Lexical Summary Yorah: "Rain" or "Early Rain" Original Word: יוֹרָה Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Jorah From yarah; rainy; Jorah, an Israelite -- Jorah. see HEBREW yarah NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom yarah Definition an Isr. family NASB Translation Jorah (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs יוֺרָה proper name, masculine ׳בְּנֵי י one of the families of the restoration Ezra 2:18 (ᵐ5 Ουρα, Ιωρα) = חָרִיף Nehemiah 7:24 (ᵐ5 Αρειφ). Topical Lexicon Name and Meaning Yorah (sometimes transliterated Jorah) is the personal or clan name borne by a group that returned from Babylonian captivity. The consonantal root appears to be shared with the Hebrew verb yarah, “to pour” or “to cast/throw,” a root that also yields the noun “early rain.” Although naming patterns in post-exilic Judah often recalled God’s past mercies or future hopes, Scripture itself gives no explicit theological interpretation of the name. Biblical Occurrence Ezra 2:18 lists “the descendants of Jorah, 112” among the returning exiles who came with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. This is the sole explicit appearance of the name in the Masoretic Text. A closely corresponding place in the parallel list of Nehemiah 7:24 reads “the sons of Hariph, 112,” a phonetic variation many conservative scholars regard as a scribal substitution for the same family line. The numeric agreement (112) strengthens the identification. Historical Setting The family of Yorah took part in the first wave of repatriation dated to 538 BC. Persia’s decree through Cyrus (Ezra 1:1–4) had opened the way, and faithful Jewish households, though relatively few, uprooted themselves from established lives in Babylon to resettle the desolate province of Judah. Their willingness to forgo comfort for covenant responsibility places the sons of Yorah among the pioneers who laid the physical and spiritual foundations for Second-Temple Judaism. Role in Restoration 1. Covenant Community. By registering in Ezra’s genealogical roll the Yorah clan affirmed its Israelite lineage. This was vital for participation in temple worship, land inheritance, and civic leadership under the Torah. Textual Considerations The variation between “Jorah” (Ezra) and “Hariph” (Nehemiah) illustrates the normal phenomena of post-exilic onomastics: slight consonantal shifts, differing scribal traditions, and vowel pointing added many centuries later. These minor differences do not undermine the authority of the text; instead, they confirm the independent yet concordant witness of Ezra and Nehemiah, each drawing from archival sources (Ezra 4:15; Nehemiah 7:5). Theological and Ministry Significance • Faithfulness in Obscurity. Yorah is remembered not for exploits but for fidelity. Scripture honors even “minor” servants whose quiet obedience advances God’s redemptive program. Lessons for Today 1. Record and celebrate acts of obedience, however small; they encourage future generations. In the brief mention of Yorah, the Bible quietly testifies that no act of devotion—no matter how hidden in genealogical lists—escapes the notice of the Lord who “writes a book of remembrance” for those who fear Him (Malachi 3:16). Forms and Transliterations יוֹרָ֔ה יורה yō·w·rāh yoRah yōwrāhLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Ezra 2:18 HEB: בְּנֵ֣י יוֹרָ֔ה מֵאָ֖ה וּשְׁנֵ֥ים NAS: the sons of Jorah, 112; KJV: The children of Jorah, an hundred INT: the children of Jorah an hundred both 1 Occurrence |
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