Nimshi ( he, נִמְשִׁי ''Nīmšī'';
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Douay–Rheims: Namsi) is a character in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
. He is mentioned in the
Books of Kings
The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...
and the
Second Book of Chronicles
The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...
as father, grandfather, or possibly a forebear of
Jehu
) as depicted on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
, succession = King of Northern Israel
, reign = c. 841–814 BCE
, coronation = Ramoth-Gilead, Israel
, birth_date = c. 882 BCE
, death_date = c. 814 BCE
, burial_place = ...
, the king of
the Northern Kingdom of Israel (compare with ).
History
The Hebrew word ''ben'' () can mean both a literal "son", or a male descendant. The biblical text describes Jehu as either the "son of Nimshi" (''ben Nimshi''); or as the "son of
Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat (; alternatively spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; ; el, Ἰωσαφάτ, Iosafát; la, Josaphat), according to 1 Kings 22:41, was the son of Asa, and the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, in succession to his father ...
" (''ben Yehoshafat''), who is himself called the "son of Nimshi". Some scholars have therefore taken the phrase to mean that Jehu was not the actual son of Nimshi, and that Nimshi was either the grandfather or ancestor of Jehu, or even that Jehu belonged to a ''clan'' named Nimshi.
Another possibility is that "son of Jehoshaphat" was a later addition, in which case Nimshi would be the father of Jehu.
Baruchi-Unna suggests that Nimshi was a son of King
Omri
Omri ( ; he, , ''‘Omrī''; akk, 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿 ''Ḫûmrî'' 'ḫu-um-ri-i'' fl. 9th century BC) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the sixth king of Israel. He was a successful military campaigner who extended the northern kingdom of ...
and a brother of King
Ahab
Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, ...
. Jehu's father, Jehoshaphat, would consequently be a first cousin to Ahab's children:
Ahaziah of Israel
Ahaziah (, " Yah has grasped"; also gr, Ὀχοζίας, ''Ochozias'' in the Septuagint and the Douai-Rheims translation) was the eighth king of the northern Kingdom of Israel and the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Like his father, he reigned from ...
,
Jehoram of Israel
Jehoram ( ''Yəhōrām''; also Joram) was the ninth king of the northern Kingdom of Israel ( 2 Kings 8:16, 2 Kings 8:25–28). He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, and brother to Ahaziah and Athaliah.
According to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 8:16, in t ...
, and
Athaliah
Athaliah ( el, Γοθολία ''Gotholía''; la, Athalia) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later quee ...
,
Queen regnant
A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reignin ...
of the
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...
.
Among the members of this extended House of Omri, the names Ahaz''iah'', ''Jeho''ram, Athal''iah'', and ''Jeho''shaphat are all
Yahwistic theophoric name
A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...
s, whereas Omri, Ahab, and Nimshi are not theophoric names. According to Baruchi-Unna, this reflects different religious tendencies among the first and second generations of the royal family, and the (evidently) Yahweh-worshipping third generation.
References
Further reading
* {{citation , last1=Naʼaman , first1= Nadav , title=''Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors: Interaction and Counteraction'' , chapter=Jehu son of Omri:Legitimizing a Loyal Vassal by His Lord, year=2005 , publisher=
Eisenbrauns
Eisenbrauns, an imprint of Penn State University Press, is an academic publisher specializing in the ancient Near East and biblical studies. They publish approximately twenty new books and reference works each year, as well as reprinting out-of- ...
, isbn=9781575061085, chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=1RgRPAkLqLUC&pg=PA14
Books of Chronicles people
Books of Kings people
9th-century BCE Hebrew people
House of Jehu