Eliashib

Biblical Record

Eliashib was the high priest who led the Jerusalem community after the return from the Babylonian exile. According to Nehemiah 12:10, he was the grandson of Jeshua, high priest of the first generation of returnees, and the son of Joiakim; his son was Joiada.

• Rebuilding the walls: According to Nehemiah 3:1, Eliashib and his brethren the priests built and consecrated the Sheep Gate (traditionally understood to be the gate through which sheep for sacrifice were brought into the city). Nehemiah 3:20–21 records that others repaired the section in front of the door of his house.
• Giving a chamber to Tobiah: According to Nehemiah 13:4–9, Eliashib the priest, who had oversight of the chambers of the temple, was allied with Tobiah the Ammonite and gave him a great chamber where the grain offerings and tithes had formerly been stored. When Nehemiah returned from a visit to the king and learned of this, he threw Tobiah's household goods out of the chamber and had it cleansed.
• Marriage ties with Sanballat: According to Nehemiah 13:28, one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, became the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, and Nehemiah drove him away.

The Bible also mentions several other men of the same name: a descendant of the royal line of David (1 Chronicles 3:24), the priest assigned the eleventh of the priestly courses (1 Chronicles 24:12), and a singer and others listed among those who had married foreign wives (Ezra 10:24, 27, 36).

Significance Within Scripture

Eliashib is portrayed both as a religious leader representing the returned community and as a figure entangled with the surrounding powers. The book of Nehemiah records his leadership in rebuilding the wall alongside the problem of alliance with foreign powers that Nehemiah sought to reform. The New Testament does not mention Eliashib, but the Sheep Gate he built appears in John 5:2, where it identifies the location of the Pool of Bethesda.

Interpretation and Debated Issues

• One person or two?: "Eliashib the high priest" in Nehemiah 3 and "Eliashib the priest" in 13:4 are generally regarded as the same person, though some interpreters consider them different individuals because of the difference in title.
• "High priest" in 13:28: Some have noted that the structure of the Hebrew sentence leaves unclear whether "high priest" refers to Eliashib or to Joiada.
• Relationship to Ezra 10:6: Whether the Eliashib in "the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib," into which Ezra went, should be identified with this high priest depends on how one reconstructs the chronological order of the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah.
• Extrabiblical accounts: Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews relates that Manasseh, a member of the high priestly family, married the daughter of Sanballat and became associated with the temple on Mount Gerizim. Because this account is set in the time of Alexander the Great, however, scholars are divided over whether it describes the same event as Nehemiah 13:28. This material is not part of the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

Eliashib is discussed mainly in expository preaching on the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 3:1 is frequently cited as an example of a leader who is the first to take up the work. Nehemiah 13 is often preached as a warning against allowing worldly compromise to enter the community of faith.