JAAZANIAH, JAAZANIAHU

JAAZANIAH, JAAZANIAHU (Jazaniah, Jazaniahu , Heb. יַאֲזַנְיָה ,יַאֲזַנְיָהוּ ,יְזַנְיָהוּ ,יְזַנְיָה; "yhwh hears"), name of four biblical persons in the last generation of the kingdom of Judah.

(1) Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, officer of the troops that went to Mizpah, to *Gedaliah son of Ahikam after the Babylonian occupation of Judah (ii Kings 25:23; Jer. 40:8). It is possible that he is Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah mentioned in Jeremiah 42:1. Others attribute to him the Hebrew seal inscribed "To Jaazaniah, servant of the king." On the seal is an engraving of a rooster, the only such seal ever found in Ereẓ Israel (reproduced Ahituv, 126; Hoffman, 720).

(2) Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah, a *Rechabite put to the test by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 35:3).

(3) Jaazaniah son of Shaphan, an elder of the house of Israel, is mentioned in Ezekiel's vision of incense to the idols (Ezek. 8:11).

(4) Jaazaniah son of Azzur was a "prince of the people" and one of the twenty-five elders of Judah who appeared in a vision to the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 11:1). In a Lachish ostracon there appears the name of "Jaazaniah son of Tob-Shallem" (Ahituv, 33). A certain Jaazaniahu son of Benaiyahu is found at Arad (Ahituv, 86). The name of Yedoniah, the head of the Jewish community at *Elephantine, is probably an Aramaization of the Hebrew Jaazaniah.

bibliography:

Pritchard, Texts, 277; Diringer, Iscr, 181, 229; Yeivin, in Tarbiz, 12 (1940/41), 253ff., 258. add. bibliography: S. Ahituv, Handbook of Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions (1992); Y. Hoffman, Jeremiah ii (2001).

[Yehoshua M. Grintz]