202 JOB 
own ftrength, to preferve on all occasions an unwavering 
and unfullied faith in the Divine Being, and to fubmit 
with becoming reverence to his appointments. And the 
whole of the hiftory taken together, contains a vindica¬ 
tion of Divine Providence in refpeft to the evils which 
often fall on men of real goodnefs; corrects the miftaken 
apprehenfions which fome are apt to entertain with regard 
to the chara£lerof the afflifted ; and, by prefenting to us 
an illuftrious example of patience, together with its ulti¬ 
mate reward, is admirably calculated to promote in us an 
inflexible regard to the great duties of piety and virtue, 
while expofed to the trials and calamities of human life. 
The majority of critics have decidedly adjudged this 
poem of Job to belong to the dramatic clafs ; and it is 
thought by many to be of the fame kind with the Greek 
tragedy. This opinion Dr. Lowth minutely examines, 
and (hows that it cannot properly be brought into acom- 
parifon with any of the Greek tragedies, on account of 
its not pofleffing that plot or fable which is an eflential 
requifite of the perfect drama. After urging his reafons 
to prove that it has no claim to that title, he adds, “Let 
it not be underftood that I wifn to derogate from its me¬ 
rits. That cenfure will rather apply to thofe who, by cri- 
ticifing it according to foreign and improper rules, would 
make that compofition appear lame and imperfefl, which 
on the contrary is in its kind moll beautiful and perfect. 
If indeed the extreme antiquity of this poem, the obfcu- 
lity and difficulty that necefiarily enfue from that cir- 
cumftance, be confidered ; and if allowance be made for 
the total want of plot and aclion; we lhall have caufe to 
wonder at the elegance and intereft which we find in its 
form, conduct, and economy. The arrangement is per¬ 
fectly regular, and every part is admirably adapted to its 
end and defign. The antiquary or the critic, who has 
been at the pains to trace the hiltoryof the Grecian drama 
from its firft weak and imperfect efforts, and has carefully 
obferved its tardy progrefs to perfection, will fcarcely, I 
think, without allonilhment contemplate a poem, produced 
fo many ages before, fo elegant in its defign, fo regular 
in its ItruCture, fo animated, fo affeCting, lo near to the 
true dramatic model ; while, on the contrary, the united 
wifdom of Greece, after ages of lludy, was not able to 
produce any thing approaching to perfection in this walk 
©f poetry before the time of -CEfchylus. But however 
this be, whatever rank may be affigned to Job, in a com- 
iparifon with the poets of Greece, to whom we mull at 
leaft allow the merit of art and method; amonglt the He¬ 
brews it muft certainly be allowed, in this refpeCl, to be 
unrivalled. It is of little confequence whether it be 
cfteemed a didaClic or an ethic, a pathetic or dramatic, 
poem ; only let it be affigned a diftincl and confpicuous 
itation in the higheft rank of the Hebrew poetry. The 
moll fplendid examples of every beauty and elegance of 
fentiment, of imagery and of diCiion, meet the eye of the 
attentive reader in every part of the poem. The dignity 
of the ftyle is anfwerable to that of the fubjeCl; its force 
and'energy to the greatnefs of thofe paffions which it de- 
fcribes; and, as this production excels all the other re¬ 
mains of the Hebrew poetry in economy and arrangement, 
fo it yields to none in fublimity of ftyle, and in every 
grace and excellence of compofition.” 
JOB’S TEARS, in b.otany. See Coix. 
JO'BAB, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
JO'BAH, a town of Hindooftan, in Gurry Mundella : 
•shirty miles fouth of Gurrah. 
JOBA'TION, /. [a cant term at our univerfities for] 
A reprimanding leCture. 
JOB'BER, /. [from job.'] A man who fells flock in the 
public funds: 
So call it in the fouthern feas, 
And view it through a jobber's bill j 
Put on what fpeCtacles you pleafe. 
Your guinea's but a guinea ftill. Swift. 
©ne who does chance-work. One who buys or fells cat- 
J O c 
.tie for others. There are alfo fock-jobbers, who buy and 
fell flocks for other perfons, and gamble in the funds for 
thernfelves. Thefe are diftinguilhed from regular and 
fworn Jlock-brokers. 
