SHEMAIAH

(She·maiʹah) [Jehovah has heard].

1. A Simeonite whose distant descendant joined the expedition that seized grazing territory from Canaanites in the days of Hezekiah.—1 Chron. 4:24, 37-41.

2. A son of Joel in the tribe of Reuben.—1 Chron. 5:3, 4.

3. Chief of the Levitical house of Elizaphan. Shemaiah and two hundred of his brothers, having sanctified themselves, were in the procession that brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 15:4, 8, 11-16.

4. The secretary of the Levites who recorded the twenty-four priestly divisions organized according to David’s instruction; son of Nethanel.—1 Chron. 24:6.

5. Firstborn son of Obed-edom, a Levite. Shemaiah and his sons were all enrolled as gatekeepers assigned to the sanctuary storehouses.—1 Chron. 26:1, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15.

6. A prophet of Jehovah during the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Following the revolt of the ten northern tribes in 997 B.C.E., Shemaiah pronounced Jehovah’s words forbidding an attempt by Rehoboam to reconquer them. (1 Ki. 12:21-24; 2 Chron. 11:1-4) In Rehoboam’s fifth year (993 B.C.E.), Egyptian King Shishak invaded Judah, and Shemaiah informed Rehoboam and his princes that Jehovah had abandoned them since they had abandoned Him. However, because Rehoboam and the princes humbled themselves, Jehovah lessened the destructiveness of the invasion. (2 Chron. 12:1-12) Shemaiah also penned one of the written records of Rehoboam’s reign.—2 Chron. 12:15.

7. One of the Levites sent by King Jehoshaphat in his third year (934 B.C.E.) to teach the Law in the cities of Judah.—2 Chron. 17:7-9.

8. A Levite descendant of Jeduthun commissioned by Hezekiah in his first year of rule (745 B.C.E.) to help cleanse the temple. Shemaiah and the other Levites took the unclean things down to the Kidron valley. (2 Chron. 29:12, 14-16) Possibly the same person as No. 9 following.

9. One of the Levites who distributed the tithes and other contributions in the cities of the priests during Hezekiah’s reign. (2 Chron. 31:6, 12, 14, 15) Possibly the same as No. 8 above.

10. One of the Levite chieftains who made a generous contribution of animal victims for Josiah’s great Passover celebration.—2 Chron. 35:1, 9.

11. Father of Urijah, a prophet contemporary with Jeremiah; from Kiriath-jearim.—Jer. 26:20.

12. Father of Delaiah, a Judean prince during the reign of Jehoiakim.—Jer. 36:12.

13. A false prophet of the town of Nehelam and opponent of Jeremiah taken captive to Babylon with Jehoiachin in 617 B.C.E. From there he wrote back to the priest Zephaniah and associate priests in Jerusalem, condemning Jeremiah for foretelling a long captivity and for urging the captives to settle down in Babylonia. Shemaiah contended that Jeremiah should be put in stocks. Jehovah, however, prophesied against Shemaiah for attempting to make the Jews trust in falsehood and speaking outright revolt: neither he nor his offspring would be among the returning exiles.—Jer. 29:24-32.

14. A priest, and likely the founder of a priestly family, who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. In the following generation, Jehonathan headed Shemaiah’s paternal house. (Neh. 12:1, 6, 7, 12, 18) Their representative, or some other priest of the same name, attested to the national covenant during Nehemiah’s governorship.—Neh. 10:1, 8.

15. A Levite descended from Jeduthun whose son or descendant Obadiah lived in Jerusalem after the exile.—1 Chron. 9:16, 34.

16. A Levite of the descendants of Merari who also lived in Jerusalem sometime after the Babylonian exile; son of Hasshub.—1 Chron. 9:14, 34; Neh. 11:15.

17. A leader of the sons of Adonikam who accompanied Ezra to Jerusalem in 468 B.C.E. He is possibly one of those whom Ezra had dispatched to request ministers for the sanctuary, resulting in the gathering of some Levites and Nethinim for the journey.—Ezra 8:1, 13, 16-20.

18. One of the priests whom Ezra, on arriving in Jerusalem, encouraged to send away the foreign wives they had taken; son of Harim.—Ezra 10:10, 11, 21, 44.

19. One of the Israelites, son of another Harim, who had also taken foreign wives but who sent them away.—Ezra 10:25, 31, 44.

20. One of those who helped repair Jerusalem’s wall; son of Shecaniah and a gatekeeper, therefore probably a Levite.—Neh. 3:29.

21. The false prophet hired by Tobiah and Sanballat to tell Nehemiah of a supposed threat on his life, in this way trying to frighten Nehemiah, who was not a priest, to commit a sin by hiding in the temple, Son of Delaiah.—Neh. 6:10-13.

22. Presumably a prince of Judah in the thanksgiving choir that marched to the right around Jerusalem atop the rebuilt wall at its inauguration.—Neh. 12:31-34.

23. A priest of the family of Asaph whose descendant marched in the same procession, evidently as a trumpeter.—Neh. 12:31, 35.

24. A priestly musician in the same procession; apparently a relative of No. 23 above.—Neh. 12:31, 36.

25. A priest who apparently played the trumpet when the two thanksgiving choirs met at the house of Jehovah on the occasion of the wall’s inauguration.—Neh. 12:40-42.

26. A distant descendant of David through Zerubbabel. (1 Chron. 3:9, 10, 19, 22) Some scholars think that the words “and the sons of Shemaiah,” in the middle of verse 22 (which is followed by only five names), should be omitted as a scribal error, thus crediting Shecaniah with six sons. However, other scholars suggest that Shemaiah and his five sons were reckoned as the six descendants of Shecaniah.