Laadan

The umbrella collects two Old Testament men, both attested only in the Chronicler's genealogies. UPDV spells the name "Ladan" wherever it appears in the text. The first is an Ephraimite ancestor; the second is a Gershonite Levite who is identified elsewhere as Libni.

Ladan the Ephraimite

In the Ephraimite line that runs forward toward Joshua, Ladan stands two generations upstream of Elishama, the leader of Ephraim during the wilderness period: "Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son" (1Ch 7:26). The verse is the only mention of this Ladan in scripture.

Ladan the Levite (also called Libni)

A second Ladan belongs to the Gershonite branch of the Levites. The Gershonite sons in one Chronicler list appear under a different name — Libni: "And these are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei" (1Ch 6:17). When the Levitical organization for David's reign is laid out, the same pair appears as "Ladan and Shimei": "Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' [houses] of Ladan" (1Ch 23:7-9).

In the assignment of treasury officers, the Ladan-line is named again as a single Gershonite house, and his descendants are foregrounded by repetition: "The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers' [houses] belonging to Ladan the Gershonite: Jehieli" (1Ch 26:21). Across these three Levitical passages, Ladan is the head of one of the two main Gershonite clan-lines, and the variant "Libni" attaches to the same figure.