Johanan
Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
whom Jehovah graciously bestows. (1.) One of the Gadite heroes who joined David in the desert of Judah (1 Chronicles 12:12). (2.) The oldest of King Josiah’s sons (1 Chronicles 3:15). (3.) 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.”