JOB'BERNOWL,yi [mod probably from jobbe, Flemilh, 
dull, and nozul, hnol, Sax. ahead.] Loggerhead;; block¬ 
head : 
And like the world, men’s jobbernowls 
Turn round upon their ears, the poles. Hudibras. 
JOB'BING,/ - . The aft of buying and felling flock in a 
peculiar manner; the aft of doing jobs, as diftinguilhed 
from regular permanent work. 
JO'BERT (Louis), a French Jefuit, diftinguilhed by 
his pulpit-talents and his antiquarian knowledge, was 
born at Paris in the year 1637, and died in 1719, about 
the age of eighty-two. He was the author of fome de¬ 
votional traCls, the titles of which may be feen in MorerL 
2. An Abridgment of the Life of Father Craffet, a Jefuit, 
1693, izmo. 3. An Account of the Congregations of 
Notre-Dame eflablilhed in Houfes belonging to the Com¬ 
pany of Jefus, 1694.. 4. The Science of Medals, 1692, 
i2ino. The work laft-mentioned pofiefles great merit,, 
and met with a very favourable reception from the public. 
It has undergone a variety of impreffions at Paris, Am- 
fterdam, Leiplic, and Nuremberg. The bell edition of it 
is that publilhed at Paris, in 1739, with large additions 
and remarks, by M. Joleph Bimard de la Bailie, of the 
Academy of Belles-lettres, in 2 vols. i2mo. 5. A Letter 
to M. de Vallemont, on a new Explanation given by him 
of a golden Medal of the Emperor Gallienus, 8vo. on 
which the learned Banduri bellows high encomiums. 
JO'BIE, an illand in the Pacific Ocean, at the entrance 
of a great bay on the north coall of New Guinea : no 
miles long from eaft to well, and from fix to twenty broad. 
Lat. 1. 36. to 2. S. Ion. 135. 50. to 137. 36. E. 
JOBST'KREUTH, a town of Germany, in the princi¬ 
pality of Culmbach: fix miles eaft of Windlheim. 
JOCAL'LA, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of La Pazs 
nine miles north of Potofi. 
JOCAS'TA, in fabulous hiftory, a daughter of Me- 
noeceus, who married Laius king of Thebes, by whom 
Ihe had CEdipus. She afterwards married her fon CEdipus, 
without knowing who he was, and had by him Eteocles, 
Polynices, &c. When flie difcovered that Ihe had mar¬ 
ried her own fon and been guilty of inceft, Ihe hanged’ 
herfelf in delpair. She is called Epicajla by fome mytho- 
logifts. 
JOCH'EBED, [Heb. glorious.J The wife of Amram, 
and mother of Miriam, Moles, and Aaron. Several dif¬ 
ficulties are ftarted concerning the degree of relation be¬ 
tween Amram and Jochebed. Some aflert that Jochebed 
was the daughter immediately of Levi, and aunt to Am¬ 
ram her hulband, becaufe, Exod. iii. and vi. 20, and 
Numbers xxvi. 59,. Ihe is called the daughter of Levi. 
Others maintain that Ihe was only coufin-german to Am¬ 
ram, being daughter of one of Kohath’s brethren. The 
Chaldee paraphrafe upon Exodus vi. 20, fays ffie was the 
daughter of Amram’s filler; the LXX. fay Ihe was daugh¬ 
ter to Amram’s brother. The Hebrew Word there ufed 
does not always denote the fame degree of relationlhip. 
Neverthelefs it feems moll probable that Jochebed was 
only coufin-german to Amram, becaufe, had Ihe been the 
immediate daughter of Levi, the difproportion between 
her age and Amram’s would have been too great; be- 
fides, marriages between aunt and nephew were forbidden 
by the law, and we have no proof that they were allowed 
before; and moreover, by the daughter of Levi may very 
well be meant the grand-daughter, according to the ftyle 
of the Hebrews. 
JOCH'ER (Chriltian Gottlieb), doctor of theology, 
public profeflor of hiftory at Leiplic, and librarian to the 
academy, was born in that city in 1694. In 1712 he was 
entered in the univerlity of Leipfic, and at firlt propofed 
Itudying medicine; but he afterwards altered his inten- 
tionj. 
