SHABBETHAI

(Shabʹbe·thai) [born on the sabbath].

A postexilic Levite. The text at Ezra 10:15 reads: “(However, Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah themselves stood up against this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levites were the ones that helped them.)” This verse may be read to mean that Shabbethai helped those who opposed Ezra’s proposal that those who had taken foreign wives dismiss them. But another possible meaning is that he was one who helped Ezra and those in accord with him. This latter view would find support if the Shabbethai mentioned here is the same person named at Nehemiah 8:5-7; 11:1, 2, 15, 16 as assisting Ezra at the public reading of the Law and who lived in Jerusalem after the wall was rebuilt.