Easton's Bible Dictionary

Jubilee — Juttah

Jubilee

Jubilee — a joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the fields (Leviticus 25:11, Leviticus 25:12). All landed property during that year reverted to its original owner (Leviticus 25:13-34; Leviticus 27:16-24), and all who were slaves were set free (Leviticus 25:39-54), and all debts were remitted.

The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no record in Scripture of the actual observance of this festival, but there are numerous allusions (Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:9, Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:2; Ezekiel 7:12, Ezekiel 7:13; Nehemiah 5:1-19; 2 Chronicles 36:21) which place it beyond a doubt that it was observed.

The advantages of this institution were manifold. “1. It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. 2. It would render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. 3. It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. 4. It would utterly do away with slavery. 5. It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited. 6. It would periodically rectify the disorders which crept into the state in the course of time, preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate.”

Juda

Juda — (1.) The patriarch Judah, son of Jacob (Luke 3:33; Hebrews 7:14). In Luke 1:39; Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 7:5, the word refers to the tribe of Judah.

(2.) The father of Simeon in Christ’s maternal ancestry (Luke 3:30).

(3.) Son of Joanna, and father of Joseph in Christ’s maternal ancestry (Luke 3:26), probably identical with Abiud (Matthew 1:13), and with Obadiah (1 Chronicles 3:21).

(4.) One of the Lord’s “brethren” (Mark 6:3).

Judah

Judah — praise, the fourth son of Jacob by Leah. The name originated in Leah’s words of praise to the Lord on account of his birth: “Now will I praise [Heb. odeh] Jehovah, and she called his name Yehudah” (Genesis 29:35).

It was Judah that interposed in behalf of Joseph, so that his life was spared (Genesis 37:26, Genesis 37:27). He took a lead in the affairs of the family, and “prevailed above his brethren” (Genesis 43:3-10; Genesis 44:14, Genesis 44:16-34; Genesis 46:28; 1 Chronicles 5:2).

Soon after the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, Judah went to reside at Adullam, where he married a woman of Canaan. (See ONAN ; TAMAR.) After the death of his wife Shuah, he returned to his father’s house, and there exercised much influence over the patriarch, taking a principal part in the events which led to the whole family at length going down into Egypt. We hear nothing more of him till he received his father’s blessing (Genesis 49:8-12).

Judah, Kingdom of

Judah, Kingdom of — When the disruption took place at Shechem, at first only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. But very soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem became the capital of the new kingdom (Joshua 18:28), which was called the kingdom of Judah. It was very small in extent, being only about the size of the Scottish county of Perth.

For the first sixty years the kings of Judah aimed at re-establishing their authority over the kingdom of the other ten tribes, so that there was a state of perpetual war between them. For the next eighty years there was no open war between them. For the most part they were in friendly alliance, co-operating against their common enemies, especially against Damascus. For about another century and a half Judah had a somewhat checkered existence after the termination of the kingdom of Israel till its final overthrow in the destruction of the temple (B.C. 588) by Nebuzar-adan, who was captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s body-guard (2 Kings 25:8-21).

The kingdom maintained a separate existence for three hundred and eighty-nine years. It occupied an area of 3,435 square miles. (See ISRAEL, KINGDOM OF.)

Judah, Tribe of

Judah, Tribe of — Judah and his three surviving sons went down with Jacob into Egypt (Genesis 46:12; Exodus 1:2). At the time of the Exodus, when we meet with the family of Judah again, they have increased to the number of 74,000 males (Numbers 1:26, Numbers 1:27). Its number increased in the wilderness (Numbers 26:22). Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, represented the tribe as one of the spies (Numbers 13:6; Numbers 34:19). This tribe marched at the van on the east of the tabernacle (Numbers 2:3-9; Numbers 10:14), its standard, as is supposed, being a lion’s whelp. Under Caleb, during the wars of conquest, they conquered that portion of the country which was afterwards assigned to them as their inheritance. This was the only case in which any tribe had its inheritance thus determined (Joshua 14:6-15; Joshua 15:13-19).

The inheritance of the tribe of Judah was at first fully one-third of the whole country west of Jordan, in all about 2,300 square miles (Joshua 15). But there was a second distribution, when Simeon received an allotment, about 1,000 square miles, out of the portion of Judah (Joshua 19:9). That which remained to Judah was still very large in proportion to the inheritance of the other tribes. The boundaries of the territory are described in Joshua 15:20-63.

