Difference between revisions of "Tobiah"

<p> [[Tobiah]] or [[Tobijah]] ("goodness of Jehovah".) </p> <p> '''1.''' A [[Levite]] employed by [[Jehoshaphat]] to teach the law in the cities of Judah (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 17:8). </p> <p> '''2.''' "The slave, the Ammonite." With [[Sanballat]] and [[Geshem]] tried by fair means and foul to thwart Nehemiah (&nbsp;Nehemiah 2:10; &nbsp;Nehemiah 2:19; &nbsp;Nehemiah 6:17-18; &nbsp;Nehemiah 13:1-8). He had the greater power of mischief, being married into a [[Jewish]] family (the daughter of Shechaniah), and having his son [[Johanan]] married to the daughter of Meshullam, thus he had a Jewish party on his side. As Sanballat represented Moab's hereditary grudge against Israel, so Tobiah represented Ammon's. [[Eliashib]] was allied to Tobiah; possibly Sanballat, Eliashib's son in law, was related to Tobiah, and so Tobiah was connected with Eliashib (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:4). Hence, it was deemed necessary to read before the people the law that "the [[Ammonite]] and the [[Moabite]] should not come into the congregation of God forever" (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:1). Tobiah was notorious for contemptuous sarcasm (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:3-5), "even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." </p> <p> Nehemiah winced under his scorn and appealed to God for vindication: "hear, [[O]] God, for we are despised, and turn their reproach upon their own head." The psalmist of Psalm 123 (possibly Nehemiah) speaks in the person of [[Israel]] similarly of Moab's, Ammon's, and Samaria's contempt: "behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters (glancing in contrast at 'Tobiah the servant' or slave) so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God ... Have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt; our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud." An undesigned coincidence between the psalm and the history. </p> <p> So also &nbsp;Psalms 79:4; &nbsp;Psalms 79:12, written at the same date (see &nbsp;Psalms 79:1) when the "holy temple" lay "defiled": "we are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us ... [[Render]] unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach wherewith they have reproached Thee." Tobiah corresponded with the nobles of Judah of his party, many of whom were "sworn to him" because of affinity. These reported his good deeds before Nehemiah to win him over, and then reported Nehemiah's words to Tobiah, and wrote intimidating letters to Nehemiah (&nbsp;Nehemiah 6:17-19). His crowning impudence was residing in a chamber of the temple, of which the proper use was to be a store for the vessels, the tithes, and offerings for the Levites, priests, etc., Eliashib having dared, in defiance of the law, to prepare it for him. Nehemiah was sorely grieved, and cast all Tobiah's stuff out, and commanded the cleansing of the chambers (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:1-9). </p>

<p> [[Tobiah]] (''To-Bî'Ah'' ), ''Goodness Of Jehovah. 1.'' "The children of Tobiah" were a family who returned with Zerubbabel, but were unable to prove their connection with Israel. &nbsp;Ezra 2:60; &nbsp;Nehemiah 7:62. 2. Tobiah though a slave, &nbsp;Nehemiah 2:10; &nbsp;Nehemiah 2:19—unless this is a title of opprobrium—and an Ammonite, found means to ally himself with a priestly family, and his son Johanan married the daughter of [[Meshullam]] the son of Berechiah. &nbsp;Nehemiah 6:18. He himself was the son-in-law of [[Shechaniah]] the son of Arah, &nbsp;Nehemiah 6:17, and these family relations created for him a strong faction among the Jews. </p>

<p> (Heb. Tobiyah', טוֹנַיָּה [once טֹביָּה,Nehemiah 2, ''19], [[Goodness]] Of Jehovah'' ; Sept. Τωβίας v.r. Τωβεία; Vulg. ''Tobia, Tobis'' )'','' the name of two men. (See [[Tobias]]); (See Tobiail). </p> <p> '''1.''' A person whose "children" were a family that returned with Zerubbabel, but were unable to prove their connection with Israel (&nbsp;Ezra 2:60; &nbsp;Nehemiah 7:62). B.C. ante 536. </p> <p> '''2.''' A base-born ally of the Samaritans who played a conspicuous part in the rancorous opposition made by Sanballat the Moabiite and his adherents to the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, B.C. 446. With ''An'' affectation of scorn, after the manner of [[Remus]] in the Roman legend, they looked on the constructions of the now hopeful and thriving Jews, and contemptuously said, "Even if a fox go up, he will break down their stone wall" (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:3). The two races of Moab and Ammon found in these men fit representatives of that hereditary hatred to the Israelites which began before the entrance into Canaan, and was not extinct when the Hebrews had ceased to exist as a nation. The horrible story of the origin of the [[Moabites]] and Ammonites, as it was told by the Hebrews, is an index of the feeling of repulsion which must have existed between these hostile families of men. In the dignified rebuke of Nehemiah it received its highest expression: "Ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem" (2, 20). But Tobiah, though-a slave (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:10; &nbsp;Nehemiah 4:19), unless this be a title of opprobrium, and an Ammonite, found means to ally himself with a priestly family, and his son Johanan, married the daughter of Meshullam the son of [[Berechiah]] (6, 18). He himself was the son in-law of Shechaniah the son of [[Arah]] (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:17), and these family relations created for ‘ him a strong faction among the Jews, and may have had something to do with the stern measures which Ezra found it necessary to take to repress the intermarriages with foreigners. Even a grandson of the high-priest Eliashib had married a daughter of Sanballat (13, 28). In 13:4 Eliashib is said to ‘ have been allied to Tobiah, which would imply a relationship of some kind between Tobiah and Sanballat, though its nature is not mentioned. The evil had spread so far that the leaders of the people were compelled to rouse their religious antipathies by reading from the law of Moses the strong prohibition that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:1). Ewald (Gesch. 4:173) conjectures that Tobiah had been a page ("slave") at the [[Persian]] court, and, being in favor there, had been promoted to be satrap of the Ammonites. But it almost seems that against Tobiah there was a stronger feeling of animosity than against Sanballat, and that this animosity found expression in the epithet "the slave," which is attached to his name. It was Tobiah who gave venom to the pitying scorn of Sanballat (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:3), and provoked the bitter cry of Nehemiah (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:4-5); it was Tobiah who kept up communications with the factious Jews, and who sent letters to put their leader in fear (&nbsp;Nehemiah 6:17; &nbsp;Nehemiah 6:19); but his crowning act of insult was to take up his residence in the Temple in the chamber which Eliashib had prepared for him in defiance of the [[Mosaic]] statute. Nehemiah's patience could no longer contain itself, "therefore," he says, "‘ I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber," and with this summary act Tobiah disappears from history (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:7-8). (See [[Nehemiah]]). </p>