NATHAN (Hebrew *Nāthān* «[God] has given»). — Prophet who, around 1000 B.C., suddenly appeared when David consulted him about whether to build a temple to Yahweh (*2 Sam.* 7:2). Nathan agreed, but that night God made it clear that this was not for David but for another. Yet Nathan was entrusted with a most consoling prophecy: God would build a "house" for David, granting him a long line of royal descendants whose throne would endure forever (*ibid.* 7:4–17; *1 Chron.* 17:4–14). Indeed, the eternal kingdom would belong to Jesus Christ, son of David (*Luke* 1:32–33).
Later, Nathan rebuked David for his adultery and murder, rejoicing to see him repent and, on the Lord’s behalf, impose the symbolic name *Jedidiah* («beloved of Yahweh») on the newborn Solomon (*2 Sam.* 12:1–25). When David was old and succession to the throne was at issue, Nathan supported Solomon rather than Adonijah (*1 Kings* 1). He wrote an account of David’s deeds (*1 Chron.* 29:29) and of Solomon’s early reign (*2 Chron.* 9:29), material likely used by the authors of *Samuel* and *Kings*. He stands as a magnificent example of a man of God, faithful to his mission and undaunted before the powerful, even in times of absolutism.
Other biblical figures bear the same name: a Judean in *1 Chron.* 2:36; a son of David (*2 Sam.* 5:15; *Zech.* 12:12), through whom Christ is traced back to David in Luke’s genealogy (*Luke* 3:31); the father (or brother?) of one of David’s warriors (*2 Sam.* 23:36; *1 Chron.* 11:38); a messenger sent by Ezra (*Ezra* 8:16); and a post-exilic priest who had married a foreign woman (*Ezra* 10:39).