Shabbethai in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
shab'-e-thi (shabbethay, "one born on the Sabbath"; Codex
Vaticanus Sabathai; Codex Alexandrinus Kabbathai = "Sabbateus"
of 1 Esdras 9:14): A Levite who opposed (?) Ezra's suggestion
that the men who had married foreign wives put them aside (Ezr
10:15). Kuenen, however, renders the phrase `amedhu `al zo'th,
of which Asahiel and Jahaziah are the subjects, to mean "stand
over," "have charge of," rather than "stand against," "oppose"
(Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 247 f); this would make Shabbethai,
who was in accord with the two men mentioned above, an ally
rather than an opponent of Ezra. We incline toward Kuenen's
interpretation in view of the position attained by Shabbethai
under Nehemiah--one he would have been unlikely to attain had
he been hostile to Ezra. He is mentioned among those appointed
to explain the Law (Neh 8:7), and as one of the chiefs of the
Levites who had the oversight of "the outward business of the
house of God" (Neh 11:16).
Horace J. Wolf
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