JAAZANIAH

ja-az-a-ni'-a (ya'azanyahu, in 2 Kings 25:23; Ezekiel 8:11; ya'azanyah, in Jeremiah 35:3; Ezekiel 11:1, "Yah hears"):

(1) In 2 Ki 25:23, "son of the Maacathite," and one of the Judean "captains of the forces" who joined Gedaliah, the Babylonian governor appointed by Nebuchadrezzar over Judah, at Mizpah. He is the "Jezaniah" of Jeremiah 40:8; 42:1. Though not mentioned by name, he was presumably one of those captains who joined Johnnan in his attack on Ishmael after the latter had slain Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41:11-18). He is also the same as Azariah of Jeremiah 43:2, a name read by the Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus in Jeremiah 42:1 also. Jeremiah 43:5 relates how Johnnan and his allies, Jaazaniah (= Azariah) among them, left Judah with the remnant, and took up their abode in Egypt.

(2) In Jeremiah 35:3, son of Jeremiah (not the prophet), and a chief of the Rechabite clansmen from whose "staunch adherence to the precepts of their ancestor" Jeremiah "points a lesson for his own countrymen" (Driver, Jeremiah, 215).

(3) In Ezekiel 8:11, son of Shaphan, and one of the seventy men of the ciders of Israel whom Ezekiel saw in a vision of Jerusalem offering incense to idols.

(4) In Ezekiel 11:1, son of Azzur, and one of the Ezekiel 25 men whom Ezekiel saw in his vision of Jerusalem, at the East door of the Lord's house, and against whose iniquity he was commanded to prophesy (Ezekiel 11:1-13).

David Francis Roberts

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.