Shabbethai שַׁבְּתַי
Levite who opposed Ezra's marriage reforms
Biography
Shabbethai, mentioned in Ezr.10.15, was a Levite who, along with Meshullam and Jahzeiah, opposed Ezra's efforts to address the problem of intermarriage among the Jewish people who had returned from the Babylonian exile. Ezra had called for a assembly of all the returned exiles in Jerusalem to confront the issue of marriages with foreign women, which was contrary to God's law. Shabbethai and the others stood against this decision, possibly arguing for a more gradual or lenient approach to the situation. Despite their opposition, the assembly agreed with Ezra, and steps were taken to put away the foreign wives and their children.
In Scripture
1 biblical book ; 1 with study contentEzra 1 verse
- Ezra 10:15
"Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them."
Study Ezra →
Names & Aliases
| Form | Language | Script | Strong's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named | Hebrew | שַׁבְּתַי | H7678G |
Shabbethai
reign wives put them aside (Ezr 10:15). Kuenen, however, renders the phrase `amedhu `al zo'th, of which Asahiel and Jahaziah are the subjects, to mean "stand over," "have charge of," rather than "stand against," "oppose" (Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 247 f); this would make Shabbethai, who was in accord with the two men mentioned above, an ally rather than an opponent of Ezra. We incline toward Kuenen's interpretation in view of the position attained by Shabbethai under Nehemiah--one he would have been unlikely to attain had he been hostile to Ezra. He is mentioned among those appointed to explain the Law (Ne 8:7), and as one of the chiefs of the Levites who had the oversight of "the outward business of the house of God" (Ne 11:16).
Horace J. Wolf
sha-ki'-a, shak'-i-a (sakheyah (so Baer, Ginsberg); some editions read sakheya', or sakheya'; also shakheyah, and shabheyah. This last reading is favored by the Syrian and the Septuagint (Codex Vaticanus Sabia; Codex