A Moabite of Horonaim (Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 13:28). Seemingly he had some command over "the army of Samaria" (Nehemiah 4:2) under Artaxerxes. A perpetual opponent of Nehemiah from the time of his arrival in Judaea. (See NEHEMIAH.) Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian (Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 4:7; Nehemiah 4:6) were in league with him. His daughter married the high-priest Eliashib's grandson, Joiada's son; therefore Nehemiah chased him from him (Nehemiah 13:28). Tobiah had formed a similar alliance with Eliashib, so that it looks as if Eliasbib concerted with the Samaritan party to thwart Nehemiah's reforming plans. Josephus' account of a Sanballat 100 years later under Alexander the Great seems unhistorical.