This territory given to Judah was divided into four sections. (1.) The south (Heb. negeb, the undulating pasture-ground between the hills and the desert to the south (Joshua 15:21.) This extent of pasture-land became famous as the favourite camping-ground of the old patriarchs. (2.) The “valley” (Joshua 15:33) or lowland (Heb. shephelah, a broad strip lying between the central highlands and the Mediterranean. This tract was the garden as well as the granary of the tribe. (3.) The “hill-country,” or the mountains of Judah, an elevated plateau stretching from below Hebron northward to Jerusalem. “The towns and villages were generally perched on the tops of hills or on rocky slopes. The resources of the soil were great. The country was rich in corn, wine, oil, and fruit; and the daring shepherds were able to lead their flocks far out over the neighbouring plains and through the mountains.” The number of towns in this district was thirty-eight (Joshua 15:48-60). (4.) The “wilderness,” the sunken district next the Dead Sea (Joshua 15:61), “averaging 10 miles in breadth, a wild, barren, uninhabitable region, fit only to afford scanty pasturage for sheep and goats, and a secure home for leopards, bears, wild goats, and outlaws” (1 Samuel 17:34; 1 Samuel 22:1; Mark 1:13). It was divided into the “wilderness of En-gedi” (1 Samuel 24:1), the “wilderness of Judah” (Judges 1:16; Matthew 3:1), between the Hebron mountain range and the Dead Sea, the “wilderness of Maon” (1 Samuel 23:24). It contained only six cities.

Nine of the cities of Judah were assigned to the priests (Joshua 21:9-19).

Judah upon Jordan

Judah upon Jordan — The Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, has this rendering in Joshua 19:34. It has been suggested that, following the Masoretic punctuation, the expression should read thus, “and Judah; the Jordan was toward the sun-rising.” The sixty cities (Havoth-jair, Numbers 32:41) on the east of Jordan were reckoned as belonging to Judah, because Jair, their founder, was a Manassite only on his mother’s side, but on his father’s side of the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:5, 1 Chronicles 2:21-23).

Judas

Judas — the Graecized form of Judah. (1.) The patriarch (Matthew 1:2, Matthew 1:3).

(2.) Son of Simon (John 6:71; John 13:2, John 13:26), surnamed Iscariot, i.e., a man of Kerioth (Joshua 15:25). His name is uniformly the last in the list of the apostles, as given in the synoptic (i.e., the first three) Gospels. The evil of his nature probably gradually unfolded itself till “Satan entered into him” (John 13:27), and he betrayed our Lord (John 18:3). Afterwards he owned his sin with “an exceeding bitter cry,” and cast the money he had received as the wages of his iniquity down on the floor of the sanctuary, and “departed and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5). He perished in his guilt, and “went unto his own place” (Acts 1:25). The statement in Acts 1:18 that he “fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out,” is in no way contrary to that in Matthew 27:5. The sucide first hanged himself, perhaps over the valley of Hinnom, “and the rope giving way, or the branch to which he hung breaking, he fell down headlong on his face, and was crushed and mangled on the rocky pavement below.”

Why such a man was chosen to be an apostle we know not, but it is written that “Jesus knew from the beginning who should betray him” (John 6:64). Nor can any answer be satisfactorily given to the question as to the motives that led Judas to betray his Master. “Of the motives that have been assigned we need not care to fix on any one as that which simply led him on. Crime is, for the most part, the result of a hundred motives rushing with bewildering fury through the mind of the criminal.”

(3.) A Jew of Damascus (Acts 9:11), to whose house Ananias was sent. The street called “Straight” in which it was situated is identified with the modern “street of bazaars,” where is still pointed out the so-called “house of Judas.”

(4.) A Christian teacher, surnamed Barsabas. He was sent from Jerusalem to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas with the decision of the council (Acts 15:22, Acts 15:27, Acts 15:32). He was a “prophet” and a “chief man among the brethren.”

Jude

Jude — = Judas. Among the apostles there were two who bore this name, (1) Judas (Jude 1; Matthew 13:55; John 14:22; Acts 1:13), called also Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18); and (2) Judas Iscariot (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19). He who is called “the brother of James” (Luke 6:16), may be the same with the Judas surnamed Lebbaeus. The only thing recorded regarding him is in John 14:22.

Judea

Judea — After the Captivity this name was applied to the whole of the country west of the Jordan (Haggai 1:1, Haggai 1:14; Haggai 2:2). But under the Romans, in the time of Christ, it denoted the southernmost of the three divisions of Palestine (Matthew 2:1, Matthew 2:5; Matthew 3:1; Matthew 4:25), although it was also sometimes used for Palestine generally (Acts 28:21).

