Shabbethai

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Shabbethai . A Levite who opposed Ezra in the matter of the foreign marriages (  Ezra 10:15 ) = Sabbateus of   Esther 9:14  Esther 9:14 . Cf.   Nehemiah 8:7 [ 1Es 9:43 Sabateus ] 11:16.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Shabbetha'i. (Sabbatical). A Levite, in the time of Ezra.  Ezra 10:15. It is apparently the same who, with Jeshua and others, instructed the people in the knowledge of the law.  Nehemiah 8:7. (B.C. 450).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

One or more Levites who returned from exile and assisted Ezra.  Ezra 10:15;  Nehemiah 8:7 :  Nehemiah 11:16 .

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1.  Ezra 10:15.

2.  Nehemiah 11:16.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Nehemiah 8:7 Ezra 10:15 Nehemiah 11:16

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Ezra 10:15 Nehemiah 8:7 11:16

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shab´ḗ - thı̄ ( שׁבּתי , shabbethay , "one born on the Sabbath"; Codex Vaticanus Σαβαθαί , Sabathaı́  ; Codex Alexandrinus Καββαθαί , Kabbathaı́ = "Sabbateus" of 1 Esdras 9:14): A L evite who opposed (?) Ezra's suggestion that the men who had married foreign wives put them aside ( Ezra 10:15 ). Kuenen, however, renders the phrase זאת על עמדוּ , ‛āmedhū ‛al zō'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 ( Nehemiah 8:7 ), and as one of the chiefs of the Levites who had the oversight of "the outward business of the house of God" ( Nehemiah 11:16 ).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

[many Shabbeth'ai', some Shabbetha'i] (Heb. Shabbethai', שִׁבִּתִי , Sabbatical, i.e. born on the Sabbath; Sept. Σαββαθα ‹ v.r. Σαβαθα ‹ and Καββαθα ‹ ; in  Nehemiah 8:7 Σαββαθαῖος ) , one of the chief Levites, who was active in the reformations and restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah. ( Ezra 10:15;  Nehemiah 8:7;  Nehemiah 11:16). B.C. cir. 450.