Jonathan

About Jonathan Written by AI

Jonathan was a scribe in Jerusalem during the time of King Zedekiah of Judah. His house was used as a prison where the prophet Jeremiah was confined (Jeremiah 37:15). Jeremiah appealed to King Zedekiah not to send him back to Jonathan's house, fearing he would die there (Jeremiah 37:20). Later, Jeremiah told the king's officials that he had only petitioned the king not to send him back to Jonathan's house to die when they questioned him (Jeremiah 38:26). Jonathan's role as a scribe and the use of his house as a prison suggest he was a person of some importance in Jerusalem just prior to the Babylonian conquest in 586 BC.

Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.

Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897

This entry is on the name Jonathan, and may cover more than one person or place by that name.

Whom Jehovah gave, the name of fifteen or more persons that are mentioned in Scripture. The chief of these are, (1.) A Levite descended from Gershom (Judg. 18:30). His history is recorded in 17:7-13 and 18:30. The Rabbins changed this name into Manasseh “to screen the memory of the great lawgiver from the stain of having so unworthy an apostate among his near descendants.” He became priest of the idol image at Dan, and this office continued in his family till the Captivity.

(2.) The eldest son of king Saul, and the bosom friend of David. He is first mentioned when he was about thirty years of age, some time after his father’s accession to the throne (1 Sam. 13:2). Like his father, he was a man of great strength and activity (2 Sam. 1:23), and excelled in archery and slinging (1 Chr. 12:2;2 Sam. 1:22). The affection that evidently subsisted between him and his father was interrupted by the growth of Saul’s insanity. At length, “in fierce anger,” he left his father’s presence and cast in his lot with the cause of David (1 Sam. 20:34). After an eventful career, interwoven to a great extent with that of David, he fell, along with his father and his two brothers, on the fatal field of Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:2, 8). He was first buried at Jabesh-gilead, but his remains were afterwards removed with those of his father to Zelah, in Benjamin (2 Sam. 21:12-14). His death was the occasion of David’s famous elegy of “the Song of the Bow” (2 Sam. 1:17-27). He left one son five years old, Merib-baal, or Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 4:4; comp. 1 Chr. 8:34).

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.