the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Shethar-Boznai
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Chald. Shethar' Bozenay', שְׁתִר בּוֹזְנִי, Persic =shining star [comp. Oppert, Jour. Asiatique, 1851, p. 400]; Sept. Σαθαρ - βουζανα ‹ v.r. - ζαν, etc.), a Persian officer of rank, having a command in the province "on this side the river" under Tatnai (q.v.) the satrap (פִּחִת ), in the reign of Darius Hystaspis (Ezra 5:3; Ezra 5:6; Ezra 6:6; Ezra 6:13). B.C. 520. He joined with Tatnai and the Apharsachites in trying to obstruct the progress of the Temple in the time of Zerubbabel, and in writing a letter to Darius, of which a copy is preserved in Ezra 5, in which they reported that "the house of the great God" in Judaea was in process of being built with great stones, and that the work was going on fast, on the alleged authority of a decree from Cyrus. They requested that search might be made in the rolls court whether such a decree was ever given, and asked for the king's pleasure in the matter. The decree was found at Ecbatana, and a letter was sent to Tatnai and Shethar- boznai from Daritis, ordering them no more to obstruct, but, on the contrary, to aid the elders of the Jews in rebuilding the Temple by supplying them both with money and with beasts, corn, salt, wine, and oil, for the sacrifices. Shethar-boznai after the receipt of this decree offered no further obstruction to the Jews. The account of the Jewish prosperity in 6:14-22 would indicate that the Persian governors acted fully up to the spirit of their instructions from the king. (See EZRA).
As regards the name Shethar-boznai, it seems to be certainly Persian. The first element of it appears as the name Shethar, one of the seven Persian princes in Esther 1:14. It is perhaps also contained in the name Pharna- zathres (Herod. 7:65); and the whole, name is note unlike Sati-barzanes, a Persian in the time of Artaxerxes Mnemon (Ctesias, 57). If the names of the Persian officers mentioned in the book of Ezra could be identified. in any inscriptions or other records of the reigns of Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes, it would be of immense value in clearing up the difficulties of that book. "The Persian alliteration of the name in cuneiform characters was probably Chitrabarshana, a word which the Greeks would have most properly rendered by Σιτραβαρζάνης (comp. the Σαθαρβουζανα ‹ of the Sept.). Chitrabarshana would be formed from chitra, ‘ race,' ‘ family,' and barshana, a cognate form with the Zend berez, ‘ splendid'" (Speaker's Commentary, ad loc.).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Shethar-Boznai'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/shethar-boznai.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
