Eliashib ( ''’Elyāšîḇ'', " El restores") the High Priest is mentioned in

Nehemiah Nehemiah (; ''Nəḥemyā'', "Yahweh, Yah comforts") is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period as the governor of Yehud Medinata, Persian Judea under Artaxer ...

12:10,22 and 3:1, 20-21,13:28 and possibly the

Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed Mikraot Gedolot, rabbinic bib ...

of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Johanan Yohanan ('), sometimes transcribed as Johanan, is a Hebrew male given name that can also appear in the longer form of ('), meaning " YHWH is gracious". The name is ancient, recorded as the name of Johanan, high priest of the Second Temple arou ...

(Ezra 10:6). Some also place him in different parts of Nehemiah including 12:23 and 13:4,7, but this is disputed. Nehemiah 3:20-21 places his home between the area of two working groups constructing the walls of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

on the south side of the city. He helped with the refortification of this wall (Neh 3:1). The size of his house indicated his wealth and high socio-economic status (Neh 3:23-21). This places him as someone who lived during the time of Nehemiah. In the year 445 BCE, Eliashib was the high priest when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in the 20th year of

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, ; ) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( ''Makrókheir''; ), allegedly because his ri ...

(Nehemiah 1:1, 2:1). Josephus puts Eliashib as a contemporary of Ezra during the reign of Xerxes, in Ant. 11.5,6-8. He also dates his reign as high priest through the reign of

Cyrus the Younger Cyrus the Younger ( ''Kūruš''; ; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC in battle during a failed attempt to oust his ...

, who Josephus mentions is "also called by the Greeks, Artaxerxes". Josephus outlines this story i
Antiq. 11:185

Antiq 11:297
The last quotation of this story states, "When Eliasib the high priest was dead, his son Judas succeeded in the high priesthood."(Antiq 11:297) Eliashib's grandson was married to a relative of Sanballat the Horonite (Neh 13:28) and, while Nehemiah was absent in Babylon, Eliashib had leased the storerooms of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

to Sanballat's associate Tobiah the Ammonite. When Nehemiah returned he threw Tobiah's furniture out of the temple and drove out Eliashib's grandson (Neh 13:4-9). According to

David Kimhi ''Cervera Bible'', David Kimhi's Grammar Treatise David Kimhi (, also Kimchi or Qimḥi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK () (Rabbi David Kimhi), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian ...

,Rabbi David Kimchi's Commentary upon the prophecies of Zechariah David Kimchi, Alexander McCaul "Satan is spoken figuratively of Sanballat and his companions, who were adversaries to them, and caused them to stop from their work. Jonathan has thus interpreted it, " And the sinner * stood at his right hand to oppose him. " this is the political background to the allegorical vision of

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

, the Angel of the Lord and Eliashib's (possibly deceased) grandfather Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah 3.

Patrilineal Ancestry

As per 1 Chronicles chapter 5

References

{{High Priests of Judaism 5th-century BCE high priests of Israel Book of Nehemiah people Book of Ezra people