Johanan

Meaning: whom Jehovah graciously bestows

This was the name of three biblical men:

1. Johanan, the hero—0ne of the Gadite heroes who joined David in the desert of Judah (1 Chronicles 12:12).

2. Prince Johanan—the oldest of King Josiah's sons (1 Chronicles 3:15).

3. Johanan, the son of Careah—one of the Jewish chiefs who rallied round Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor in Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8). He warned Gedaliah of the plans of Ishmael against him, a warning which was unheeded (Jeremiah 40:13, 16). He afterwards pursued the murderer of the governor, and rescued the captives (41:8, 13, 15-16). He and his associates subsequently fled to Tahpanhes in Egypt (43:2, 4-5), taking Jeremiah with them.

   “The flight of Gedaliah's community to Egypt extinguished the last remaining spark of life in the Jewish state. The work of the ten centuries since Joshua crossed the Jordan had been undone.”