Easton: Johanan

Whom Jehovah graciously bestows. (1.) One of the Gadite heroes who joined David in the desert of Judah (1 Chr. 12:12). (2.) The oldest of King Josiah’s sons (1 Chr. 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; Jer. 40:8). He warned Gedaliah of the plans of Ishmael against him, a warning which was unheeded (Jer. 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.”