(Heb. Yesimiel', יְשַׂימַיאֵל, appointed of God; Sept. Ι᾿σμαήλ ), apparently one of the chief Simeonites who migrated to the valley of Gedor in search of pasture (1 Chronicles 4:36). B.C. cir. 711. Jessaeans.
According to Epiphanius, the first distinctive appellation of Christians was Ιεσσαῖοι , Jessaeans, but it is doubtful from whom the title was derived, or in what sense it was applied. Some suppose it was from Jesse, the father of David; others (and with far greater probability of accuracy) trace it to the name of the Lord Jesus. Philo is known to have written a work on the first Church of St. Mark at Alexandria, which he himself entitled περὶ Ι᾿εσσαίων, which is now extant under the title of περἱ βίου θεωρητικοῦ (of the contemplative life), and so is cited by Eusebius even: Jerome, however, knew the work intimately, and for this reason gave Philo a place in his list of ecclesiastical writers. Eusebius also mentions the name Jessaeans as a distinctive appellation of the early Christians. Comp. Bingham, Antiq. bk. 1, ch. 1, § 1; Riddle, Christian Antiquities, p. 181.