The province of Judea, as distinguished from Galilee and Samaria, included the territories of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Dan, Simeon, and part of Ephraim. Under the Romans it was a part of the province of Syria, and was governed by a procurator.

Jude, Epistle of

Jude, Epistle of — The author was “Judas, the brother of James” the Less (Jude 1), called also Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3) and Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18). The genuineness of this epistle was early questioned, and doubts regarding it were revived at the time of the Reformation; but the evidences in support of its claims are complete. It has all the marks of having proceeded from the writer whose name it bears.

There is nothing very definite to determine the time and place at which it was written. It was apparently written in the later period of the apostolic age, for when it was written there were persons still alive who had heard the apostles preach (ver. Jude 17). It may thus have been written about 66 or 70, and apparently in Palestine.

The epistle is addressed to Christians in general (ver. Jude 1), and its design is to put them on their guard against the misleading efforts of a certain class of errorists to which they were exposed. The style of the epistle is that of an “impassioned invective, in the impetuous whirlwind of which the writer is hurried along, collecting example after example of divine vengeance on the ungodly; heaping epithet upon epithet, and piling image upon image, and, as it were, labouring for words and images strong enough to depict the polluted character of the licentious apostates against whom he is warning the Church; returning again and again to the subject, as though all language was insufficient to give an adequate idea of their profligacy, and to express his burning hatred of their perversion of the doctrines of the gospel.”

The striking resemblance this epistle bears to 2 Peter suggests the idea that the author of the one had seen the epistle of the other.

The doxology with which the epistle concludes is regarded as the finest in the New Testament.

Judge

Judge — (Heb. shophet, pl. shophetim), properly a magistrate or ruler, rather than one who judges in the sense of trying a cause. This is the name given to those rulers who presided over the affairs of the Israelites during the interval between the death of Joshua and the accession of Saul (Judges 2:18), a period of general anarchy and confusion. “The office of judges or regents was held during life, but it was not hereditary, neither could they appoint their successors. Their authority was limited by the law alone, and in doubtful cases they were directed to consult the divine King through the priest by Urim and Thummim (Numbers 27:21). Their authority extended only over those tribes by whom they had been elected or acknowledged. There was no income attached to their office, and they bore no external marks of dignity. The only cases of direct divine appointment are those of Gideon and Samson, and the latter stood in the peculiar position of having been from before his birth ordained ‘to begin to deliver Israel.’ Deborah was called to deliver Israel, but was already a judge. Samuel was called by the Lord to be a prophet but not a judge, which ensued from the high gifts the people recognized as dwelling in him; and as to Eli, the office of judge seems to have devolved naturally or rather ex officio upon him.” Of five of the judges, Tola (Judges 10:1), Jair (Judges 10:3), Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (Judges 12:8-15), we have no record at all beyond the bare fact that they were judges. Sacred history is not the history of individuals but of the kingdom of God in its onward progress.

In Exodus 2:14 Moses is so styled. This fact may indicate that while for revenue purposes the “taskmasters” were over the people, they were yet, just as at a later time when under the Romans, governed by their own rulers.

Judges, Book of

Judges, Book of — is so called because it contains the history of the deliverance and government of Israel by the men who bore the title of the “judges.” The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about 450 it was separated from it and placed in the Hebrew scriptures immediately after the Song of Solomon.

The book contains, (1.) An introduction (Judges 1-3:6), connecting it with the previous narrative in Joshua, as a “link in the chain of books.” (2.) The history of the thirteen judges (Judges 3:7-16:31) in the following order:

FIRST PERIOD (Judges 3:7-ch. Judges 5)

Years

I. Servitude under Chushan-rishathaim of

Mesopotamia 8

1. OTHNIEL delivers Israel, rest 40

II. Servitude under Eglon of Moab:

Ammon, Amalek 18

2. EHUD’S deliverance, rest 80

3. SHAMGAR Unknown.

III. Servitude under Jabin of Hazor in

Canaan 20

4. DEBORAH and,

5. BARAK 40

(206)

SECOND PERIOD (Judges 6-10:5)

IV. Servitude under Midian, Amalek, and

children of the east 7

6. GIDEON 40

ABIMELECH, Gideon’s son, reigns as

king over Israel 3

7. TOLA 23

8. JAIR 22

(95)

THIRD PERIOD (Judges 10:6-ch. Judges 12)

V. Servitude under Ammonites with the

Philistines 18

9. JEPHTHAH 6

10. IBZAN 7

11. ELON 10

12. ABDON 8

(49)

FOURTH PERIOD (Judges 13-16)

VI. Seritude under Philistines 40

13. SAMSON 20

(60)

In all 410

Samson’s exploits probably synchronize with the period immediately preceding the national repentance and reformation under Samuel (1 Samuel 7:2-6).

