The meaning of Jerahmeel; Jerahmeelites in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
je-ra'-me-el, je-ra'-me-el-its (yerachme'el, "may God have compassion!"):
(1) In I Chronicles 2:9, I Chronicles 2:25-27, I Chronicles 2:33, I Chronicles 2:42, he is described as the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah by Tamar his daughter-in-law (Gen. 38). In I Samuel 27:10 is mentioned the neghebh of the (ha-yerach-me'eli, a collective noun), the Revised Version (British and American) "the South of the Jerahmeelites." The latter is a tribal name in use probably before the proper name, above; their cities are mentioned in I Samuel 30:29. Cheyne has radical views on Jerahmeel. See EB, under the word; also T. Witton Davies in Review of Theology and Philosophy, III, 689-708 (May, 1908); and Cheyne's replies in Hibbert Journal, VII, 132-51 (October, 1908), and Decline and Fall of the Kingdom of Judah.
(2) A Merarite Levite, son of Kish (I Chronicles 24:29).
(3) "The king's son," the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version margin (Jeremiah 36:26). the Revised Version margin, the King James Version have "son of Hammelech," taking the word ha-melek as a proper name. He was "probably a royal prince, one who had a king among his ancestors but not necessarily son of the ruling king; so Jeremiah 38:6; I Kings 22:26; especially Zephaniah 1:8 written at a time when the reigning king, Josiah, could not have had a grown-up 'son' " (Driver, Jeremiah, 224, note e). Jerahmeel was with two others commanded by Jehoiakim to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch.
David Francis Roberts
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