reigned forty years, and during the life of the high priest Jehoiada he governed with great prudence, but after the death of that guardian, idolatry was introduced; and when the Prophet Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, predicted national calamities on that account, the king ungratefully suffered him to be stoned in the court of the Temple, although he owed his life, education, and throne, to his father. The king of Syria, who then possessed all Gilead, advanced against Jerusalem with a body of troops, put to death the promoters of idolatry, and returned laden with spoil to Damascus. Joash, who had been wounded, was slain by his own servants, and was denied the honour of a royal funeral. Amaziah his son was his successor, and reigned twenty-nine years. He also, like his father, began well and then degenerated. By the persuasion of a prophet he disbanded a force of 100,000 men hired from the kingdom of Israel to assist him in carrying on a war with the Edomites, after paying them a hundred talents of silver-the sum agreed on for their services, and he then gained a decisive victory over his enemies in the Valley of Salt. His successes, however, ceased when he began to worship the idols taken from the Edomites, and he was defeated and taken prisoner by the king of Israel at the battle of Beth-shemesh. He was finally assassinated by conspirators at Lachish, whither he had fled for protection. Uzziah, called also Azariah, succeeded his father Amaziah in the sixteenth year of his age, and reigned fifty-two years. He conquered Elath, Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and defeated the Arabs of Gur-baal, the Mehunim, and the Ammonites. He maintained the Law, though the idolatrous altars were not demolished. Unfortunately for himself he attempted on one occasion to usurp the privileges of the priesthood, for which he was punished with leprosy, and compelled to live the rest of his life in a private house. His son Jotham was called to the administration of the kingdom, who reigned sixteen years after his father's death. He observed As the Law, continued the improvements which his father had begun, and subdued the Ammonites. He was succeeded by his son Ahaz, the most corrupt of all the kings of Judah, who also reigned sixteen years. He outraged all the restraints imposed by the Law on the Hebrew kings, and regarded nothing except his own idolatrous and depraved inclinations. After a disastrous and humiliating reign he was succeeded by his son, the good King Hezekiah, who diligently followed the example of his ancestor David. the events connected with his reign are fully narrated by the sacred historians, it is unnecessary to dwell upon them here. His son Manasseh succeeded, who cancelled all the good effects which Hezekiah had produced. He was defeated in battle by the general of Esarhaddon, taken prisoner, and carried in chains to Babylon. During his captivity he repented of his folly and wickedness, and was restored to his throne, though he appears to have remained tributary to the Assyrians. His son Amon restored idolatry, but he was assassinated in the second year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son Josiah, then eight years of age. While this young king continued a minor idolatry was tolerated, but in the sixteenth year of his reign he assumed the government, when he destroyed idolatry, and removed the illegal altars. Two years afterwards, while he was engaged in repairing the Temple, the manuscript of Moses was found and read to the king, which excited him to greater zeal in the work of reformation. Josiah reigned thirty-one years, and was slain by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo. After the death of Josiah the kingdom of Judah hastened rapidly towards its fall. The succeeding kings were Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, the last of the princes of the family of David, when the kingdom was totally overthrown and the people carried into captivity by the Babylonians. See JERU SALEM. JUDEA, a name given to the Land of Canaan from Judah, the most considerable of the Twelve Tribes. In the time of the New Testament, Judea was, properly speaking, restricted to the most southern province, which comprised the territories of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, Benjamin, and Dan, and the country of the Philistines, the other divisions being Samaria and Galilee. In the more general sense it is applied to the whole country inhabited by the Tribes. Judea, now in most parts a miserable end uncultivated desert, was in ancient times extremely fertile; and when promised to the Patriarchs it was mentioned as the "glory of all lands," and "a land flowing with milk and honey." When possessed by the Canaanites it brought forth in such abundance, that the spies sent out by Moses declared at their