Tobiah

pleasing to Jehovah, the "servant," the "Ammonite," who joined with those who opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Exile ( Nehemiah 2:10 ). He was a man of great influence, which he exerted in opposition to the Jews, and "sent letters" to Nehemiah "to put him in fear" ( Nehemiah 6:17-19 ). "Eliashib the priest" prepared for him during Nehemiah's absence "a chamber in the courts of the house of God," which on his return grieved Nehemiah sore, and therefore he "cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber" ( Nehemiah 13:7 Nehemiah 13:8 ).

Tobijah

(goodness of Jehovah ).

1. "The children of Tobiah" were a family who returned with Zerubbabel, but were unable to prove their connection with Israel -- ( Ezra 2:60 ; Nehemiah 7:62 ) (B.C. before 536.)
2. "Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite," played a conspicuous part in the rancorous position made by Sanballat the Moabite and his adherents to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. (B.C. 446.) 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 Caanan, and was not extinct when the Hebrews had ceased to exist as a nation. But Tobiah, though a slave, ( Nehemiah 2:10 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. ( Nehemiah 6:18 ) He himself was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, ( Nehemiah 6:17 ) and these family relations created for him a strong faction among the Jews.

TOBIAH

to-bi'-a (Tobhiyah; Codex Alexandrinus Tobias; omitted in Codex Vaticanus):

(1) An Ammonite slave (King James Version, "servant"), probably of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria (Nehemiah 2:10). He was grieved exceedingly when Nehemiah came to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. In two ways he was connected by marriage with the Jews, having himself married the daughter of Shecaniah, the son of Arab, and his son Jehohanan having married the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah (Nehemiah 6:18). Because of this close connection with the Jews, the nobles of the latter corresponded by letter with him and also reported his good deeds to Nehemiah and reported Nehemiah's words to Tobiah. In consequence of the report, Tobiah sent letters to Nehemiah to put him in fear (6:17-19). Nehemiah seems to have considered him to be his chief enemy; for he put him before Sanballat in his prayers to God to remember his opponents according to their works (6:14). In 13:4 we are told that he was an ally of Eliashib, the high priest who had the oversight of the chambers of the house of God and had prepared for him as a guest chamber the room which had before been used as a storehouse for offerings of various kinds. Nehemiah, having heard during his second visit to Jerusalem of this desecration of the temple, cast out the household stuff of Tobiah and cleansed the chambers, restoring the vessels of God and the offerings as of old.

(2) The eponym of a family which returned with Zerubbabel, but could not trace its descent (Ezra 2:60; Nehemiah 7:62).

R. Dick Wilson