{
  "id": "dict_003087",
  "term": "Kareah",
  "slug": "kareah",
  "letter": "K",
  "entry_type": "biblical_person",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "Kareah is a minor Old Testament personal name, known chiefly as the father of Johanan in the days after Jerusalem’s fall.",
  "simple_one_line": "Kareah is a biblical personal name, best known as the father of Johanan.",
  "tooltip_text": "A minor biblical figure named mainly in connection with Johanan son of Kareah.",
  "aliases": [],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "Johanan son of Kareah",
    "Jeremiah",
    "2 Kings",
    "remnant",
    "Babylonian exile"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Gedaliah",
    "Mizpah",
    "Babylonian captivity",
    "Judah"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "Kareah is a minor biblical personal name mentioned in the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament. He is best known as the father of Johanan, a military leader active in Judah after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "A minor Old Testament personal name associated with Johanan son of Kareah.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Biblical personal name, not a theological concept.",
    "Best known through references to Johanan son of Kareah.",
    "Appears in the accounts surrounding Judah’s collapse and the remnant after Jerusalem’s fall."
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Kareah is a minor Old Testament personal name, chiefly identified as the father of Johanan son of Kareah in the narratives surrounding Judah’s fall to Babylon. The name is not treated in Scripture as a doctrinal or theological term.",
  "description_academic_full": "Kareah appears in the Old Testament as a personal name associated with Johanan son of Kareah, one of the leaders active in Judah after Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon. The biblical text uses the name primarily for identification and family relationship, not as a developed character portrait or theological category. For that reason, Kareah is best handled as a minor biblical person entry rather than as a theological term.",
  "background_biblical_context": "Kareah is mentioned in connection with Johanan son of Kareah during the turbulent period following the Babylonian conquest of Judah. The references place his family within the historical setting of the remnant community left in the land and the political instability that followed Jerusalem’s fall.",
  "background_historical_context": "The name belongs to the late monarchic and immediate post-destruction period in Judah, when Babylon had overthrown Jerusalem and the surviving population faced military, political, and prophetic conflict. Johanan son of Kareah appears among the figures navigating the crisis after the exile began.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "As with many biblical personal names, Kareah serves primarily as a family identifier in the narrative. Ancient readers would likely recognize the name through Johanan’s patronymic rather than through any independent biography of Kareah himself.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "2 Kings 25:23",
    "Jeremiah 40:8, 13, 15-16",
    "41:11, 13, 16",
    "42:1, 8",
    "43:2, 4-5"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "Jeremiah 41–43",
    "2 Kings 25:22-26"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "The name is transliterated from Hebrew into English as Kareah. Scripture does not provide a separate theological explanation of the name in the text itself.",
  "theological_significance": "Kareah has little direct theological development in Scripture. His significance is mainly historical, since he identifies Johanan within the larger narrative of Judah’s collapse, the remnant, and the prophetic warnings given through Jeremiah.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "This entry illustrates how the Bible often preserves ordinary family names for historical precision. Theological meaning lies not in the name itself, but in the redemptive-historical setting in which the named person appears.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not confuse Kareah with a doctrinal term or a major biblical character. The Bible gives little direct information about him apart from his relationship to Johanan, so details beyond the text should not be asserted confidently.",
  "major_views_note": "There is no major interpretive controversy about Kareah himself; the main issue is how to classify the entry. He is best treated as a minor biblical person rather than a theological concept.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "This entry should remain descriptive and historical. It should not be used to support doctrinal claims beyond the plain narrative context in which the name appears.",
  "practical_significance": "Kareah’s name helps readers track the people involved in Jeremiah’s post-fall narratives and reminds us that Scripture’s historical records preserve real individuals in real covenant crises.",
  "meta_description": "Kareah is a minor Old Testament personal name, best known as the father of Johanan in the period after Jerusalem’s fall.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/kareah/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/kareah.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}