Eliashib (High Priest)
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Eliashib the High Priest is mentioned in Nehemiah
12:10,22 and 3:1, 20-21,13:28 and possibly the Book of Ezra
10:6 of the Hebrew Bible
. Some also place him in different parts of Nehemiah including 12:23 and 13:4,7, but this is disputed. Nehemiah 3:20-21 places his home between the area of two working groups constructing the walls of Jerusalem on the north side of the city. He helped with the refortification of this wall (Neh 3:1). The size of his house indicated his wealth and high socio-economic status (Neh 3:23-21). This places him as someone who lived during the time of Nehemiah, and as a result, probably Ezra also. In the year 445 BCE, Eliashib was the high priest when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in the 20th year of Artaxerxes I (Nehemiah 1:1, 2:1).
Josephus puts Eliashib as a contemporary of Ezra during the reign of Xerxes
, in Ant. 11.5,6-8. He also dates his reign as high priest through the reign of Cyrus, also called by the Greeks, Artaxerxes. This is the Artaxerxes depicted in the Book of Esther
. Josephus outlines this story in Antiq.11:185- Antiq 11:297. The last quotation of this story states, "When Eliasib the high priest was dead, his son Judas succeeded in the high priesthood."(Antiq 11:297)
Eliashib's grandson was married to the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite
(Neh 13:28), and while Nehemiah was absent in Babylon Eliashib had leased the storerooms of the temple to Sanballat's associate Tobiah the Ammonite, thereby depriving the Levites of their rations. When Nehemiah returned he threw Tobiah's furniture out of the temple and drove out Eliashib's grandson (Neh 13:4-9). This may be the political background to the allegorical vision of Satan, the Angel of the Lord and Eliashib's (possibly deceased) grandfather Joshua the High Priest
in Zechariah 3.
Book of Nehemiah
The Book of Nehemiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws...
12:10,22 and 3:1, 20-21,13:28 and possibly the Book of Ezra
Book of Ezra
The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era...
10:6 of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. Some also place him in different parts of Nehemiah including 12:23 and 13:4,7, but this is disputed. Nehemiah 3:20-21 places his home between the area of two working groups constructing the walls of Jerusalem on the north side of the city. He helped with the refortification of this wall (Neh 3:1). The size of his house indicated his wealth and high socio-economic status (Neh 3:23-21). This places him as someone who lived during the time of Nehemiah, and as a result, probably Ezra also. In the year 445 BCE, Eliashib was the high priest when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in the 20th year of Artaxerxes I (Nehemiah 1:1, 2:1).
Josephus puts Eliashib as a contemporary of Ezra during the reign of Xerxes
Xerxes I of Persia
Xerxes I of Persia , Ḫšayāršā, ), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the fifth king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire.-Youth and rise to power:...
, in Ant. 11.5,6-8. He also dates his reign as high priest through the reign of Cyrus, also called by the Greeks, Artaxerxes. This is the Artaxerxes depicted in the Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
. Josephus outlines this story in Antiq.11:185- Antiq 11:297. The last quotation of this story states, "When Eliasib the high priest was dead, his son Judas succeeded in the high priesthood."(Antiq 11:297)
Eliashib's grandson was married to the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite
Sanballat the Horonite
Sanballat the Horonite or Sanballat I was a Samaritan leader and official of the Persian Achaemenid Empire who lived in the mid to late fifth century BC...
(Neh 13:28), and while Nehemiah was absent in Babylon Eliashib had leased the storerooms of the temple to Sanballat's associate Tobiah the Ammonite, thereby depriving the Levites of their rations. When Nehemiah returned he threw Tobiah's furniture out of the temple and drove out Eliashib's grandson (Neh 13:4-9). This may be the political background to the allegorical vision of Satan, the Angel of the Lord and Eliashib's (possibly deceased) grandfather Joshua the High Priest
Joshua the High Priest
Joshua the High Priest was, according to the Bible the first person chosen to be the High Priest for the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity The name is also spelled 'Jeshua' in some English versions , and, as with the earlier Joshua, is...
in Zechariah 3.