Who was Jehohanan in the Bible?

Jehohanan was a descendant of Bebai, an Israelite who returned from exile. He is noted for having married a foreign woman, which was against the post-exilic reforms, and later pledging to separate from her (Ezra 10:28).

Why is Jehohanan mentioned in the book of Ezra?

He is listed among the men who had taken foreign wives, a practice Ezra condemned as breaking God's law and threatening the community's purity. His pledge to put away his foreign wife was part of a covenant to obey God's commands (Ezra 10:44).

What is the significance of Jehohanan's story?

His story illustrates the struggle to maintain religious and ethnic identity after the Babylonian Exile. It highlights the community's commitment to repentance and covenant renewal by addressing marriages with foreign nations, as commanded in the Law (Deuteronomy 7:3-4).

Jehohanan

Old TestamentExile & ReturnMaleReturned divorceee

Jehohanan, one of the descendants of Bebai, married a foreign woman during the Exile but pledged to put her away.

Jehohanan

Biography

Jehohanan son of Bebai appears in the post-exilic reform lists of Ezra 10:28 among those who had married foreign wives during the period of exile and early return. Under Ezra's leadership, the community engaged in a painful process of covenant renewal in which those who had contracted such marriages pledged to dissolve them in order to maintain the purity of the restored community and its worship. The family of Bebai contributed several members to this list, suggesting that intermarriage with foreign women had become relatively common in certain returnee households. Jehohanan's willingness to comply with Ezra's directive represents a personal act of covenant renewal undertaken at significant personal and familial cost.

Significance

Jehohanan's inclusion in Ezra's divorce list represents the painful underside of post-exilic covenant renewal. While modern readers may find the dissolution of marriages troubling, the theological concern was the integrity of Israel's covenant identity and its distinctiveness as a worshipping community set apart for God. Ezra's reform drew on the Torah's warnings against intermarriage with peoples whose religious practices would draw Israel toward idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:3–4). Jehohanan's compliance illustrates the serious demands that covenant faithfulness sometimes places upon individuals. His story raises enduring questions about the relationship between communal religious integrity and individual human relationships within the covenant community.

Verse Appearances (1)

Ezra

Ezra 10:28

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]
Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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