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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

IntroIndex©

JONATHAN

1. Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, a descendant of Gershom, son of Moses (cf. 1 Chr 23:14-15); he was a priest first to Micah in Ephraim and later to Dan’s tribe during the period of the judges (Jgs 17:7-10; 18:30).

2. Benjamite, the firstborn son of Saul and the father of Meribbaal (1 Sm 14:49; 1 Chr 8:33-34). Jonathan was a valiant warrior (1 Sm 13:2-4; 14:1-15; 2 Sm 1:22) and a devoted friend to David (1 Sm 18:1-5; 19:1-7). He was eventually killed, along with his brothers, by the Philistines at Mt Gilboa (1 Sm 31:2; 1 Chr 10:2).

3. Son of the high priest Abiathar and one of David’s loyal servants (2 Sm 15:27, 36; 17:17, 20; 1 Kgs 1:42-43).

4. Shimei’s son and the nephew of David (2 Sm 21:21; 1 Chr 20:7).

5. Son of Shagee the Hararite and one of David’s mighty warriors (2 Sm 23:33; 1 Chr 11:34).

6. Judahite, Jada’s son, the brother of Jether, and the father of Peleth and Zaza (1 Chr 2:32-33).

7. Son of Uzziah and one of David’s treasurers (1 Chr 27:25).

8. David’s relative who served as counselor and scribe in the royal household (1 Chr 27:32).

9. Ebed’s father. Ebed returned with Ezra to Judah following the Babylonian captivity (Ezr 8:6).

10. Asahel’s son, who, with Jahzeiah, opposed Ezra’s suggestion that the sons of Israel should divorce the foreign woman they had married since returning to Palestine from exile (Ezr 10:15).

11. Levite, the son of Joiada, the father of Jaddua, and a descendant of Jeshua, the high priest (Neh 12:11). He is perhaps the same man as Jehohanan (or Johanan), Eliashib’s grandson, in Ezra 10:6 (cf. Neh 12:23, NLT). See Jehohanan #4.

12. Priest and the head of Malluch’s house during the days of Joiakim the high priest (Neh 12:14).

13. Priest, father of Zechariah, and a descendant of Asaph (Neh 12:35).

14. Secretary in whose house Jeremiah was at one point imprisoned during the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah (Jer 37:15, 20; 38:26).

15. Kareah’s son who sought protection under Gedaliah (Jer 40:8).

16. Youngest son of Mattathias and brother of Judas Maccabeus. When Judas Maccabeus was killed in battle with Bacchides (1 Macc 9:18), his brother Jonathan became his successor (vv 28-31). Jonathan continued the struggle against Syria for three years with a small band of guerrillas. But the Syrians were busy with an internal struggle for political power, and so, in 157 BC, made peace with him. The political machinations in Syria worked to Jonathan’s advantage, and five years later he became high priest in Jerusalem and administrator of Judea (10:1-11). Under his management, Jewish territory and power increased. This occurred partly because Jonathan was able to play the Syrian political rivals against one another. One of these was Tryphon, a pretender to the Syrian throne who saw that his influence was threatened by Jonathan’s power. So in 143 BC he decided to overthrow the Jewish leader. Jonathan was taken prisoner by Tryphon through treachery and eventually killed, leaving his brother Simon to lead the Jews (1 Macc 12–13).