Jeshurun

a name given to the collective political body of Israelites. Some derive the word from ישר , just or righteous, and so make it to signify a righteous people. Montanus renders it rectitudo, and so does the Samaritan version. But it seems a considerable objection against this sense, that Israel is called Jeshurun at the very time that they are upbraided with their sins and their rebellion: “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked,” &c, Deu 32:15. It is replied, Jeshurun is the diminutive of ישר , (for nomen auctum in fine est nomen diminutivum,) and so imports, that though, in general and on the whole, they were a righteous people, yet they were not without great faults. Perhaps Cocceius has given as probable an interpretation as any. He derives the word from שור , which signifies go see, behold, or discover; from whence, in the future tense, plural, comes ישרו , which, with the addition of nun paragogicum, makes Jeshurun; that is, “the people who had the vision of God.” This makes the name of Jeshurun to be properly applied to Israel, not only when Moses is called their king, but when they are upbraided with their rebellion against God; since the peculiar manifestation which God had made of himself to them was a great aggravation of their ingratitude and rebellion.

Jesh´urun, a name poetically applied to Israel in Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26; Isa 44:2. It has been very variously understood, but it is generally agreed to be a poetical diminutive expressive of affection. It is derived from a word signifying to be straight, right, upright, righteous. In this character, as entirely upright (for the termination is intensitive), Jehovah recognizes his people in consideration of their covenant relation to him, whereby, while they observed the terms of that covenant, they stood legally righteous before him and clean in his sight. It is in this sense that the ancient kings are said to have done ’that which was right’ in the eyes of Jehovah.

A poetical name of Israel, probably derived from a root meaning to be upright, and applied to the people of God as the objects of his justifying love, which does not "behold iniquity in Jacob," Deu 32:5 33:5,26 Isa 44:2.\par

Jesh’urun. (supremely happy). Jeshurun and, once by mistake in Authorized Version, as Jesurun, Isa 44:2, a symbolical name for Israel in Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 23:26; Isa 44:2. It is most probably derived from a root, signifying "to be blessed." With the intensive termination, Jeshurun would then denote Israel, as supremely happy or prosperous, and to this signification the context in Deu 32:15 points.

("the righteous (from yaashaar) people"): Israel’s ideal character; his high calling (Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26; Isa 44:2; compare Num 23:21). (See JASHER, BOOK OF.) The idea of blessedness and prosperity enters into the word; the Arabic and the Hebrew: ashar, "happy," being related to yaashaar. There is a play on similar sounds which the Hebrew writers delight in, in Jeshurun and the diminutive of Israel, Israelun.

Jeshurun (jĕsh’u-rŭn or je-shû’run), happy, and once in A. V. Jesurun, Isa 44:2, a symbolical name for Israel in Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26; Isa 44:2. It is most probably derived from a root signifying "to be blessed."

By: Emil G. Hirsch, M. Seligsohn

Poetical name for Israel, occurring four times in the Bible (Deut. xxxii. 15, xxxiii. 5, 26; Isa. xliv. 2; in the last-cited place the A. V. has "Jesurun"). All the commentators agree in applying this term to Israel. The Peshiṭta and the Targumim render it by "Israel"; only the Targum Yerushalmi has in the first instance "Jeshurun." The Septuagint invariably renders the word by ἠγαπήμενος, and Jerome once by "dilectus," probably taking as a diminutive of endearment. But in three other places Jerome renders it by "rectissimus," in which he seems to have followed the opinion of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion (comp. Jerome on Isa. xliv. 2). Thus they derive this word from = "to be upright"; and the same etymology is given by Ḳimḥi and Ibn Ezra. Obadiah Sforno derives it from = "to behold," meaning a clear-sighted people.

Some modern scholars accept the etymology from , the word being formed similarly to "Zebulun," from "zabal" (see W. Stärk, "Studien zur Religions- und Sprachgeschichte des Alt. Test." part ii., p. 74, Berlin, 1899; see also Duhm, "Das Buch Jesaiah," p. 304, Göttingen, 1892; Hummelauer, "Deuteronomium," 1901, p. 522; W. Bacher, "Jeschurun," in Stade's "Zeitschrift," v. 161 et seq.).

