Johanan
Encyclopedia
Johanan is a Hebrew name meaning 'the LORD
is gracious'. Other forms of the name include John
and Yochanan.
Johanan ben Zakai (c. 30 - 90) was one of the tannaim
, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple
, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah
. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time.
Several people in the Hebrew Bible
are given the name Johanan:
Johanan HaSandlar (c. 200 - c. 300) was one of the tannaim whose teachings are quoted in the Mishnah
.
Johanan ben Bag-Bag was another of the tannaim and is mentioned several times in the Talmud
.
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
is gracious'. Other forms of the name include John
John (given name)
John is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Latin Ioannes, Iohannes, which is in turn a form of the Greek , Iōánnēs. This Greek name is a form of the Hebrew name , , which means "God is generous"...
and Yochanan.
Johanan ben Zakai (c. 30 - 90) was one of the tannaim
Tannaim
The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years...
, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time.
Several people in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
are given the name Johanan:
- A Johanan, son of KareahKareahKareah ; the father of Johanan and Jonathan, who for a time were loyal to Gedaliah, the Babylonian governor of Jerusalem ....
, is mentioned as a leader of the army who led the remnant of the population of the Kingdom of JudahKingdom of JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
to Egypt for safety (against the advice of JeremiahJeremiahJeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
- see ), after the Babylonian dismantling of the kingdom in 586 BC and the subsequent assassination of GedaliahGedaliahAccording to the Hebrew Bible, Gedaliah was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon as governor of Yehud province, which was formed after the defeat of the Kingdom of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem, in a part of the territory that previously formed the kingdom. He was supported by a...
, the BabylonBabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
-appointed Jewish governor . He had earlier (at least according to the account in the book of Jeremiah), tried to warn Gedaliah of the plot of Ishmael son of NethaniahIshmael son of Nethaniah-Ishmael ben Nethaniah:Ishmael ben Nethaniah was a member of the royal household of Judah who, according to biblical accounts in II Kings and Jeremiah, assassinated Gedaliah after he was appointed governor of Judah by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon...
to assassinate him, a plot which was apparently instigated by Baalis, king of AmmonAmmonAmmon , also referred to as the Ammonites and children of Ammon, was an ancient nation located east of the Jordan River, Gilead, and the Dead Sea, in present-day Jordan. The chief city of the country was Rabbah or Rabbath Ammon, site of the modern city of Amman, Jordan's capital...
, and which Gedaliah, to his cost, refused to believe. After the assassination of Gedaliah, Johanan ben Kareah leads the army against Ishmael, and fights him at Gibeon, securing the release of a large number of Israelite captives .
- Johanan, son of JojadaJohanan (High Priest)Johanan , son of Joiada, was the fifth Jewish high priest after the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem by the Jews who had returned from the Babylonian captivity. His reign is estimated to have been from c. 410-371 BCE; he was succeeded by his son Jaddua. The bible gives no details about his life...
, is a high priest mentioned in the Book of NehemiahBook of NehemiahThe Book of Nehemiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws...
. He is the fourth in the line of high priests after JeshuaJoshua the High PriestJoshua the High Priest was, according to the Bible the first person chosen to be the High Priest for the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity The name is also spelled 'Jeshua' in some English versions , and, as with the earlier Joshua, is...
, who returned from the Babylonian captivityBabylonian captivityThe Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....
with ZerubbabelZerubbabelZerubbabel was a governor of the Persian Province of Judah and the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate king of Judah. Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews, numbering 42,360, who returned from the Babylonian Captivity in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia . The date is generally thought to...
. He is also called Jonathan in verse 11, and Josephus gives his name as Ἰωάννης (Joannes), which is the Greek equivalent of Johanan. Johanan, the high priest, is also mentioned in the Elephantine PapyriElephantine papyriThe Elephantine Papyri are a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating from the 5th century BC. They come from a Jewish community at Elephantine, then called Yeb, the island in the Nile at the border of Nubia, which was probably founded as a military installation in about 650 BC during...
, a contemporary collection of Jewish writing dating from the fifth century BC.
Johanan HaSandlar (c. 200 - c. 300) was one of the tannaim whose teachings are quoted in the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
.
Johanan ben Bag-Bag was another of the tannaim and is mentioned several times in the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
.