Kareah

At a Glance

A minor Old Testament personal name associated with Johanan son of Kareah.

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

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.

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.

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.

Jewish and 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.

Primary Key Texts

• 2 Kings 25:23
• Jeremiah 40:8, 13, 15-16
• 41:11, 13, 16
• 42:1, 8
• 43:2, 4-5

Secondary Key Texts

• 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

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.

Related Entries

• Johanan son of Kareah
• Jeremiah
• 2 Kings
• remnant
• Babylonian exile

See Also

• Gedaliah
• Mizpah
• Babylonian captivity
• Judah