return, "It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us." In the time of David its population must have amounted to several millions, for the men able to bear arms were numbered, and found to amount to 1,300,000. Jehoshaphat, in his limited kingdom of Judah, could muster more than a million men of war, including his auxiliaries. Josephus informs us that at one celebration of the Passover, in the reign of Nero, there would not be less than 2,700,000 persons at Jerusalem. "In relative situation," observes Mr Hardy, "the Holy Land had many advantages, as it was at no great distance from any of the kingdoms most celebrated in ancient times, and yet not so necessarily connected with them as to make its position dangerous. It had enough of mountain, and stream, and lake, and sea, to render it complete in its own resources; and it admitted of easy defence against invasion either by sea or land. Nor must it be forgotten that its position, in the centre of the three great continents of Eu rope, Asia, and Africa, was the most desirable that could have been chosen, when the fulness of time had come, and the blessings of revelation and redemption were to be scattered among all the dwellers upon earth." As a preceding article in this work contains a minute account of Judea (see CANAAN), we merely here observe that the country was reduced to a miserable state after the destruction of Jerusalem in the reign of Vespasian. It could not, however, have been entirely depopulated by the loss of thirteen or fourteen hundred thousand who perished in the Jewish War-which we may admit, without crediting the extravagant calculations of some writers, that this country, not nearly the size of England, contained at one time 66,240,000 inhabitants. Josephus, who praises, and doubtless justly, the fertility of Galilee, of which district he was governor, asserts that no part of the soil was uncultivated, and that the least of its towns contained a population of 15,000. Here is also another exaggeration, it being very unlikely that the smaller towns of Galilee would contain so many inhabitants, more especially when Josephus, by his own admission, chiefly mentions the fertility of the district to contrast it with the deserts and scattered population of the other parts of Judea. There were doubtless some millions of inhabitants in the country, but it is impossible, and therefore idle, to fix the number. There is every reason to conclude that Jerusalem was almost deserted after its capture, and the land depopulated, its inhabitants being massacred, or sold as slaves, or becoming fugitives to other countries. The native Jews who remained, although they gave the Emperor Adrian infinite trouble, retained no shadow of power in the country which God had given to their fathers, and Domitian completed their ruin by taxes. There are several medals of Judea extant, representing a woman—" the daughter of Zion"-sitting under a palm-tree in a mournful attitude, and having around her a heap of arms, shields, &c. on which she is seated: on the one side is the head of Vespasian, and on the other are the words JUDEA CAPTA. Nerva, the successor of Domitian, freed the Jews from the taxes. imposed by the latter, which is commemorated on a medal bearing the inscription-" CALUMNIA FISCI JUDAICI SUBLATA," which implies that the Jews were no longer fined heavy sums on frivolous or false charges, as they were in the reign In February the weather is much the same, of Domitian. The Wilderness of Judea, where John the Baptist first taught, and where our Saviour was tempted, is supposed to have been the region not far from Jericho. Some parts of it are not completely barren or uninhabitable, but in general it is a scene of wild desolation. Dr Carlyle, who visited the monastery of St Saba in this Wilderness, says, "The valley of St Saba is an immense chasm in a rifted mountain of marble. It is not only destitute of trees, but of every other species of vegetation, and its sole inhabitants, except the wretched monks in the convent, are eagles, tigers, and wild Arabs.""I doubt," says the Viscount Chateaubriand, "whether any convent can be situated in a more dreary and desolate spot than the monastery of St Saba. As we advanced, the aspect of the mountains continued the same-that is, white, dusty, without shade, without tree, without herbage, without moss." "Nothing," according to Mr Buckingham, can be more forbidding than the aspect of the hills; not a blade of verdure is to be seen over their whole surface, and not the sound of any living being is to be heard throughout their whole extent." 