JOSEPH OF ARIMATHAEA 



3176 



JOSIAH 



heir to the French throne was born, and Jose- 

 phine heard the cannon which announced the 

 birth of a son, she called her people together 

 and said: "We, too, must rejoice. I will give 

 you a ball, and the whole city shall be glad 

 with us." Soon after, without Marie Louise's 

 knowledge, Napoleon carried the babe to Mal- 

 maison to Josephine, who had begged to see 

 him. 



When Napoleon was exiled at Elba Marie 

 Louise refused to join him, and when Josephine 

 heard of it she wrote Napoleon, begging to be 

 permitted to come to him. He was obliged to 

 deny her request, but before his answering 

 letter reached Malmaison Josephine had died. 

 See NAPOLEON I. E.D.F. 



Consult Meneval's The Empress of the French 

 (translation by Fraser) ; Abbott's History of Jo- 

 sephine. 



JOSEPH OF ARIMATHAEA, a Jewish be- 

 liever in Jesus who went boldly to Pilate after 

 the crucifixion to beg for the body of his Lord, 

 that he might lay it in his own new tomb 

 which he had hewn out of a rock (Matthew 

 XXVII, 60). Joseph was a member of the 

 Sanhedrin, the chief governing body in the 

 Temple. Though he did not consent to the 

 resolution to put Jesus to death, he was afraid 

 to say too much publicly in His favor. 



JOSEPHUS, jose' jus, FLAVIUS (37- ? ), 

 whose real name was JOSEPH BEN MATTHIAS, 

 was a Jewish historian, born in Jerusalem. 

 He was of royal and priestly descent and re- 

 lated to the Maccabean house (see MACCA- 

 BEES). On account of the ease, elegance and 

 accuracy of his historical writings he was called 

 the Hebrew Livy. Soon after the outbreak 

 of the war between the Jews and the Romans, 

 about the year 65, he was appointed governor 

 of Galilee, and heroically but unsuccessfully 

 defended that city against the Romans under 

 Vespasian. He remained with the Roman 

 army as. a semi-prisoner for about three years, 

 and witnessed the siege and fall of Jerusalem 

 in A. D. 70. He then went to Rome with Ves- 

 pasian, where he gained the imperial favor and 

 adopted his Latinized name of Josephus Flar 

 vius. He is believed to have died during the 

 reign of the Emperor Domitian, and, accord- 

 ing to some authorities, as a martyr to the 

 Jewish faith. 



The familiar expression "Josephus' Works" 

 means, generally, his Jewish Antiquities, a his- 

 tory of his countrymen from the earliest period 

 down to the close of Nero's reign, comprising 

 twenty books. His other authentic writings are 



a History of the Jewish War, in seven books, 

 written both in Hebrew and in Greek, and an 

 Autobiography. 



JOSH BILLINGS. See SHAW, HENBY 

 WHEELER. 



JOSHUA, josh' u a (1537-1427 B.C., Biblical 

 chronology), a military genius who after forty 

 years as personal attendant on Moses in the 

 Wilderness was divinely appointed his suc- 

 cessor as prophet and leader of the children of 

 Israel. To Joshua was given the task of con- 

 quering Canaan and settling his people in their 

 new home, so upon the death of Moses he 

 began immediate preparations for crossing the 

 Jordan. After seven years of warfare all the 

 thirty-nine kings who had occupied the Prom- 

 ised Land were subdued, and the country was 

 distributed by lot among the Twelve Tribes, 

 while their tabernacle was permanently placed 

 at Shiloh (Joshua XVIII, 1). Near the end 

 of his life he gathered the people together at 

 Shechem, where he delivered a powerful ad- 

 dress urging the people not to forsake God. 

 He died at the age of 110 years. 



The Book of Joshua, in the Old Testament, 

 named for its author, records the events and 

 life of the children of Israel as Joshua led 

 them into the Promised Land after their long 

 wandering in the Wilderness. The period cov- 

 ered in the book is about twenty-five years. 

 Joshua followed the example of his predecessor 

 in writing down the history of his people, al- 

 though the concluding verses, giving his final 

 admonitions and recording his death, were 

 written by another, probably a member of his 

 tribe. 



JOSIAH, jo si' ah (647-608 B.C.), the righteous 

 king of Judah who greatly increased the pros- 

 perity of his country, which was maintaining 

 its standing among the kingdoms only with 

 great difficulty. He ascended the throne at the 

 age of eight, upon the death of his father, 

 Amon, and four years later began a crusade 

 against idolatry by breaking down the images 

 of Baal. In his eighteenth year he started the 

 work of repairing and adorning the Temple. 



While this was being done, Hllkiah found 

 the book of the law which had been lost for 

 many years and had it read to Josiah, who 

 was greatly impressed with the warning con- 

 cerning those who did not obey God (Deuter- 

 onomy XXIX, 25-28). As a result another 

 assault against idolatry was begun, and the 

 Valley of Hinnom, where children had been 

 burned as offerings to Molech, was defiled so 

 that it never could be used again. Then a 