JESI, SAMUEL:

By: Isidore Singer, Umberto Cassuto

Italian engraver; born at Milan 1789; died at Florence Jan. 17, 1853. He was a pupil of G. Longhi at the Academy of Milan. His first work (1821) was "The Abandonment of Hagar," engraved after a painting by Guercino in the Palazzo di Brera at Milan; this was followed (1834) by "The Madonna with St. John and St. Stephen," from a painting by Fra Bartolomeo in the Cathedral of Lucca. He then devoted himself to the works of Raphael, whom he ably interpreted. His master-piece is the group representing Pope Leo X. with Cardinals Rossi and Giulio dei Medici (1834). While in Paris for the purpose of having it printed he was elected a corresponding member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts, and received the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. In 1846 he began to work on his engraving of the "Cœna Domini," discovered in the Church of S. Onofrio, Florence, and attributed to Raphael. Meanwhile he engraved the "Madonna della Vite." In 1849 he completed the drawing of the "Cœna Domini," but died before finishing the engraving.

Bibliography:

Boccardo, Enciclopedia, p. 1079;

Sulamith, vii. 5, p. 341;

Busch's Jahrbuch, 1846, p. 129;

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon.

JESHURUN.—A poetic or a pet-name for Israel which occurs four times in the OT (Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26, Isa 44:2). It is found in the later writings, and represents a patriotic feeling that Israel was = yashar-Ei, ‘the upright of God.’ If this be so, then we may accept the rendering of Jeshurun as the ‘righteous little people.’ In Balaam’s elegy,’ Let me die the death of the righteous’ seems to refer to the Israel of the preceding clause, and in Psa 83:1 the thought which underlies Jeshurun appears, if we adopt the tempting reading: ‘Truly God is good to the upright.’

W. F. Cobb.

je-shū´-run, jesh´-u-run (ישׁרוּן, y^eshurūn, “upright one,” Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5, Deu 33:26; Isa 44:2): Septuagint translates it “the beloved one” ἠγαπημένος, ēgapēménos, the perfect participle passive of agapáō), and in Isa 44:2 adds “Israel”; Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has dilectus in Deu 32:15, elsewhere rectissimus; Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion have “upright.” For the form, Duhm compares זבלוּן, z^ebhulūn, Zebulun. (1) The name used to be explained as a diminutive form, a pet name, and some, e.g. Cornill, Schultz (Old Testament Theology, English translation, II, 29, note 12) still explain it so, “the righteous little people.” But there is no evidence that the ending -ūn had a diminutive force. (2) Most moderns take it as a poetical or ideal title of Israel, derived from ישׁר, yāshār, “upright”; it is held to contain a tacit reference to the word Israel (ישׁראל, yisrā’ēl), of which the first three consonants are almost the same as those of “Jeshurun”; in Num 23:10 the term “the righteous ones” (ישׁרים, y^eshārı̄m) is supposed to contain a similar reference. Most commentators compare also “the Book of Jashar,” and it has been held that “Jashar” is similarly a name by which Israel is called. See JASHAR.

Following Bacher (ZATW, 1885, 161 ff), commentators hold that in Isaiah this new name, a coinage due to the author of Second Isaiah and adopted in Deuteronomy, stands in contrast to Jacob, “the supplanter,” as his name was explained by the Hebrews (compare Hos 12:2-4). Israel is here given a new name, “the upright, pious one,” and with the new name goes new chance in life, to live up to its meaning. Driver (Deuteronomy, 361) says that in Deu 32:15 “where the context is of declension from its ideal (it is) applied reproachfully. ’Nomen Recti pro Israele ponens, ironice eos perstringit qui a rectitudine defecerant’ (Calv.). Elsewhere it is used as a title of honor.” the King James Version has “Jesurun” in Isa 44:2.