Iddo (Hebrew: עִדּוֹʿĪddō; alsoJedo;Greek:Αδει, Αδδω,Adei, Addō) was abiblicalprophet. According to theBooks of Chronicles, he lived during the reigns of KingSolomon and his heirs,Rehoboam andAbijah, in theKingdom of Judah.
Although little is known about Iddo, theBooks of Chronicles say that the events ofSolomon's reign, as well as Iddo's prophecies concerning kingJeroboam I ofIsrael, were recorded in writing.[1] The alleged records composed by Iddo are no longer extant. He is also credited with a history of KingRehoboam[2] and his son KingAbijah.[3]
A tradition of identifying Iddo with the unnamed prophet of 1 Kings 13 can be found in the Talmud,[4] first-century BC Jewish historianJosephus, the fourth- and fifth-century Christian commentatorJerome, and the medieval Jewish commentatorRashi. The protagonist of 1 Kings 13 is identified simply as "a man of God"[5] who prophesies against Jeroboam, as Iddo is said to have done elsewhere. After an unfortunate encounter with an older prophet ofBethel who lies to him, saying that God's angel has instructed him to provide hospitality to him, the "man of God" is killed by a lion as punishment for disobeying a divine command. The older prophet then used his own tomb as a burial place for the "man of God" and ordered his heirs to place his body beside that of the prophet when he died and foretold that the prophesies will come true.
Thesecond Book of Kings records that, 300 years later, during the reign of kingJosiah, the king was engaged in the process of burning human bones to ritually defile Jeroboam's altar. During the trip to do so, Josiah noticed the tombstone of the "man of God", and when he asked was told that it was the tomb of the man who had predicted the destruction of Jeroboam's altar. Josiah ordered that the tomb be left unmolested in commemoration of his prophecy.[6]
In addition to claiming that Iddo the prophet is the unnamed man of 1 Kings 13, Jerome also identifies Iddo the prophet withOded the father of Azariah, who is found in 2 Chronicles 15:8.[7]
Another Iddo is mentioned inEzra 8:17 as the chief man in a place named Casiphia. Ezra requests assistance from Iddo and his brethren to bringservants for the Temple. It is this Iddo to whom Ezra refers when he calls the prophetZechariah a "son of Iddo" in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14.Zechariah 1:1 and 1:7 refer to Iddo as the paternal grandfather of Zechariah.