Shemaiah ( ''Šəmaʿyā''; ''Samaia'' in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

), also known as Samaia or Semeias, was a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

during the reign of

Rehoboam Rehoboam (; , , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a grandson of David. In the account of I Ki ...

( 1 Kings 12:22–24). He is venerated as a saint in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

on 8 January and 9 January.

Biblical narrative

According to 1 Kings and

2 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

, the intervention of Shemaiah prevented a war between Rehoboam and

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇʿām''; ), frequently cited Jeroboam son of Nebat, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel following a Jeroboam's Revol ...

after the latter had led the northern tribes of Israel to separate from the tribes of Judah and

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

. King

had assembled 180,000 troops to forcefully bring back the ten rebellious tribes. Shemaiah was known as a "man of God," and he prophesied in God's words, that "this thing is from Me," and they are not to go up against their brothers, the northern tribes. Shemaiah's words were obeyed and the army stood down. The

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible first published between 1880 and 1919

calls his intervention "a timely reminder of the unity of the race, notwithstanding the division of the kingdom". 2 Chronicles further states that Shemaiah prophesied the punishment of Rehoboam by

Shishak Shishak, also spelled Shishaq or Susac (, Tiberian: , ), was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BC. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.Troy Leiland Sagrillo. 2015.Shoshe ...

, king of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

.2 Chronicles 12:5,7

References

{{Authority control 10th-century BCE Hebrew people Christian saints from the Old Testament Books of Kings people Books of Chronicles people

Biblical narrative

See also

References