After Samson came Eli, who was both high priest and judge. He directed the civil and religious affairs of the people for forty years, at the close of which the Philistines again invaded the land and oppressed it for twenty years. Samuel was raised up to deliver the people from this oppression, and he judged Israel for some twelve years, when the direction of affairs fell into the hands of Saul, who was anointed king. If Eli and Samuel are included, there were then fifteen judges. But the chronology of this whole period is uncertain.

(3.) The historic section of the book is followed by an appendix (Judges 17-21), which has no formal connection with that which goes before. It records (a) the conquest (Judges 17, Judges 18) of Laish by a portion of the tribe of Dan; and (b) the almost total extinction of the tribe of Benjamin by the other tribes, in consequence of their assisting the men of Gibeah (Judges 19-21). This section properly belongs to the period only a few years after the death of Joshua. It shows the religious and moral degeneracy of the people.

The author of this book was most probably Samuel. The internal evidence both of the first sixteen chapters and of the appendix warrants this conclusion. It was probably composed during Saul’s reign, or at the very beginning of David’s. The words in Judges 18:30,Judges 18:31, imply that it was written after the taking of the ark by the Philistines, and after it was set up at Nob (1 Samuel 21). In David’s reign the ark was at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39)

Judgment hall

Judgment hall — Gr. praitorion (John 18:28, John 18:33; John 19:9; Matthew 27:27), “common hall.” In all these passages the Revised Version renders “palace.” In Mark 15:16 the word is rendered “Praetorium” (q.v.), which is a Latin word, meaning literally the residence of the praetor, and then the governor’s residence in general, though not a praetor. Throughout the Gospels the word “praitorion” has this meaning (comp. Acts 23:35). Pilate’s official residence when he was in Jerusalem was probably a part of the fortress of Antonia.

The trial of our Lord was carried on in a room or office of the palace. The “whole band” spoken of by Mark were gathered together in the palace court.

Judgment seat

Judgment seat — (Matthew 27:19), a portable tribunal (Gr. bema) which was placed according as the magistrate might direct, and from which judgment was pronounced. In this case it was placed on a tesselated pavement, probably in front of the procurator’s residence. (See GABBATHA.)

Judgments of God

Judgments of God — (1.) The secret decisions of God’s will (Psalm 110:5; Psalm 36:6). (2.) The revelations of his will (Exodus 21:1; Deuteronomy 6:20; Psalm 119:7-175). (3.) The infliction of punishment on the wicked (Exodus 6:6; Exodus 12:12; Ezekiel 25:11; Revelation 16:7), such as is mentioned in Genesis 7; Genesis 19:24,Genesis 19:25; Judges 1:6,Judges 1:7; Acts 5:1-10, etc.

Judgment, The final

Judgment, The final — the sentence that will be passed on our actions at the last day (Matthew 25; Romans 14:10, Romans 14:11; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

The judge is Jesus Christ, as mediator. All judgment is committed to him (Acts 17:31; John 5:22, John 5:27; Revelation 1:7). “It pertains to him as mediator to complete and publicly manifest the salvation of his people and the overthrow of his enemies, together with the glorious righteousness of his work in both respects.”

The persons to be judged are, (1) the whole race of Adam without a single exception (Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Corinthians 15:52; Revelation 20:11-15); and (2) the fallen angels (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6).

The rule of judgment is the standard of God’s law as revealed to men, the heathen by the law as written on their hearts (Luke 12:47,Luke 12:48; Romans 2:12-16); the Jew who “sinned in the law shall be judged by the law” (Romans 2:12); the Christian enjoying the light of revelation, by the will of God as made known to him (Matthew 11:20-24; John 3:19). Then the secrets of all hearts will be brought to light (1 Corinthians 4:5; Luke 8:17; Luke 12:2,Luke 12:3) to vindicate the justice of the sentence pronounced.

The time of the judgment will be after the resurrection (Hebrews 9:27; Acts 17:31).

As the Scriptures represent the final judgment “as certain [Ecclesiastes 11:9], universal [2 Corinthians 5:10], righteous [Romans 2:5], decisive [1 Corinthians 15:52], and eternal as to its consequences [Hebrews 6:2], let us be concerned for the welfare of our immortal interests, flee to the refuge set before us, improve our precious time, depend on the merits of the Redeemer, and adhere to the dictates of the divine word, that we may be found of him in peace.”

