Seraiah

SERAIAH se-ra'-ya, se-ri'-a (serayahu, "Yah hath prevailed"; Septuagint Saraias, or Saraia):

(1) Secretary of David (2 Samuel 8:17); in 2 Samuel 20:25 he is called Sheva; in 1 Kings 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 Chronicles 18:16.

(2) A high priest in the reign of Zedekiah; executed with other prominent captives at Riblah by order of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:18,21; Jeremiah 52:24,27). Mentioned in the list of high priests (1 Chronicles 6:14). Ezra claims descent from him (Ezra 7:1)).

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 Kings 25:23,25).

(4) Son of Kenaz, and younger brother of Othniel, and father of Joab, the chief of Ge-harashim (1 Chronicles 4:13,14).

(5) Grandfather of Jehu, of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:35).

(6) A priest, the third in the list of those who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 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 (Nehemiah 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 (Nehemiah 11:11). He is mentioned (under the name Azariah) also in 1 Chronicles 9:11. Nehemiah 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 (Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 51:59-64).

Horace J. Wolf

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'SERAIAH'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.