Who was Jedidiah in the Bible?

Symbolical name, signifying 'Beloved of Jehovah,' given by God to Solomon, when an infant. 2 Sam. 12:25. This, following on the great sin of David with Bathsheba, is a remarkable instance of how grace can abound over sin.

When Solomon was born his father named him Solomon, which means "Peaceable" (2 Sam. 12:24). Jehovah thus named him before his birth (1 Chron. 22:9). But when he was born He sent Nathan the prophet to David with a second name for the child — Jedidiah, which means "beloved of Jehovah" (2 Sam 12:25). It is added, "Jehovah loved him." Another has remarked, "Nathan, with a marked reference to the meaning of the King's own name (David=the darling, the beloved one), calls the infant Jedidiah (Jedid-yah), that is, the darling of the Lord." Loved by God; chosen by God; preferred by Him above all others for the throne — what an expressive type of our blessed Lord! He is God's true beloved (Isa. 42:1), who in His due time "will speak peace to the nations, and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth" (Zech. 9:10).

We have already dwelt at some length on the sad failure of David that resulted in Bathsheba becoming his wife. We saw that the eldest child of Bathsheba died as an infant. Solomon was this babe's younger brother. His name means "Peaceable", and the Lord loved him." (2 Sam. 12:24-25). And because the Lord loved him, he had a second name. Jedidiah, meaning "Beloved of the Lord."

That interview between Nathan and David terminated. God smote the child, and the child died. Subsequently Solomon was born. Again Nathan, by God's direction, visited the king (2 Sam. 12:24-25), not to revive the remembrance of his guilt, but to assure him of the continuance of divine favour. Bathsheba again bore a son, and David called his name Solomon, as previously directed by God (1 Chron. 22:9), the earnest, as his name implied, of peace and quietness in Israel during that son's reign. But "the Lord loved him" we read, "and He sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and He called his name Jedidiah," i.e., Beloved of Jehovah. What a touching, tender proof of grace on God's part, and of His desire to reassure His servant of it. Solomon spoke of the character of his reign. Jedidiah assured David that his child was an object of Jehovah's love.

Jed i di’ah - Beloved of Jah

His servants say to him: “What thing is this which thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child alive; but as soon as the child is dead, thou dost rise and eat bread.” David answers: “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I thought, Who knows? Perhaps Jehovah will be gracious to me, that the child may live. But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me” (vv. 21-23). “I shall go to him.” Now David is satisfied to bear the seal of this discipline to which the death of his son testifies till the end of his career. “He will not return to me.” David can never know this joy, but he accepts as necessary the path of death through which he must one day walk in order to find his son.

The king is now able to console Bathsheba. Grace flows out to him anew. He has a son whom he names Solomon (meaning, Peaceable) and whom the Lord through Nathan calls “Jedidiah” (meaning, Beloved of Jehovah). Grace brings Bathsheba, whom defilement would prevent from having a portion in God's blessings, into the Messiah's line of descent (Matt. 1:6). She becomes the mother of the king of peace and glory. Grace delights to work on behalf of fallen creatures whom it associates with Christ in order to show its “exceeding riches” in the ages to come.

What happened to Bathsheba's children reminds us of the Scripture, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). The child that was born of David's sin was smitten by the Lord, and he died; but her second child, Solomon, was chosen of God to succeed David as King of Israel. When this child was born, "he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him; and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah (Beloved of Jehovah), because of the Lord" (2 Sam. 12:24-25). It was Jehovah's love for Solomon, sovereign love, that put him on the throne.

The birth and naming of Solomon shows us, on the other hand, how complete was the divine forgiveness, and how completely David's heart was possessed by it. "Peaceful" could he be and call this child of Bathsheba, spite even of the unrevoked declaration as to the sword upon his house. The future is not untroubled, and yet his heart is. There is a true peace in submission, where God is known in His perfect love: that "perfect love casteth out fear"; and how else is this ever attainable?

And to this faith Jehovah answers: not hence is the blow to come, though it might well be thought so. Where our sin has been met and healed by the grace of God in self-judgment, there are we strongest against attack; the enemy will rather select another part. This son of Bathsheba, son of peace as he is to his father's heart, God seals to him as His gift, with a love the barrier of which cannot be broken through: "Jehovah loved him; and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and called him Jedidiah," "beloved of Jah." Let us bless God for a love that can so triumph over sin.

(* There seems to be prophetical allusion to this love in the Godhead in the terms of affection, "My wellbeloved" and "My beloved," used at the beginning of Jehovah's song about His vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7): "Now will I sing to My wellbeloved a song of My beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard...." Jehovah sings the song (Isa. 5:1), and the vineyard, the house of Israel, belongs to Him (Isa. 5:7), and to His beloved also (Isa. 5:1). The title, “wellbeloved " (y'deed), points to the Messiah and is embodied in Jehovah's name for Solomon (Jedidiah), the "beloved of his God " (2 Sam. 12:25: Neh.13:26), type of Him Who was the true Heir of Jehovah's vineyard (Mark 12:6, 7). The other term, “My beloved” (dohd), in Isa. 5:1 seems also to apply to the Messiah. The word occurs frequently (about thirty times) in the Song of Solomon, but nowhere else in the Old Testament, with the exalted meaning of divine love. There is, therefore, this close link between Jehovah's song of the vineyard in Isaiah and the Lord's parable of the vineyard in the Gospels.)

And has it no meaning that Solomon's birth is recorded immediately after these sad and solemn incidents? Solomon means "peaceful." Peace had come to his heart; the divine favour was restored unto him, yet the chastisement grievous and sore would follow him in the future. And then the Lord named also Solomon. He called him "Jedediah." This means "beloved of Jehovah." He is the blessed type of God's own Son. For us He is "peace"--He who hath made peace and our sin is covered by His precious blood. To God He is "the Beloved." The record of the fall of Rabbah closes this chapter. What is recorded in verse 31 was cruel and barbarous. (However, there is a doubt about the translation. It has been rendered in the following way: "And he set them to saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them labor at the brick kiln.") Ammon did horrible things to the women of Israel . (See Amos 1:13.) A fearful retribution came upon them. How often it has been repeated in history, even down to the 20th century with all its boasted civilization, now collapsed in the greatest and most awful war the world has ever witnessed. And thus it will continue to the end, till the true King comes.