IARED (Heb. Jeredh, pausal Jaredh). — Name of two biblical figures.
1. Antediluvian patriarch, of the lineage of Seth, son of Malaleel and father of Henoch (Gen. 5:15–20; 1 Chron. 1:2; Luke 3:37).
2. Israelite, descendant of Judah. He was the son of Ezra and founder of Gedor (= today Gedur, cf. Josh. 15:58; 1 Chron. 4:18). The rabbis, through a play on words, made I. an epithet of Moses (from the root jâradh = to descend), because Moses caused “the mother to descend” from heaven, without considering that the lawgiver belonged to the tribe of Levi.
BIBL.: A. Vaccari, La S. Bibbia, I, Florence 1943, p. 74; III, ibid. 1948, pp. 17–25; L. Marechal, Les Paralipomenes (La Ste Bible, ed. L. Pirot, 4), Paris 1949, p. 36. Francesco Spadafora