PAHATH-MOAB

(Paʹhath-moʹab) [governor of Moab].

Founder of a family in Israel. If he was an official over Moab, as his name might imply, it was probably during the time when Moab was under Judah’s domination. His holding such a position remains uncertain, however, as nothing is said of him personally in the Scripture record.

Pahath-moab’s descendants noted in Ezra and Nehemiah are all postexilic. Some of them comprised the second most numerous family to return with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 6; Neh. 7:11) By the time of Ezra’s return in 468, with more descendants of Pahath-moab accompanying him, some of the first group (or their offspring) had taken foreign wives, but responded to Ezra’s admonition to dismiss them. (Ezra 8:1, 4; 10:30, 44) Another of this family, Hasshub, helped Nehemiah to repair Jerusalem’s wall, and a descendant or representative of theirs also attested by seal the agreement of faithfulness that was put forward shortly thereafter.—Neh. 3:11; 9:38; 10:1, 14.