Jonathan, the son of Asahel, Ezra x. 15. Jonathan, the Scribe, Jer. xxxvii. 14, 15. JOPPA. The sea-port in Palestine in the Mediterranean. The name signifies beauty-from Japhah. Here it was that Jonah went to flee from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah i. 3.) Here Peter dwelt when sent for by Cornelius. And Tabitha also lived here, whom Peter by the Lord raised from the dead. (See Acts ix. 36, and x. 5, 6.) JORDAN. That sacred river where the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized. It takes its name from Jor, a spring, and Dan, a small town near the source of Jor. Some have called it Jordun: and they say it means the river of judgment, from Dun, judgment. Every thing tends to endear this river to the believer. Numberless are the meditations it affords to the regenerate, in the many sacred events which have taken place at and on the banks of Jordan. (See Gen. xiii. 11. Num. xxxiv. 12. Josh. iii. 8. 11. 15. and iv. 3. 17. 23. 1 Kings xvii. 3. 2 Kings ii. 6, 7. 2 Kings v. 10. 14. Matt iii. 6. 17. &c. &c.) JOSEPH. The well known son of Jacob, whose his tory we have in Genesis from the thirtieth chapter to the end of the book. His name, in the margin of the Bible, is Adding-from Jasaph, to increase. It were needless to enter into particulars of Joseph's history, when the Bible hath given it so beautifully. But perhaps it may not be an unacceptable service to observe on the history of this patriarch, what a remarkable character he is, and in what numberless instances he appears as a type of Christ: taken altogether, perhaps the greatest in the whole Scriptures. I shall particularize in a few leading features. As Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob, and distinguished by his father with special tokens of his affection, and which excited the envy of his brethren; so Christ, the beloved and only begotten son of God, by means of that distinguishing token of JEHOVAH, in setting him up, the Head of his body the church, and giving him a kingdom, in his glorious character of Mediator, called forth, as is most generally believed, that war we read of in heaven in the original rebellion of angels. (See Rev. xii.) The coat of many colours Joseph wore might not unaptly be said to represent the several offices of the Lord Jesus when on earth-his prophetical, priestly, and kingly character. The dreams of Joseph, implying his superiority over his brethren and his father's house, interpreted with an eye to Christ, are very striking circumstances of the preeminency of his character. Of him, indeed, might the prophecy of Jacob respecting Judah be fully applied: "Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, and thy father's children shall bow down before thee." (Gen. xlix. 8.) The mission of Joseph to his brethren, by the father, to see if they were well, and how they fared, (Gen. xxxvii. 14.) is a striking representation of the mission of God's dear Son to this our world. He came indeed, not only to seek, but to save that which was lost; but like another Joseph, the treatment he received corresponded in all points, only in an infinitely higher degree of baseness and cruelty. They sold Joseph for a slave, for twenty pieces of silver, and he was carried down into Egypt, and from the pit and the prison he arose, by divine favour, to be Governor over the whole land. But our Joseph was not only sold for thirty pieces of silver, but at length crucified and slain, and from the grave which he made with the wicked and with the rich in his death, by his resurrection and ascension, at the right hand of power, he is become the universal and eternal Governor both of heaven and earth. The temptations of Joseph, by the wife of Potiphar, bear no very distant resemblance to the temptations of the Lord Jesus by Satan. The trial to the one, was the lusts of the flesh; the trial to the other, was the pride of life. But the grace imparted to Joseph, to repel the temptation, and the punishment he suffered by a false imputation, very beautifully set forth the innocency of Christ triumphing over the Devil's temptation in the wilderness, and the imputation of our sin to Jesus, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, though himself without sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. In the exaltation of Joseph at the right hand of Pharaoh, and all the famished country coming to him for bread, we behold a lovely type, indeed, of our Almighty Joseph exalted at the right hand of God, and dispensing blessings of grace and mercy in the living bread, which is himself, to a famished world. And as then the Zapnathpaaneah of Egypt revealed secrets, and the cry was, Go unto Joseph, what he saith unto you, so now, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do, indeed, behold our Wonderful Counsellor, who hath made known to us his and his Father's will, and the one desire of every soul is, to go unto Jesus, whatsoever he saith unto us is blessed, and our duty to obey. do: In the going down of Israel into Egypt with all his house, constrained by famine to seek breadwhat a striking portrait is here also drawn of the true Israel of God, constrained by the famine of soul to seek to Jesus for supply. And though, like the brethren of Joseph, little do we at first know, that the Lord of the country is our brother, though in the first awakenings of spiritual want, the Governor may seem with us, as Joseph did to them, to speak roughly; yet when the whole comes to be opened to our view, and Jesus is indeed discovered to be Lord of all the land, how, like Joseph's brethren, are we immediately made glad, and eat and drink at his table with him, forgetting all past sorrow in present joy, and partaking of that" bread of life, of which whosoever eateth shall live for ever!" Such, among many other striking particularities, are the incidents in the history of the patriarch Joseph, which are highly typical of Christ. Under the article of Joseph we must not forget to observe, that there are several more of the name mentioned in Scripture, and of some importance. Joseph the husband of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, Matt. i. 15. 18. Joseph, or Joses, the son of Mary and Cleophas, supposed to be one of those who did not at first believe on Christ, but was afterwards converted, John vii. 5. Joseph, called Barsabas, a candidate for the apostleship with Matthias. See Acts i, 23. Joseph of Arimathea, John xix. 38. Joseph, husband to Salome. . JOSHUA. The son of Nun, whose name and history we have very fully related in the church of the wilderness, and afterward in his victories, as set forth in the book which bears his name. His name in Hebrew is the same as Jesus in Greek, signifying a Saviour; from Jashah, to save; and Jah, the Lord. This man was an evident type of Christ. See his history in the Book of Joshua. JOSIAH. Son of Amon, king of Judah, (2 Kings xxii. 1, &c.) The name signifies, the fire of the Lord; from Esh, fire; and Jah, the Lord. IRIJAH. He who arrested Jeremiah. (Jer. xxxvii. 13.) His name means, the fear of the Lord; from Jarah, to fear; and Jah, the Lord. Abraham's Abraham's son, the child of promise. See ; ISAAC. Hagar. ISAIAH. The prophet, the son of Amos. Highly, under God the Holy Ghost, is the church indebted to the ministry of this man. Amidst many events in this man's life, was that of this walking three years barefoot and naked. (See Isa. xx. 2.) Was not this also typical of Christ's three years ministry? His name signifies salvation of the Lord from Jashah, salvation; and Jah, the Lord. I cannot forbear mentioning the commonly-received opinion, that Isaiah was sawn asunder, in the beginning of the reign of Manasseh, and that his body was buried near Jerusalem, under the fuller's oak near Siloam. And the tradition concerning this event is, that it was brought upon him by the event of his publishing his vision, (chap. vi.) in which he saith, "he saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up." Manasseh said, that this was blasphemy, as Moses had recorded the Lord's words, Exod. xxxiii. 20. "No man shall see me and live." Isaiah prophesied many years, not less than threescore, though some make his ministry to have extended to four-score. Who can read the prophecy of Isaiah without the most profound admiration! It is not only unequalled in point of language, but it contains so much of Christ, that it looks more like an history than a prophecy. It is more like the writings of a person who was present at Pilate's hall, and Herod's judgment-seat, when describing the sufferings of Jesus, than of one who wrote those events, by the spirit of prediction, more than |