- JOT or Iota, the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, used
metaphorically or proverbially for the smallest thing (Matthew 5:18); or it
may be = yod, which is the smallest of the Hebrew letters. - JOTHAM Jehovah is perfect. (1.) The youngest of Gideon’s seventy
sons. He escaped when the rest were put to death by the order of
Abimelech (Judges 9:5). When “the citizens of Shechem and the whole
house of Millo” were gathered together “by the plain of the pillar” (i.e., the
stone set up by Joshua, 24:26; comp. Genesis 35:4) “that was in Shechem,
to make Abimelech king,” from one of the heights of Mount Gerizim he
protested against their doing so in the earliest parable, that of the
bramble-king. His words then spoken were prophetic. There came a recoil
in the feelings of the people toward Abimelech, and then a terrible revenge,
in which many were slain and the city of Shechem was destroyed by
Abimelech (Judges 9:45). Having delivered his warning, Jotham fled to
Beer from the vengeance of Abimelech (9:7-21).
(2.) The son and successor of Uzziah on the throne of Judah. As during his
last years Uzziah was excluded from public life on account of his leprosy,
his son, then twenty-five years of age, administered for seven years the
affairs of the kingdom in his father’s stead (2 Chronicles 26:21, 23; 27:1).
After his father’s death he became sole monarch, and reigned for sixteen
years (B.C. 759-743). He ruled in the fear of God, and his reign was
prosperous. He was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and
Micah, by whose ministrations he profited. He was buried in the sepulchre
of the kings, greatly lamented by the people (2 Kings 15:38; 2 Chronicles
27:7-9).
- JOURNEY (1.) A day’s journey in the East is from 16 to 20 miles
(Numbers 11:31).
(2.) A Sabbath-day’s journey is 2,000 paces or yards from the city walls
(Acts 1:12). According to Jewish tradition, it was the distance one might
travel without violating the law of Exodus 16:29. (See SABBATH.)
- JOZABAD whom Jehovah bestows. (1.) One of the Benjamite archers
who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:4).
(2.) A chief of the tribe of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 12:20).