Meremoth

Biblical Record

Meremoth was a priest who served in Jerusalem after the return from the Babylonian exile. Scripture introduces him as "Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest" (Ezra 8:33) and as "Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz" (Nehemiah 3:4), that is, the son of Uriah and grandson of Hakkoz. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) spells his father's name inconsistently, as "Uria" (Ezra 8:33; Nehemiah 3:4) and "Uriya" (Nehemiah 3:21).

• Receiving the temple offerings: On the fourth day after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem, the silver, gold, and vessels that Ezra had brought from Babylon were weighed in the temple and handed over to Meremoth. Eleazar the son of Phinehas, Jozabad the Levite, and Noadiah were with him (Ezra 8:33). That the items were weighed and transferred in the presence of several witnesses shows that he was responsible for receiving and safeguarding the offerings.
• Repairing the wall: When Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, Meremoth repaired one section (Nehemiah 3:4). In the text this section is listed immediately after the work on the Fish Gate. He also took charge of another portion, repairing from the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest to the end of that house (Nehemiah 3:21).

The same name appears elsewhere. The Meremoth of Ezra 10:36 was one of the descendants of Bani who had married foreign wives; since he was not a priest, he is a different person. The Meremoth of Nehemiah 12:3 appears in the list of priests who returned with Zerubbabel and is generally regarded as belonging to an earlier generation. As for the priest Meremoth who sealed the covenant in Nehemiah 10:5, some identify him with this Meremoth, while others regard him as a different person.

Significance Within Scripture

Hakkoz appears in 1 Chronicles 24:10 as the head of the seventh priestly division. Ezra 2:61–62, however, records that the descendants of Hakkoz were excluded from the priesthood because they could not find their genealogical records. For this reason, some interpreters take the fact that his descendant Meremoth handled the temple offerings as a priest to mean that the house of Hakkoz later regained its priestly status. The text, however, does not directly explain how this came about. Meremoth is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debate

Scholars debate the order in which Ezra and Nehemiah carried out their work. In this discussion, Meremoth's appearance in both books is sometimes cited as one piece of evidence, though scholars differ on how it should be interpreted. Scripture records nothing about Meremoth's character or the rest of his life.

In the Korean Church

Meremoth is not a widely known figure. He is sometimes mentioned in sermons on the rebuilding of the wall in Nehemiah 3 as an example of someone who took responsibility for two sections of the work.