Jerimoth

Jerimoth is a name borne by seven different men in the Hebrew Bible, all of them surfacing only in the genealogies, the muster rolls, and the administrative lists of 1 and 2 Chronicles. The UPDV preserves the spelling variation of the underlying Hebrew without harmonization: five of the seven appear as "Jerimoth," two as "Jeremoth," and the Levitical son of Mushi is recorded under both spellings in the Chronicler's two parallel notices of the same family.

Son of Bela the Benjamite

The earliest Jerimoth heads no clan of his own; he is named only as one of the five sons of Bela in the Benjamite genealogy: "And the sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers' houses, mighty men of valor; and they were reckoned by genealogy twenty and two thousand and thirty and four" (1Ch 7:7). The notice ranks the brothers together as heads of fathers' houses and as mighty men of valor.

Son of Becher the Benjamite

A second Benjamite Jeremoth appears in the very next verse, in the parallel list of Becher's sons. UPDV here spells the name with the second-syllable e: "And the sons of Becher: Zemirah, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jeremoth, and Abijah, and Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher" (1Ch 7:8). The two Benjamite Jerimoths of 1Ch 7:7-8 stand in adjacent clan registers but in different fathers' houses.

A Warrior Who Joined David at Ziklag

A third Jerimoth surfaces in the roll of Saul's Benjamite kinsmen who defected to David at Ziklag. The Chronicler frames the list: "Now these are those who came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war" (1Ch 12:1). Among the named warriors, "armed with bows" and ambidextrous slingers, stands "Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite," (1Ch 12:5).

Son of Mushi the Levite

A Levite Jerimoth in the line of Mushi is recorded in two parallel notices of the same Merarite family, and UPDV preserves the spelling difference between them. The first list names him "Jeremoth": "The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three" (1Ch 23:23). The closing summary of the priestly courses one chapter later names the same three brothers, but spells the youngest "Jerimoth": "And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after their fathers' houses" (1Ch 24:30).

Son of Heman the Singer

A fifth Jerimoth belongs to the Levitical guild of temple musicians under David. He is reckoned among the fourteen sons of Heman the king's seer: "Of Heman; the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth" (1Ch 25:4). His brothers, like himself, served in the temple under the direction of their father.

Tribal Officer of Naphtali

In David's administrative roster of the twelve tribal officers, the man set over Naphtali is a Jeremoth: "of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah: of Naphtali, Jeremoth the son of Azriel:" (1Ch 27:19). His patronymic — son of Azriel — distinguishes him from the other Jerimoths of Chronicles.

Son of David

The seventh and last Jerimoth is named only obliquely, as the maternal grandfather of one of Rehoboam's wives: "And Rehoboam took himself a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse;" (2Ch 11:18). UPDV's bracketed insertion [and of] reads the verse as naming two women — Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth, and Abihail, daughter of Eliab — rather than collapsing them into a single figure. Jerimoth is thus reckoned among the sons of David, although he is named in no other Davidic register.