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Seraiah

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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• שְׂרָיָה , שְׂרָיָהוּ

1. A scribe, and one of the officials under David (2 Samuel 8:17; comp. 20:25, where he appears under the name Sheva). In 1 Kings 4:3 his sons, Elihoreph and Ahiah, occupy the position of their father (here called Shisha), this implying that Seraiah had died before Solomon's accession. In 1 Chronicles 18:16 he is called Shavsha. A comparison of these four forms justifies the conclusion that his real family name was Shavsha or Shisha (comp. Klostermann, "Die Bücher Samuelis und der Könige," in "Kurzgefasster Kommentar zu den Heiligen Schriften"; Thenius, "Die Bücher Samuelis," in "Kurzgefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch").
2. Chief priest during the reign of Zedekiah, mentioned with Zephaniah, the second priest; both were executed, with others of rank, by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18,21; Jeremiah 52:24-27). Seraiah was the son of Azariah (1 Chronicles 6:14), and the father of Ezra the Scribe (Ezra 7:1).
3. The son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and one of the heroic band that saved themselves from the fury of Nebuchadnezzar when he stormed Jerusalem. They repaired to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, but killed him on account of his allegiance to the Chaldeans (2 Kings 25:25). In the parallel passage, Jer. 8, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite are mentioned in addition to Seraiah.
4. Son of Kenaz, and younger brother of Othniel, and father of Joab, the chief of Ge-harashim (1 Chronicles 4:13,14, R. V.).
5. Grandfather of Jehu, of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:35).
6. Priest, third in the list of those who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7 [here called Azariah], 12:1), and third also in the record of those who sealed the covenant binding all Jews not to take foreign wives (Nehemiah 10:2). As the son of Hilkiah, and consequently a direct descendant of the priestly family, he became governor of the Temple when it was rebuilt (Nehemiah 11:11). He is mentioned (under the name Azariah) also in 1 Chronicles 9:11.
7. Son of Azriel, one of those whom Jehoiakim commanded to imprison Jeremiah and Baruch, the son of Neriah (Jeremiah 36:26).
8. The son of Neriah, who went into banishment with Zedekiah. He bore the name also of Sar Menuḥah (= "prince of repose"; comp. the commentaries of Dillmann and Nowack, ad loc.). The Targum renders "Sar Menuḥah" by "Rab Taḳrubta" (= "prince of battle"), and the Septuagint by ἄρχων δρωνό (= "prince of gifts" [reading "Minḥah" for "Menuḥah"]). At the request of Jeremiah he carried with him in his exile the passages containing the prophet's warning of the fall of Babylon, written in a book which he was bidden to bind to a stone and cast into the Euphrates, to symbolize the fall of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:59-64).