descended from Gershom (Judges 18:30). His history is recorded in
17:7-13 and 18:30. The Rabbins changed this name into Manasseh “to
screen the memory of the great lawgiver from the stain of having so
unworthy an apostate among his near descendants.” He became priest of
the idol image at Dan, and this office continued in his family till the
Captivity.
(2.) The eldest son of king Saul, and the bosom friend of David. He is first
mentioned when he was about thirty years of age, some time after his
father’s accession to the throne (1 Samuel 13:2). Like his father, he was a
man of great strength and activity (2 Samuel 1:23), and excelled in archery
and slinging (1 Chronicles 12:2;2 Samuel 1:22). The affection that
evidently subsisted between him and his father was interrupted by the
growth of Saul’s insanity. At length, “in fierce anger,” he left his father’s
presence and cast in his lot with the cause of David (1 Samuel 20:34).
After an eventful career, interwoven to a great extent with that of David,
he fell, along with his father and his two brothers, on the fatal field of
Gilboa (1 Samuel 31:2, 8). He was first buried at Jabesh-gilead, but his
remains were afterwards removed with those of his father to Zelah, in
Benjamin (2 Samuel 21:12-14). His death was the occasion of David’s
famous elegy of “the Song of the Bow” (2 Samuel 1:17-27). He left one
son five years old, Merib-baal, or Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 4:4; comp. 1
Chronicles 8:34).
(3.) Son of the high priest Abiathar, and one who adhered to David at the
time of Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15:27, 36). He is the last descendant
of Eli of whom there is any record.
(4.) Son of Shammah, and David’s nephew, and also one of his chief
warriors (2 Samuel 21:21). He slew a giant in Gath.
- JONATH-ELEM-RECHOKIM dove of the dumbness of the distance; i.e.,
“the silent dove in distant places”, title of Psalm 56. This was probably
the name of some well known tune or melody to which the psalm was to
be sung. - JOPPA beauty, a town in the portion of Dan (Joshua 19:46; A.V.,
“Japho”), on a sandy promontory between Caesarea and Gaza, and at a
distance of 30 miles north-west from Jerusalem. It is one of the oldest
towns in Asia. It was and still is the chief sea-port of Judea. It was never
wrested from the Phoenicians. It became a Jewish town only in the second