Jehoiarib
“Jehovah pleads, or whose cause Jehovah defends”
Summary
A distinguished priest at Jerusalem and head of the first of the twenty-four priestly courses established by David; the family from which the Maccabees and the historian Josephus descended.
☩Name and Etymology
The Hebrew name יְהוֹיָרִיב (Yehoyarib) means 'Jehovah pleads' or 'whose cause Jehovah defends.' The name appears in the full form Jehoiarib in 1 Chronicles 9:10 and 24:7, but is elsewhere abbreviated to Joiarib. The Septuagint renders it as Ἰωαρείβ (Ioareib) or Ἰαρείβ (Iareib).
☩Head of the First Course
Jehoiarib was head of the first of the twenty-four priestly courses established by David (1 Chronicles 24:7). These courses rotated in their service at the Temple, each serving for a week at a time. Of these twenty-four courses, Jewish tradition records that only four—Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur, and Harim—returned from Babylon, and that these were subdivided into six each to preserve the original number with the original names. However, Nehemiah 10:2-8 and 12:1-7 enumerate courses that include Jehoiarib, with Mattenai as chief of the house of Joiarib in the days of the high priest Joiakim (Nehemiah 12:19).
☩Distinguished Descendants
The course of Jehoiarib (Joiarib) produced notable descendants in later Jewish history. Mattathias, who initiated the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes, is described as being 'of the course of Joarib' (1 Maccabees 2:1). The Hasmonean dynasty that ruled Judea after the revolt belonged to this priestly family. The Jewish historian Josephus also records that he himself belonged to the course of Jehoiarib (Antiquities 11.6.1; Life §1), showing the continued importance of this priestly lineage into the first century AD.
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Jehoiarib," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Jehoiarib," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Jehoiarib," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Jehoiarib," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).