Jamin

Jamin is a personal name borne by three different men in the Hebrew Bible: a son of Simeon who heads a tribal clan, a descendant of Hezron in the Jerahmeelite line of Judah, and a Levite who assisted Ezra in expounding the law to the post-exilic assembly at Jerusalem. The name appears across Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, 1 Chronicles, and Nehemiah; the three figures are kept distinct by their genealogies and by the periods in which they appear.

Jamin Son of Simeon

The earliest Jamin is the second-named son of Simeon and so a grandson of Jacob. The Genesis household roster fixes the order: "And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman" (Gen 46:10). The Exodus list of Simeon's family heads repeats the same six names in identical order and adds the closing summary, "these are the families of Simeon" (Ex 6:15).

By the time of the second wilderness census, Jamin's descendants form a distinct sub-clan of the tribe. Numbers numbers the Simeonite families as "of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites" (Num 26:12). The eponymous "family of the Jaminites" places Jamin alongside his brothers as one of the recognized founders of a Simeonite house, with the chapter closing the tribal totals at "twenty and two thousand and two hundred" (Num 26:14).

The Chronicler's compressed roster of Simeon's sons preserves Jamin in the same position but shortens the list and substitutes Nemuel and Jarib and Zerah for some of the older forms: "The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul" (1Ch 4:24). Across Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and 1 Chronicles the four lists agree that Jamin stands second among Simeon's sons and is the head of the Jaminite clan.

Jamin in the Line of Hezron

A second Jamin appears in the Judahite genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2 as a descendant of Hezron through Jerahmeel and Ram. The Chronicler writes, "And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker" (1Ch 2:27). This Jamin is several generations removed from Hezron and belongs to the wider Jerahmeelite branch of Judah; the verse is the only notice of him, and no further narrative is attached.

Jamin Among Ezra's Levites

The third Jamin is one of the Levites who stood with Ezra at the public reading of the law in the seventh month. After the assembly is gathered "before the broad place that was before the water gate" (Neh 8:3) and Ezra has opened the book and blessed Yahweh, the work of exposition is taken up by a named team: "Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place" (Neh 8:7). The next verse describes their method: "And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading" (Neh 8:8).

Jamin's office here is teaching, not reading: Ezra has read aloud, and Jamin and his fellow Levites move through the assembly explaining the text so the returnees grasp its sense. He is one of the Levites who expounded the law to the exiles who returned to Jerusalem, placed in that small group of named expositors at the founding moment of post-exilic instruction.