Shemaiah שְׁמַעְיָ֫הוּ

Shemaiah was a priest who lived during the time of Ezra and had married a foreign woman. In Ezr.10.21, he is listed among the descendants of Harim who had taken foreign wives. This was part of a larger issue facing the Jewish community after their return from Babylonian exile, as many had intermarried with the surrounding peoples. Ezra called for the people to separate themselves from their foreign wives and children to maintain the purity and integrity of the Jewish faith. Shemaiah, along with the other priests and Levites who had married foreign women, agreed to put away their wives and offer a ram as a guilt offering for their transgression.