🔼The name Jehoiada: Summary
- Meaning
- Yahu Knows
- Etymology
- From (1) the divine name יהו (yahu), and (2) the verb ידע (yada'), to know.
🔼The name Jehoiada in the Bible
There are five men named Jehoiada in the Bible:
- The father of David's hero Benaiah (2 Samuel 8:18).
- A son of the same Benaiah (1 Chronicles 27:34).
- A military leader of the house of Aaron who joined David at Hebron (1 Chronicles 12:27).
- The high priest who helped Jehosheba save Joash the son of Ahaziah (2 Kings 11:4).
- A priest in the time of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:26).
Also: the name Joiada is a contracted form of the name Jehoiada.
🔼Etymology of the name Jehoiada
The name Jehoiada consists of two parts:
The first part of the name is the appellative יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh.
The second part of the name Jehoiada comes from the verb ידע (yada'), meaning to know:
ידע
The verb ידע (yada') means both to know and to have intimate relations (Genesis 4:1, Judges 11:39). Knowledge equals familiarity with truth, which in turn is the only thing all people can agree on, which in turn promotes the search for agreement and modes of expression (rather than mere data). The Bible holds all knowledge in the highest regard. God, after all, is both a God of knowledge (Jeremiah 3:15) and love (1 John 4:7).
Since all truth relates to the Word of God, wisdom begins with the reverence of the Creator (Proverbs 1:7) and learning equals love-making within a marital relation with the Creator (Isaiah 54:5).
Nouns דעה (dea), דע (dea') and דעת (da'at) all mean knowledge. Nouns ידעני (yidde'oni), מודע (moda') and מדעת (moda'at) describe familiarity or kinship. This root's Greek counterpart is γινωσκω (ginosko).
🔼Jehoiada meaning
For a meaning of the name Jehoiada, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Knows. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has the similar The Lord Knows.