Bible Dictionaries
Jehonadab

Holman Bible Dictionary

(jih hahn' uh dab) Personal name meaning, “Yahweh incites” or “Yahweh offers Himself freely.” Son of Rechab who supported Jehu in the latter's bloody purge of the house of Ahab (2 Kings 10:15 ). He was representative of a group of austere ultraconservatives known as the Rechabites. Jeremiah 35:1 relates a meeting between the prophet and Rechabites, who cited the teaching of their ancestor Jehonadab (who in Jeremiah is called Jonadab). In the context of that meeting, some of the precepts of the Rechabites are articulated. They are reminiscent of the regulations that governed the Nazirites. The Hebrew word rechab means “chariot,” so some scholars think Jehonadab belonged to Israel's chariot forces. See Rechabites; Jehu .