66 The climate and the agricultural operations of Judea may be described as nearly the same throughout all Syria. January is the second winter month, when the cold is intense in the elevated parts of the country, and there is generally a considerable fall of snow, but in the Plain of Jericho the cold is scarcely felt. The western winds which blow during winter bring heavy rains, and these swell the brooks and pools to torrents and lakes, although they are dry during summer. Towards the end of the month, when the sky is clear, the air is so hot that travellers pursue their journey with difficulty. In this month are sown all kinds of corn, and the trees are again in leaf; and among the garden herbs and flowers of the month are cauliflowers, hyacinths, violets, goldstreaked daffodils, tulips, wormwood, anemonies, ranunculuses, and a genus of lilies. and towards the end the snow and winter colds are observed to cease. The later crops appear above the ground; peach and apple-trees blossom, and great varieties of herbs make their appearance in the fields. March is the forerunner of spring, though the rains, hail, and thunder, are not over. In April the heat of the sun is excessive in the Plain of Jericho, but in other parts of Palestine the spring is delightful. Heavy dews fall in the night; the sky is without clouds, except the small bright ones which rise in the afternoons. In May the summer season commences, and the excessive heat of the sun renders the earth very barren. The harvest, which was begun in April, continues during this month; wheat, barley, rice, and rye, are cut down; the early apples are gathered; mandrakes yield ripe fruit; sage, rue, and the yellow and white cucumber, now flourish. In June the sky is generally clear, and the wea ther extremely hot. The winds, chiefly blowing from the west, refresh the air in the afternoons; and when they blow during the night, they assuage the excessive heat. The inhabitants pass the nights upon the roofs of their houses, which are not rendered damp by any dew. Rice, early figs, apples, plums, cherries, and mulberries, now ripen; the cedar gum distils spontaneously; the palm-tree produces the Balm of Gilead during this and the two following months: melons are gathered, and rosemary flourishes. In July the heat is still more intense. Libanus is free from snow, except in those parts where the sun cannot penetrate, and there is no longer a sufficient supply of pasturage for cattle. In August the sky is serene, and the heat extreme; figs, olives, and pomegranates, are ripe; and the first clusters of the vine, which blossomed in March, to maturity, and are ready for gathering. The days are extremely hot in September, and the nights very cold; at the end of this month the rainy season commences, and lightning is frequently seen during the night. Ripe dates, pomegra come nates, pears, plums, citrons, and oranges, are obtained; cotton is gathered, and also the second cluster of grapes which blossomed in April. The rainy season fairly commences in October, when the extreme heat, although great in the daytime, is abated; the winds are seldom strong, but very variable. About the middle of this and during the two following months wheat and barley are sown; the pistachio, the olive, and the pomegranate, produce ripe fruit; the Jericho rose blossoms; and various garden herbs are produced. In November the weather is much the same; the days warm, and the nights cold; the trees retain their leaves until the middle of the month, and dates are gathered. December is the first winter month, when the cold is piercing, and sometimes fatal to those not inured to the climate, yet when the sun shines, and there is a calm, the atmosphere is hot. Rain is more common than snow, which, when it falls, seldom remains a day on the ground even in winter. Such is a condensed account of the climate of Judea-a country the appearance of which is most accurately described by Moses: "The land whither thou goest in to possess is not as the land of Egypt from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs; but the land whither ye go to possess is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." The outline of the hills is bold, and the valleys are strictly plains, composed of a deep rich soil; the rocks contributed greatly to the sustenance of a large population, as they were terraced in all directions with embankments built up with loose stones, on which grew melons, cucumbers, and other creeping plants, as well as the vine, the fig-tree, and the olive. "It is obvious to any one," says Maundrell, "that these rocks and hills must have been anciently covered with earth, and cultivated, and made to contribute to the maintenance of the inhabitants no less than if the country had been plain; nay, perhaps much more, forasmuch as such a mountainous and uneven surface affords a larger space of ground for cultivation than this country would amount to if it were all reduced to a perfect level. Of this form of culture you see evident footsteps wherever you go in all the mountains of Palestine. Thus, the very rocks were made fruitful; and perhaps there is no spot of ground in this whole land that was not formerly improved to the production of something or other ministering to the sustenance of human life.”