Topic
Jeshurun
6 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Deuteronomy 32:15Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A name used poetically for Israel
¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
- Deuteronomy 33:5Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A name used poetically for Israel
And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
- Deuteronomy 33:26Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A name used poetically for Israel
¶ There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
- Isaiah 44:2Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A name used poetically for Israel
Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
- Numbers 23:10ISBE
Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
- Hosea 12:2–4ISBE
The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. ¶ He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: Yea, he had power over the…
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 4 references
A poetical name for the people of Israel, used in token of affection, meaning, “the dear upright people” (Deut. 32:15; 33:5, 26; Isa. 44:2).
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 6 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 10 references
je-shu'-run, jesh'-u-run (yeshurun, "upright one," De 32:15; 33:5,26; Isa 44:2): Septuagint translates it "the beloved one" egapemenos, the perfect participle passive of agapao), and in Isa 44:2 adds "Israel"; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has dilectus in De 32:15, elsewhere rectissimus; Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion have "upright." For the form, Duhm compares zebhulun, 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 -un had a diminutive force.
(2) Most moderns take it as a poetical or ideal title of Israel, derived from yashar, "upright"; it is held to contain a tacit reference to the word Israel (yisra'el), of which the first three consonants are almost the same as those of "Jeshurun"; in Nu 23:10 the term "the righteous ones" (yesharim) 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 Ho 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 De 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.
David Francis Roberts
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.