Judith

Judith — Jewess, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and one of Esau’s wives (Genesis 26:34), elsewhere called Aholibamah (Genesis 36:2-14).

Julia

Julia — a Christian woman at Rome to whom Paul sent his salutations (Romans 16:15), supposed to be the wife of Philologus.

Julius

Julius — the centurion of the Augustan cohort, or the emperor’s body-guard, in whose charge Paul was sent prisoner to Rome (Acts 27:1, Acts 27:3, Acts 27:43). He entreated Paul “courteously,” showing in many ways a friendly regard for him.

Junia

Junia — (Romans 16:7), a Christian at Rome to whom Paul sends salutations along with Andronicus.

Juniper

Juniper — (Heb. rothem, called by the Arabs retem, and known as Spanish broom; ranked under the genus genista. It is a desert shrub, and abounds in many parts of Palestine. In the account of his journey from Akabah to Jerusalem, Dr. Robinson says: “This is the largest and most conspicuous shrub of these deserts, growing thickly in the water-courses and valleys. Our Arabs always selected the place of encampment, if possible, in a spot where it grew, in order to be sheltered by it at night from the wind; and during the day, when they often went on in advance of the camels, we found them not unfrequently sitting or sleeping under a bush of retem to shelter them from the sun. It was in this very desert, a day’s journey from Beersheba, that the prophet Elijah lay down and slept beneath the same shrub” (1 Kings 19:4, 1 Kings 19:5). It afforded material for fuel, and also in cases of extremity for human food (Psalm 120:4; Job 30:4). One of the encampments in the wilderness of Paran is called Rithmah, i.e., “place of broom” (Numbers 33:18).

“The Bedawin of Sinai still burn this very plant into a charcoal which throws out the most intense heat.”

Jupiter

Jupiter — the principal deity of the ancient Greeks and Romans. He was worshipped by them under various epithets. Barnabas was identified with this god by the Lycaonians (Acts 14:12), because he was of stately and commanding presence, as they supposed Jupiter to be. There was a temple dedicated to this god outside the gates of Lystra (Acts 14:13).

Justice

Justice — is rendering to every one that which is his due. It has been distinguished from equity in this respect, that while justice means merely the doing what positive law demands, equity means the doing of what is fair and right in every separate case.

Justice of God

Justice of God — that perfection of his nature whereby he is infinitely righteous in himself and in all he does, the righteousness of the divine nature exercised in his moral government. At first God imposes righteous laws on his creatures and executes them righteously. Justice is not an optional product of his will, but an unchangeable principle of his very nature. His legislative justice is his requiring of his rational creatures conformity in all respects to the moral law. His rectoral or distributive justice is his dealing with his accountable creatures according to the requirements of the law in rewarding or punishing them (Psalm 89:14). In remunerative justice he distributes rewards (James 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:8); in vindictive or punitive justice he inflicts punishment on account of transgression (2 Thessalonians 1:6). He cannot, as being infinitely righteous, do otherwise than regard and hate sin as intrinsically hateful and deserving of punishment. “He cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). His essential and eternal righteousness immutably determines him to visit every sin as such with merited punishment.

Justification

Justification — a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Romans 5:1-10).

It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (Romans 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:6-8).

The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a “condition,” not because it possesses any merit, but only because it is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Romans 1:17; Romans 3:25, Romans 3:26; Romans 4:20, Romans 4:22; Philippians 3:8-11; Galatians 2:16).

The act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (Romans 6:2-7). Good works, while not the ground, are the certain consequence of justification (Romans 6:14; Romans 7:6). (See GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO.)

Justus

Justus — (1.) Another name for Joseph, surnamed Barsabas. He and Matthias are mentioned only in Acts 1:23. “They must have been among the earliest disciples of Jesus, and must have been faithful to the end; they must have been well known and esteemed among the brethren. What became of them afterwards, and what work they did, are entirely unknown” (Lindsay’s Acts of the Apostles).

(2.) A Jewish proselyte at Corinth, in whose house, next door to the synagogue, Paul held meetings and preached after he left the synagogue (Acts 18:7).

(3.) A Jewish Christian, called Jesus, Paul’s only fellow-labourer at Rome, where he wrote his Epistle to the Colossians (Colossians 4:11).

Juttah

Juttah — extended, a Levitical city in the mountains or hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:55; Joshua 21:16). Its modern name is Yutta, a place about 5 1/2 miles south of Hebron. It is supposed to have been the residence of Zacharias and Elisabeth, and the birthplace of John the Baptist, and on this account is annually visited by thousands of pilgrims belonging to the Greek Church (Luke 1:39). (See MARY.)