Jahmai
Jahmai, a son of Tola, was a descendant of Issachar and a clan head.
Biography
Jahmai was a son of Tola and a grandson of Issachar, one of Jacob's twelve sons. He is listed in 1 Chronicles 7:2 among the sons of Tola who were described as mighty warriors and heads of their ancestral households. During the era covered by the Chronicler's genealogies, Jahmai and his brothers were counted in a census that numbered over twenty-two thousand men in their line, a testament to the remarkable growth of Issachar's tribe. As a clan head, Jahmai would have been responsible for organizing both the military and domestic life of his segment of the tribe, maintaining the inheritance allotted to Issachar in the promised land.
Significance
Jahmai appears in 1 Chronicles 7 within a passage emphasizing the military strength and large numbers of Issachar's tribal subdivisions. This reflects the Chronicler's interest in demonstrating that Israel's tribes were robustly equipped for the inheritance God had granted them. Theologically, the proliferation of Issachar's clan heads, men like Jahmai, fulfills the patriarchal blessing pronounced over the tribe. The tribal genealogies in Chronicles also serve a post-exilic function: they remind a restored community of their deep roots in the land and in the covenant. Jahmai's name, preserved in this register, affirms that God remembered every branch of the covenant family.
Verse Appearances (1)
1 Chronicles
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]