1886 years
since the birth of Christ. It is also more than likely that our usual date for Christmas, December

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