—“ Near every village," says Mr Hardy, "there are caves, and cisterns, and sepulchres, cut in the rock; women grinding at the mill; oxen treading out the corn; groupes of females seated near the wells; shepherds abiding in the fields; the bottles of the people are made of leather; their beds are a simple mat or carpet, and even a child may take them up and walk; the grass is cast into the oven; people live in the tombs; there are lodges in the gardens of cucumbers; grass grows upon the tops of the houses; and the inhabitants walk, and sleep, and meditate upon the roofs of their dwellings. These customs, and a multitude of others that might be named, still cling to the homes where some of them have been practised nearly four thousand years. There are the same fruits, flowers, trees, birds, and animals; and milk and honey are still a chief article of food among the people. It is man alone that seems out of his place; all other objects remind us of the Scriptures, and throw light upon some of its facts." See CANAAN and SYRIA. JULIAS, a name given by Philip to Bethsaida in honour of the wife of Augustus. JUTTAH, a town of Judah, Josh. xv. 55, supposed by Calmet to be the Ithnan mentioned in the twenty-third verse. Eusebius places it eight miles east from Hebron. KABZEEL, a town in the southern part of the tribe of Judah, also called Jekabseel, Josh. xv. 21; Neh. xi. 25. KADESH, or KEDESH, the name of a Wilderness, which appears to be the same as that called the Wilderness of Paran, and the Desert of Zin, Gen. xx. 1; Numb. xiii. 26; xx. 22; xxxiii. 36. As Kadesh literally means holy or holiness, some writers have alleged that it implies a sacred place or asylum, and refer it to two cities, the one in the Desert of Paran, Numb. xiii. 26, which may be the same as Kadesh-Barnea, Numb. xxxiv. 4; Deut. i. 2, 19; ii. 14; Judith v. 14; and the other a place on the confines of Edom in the Desert of Zin, Numb. xx. 16; xxvii. 14. The name certainly is applied in conjunction with places rendered sacred by a Divine manifestation, as in the case of Meribah-Kadesh, written simply Meribah, in Numb. xx. 13, but Meribah in Kadesh, in Numb. xxvii. 14, and Meribah-Kadesh, in Deut. xxxii. 51. Kadesh is described as "a city in the utmost of the borders of Edom," but whether it was taken as the name of a place or was only an honorary addition is uncertain. K KADESH-BARNEA, or EN-MISHPAT, was, according to Lightfoot, in the Desert of Paran, and was the southern border of the Promised Land. Here Miriam died, and here Moses and Aaron, having distrusted God's power when they smote the rock at the waters of strife, were told that they would not be permitted to enter Canaan. It was situated about eight leagues south from Hebron. The king of Kadesh was slain by Joshua (xii. 22). KADMONITES, an ancient tribe who inhabited the Promised Land east of the Jordan, near Mount Hermon, descended from Canaan the son of Ham. Calmet alleges they were Hivites, that word being derived from a root which signifies a serpent, and hence the fable of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes in Boeotia, who is said to have been a Kadmonite, having sown serpents' teeth which sprung up armed men. His wife Hermione is supposed to have been so named from Mount Hermon. KADUMIM. See KISHON. KANAH, a town in the cantonment of Asher, Josh. xix. 28; and also a brook on the borders of Ephraim and Manasseh, which falls into the Mediterranean a few miles south of Cæsarea, Josh. xvi. 8; xvii. 9. KARKAA, a town on the southern confines of Judah, Josh. xv. 3. KATTATH, the limit of the tribe of Zebulun, Josh. xix. 15, called KITRON, Judges i. 30. KEDAR, blackness or sorrow, a name sometimes applied to Arabia Deserta, Psalm cxx. 5. The Kedarenians, so called from their ancestor Kedar, one of Ishmael's sons, dwelt principally in the south of Arabia Deserta or in the north of Arabia Petræa, but it is impossible to ascertain their exact localities as they lived in tents, and frequently changed their habitations. Kedar was a region in the desert of the Agarenes, Gen. xxv. 13; 1 Chron. i. 29. Some think it was also the name of a city called Camala by Josephus. KEDEM. See EAST. KEDEMOTH, a town in the cantonment of Reuben east of the brook Arnon, and one of the stations of the Israelites in the Wilderness, Deut. ii. 26; Josh. xiii. 18. It was afterwards given to the Levites of Merari's family, 1 Chron. vi. 79. There is a place called Kedemoth mentioned by Ezekiel, which Cellarius thinks was so called from its eastern situation. KEDESH, a town of Judah, and also one in each of the cantonments of Naphtali and Issachar, the last of which was also called Kishion. The one in Naphtali, called Cadesa or Cædesa by |