Man living at the time of Exile and Return
Shabbethai, a Levite, opposed Ezra's efforts to address the issue of intermarriage among the returned exiles.
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Shabbethai, mentioned in Ezr.10.15, was a Levite who, along with Meshullam and Jahzeiah, opposed Ezra's efforts to address the problem of intermarriage among the Jewish people who had returned from the Babylonian exile. Ezra had called for a assembly of all the returned exiles in Jerusalem to confront the issue of marriages with foreign women, which was contrary to God's law. Shabbethai and the others stood against this decision, possibly arguing for a more gradual or lenient approach to the situation. Despite their opposition, the assembly agreed with Ezra, and steps were taken to put away the foreign wives and their children.
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1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H7678
(Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this plan.)
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.