Jehudi
“A Jew”
Summary
A court official under King Jehoiakim who was sent to summon Baruch and who read Jeremiah's scroll to the king.
☩Reading the Scroll
Jehudi, son of Nethaniah, was an officer of King Jehoiakim's court who played a pivotal role in the dramatic episode of Jeremiah's scroll. He was first sent by the princes to summon Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, to read the prophet's denunciations to them. Later, when the king demanded to hear the scroll himself, it was Jehudi who fetched it and read it aloud. As Jehudi read each three or four columns, Jehoiakim cut them off with a penknife and threw them into the fire until the entire scroll was consumed. The name Jehudi properly means 'a Jew,' and his grandfather Cushi ('Ethiopian') may point to a foreign origin in his family.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Jehudi," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Jehudi," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Jehudi," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).