JOHANAN (HEB. JĒHĀHĀNĀN AND JĀHĀNĀN "JAHWEH IS GRACIOUS"). - Name of 16 persons of the Old Testament.
1. Military leader under Zedekiah. When the Chaldeans entered Jerusalem, he managed to take refuge in Transjordan. He later joined Gedaliah (v.), to whom he vainly revealed the wretched plan of Ishmael. After Gedaliah was assassinated, I. pursued the murderer and freed the prisoners. Fearing the Chaldeans, however, he fled with the survivors to Egypt, dragging along with him Jeremiah, who advised them to remain (2 Kings 25:23 ff.; Jer. 40-43).
2. Firstborn of King Josiah (1 Chron. 3:15); he perhaps died before Josiah, or with him at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29). - 3. Davidic descendant, through Zerubbabel (1 Chron. 3:24). - 4. Grandson of Ahimaaz; high priest under Solomon and Rehoboam (ibid. 6:10). - 5. Valiant warrior of David; a Benjaminite, he joined him at Ziklag (ibid. 12:4). - 6. A Gadite, with David in the wilderness of Judah (ibid. 12:12). - 7. A Levite, of the family of Korah; gatekeeper of the Tabernacle (ibid. 26:3). - 8. Military leader under Jehoshaphat king of Judah (2 Chron. 17:15). - 9. Father of the centurion Ishmael, in the time of Jehoiada (ibid. 23:1). - 10. An Ephraimite in the time of Ahaz (ibid. 2:12). - 11. Head of the family of Azgad; he returned to Palestine with Ezra (Ezra 8:12).
12. Priest or Levite, son of Eliashib, in whose chamber at the Temple the sorrowful Ezra took refuge (Ezra 10:6). Perhaps he is the same I., grandson of Eliashib (Neh. 1:10 ff., 22 ff.), high priest in 410, to whom the Jews of Elephantine vainly appealed (Cowley Papyrus 30). The chamber later bore his name; in the time of Ezra he was a child (A. Fernandez, A. Médebielle [v. bibl.]). - 13. A Jew who sent away his foreign wife (Ezra 10:29). - 14. Son of Tobiah the Ammonite, the opponent of Nehemiah (Neh. 6:18). - 15. Head of the priestly family of Amariah, under the pontificate of Jehoiakim, shortly after the return from exile (ibid. 12:13). - 16. Priest or Levite who took part in the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (ibid. 12:42).