Who was Jehohanan in the Bible?

Jehohanan was a priest, the son of Eliashib, who served during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah's leadership after the Israelites returned from exile. He is mentioned in connection with the temple storerooms (Nehemiah 12:22-23).

What is the significance of Jehohanan?

Jehohanan's significance lies in his role as a priest during a critical period of restoration for Jerusalem. His lineage and service helped maintain the priestly line and temple worship as the community was being rebuilt.

What key event involved Jehohanan?

A key event was the dedication of Jerusalem's rebuilt wall, where Jehohanan is listed among the priests and Levites who participated in the joyous celebration and purification (Nehemiah 12:22-23, 27).

Jehohanan

Old TestamentExile & ReturnMalePriestSon

Jehohanan was the son of Eliashib, a priest during the time of Ezra.

Jehohanan

Biography

Jehohanan son of Eliashib was a priest during the critical post-exilic period of Israel's restoration. He is mentioned in Ezra 10:6, where Ezra went to Jehohanan's chamber in the Temple complex and spent the night fasting and mourning over the unfaithfulness of the returned exiles who had contracted foreign marriages. This detail places Jehohanan as a prominent priestly figure whose chamber within the Temple precincts served as a place of priestly residence and, in this instance, of solemn intercession. His father Eliashib was the high priest who supervised the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall during Nehemiah's time (Nehemiah 3:1), making Jehohanan part of the leading priestly dynasty of the restoration era.

Significance

Jehohanan's chamber serving as Ezra's place of fasting and prayer illustrates how individual priestly households became centers of intercession during the fragile restoration period. The fact that Ezra, the great reformer and scribe of Israel, sought the solitude of a priestly chamber to weep over communal sin underscores the intimate relationship between priestly space and penitential prayer in post-exilic Judaism. Theologically, this episode demonstrates the biblical conviction that God's covenant people must respond to covenant violations with genuine mourning and confession before true restoration can occur. Jehohanan's family thus provided the physical and spiritual context for one of Israel's most significant acts of communal repentance.

Verse Appearances (1)

Ezra

Ezra 10:6

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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