JERAHMEEL jĭ rä’ mĭ əl (יְרַחְמְאֵ֥ל, perhaps meaning The Lord will have mercy, LXX ̔Ιεραμεήλ). 1. The first-born son of Hezron, the son of Pharez, the son of Judah. The strange vocalization of Caleb as Celubai (1 Chron 2:9) obscures the fact that Jerahmeel was brother of courageous and faithful Caleb, the famous companion of Joshua (Num 13:6, 30; 14:1-10). This relationship may account for the prominence given Jerahmeel and his descendants in the genealogical records (1 Chron 2:9, 25-27, 33, 42). Called Jerahmeelites, his descendants dwelt in the Negeb of Judah at least until the time of David (1 Sam 27:10; 30:29).

2. Among the Levites, presumably at the time of the organization of worship at the sanctuary in David’s time was a Jerahmeel (1 Chron 24:29), son of Kish (no relation of the father of King Saul, a Benjamite), of the Levite sub-tribe of Merari (1 Chron 24:26, 27; cf. 23:21). Note in spite of the textual difficulties of this part of Chronicles the clarity of the Levite orientation (23:30). The importance of this Jerahmeel is simply that he was among the first to serve at a permanent central sanctuary. A central sanctuary, successor to David’s, was being fitted and staffed when Chronicles was written which explains the emphasis on Levite genealogies.

3. This man was deputized by King Jehoiakim, with two companions, to arrest Jeremiah and his assistant, Baruch. This was after the king burned Jeremiah’s scroll. The effort ended in failure for “the Lord hid them” (Jer 36:26). Whether the father of Jerahmeel was “the king” (LXX, RSV) or a certain Hammeleck, friend (36:27; cf. 38:6) of Jeremiah is a matter uncertain, for the Heb. is capable of either treatment.