false worship that the rulers permitted the people to indulge in. (Hos. 4:2) Finally God had to “cause the royal rule of the house of Israel to cease.”—Hos. 1:4.

SYRIA AND ASSYRIA HARASS ISRAEL

Because of not turning fully to Jehovah and walking in his ways, Jehu had to face trouble from Hazael, king of Syria, all the days of his rule. Hazael took territory piece by piece from Israel’s domain on the other side of the Jordan. (2 Ki. 10:32, 33; Amos 1:3, 4) At the same time the Assyrian threat to Israel’s existence mounted.

ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTIONS NAME JEHU

In inscriptions of Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria, he claims to have received tribute from Jehu. The inscription reads: “The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri; I received from him silver, gold, a golden saplu-bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king, (and) wooden puruhtu [the meaning of the latter word being unknown].” (Actually, Jehu was not the son of Omri. But from Omri’s time the expression was sometimes used to designate the kings of Israel, doubtless because of Omri’s prowess and his building of Samaria, which continued as Israel’s capital until the fall of that ten-tribe kingdom to Assyria.)

Along with this same inscription on what is known as the Black Obelisk is a pictorial representation, probably of an emissary of Jehu, bowing before Shalmaneser and offering tribute. Some commentators remark that this is the first pictorial portrayal of Israelites, as far as is known. (See illustration on page 153.) However, we cannot be absolutely sure of the truthfulness of Shalmaneser’s claim. Also, the appearance of the figure in the picture cannot be relied on to be an accurate likeness of an Israelite, for these nations may have depicted their enemies as undesirable in appearance, much as drawings or pictures today portray people of an enemy nation as weak, grotesque or hateful.

4. The son of Obed of the family of Jerahmeel, a descendant of Hezron, son of Perez, who was born to Judah by Tamar. This Jehu’s line came through Jarha, an Egyptian slave. Sheshan, a descendant of Jerahmeel, had no sons, so he gave to Jarha his daughter as wife. The son born to them was Attai, an ancestor of Jehu.—1 Chron. 2:3-5, 25, 34-38.

5. A Simeonite, the son of Joshibiah. In the days of King Hezekiah of Judah he was among the chieftains of the Simeonite families who struck down the Hamites and the Meunim living in the vicinity of Gedor and who dwelt thereafter in the place of these people with their flocks.—1 Chron. 4:24, 35, 38-41.

JEHUBBAH

(Je·hubʹbah) [possibly, God has hidden].

A leading member of the tribe of Asher.—1 Chron. 7:34, 40.

JEHUCAL

(Je·huʹcal), Jucal (Juʹcal) [Jehovah is able, mighty].

A prince sent by King Zedekiah to ask Jeremiah to pray for Judah. (Jer. 37:3) This son of Shelemiah and three other influential princes had Jeremiah put into the miry cistern because his preaching was, as they put it, “weakening the hands of the men of war,” as well as the hands of the people in general.—Jer. 38:1-6.

JEHUD

(Jeʹhud) [praise].

A site in the territory of Dan (Josh. 19:40, 45) usually identified with modern el-Yahudiyeh, some eight miles (c. 13 kilometers) E of Jaffa (Joppa). The Greek Septuagint, though, uses “Azor” instead of Jehud. (Josh. 19:45, Bagster’s) Therefore some scholars link Jehud with modern Yazur, about three miles (c. 5 kilometers) E-SE of Jaffa. It is believed that this is the place called “Azuru” in Sennacherib’s annals.

JEHUDI

(Je·huʹdi) [a Jew].

An officer of King Jehoiakim sent by the princes of Judah to bring to them Baruch with Jeremiah’s scroll. When Jehudi later read the same roll to Jehoiakim, the king cut it up and burned it, piece by piece, until the whole scroll was destroyed.—Jer. 36:14, 21-23, 27, 32.

Jehudi was a great-grandson of Cushi. (Jer. 36:14) His name (meaning “a Jew”) and that of his ancestor are thought by some to denote that he was not a Jew by birth, but a proselyte, his grandfather’s name suggesting that the family was from Cush, or Ethiopia. However, those of the two generations in between both have typical Jewish names (Nethaniah his father and Shelemiah his grandfather) and even the name Cushi itself is elsewhere found as a proper name of a natural-born Jew. (Zeph. 1:1) So Jehudi was most likely simply a proper name given at birth and not a name first acquired as a proselyte.

JEIEL

(Je·iʹel) [God has healed, or, preserved].

1. A descendant of Jacob’s son Reuben.—1 Chron. 5:1, 7.

2. A Benjamite who, together with his family (wife Maacah and ten sons), was a settler of Gibeon; an ancestor of King Saul. (1 Chron. 8:29; 9:35-39) Apparently the same as Abiel.—1 Sam. 9:1; see ABIEL No. 1.

3. One of David’s mighty men; son of Hotham the Aroerite.—1 Chron. 11:26, 44.

4. A Levite, both a gatekeeper and a musician, who participated in the musical celebration when the Ark was first brought to Jerusalem and thereafter played in front of the tent that contained it.—1 Chron. 15:17, 18, 21, 28; 16:1, 4, 5 (the second occurrence of the name in verse 5).

5. Another Levitical musician who performed the same services as No. 4 above. (1 Chron. 16:5, the first occurrence of the name in that verse) He is called Jaaziel at 1 Chronicles 15:18 and Aziel in 15:20.

6. A Levitical descendant of Asaph and ancestor of the Levite who encouraged King Jehoshaphat and the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem not to fear their enemies for Jehovah would be with his people.—2 Chron. 20:14-17.

7. The secretary who registered and numbered King Uzziah’s army.—2 Chron. 26:11.

8. One of the chief Levites who made a very large contribution of animals for King Josiah’s great Passover celebration.—2 Chron. 35:1, 9.

9. A descendant of Adonikam who made the trip with Ezra from Babylon to Jerusalem in 468 B.C.E.—Ezra 8:1, 13.

10. One of the sons of Nebo who sent away their foreign wives and sons in Ezra’s day.—Ezra 10:43, 44.

JEKABZEEL

(Je·kabʹze·el).

An alternate form of the name Kabzeel. (Neh. 11:25) This was a city in the southern part of Judah and is sometimes identified with Khirbet Hora, about ten miles (16 kilometers) NE of Beer-sheba.—See KABZEEL.

JEKAMEAM

(Jek·a·meʹam) [probably, may kinsman establish].

The fourth son of Hebron, a Kohathite Levite, and founder of a Levitical paternal house that survived at least until David’s reign.—1 Chron. 23:12, 19; 24:23, 30b, 31.

JEKAMIAH

(Jek·a·miʹah) [may Jehovah establish].

1. A descendant of Judah and son of Shallum.—1 Chron. 2:3, 41.

2. One of the sons born to King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) during his Babylonian exile.—1 Chron. 3:17, 18.

JEKUTHIEL

(Je·kuʹthi·el) [perhaps, may God nourish].

A descendant of Judah and “father of Zanoah.” (1 Chron. 4:1, 18) Zanoah is the name of a city rather than a person in its other occurrence (Josh. 15:56, 57), so Jekuthiel as its ‘father’ was likely the father of those who settled there, or was himself its founder or chief settler.—See ATROTH-BETH-JOAB.