NATHAN (Hebr. Nāthān “[God] has given”). — A prophet who, around 1000 B.C., appeared suddenly when David asked his opinion about whether or not to build a temple to Jahweh (II Sam. 7:2). N. replied affirmatively, but the following night God made him understand that this was reserved for another, not for David. At the same time, however, He made him the announcer of a most consoling prophecy: it would be God who would build a house for David, that is, He would grant him a long succession of kings, whose throne would remain stable forever (ibid. 7:4–17; I Par. 17:4–14). The kingdom of Jesus Christ, son of David (Lc. 1:32 ff.), would in fact be everlasting.
N. later rebuked David, the adulterer and murderer: he had the joy of seeing him repent and of being able, on the Lord’s behalf, to impose upon the newborn Solomon the symbolic surname Jedhīdhāh, “friend of Jahweh” (II Sam. 12:1–25). When, David now being old, the question of succession to the throne arose, N. did not support Adonijah, but Solomon (I Reg. 1). He wrote a history of David’s deeds (I Par. 29:29 ff.) and of those of Solomon (perhaps the early ones) (II Par. 9:29), which probably provided material for the authors of Samuel and Kings. He is a magnificent example of a man of God, faithful to his mission and fearless before the powerful, in an age of absolutism.
Others in the Bible bear the same name: a Judean in I Par. 2:36; a son of David (II Sam. 5:15; Zach. 12:12), through whom Christ is linked to David in Luke’s genealogy (Lc. 3:31); the father (or brother?) of one of David’s warriors (II Sam. 23:36; I Par. 11:38); a messenger of Ezra (Estd. 8:16); and a postexilic priest who had taken a foreign woman as his wife (Estd. 10:39).