Joiada (Son of Eliashib)

Biblical Record

Joiada appears only in the Book of Nehemiah. His name is included in the line of high priests after the return from the Babylonian exile. Nehemiah 12:10–11 traces this line from Jeshua to Jaddua: "And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua." Nehemiah 12:22 states that "the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers," referring to him as one generation in the succession of the high priesthood during which the heads of the Levites were recorded.

The only narrative reference to him is in Nehemiah 13:28. In the latter part of chapter 13, Nehemiah recounts how he dealt with the people of Judah who had married foreign women. In this passage he writes: "And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me." Sanballat had obstructed Nehemiah's rebuilding of the city wall. In the following verse, Nehemiah 13:29, Nehemiah prays concerning those who had defiled the priesthood.

Beyond this, the text says nothing about Joiada's own deeds or character. The Joiada son of Paseah (KJV: "Jehoiada the son of Paseah") who repaired the old gate in Nehemiah 3:6 is a different person who merely shares the name. Joiada is also distinct from Jehoiada, the high priest during the kingdom of Judah mentioned in 2 Kings.

Significance in the Bible

Joiada is one figure in the genealogy that shows how the high priesthood continued after the return from exile. Nehemiah 13:28 shows that even the high priestly family had formed marriage ties with the faction opposed to Nehemiah. For this reason, the verse serves as a source for understanding the background of Nehemiah's reforms, which sought to restore the purity of the priesthood. He is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretations and Issues

• Who was the high priest: Some have pointed out that in the Hebrew text of Nehemiah 13:28 it is grammatically unclear whether the title "high priest" refers to Eliashib or to Joiada. Interpretations therefore differ as to whether Joiada was already high priest at the time of this incident.
• Jonathan and Johanan: Nehemiah 12:11 names Joiada's son as Jonathan, while 12:22 lists Johanan after Joiada. Many scholars regard the two names as referring to the same person, but others view them as different individuals or attribute the difference to scribal transmission.
• Relationship to the account of Josephus: The first-century Jewish historian Josephus reports that Manasseh, brother of the high priest Jaddua, married the daughter of Sanballat. He is known to have connected this event with the building of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. Some view this as the same incident described in Nehemiah 13:28. However, Josephus places it in the time of Alexander the Great, so neither the chronology nor the persons involved match. Because this story is an extrabiblical tradition, it should be distinguished from the biblical text itself.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons focused on Joiada himself are rare. Nehemiah 13:28 is generally mentioned only in passing in sermons or Bible studies on the reforms of Nehemiah 13.