Jerahmeel


The name Jerahmeel appears several times in the Tanakh. It means "He will obtain mercy of God", "God pities", "May God have compassion", or "May God pity".
, or "Moon from God".

Bearers of the name

There are probably three distinct persons of that name in the Tanakh. In order of their lifetimes they are:
  1. a son of Hezron and great-grandson of Judah, as given in the extended genealogies in, and.
  2. a son of Kish, one of the Levites appointed by David to administer the temple worship, as described in.
  3. a son of the king, sent with others by Jehoiakim to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, as given in.

    The Jerahmeelites

The Jerahmeelites were a people, presumably descended from Jerahmeel number 1 above, living in the Negev, who David, while in service with the Philistines, claimed to have attacked, but with whom he was really on friendly terms.
Cheyne developed a theory which made the Jerahmeelites into a significant part of the history of Israel, but most subsequent scholars have dismissed his ideas as fanciful.

An Archangel

In some deuterocanonical and apocryphal writings there are references to an archangel variously called Jeremiel, Eremiel, Remiel, Ramiel etc. See the article Jerahmeel.

The Chronicles of Jerahmeel

The Chronicles of Jerahmeel is a mediaeval document ascribed to the 12th century Jewish historian Jerahmeel ben Solomon, and is unrelated to any of the above.