I added the 0s and the 1. When I commented-out the entire matrix thing and set the FOV to 45 (as it is in Max), and entered the position of the camera (-y/z flipped) and set camera.lookAt to the position of Max's camera's target, I got a camera looking sideways at the scene (as if it had been jpctY-rotated 90º around the center of the scene). But I got to see the characters (the height was right). Bizarre, right?
theCamera.setFOVLimits((float)Math.toRadians(10), (float)Math.toRadians(170));
theCamera.setFOV((float)Math.toRadians(45));
theCamera.setPosition(new SimpleVector(-51.598f, -59.977f, 26.276f));
/* float[] mat = {-0.147809f,-0.989015f,0f,0f,
0.581329f,-0.0868801f,0.809016f,0f,
-0.80013f,0.11958f,0.587785f,0f,
-51.5975f,26.2763f,59.9766f,1f};
Matrix m = new Matrix();
m.setDump(mat);
m.transformToGL();
theCamera.setBack(m);
*/
theCamera.lookAt(new SimpleVector(-24.935f, -40.39f, 22.292f));