Nethaniah

Biblical Record

Nethaniah has no narrative of his own and appears only in the phrase "Ishmael the son of Nethaniah." In 2 Kings 25:23, "Ishmael the son of Nethaniah" is listed among the captains of the armies who came to Mizpah after hearing that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor (an official appointed to rule over a region). Second Kings 25:25 identifies Ishmael as "the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal." According to the same verse, Ishmael came in the seventh month with ten men and killed Gedaliah, along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him.

The same event is recounted in greater detail in Jeremiah 40–41, where Ishmael is again repeatedly called the son of Nethaniah. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) spells the name differently in 2 Kings and Jeremiah, but both spellings refer to the same person; the KJV renders it "Nethaniah" in both books. Scripture records nothing of Nethaniah's own deeds or life.

Significance Within Scripture

In the Bible, the name Nethaniah serves mainly to establish his son's identity and lineage. The text makes clear that the family was of royal descent. For this reason, many interpreters connect Ishmael's assassination of Gedaliah, the governor installed by Babylon, with resentment on the part of a member of the Davidic royal line. Jeremiah 40:14 also reports that Baalis, king of the Ammonites, had sent Ishmael. The New Testament does not mention Nethaniah.

Interpretation and Issues

• Several other figures in the Bible bear the same Hebrew name, including a son of Asaph in 1 Chronicles 25, a Levite in 2 Chronicles 17:8, and the father of Jehudi in Jeremiah 36:14. All of them are distinct from the Nethaniah discussed in this article.
• The name is commonly interpreted to mean "the LORD has given."
• The text does not specify from which king Ishmael's grandfather Elishama descended. Some have speculated about a connection with another person of the same name, but this cannot be confirmed.
• Jewish tradition observes a fast commemorating the death of Gedaliah (the Fast of Gedaliah). This fast has been understood in connection with the fast of "the seventh month" in Zechariah 7:5 and 8:19. This tradition, however, concerns the actions of his son Ishmael, not Nethaniah himself.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted specifically to Nethaniah are rare. His name generally comes up only as the father of Ishmael when teachers explain the turmoil in Judah immediately after the Babylonian exile, the assassination of Gedaliah, and the subsequent story of the remnant who went down to Egypt and of Jeremiah.