JATHNEEL (jath'ni-e1), (Heb. yath nee-ale' , whom God bestows), fourth son of Mesh elemiah, a doorkeeper in the tabernacle (1 Chron. xxvi:2), B. C. to14.
jATTIR (jaetir), (Heb.172, yat-teer', redun dant), one of the nine cities which were given out of Judah to the Levites of Kohath's family (Josh. xv:48; xxi:14; Chron. vi:57).
It was here David used to meet his friends in his early wandering days (I Sam. xxx :27). It was the possible home of his two Ithrite heroes (2 Sam. xxiii :38; Chron. xi :40). It may be identical with the modern Attir, fifteen miles south of Hebron (Robinson, Researches, ii. 194, 625).
jAVAN (Wvan), (Heb. yaw-vawn', effer vescing).
1. The fourth son of Japheth (Gen. x :2, 4; Chron. :5, 7). (B. C. post 2514.) The interest connected with his name arises from his being the supposed progenitor of the original settlers in Greece and its isles. (See NATIONS, SION OF.) 2. A country or city of Arabia Felix from which the Syrians imported stores of iron, cas sia, and calamus. The name appears in Is. lxvi :
t9, where it is coupled with Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, and more particularly with Tuba! and the "isles afar off," as representatives of the Gentile world ; again in Ezek. xxvii :13, where it is cou pled with Tubal and Meshech, as carrying on con siderable commerce with the Tyrians, who im ported from these countries slaves and brazen vessels; in Dan. viii:21; X:20; xi:2, in reference to the Macedonian empire; and lastly in Zech. ix : 13, in reference to the Grxco-Syrian empire, where Alexander is called the king of Javan. Javan was evidently the name given by the Hebrews to Greece. Sayce, in his Higher Criticism states that a Yivana or "Ionian," is referred to in one of the cuneiform tablets found at Tel-el-Amarna, which corresponds letter for letter with the He brew Javan. (See TELL AMARNA, TABLETS OF.)