• Jedidiah
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    • JEDIDIAH

      (Jed·i·diʹah) [beloved of Jah].

      The name given by Jehovah’s prophet Nathan to the second child of David and Bath-sheba. (2 Sam. 12:24, 25) The name reflected Jehovah’s love and acceptance of the newborn infant, in contrast with His rejection of their earlier adulterine child, which died soon after birth. (2 Sam. 12:13-19) In usage the name Jedidiah did not, however, supersede the name Solomon.—See SOLOMON.

  • Jeduthun
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    • JEDUTHUN

      (Je·duʹthun) [praiser].

      1. A Levitical musician. Apparently Jeduthun had previously been called Ethan, for prior to the Ark’s arrival in Jerusalem, “Ethan” is connected with the other musicians, Heman and Asaph, whereas afterward “Jeduthun” is in this same association. (1 Chron. 15:17, 19; 25:1) There is no ancestry of Jeduthun given; there is for Ethan. (1 Chron. 6:44-47) And there are no descendants of Ethan mentioned; there are for Jeduthun. (1 Chron. 9:16) Changing the name from Ethan [meaning “long-lived, permanent, ever-flowing”] to Jeduthun [meaning “praiser”] was certainly in line with the assignment he was given.—1 Chron. 16:41; see ETHAN No. 3.

      Jeduthun and his family of musicians participated in several celebrations when “thanking and praising Jehovah” was in order (1 Chron. 25:3); for example, when the ark of the covenant was brought to Jerusalem. (1 Chron. 16:1, 41, 42) Of the twenty-four divisions into which David’s reorganization separated the sanctuary musicians, the second, fourth, eighth, tenth, twelfth and fourteenth lots fell to the six sons of Jeduthun, all working under their father’s direction. (1 Chron. 25:1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21) The sharing of these duties by Jeduthun, Asaph and Heman meant that each of the three main branches of Levites (Merari, Gershom and Kohath respectively) was represented among the temple musicians. (1 Chron. 6:31-47) All three groups praised Jehovah with music when Solomon inaugurated the temple. (2 Chron. 5:12, 13) Jeduthun’s descendants are mentioned during the reign of Hezekiah and even among the exiles who returned from Babylonian captivity.—2 Chron. 29:1, 12, 14, 15; Neh. 11:17.

      Three of the psalms mention Jeduthun in their superscriptions. Two of them (39, 62) read “To the director of Jeduthun” (“after the manner of [the choir of] Jeduthun,” Ro, ftn. on superscription of Psalm 39), while the third (77) reads “To the director on Jeduthun.” (NW, Ro [“upon,” AT]) In each case the composition of the psalm is attributed to someone else, the first two to David and the third to Asaph; so there is no suggestion that Jeduthun composed them, though he is elsewhere called “the visionary of the king” and it is also said that he “was prophesying with the harp.” (2 Chron. 35:15; 1 Chron. 25:1, 3) Therefore, the superscriptions of these three psalms are evidently instructions for their performance, perhaps identifying a style or even a musical instrument that was somehow associated with Jeduthun, or that he or his sons may have invented, introduced, developed or made common through usage.

      2. A Levite whose son or descendant, Obed-edom, was a gatekeeper at the time David had the Ark brought to Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 16:1, 37, 38.

  • Jegar-sahadutha
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    • JEGAR-SAHADUTHA

      (Jeʹgar-sa·ha·duʹtha) [witness heap].

      The Aramaic (Syrian) expression that Laban used to designate the heap of stones on which he and Jacob ate a covenant meal. This stone heap called Jegar-sahadutha was to serve as a “witness” that neither of them would pass it to harm the other. Jacob called it by the Hebrew equivalent “Galeed.”—Gen. 31:25, 46-53; see GALEED.

  • Jehiel
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    • JEHIEL

      (Je·hiʹel) [may God live].

      1. A Levite in the second division of musicians that accompanied the ark of the covenant from Obed-edom’s house to Jerusalem. (1 Chron. 15:17, 18, 20, 25, 28) Afterward, Jehiel and others were appointed to play outside the tent in which the Ark rested.—1 Chron. 16:1, 4-6.

      2. A Levite descendant of Gershon through Ladan; a “headman.” (1 Chron. 23:6-8) Toward the close of David’s reign, Jehiel(i) and his sons (or the paternal house called by his name) took care of the treasury belonging to Jehovah’s house of worship.—1 Chron. 26:21, 22; 29:8.

      3. Caretaker, perhaps an instructor, of David’s sons; a son or descendant of Hachmoni.—1 Chron. 27:32.

      4. A son of King Jehoshaphat. Jehiel and his brothers had received gifts of riches and cities from their father, but the kingship was to go to their eldest brother Jehoram. However, after Jehoshaphat died, all these brothers were slain by Jehoram.—2 Chron. 21:1-4, 12, 13.

      5. A Levite who helped to dispose of the unclean objects that King Hezekiah had removed from the temple; descendant of Heman. (2 Chron. 29:12, 14-19) Probably the same as No. 6 below.

      6. A Levite commissioner appointed to help care for the bounteous contributions that the people brought to the temple during Hezekiah’s reign. (2 Chron. 31:12, 13) Probably the same as No. 5 above.

      7. One of three “leaders of the house of the true God” who made generous contributions of animal victims for King Josiah’s great Passover celebration.—2 Chron. 35:8.

      8. A member of the paternal house of Joab whose son Obadiah returned with Ezra to Jerusalem.—Ezra 8:1, 9.

      9. One whose son acknowledged to Ezra the great error of the people in taking foreign wives; descendant of Elam. (Ezra 10:2) The Jehiel at Ezra 10:26, included in the list of those who sent away their foreign wives and sons (Ezra 10:44), is possibly the same person, or at least another descendant of Elam.

      10. One of the priests who had taken foreign wives but sent them away.—Ezra 10:21, 44.