Seraiah in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

se-ra'-ya, se-ri'-a (serayahu, "Yah hath prevailed"; Septuagint Saraias, or Saraia): (1) Secretary of David (2 Sam 8:17); in 2 Sam 20:25 he is called Sheva; in 1 Ki 4:3 the name appears as Shisha. This last or Shasha would be restored elsewhere by some critics; others prefer the form Shavsha, which is found in 1 Ch 18:16. (2) A high priest in the reign of Zedekiah; executed with other prominent captives at Riblah by order of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Ki 25:18,21; Jer 52:24,27). Mentioned in the list of high priests (1 Ch 6:14). Ezra claims descent from him (Ezr 7:1 (3)). See AZARAIAS; SARAIAS. (3) The son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and one of the heroic band of men who saved themselves from the fury of Nebuchadnezzar when he stormed Jerusalem. They repaired to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, but killed him on account of his allegiance to the Chaldeans (2 Ki 25:23,25). (4) Son of Kenaz, and younger brother of Othniel, and father of Joab, the chief of Ge-harashim (1 Ch 4:13,14). (5) Grandfather of Jehu, of the tribe of Simeon (1 Ch 4:35). (6) A priest, the third in the list of those who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:2; Neh 7:7, here called Azariah; 12:1), and third also (if the same person is meant) in the record of those who sealed the covenant binding all Jews not to take foreign wives (Neh 10:2). As the son of Hilkiah, and consequently a direct descendant of the priestly family, he became governor of the temple when it was rebuilt (Neh 11:11). He is mentioned (under the name Azariah) also in 1 Ch 9:11. Neh 12:2 adds that "in the days of Joiakim" the head of Seraiah's house was Meraiah. (7) Son of Azriel, one of those whom Jehoiakim commanded to imprison Jeremiah and Baruch, the son of Neriah (Jer 36:26). (8) The son of Neriah, who went into exile with Zedekiah. He was also called Sar Menuchah ("prince of repose"). The Targum renders Sar Menuchah by Rabh Tiqrabhta, "prince of battle, and Septuagint by archon doron, "prince of gifts," reading Minchah for Menuchah. At the request of Jeremiah he carried with him in his exile the passages containing the prophet's warning of the fall of Babylon, written in a book which he was bidden to bind to a stone and cast into the Euphrates, to symbolize the fall of Babylon (Jer 51:59-64). Horace J. Wolf