Benaiah ( he, בניה, "

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he po ...

builds up") is a common name in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...

of the name, the first part of Benaiah comes from the root-verb בנה (bana), which is a common

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

verb meaning "to build". The second part of Benaiah is יה (Yah), which is not a derivative of the Tetragrammaton, but a

contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...

of it (ie, the first and last consonants of יהוה are contracted as יה).

Benaiah, son of Jehoiada

The most famous Benaiah in the Bible is the son of Jehoiada, who came from the southern Judean town of Kabzeel. Benaiah was one of King David’s mighty men, commander of the 3rd rotational army division; (; ). He helped David's son Solomon become king, killed Solomon's enemies, and served as the chief of Solomon's army. On Solomon's instructions he was responsible for the deaths of

Adonijah According to 2 Samuel, Adonijah ( he, , ''’Ǎḏōnīyyā''; "my lord is Yah") was the fourth son of King David. His mother was Haggith as recorded in the book of . Adonijah was born at Hebron during the long conflict between David and the ...

(), Joab () and Shimei (). He was in charge of the Cherethites and Pelethites. Several verses in make clear that Benaiah was closely associated with Solomon's party and excluded from Adonijah's faction., , , , , and He is also mentioned in , , and . Benaiah by William Etty YORAG 70

Other Benaiahs

Other Benaiahs of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an ...

when it was brought to Jerusalem and placed in the tent David had prepared for it (1 Chr. 15:18, 20; 16:1, 5). * A priest who played the trumpet when the Ark was brought to Jerusalem during David's reign (1 Chr. 15:24; 16:6). * A Levite descendant of Asaph, son of

Berachiah Berechiah is a Jewish name that occurs several times in the Bible. It is derived from Berakhah, "blessing". People named Berechiah In scripture * the father of the Hebrew prophet Zechariah and son of Iddo, according to , but probably not th ...

the Gershonite (2 Chr. 20:14). * A Simeonite, possibly a contemporary of King Hezekiah (1 Chr. 4:24, 36–43). * A Levite appointed by Hezekiah to help care for the bounteous contributions to Jehovah's house (2 Chr. 31:12, 13). * Father of Pelatiah, one of the wicked princes seen in Ezekiel’s vision (Eze. 11:1, 13). * Four men who, at

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe ('' sofer'') and priest ('' kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρ ...

's admonition, dismissed their foreign wives and sons. These four were descendants of Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Bani, and Nebo respectively (Ezr. 10:25, 30, 34, 35, 43, 44).

Footnotes

References

* {{cite book, last1=''Eerdmans'', first1= David Noel Freedman, ed.-in-chief; Allen C. Myers, associate ed. ; Astrid B. Beck, managing, title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, date=2000, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA164, publisher=Eerdmans, location=Grand Rapids, MI tc.isbn=9789053565032 David's Mighty Warriors Biblical murderers