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Jonathan is a figure appearing in the account of Micah's Idol in the Kol Chovevei Torah: Moshe's Unique Prophesy by Rabbi David Almog and Lisa Bennett Almog
Indeed, Gershom, Jonathan's father's name, was also the name of a son of Moses.
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...
, in which he is appointed as the priest of a shrine; since the shrine contained an ephod and teraphim
Teraphim () is a word from the Hebrew Bible, found only in the plural, and of uncertain etymology. Despite being plural, teraphim may refer to singular objects. Teraphim is defined in classical rabbinical literature as "disgraceful things",''Jew ...
, Jonathan is referred to as an idol-worshipper by traditional Judaism. The text identifies Jonathan as the son of Gershom
According to the Bible, Gershom ( ''Gēršōm'', "a sojourner there"; ) was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name means "a stranger there" in Hebrew, ( ''ger sham''), which the text argues was a reference to Moses' flight from Egypt. ...
, son of ''Manasseh'', but there is a scribal oddity in that the verse presents the name of ''Manasseh'' as מנשה, with the "נ" superscript
A subscript or superscript is a character (such as a number or letter) that is set slightly below or above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than the rest of the text. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, wh ...
ed, which does not occur elsewhere in the Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
; the correct reading may be ''Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
'' (Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: משה, ''Moshe''), and Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi ().
Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
and other sages suspected as much, arguing that the name was changed to Manasseh to avoid scandalising Moses.Indeed, Gershom, Jonathan's father's name, was also the name of a son of Moses.
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