HANANIAH

(Han·a·niʹah) [Jehovah has been gracious].

1. Son of Shashak and head of a Benjamite house.—1 Chron. 8:1, 24, 25, 28.

2. One of the fourteen sons of Heman and head of the sixteenth of the twenty-four service groups of Levitical musicians appointed by David to serve at the sanctuary.—1 Chron. 25:1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 23.

3. A high-ranking officer (‘prince’) in King Uzziah’s army.—2 Chron. 26:11.

4. Father of the Zedekiah who was a prince during the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah.—Jer. 36:12.

5. Son of Azzur; a false prophet from the Benjamite city of Gibeon who opposed Jehovah’s prophet Jeremiah. During the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, while Jeremiah encouraged the people to bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and thus keep living (Jer. 27:12-14), Hananiah prophesied that Babylon’s power would be broken within two years, the Jewish exiles there would be released and all the confiscated utensils of the temple would be returned. To illustrate his point, Hananiah removed the wooden yoke from off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. Jehovah then commanded Jeremiah to inform Hananiah that the yoke bar of wood was to be replaced by an iron yoke, and that Hananiah’s death would occur within that year. True to the prophecy, the false prophet died in that year.—Jer. chap. 28.

6. Probably the grandfather of Irijah the officer at the gate of Benjamin who seized the prophet Jeremiah, falsely charging that he was attempting to desert to the Chaldeans.—Jer. 37:1-15.

7. The Hebrew name of Shadrach, one of Daniel’s three Jewish companions taken to Babylon in 617 B.C.E.—Dan. 1:6, 7; see SHADRACH.

8. Son of Zerubbabel and father of Pelatiah and Jeshaiah.—1 Chron. 3:19, 21.

9. A descendant of Bebai who was among those heeding Ezra’s exhortation to dismiss their foreign wives.—Ezra 10:10, 11, 28, 44.

10. A Levite priest and head of the paternal house of Jeremiah during Nehemiah’s governorship.—Neh.12:12, 26.

11. A member of the ointment mixers who did repair work on the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time.—Neh. 3:8.

12. Son of Shelemiah; one who shared in repairing the wall of Jerusalem in 455 B.C.E.—Neh. 3:30.

13. A priestly trumpeter who participated in the ceremonies arranged by Nehemiah at the inauguration of Jerusalem’s wall.—Neh. 12:31, 40, 41.

14. One of the heads of the people whose descendant, if not himself, attested by seal the “trustworthy arrangement” contracted during Nehemiah’s governorship.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 14, 23.

15. The prince of the Castle, a trustworthy man fearing God more than many others. Nehemiah put him in command of Jerusalem along with Hanani.—Neh. 7:2.