Johanan (High Priest)
Johanan (
Murder in the Temple
Archaeology
Letter from Elephantine papyri
Among the
"(...) We have also sent a letter before now, when this evil was done to us, to our lord and to the high priest Johanan and his colleagues the priests in Jerusalem and to Ostanes the brother of Anani and the nobles of the Jews, Never a letter have they sent to us. (...)"
It has been suggested that the Anani that is referred to here might be the same as in 1 Chronicles 3:24.[2]
Yohanan coin
On a silver coin from the late Persian period, Dan Barag and other scholars have identified the Hebrew phrase יחנן הכהן ("Yoḥanan the priest").[3] This coin is a part of the Yehud coinage.[4]
Because it is generally dated between 350 BCE and Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia, around 333 BCE,[5] the coin is usually attributed to a second high priest called Johanan, who is not mentioned in the Bible. Thus, the coin seems to lend support to the hypothesis by Frank Moore Cross from 1975 that there were two subsequent father/son pairs of high priests called Johanan and Jaddua, the latter pair of which was accidentally omitted from the biblical text because of haplography.[3] However, Lisbeth Fried has challenged this late dating of the coin and has suggested a date between 378 and 368 BCE. She believes that the coin refers to the same individual as the one mentioned in Josephus and Nehemiah, and that it is unnecessary to propose a second Johanan.[5]
According to the research published in 2023,[6] the Johanan coin (Yehud coin Type 25) belongs to the "Series with facing head/owl" Types 24 to 28 (YHD-24 to YHD-28).[7] Thus, this coin comes in the middle of the coinage belonging to the Macedonian period.
Name
There is dispute over his actual name. Neh 12:11 lists him as Jonathan, while 12:22 mentions Joiada's successor as Johanan. Josephus also lists him as Johanan (John).[8]
According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary there is also a dispute regarding the genealogy of Johanan. Neh 12:10–11 lists Johanan as the grandson of Eliashib while Neh 12:23 identifies him as the son of Eliashib. "Although it is possible that Heb ben is to be translated as 'grandson' in Neh 12:23; cf. NEB, JB)"
There is yet to be extrabiblical proof that a man named Jonathan ever served as high priest. This has led many to believe that the biblical text has a copy mistake.[9]
Patrilineal Ancestry
Patrilineal descent |
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See also
References
- ^ a b Antiquities xi. 7.1, Josephus
- ^ a b Pritchard, James B. ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton University Press, third edition with supplement 1969, p. 492
- ^ a b Betlyon, John Wilson, "The Provincial Government of Persian Period Judea and the Yehud Coins" Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 105, No. 4 (Dec., 1986), pp. 639–642
- ^ YHD 25 (Yehud coin Type 25): Hemiobol with facing head/owl and inscription Yohanan the Priest. The Menorah Coin Project website. Israel Numismatic Society
- ^ a b Fried, Lisbeth S., A silver coin of Yohanan Hakkôhen, Transeuphratène 26 (2003) pp. 67, 85
- ^ Gitler H., Lorber C., Fontanille J.-P. (2023), The Yehud Coinage: A Study and Die Classification of the Provincial Silver Coinage of Judah. (Introduction) Israel Numismatic Society; Jerusalem, Israel.
- ^ The Menorah Coin Project website. Israel Numismatic Society
- ^ Antiquities 11:297–302, Josephus
- ^ From Joshua To Caiaphas: High Priests after the Exile 54–63, James Vander Kam