Pashur (son of Malchiah)

Several people named Pashur appear in the Bible. This article covers Pashur son of Malchiah, who appears in the Book of Jeremiah. He is not the same person as Pashur son of Immer, who struck Jeremiah and put him in the stocks, a wooden frame used to fasten a prisoner's feet (Jeremiah 20:1–6). All the people who bear this name are listed in the Pashur article.

Biblical account

Pashur son of Malchiah appears in two passages of the Book of Jeremiah.

• Jeremiah 21:1–2: When Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made war against Jerusalem, King Zedekiah sent Pashur and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah. They asked him to entreat the LORD on their behalf and expressed the hope that the LORD might perform a wondrous work so that the Babylonian army would withdraw. Jeremiah answered that God would instead fight against the city, and that whoever surrendered to the Chaldeans would live (21:3–10).
• Jeremiah 38:1–6: Pashur, together with Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to the people. Jeremiah was declaring that those who remained in the city would die and those who surrendered would live. These officials (called "princes" in the KJV) urged the king to put Jeremiah to death, charging that he was weakening the resolve of the soldiers and the people. When Zedekiah handed him over to them, they let Jeremiah down by cords into "the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech" (literally, "Malchiah the king's son") in the court of the guard. The cistern held no water, only mire, and Jeremiah sank into the mire. He was later rescued at the plea of Ebed-melech the Ethiopian (38:7–13). Nothing further is recorded of Pashur after these events.

Significance within the Bible

Pashur is portrayed as one of the leading figures of the Jerusalem court who rejected Jeremiah's prophecies just before the Babylonian exile. At first, in a time of crisis, he went to the prophet to seek God's help; but when the answer was not what he wanted, he sided with those who sought to do away with the prophet. The New Testament does not mention him.

Interpretations and questions

• 1 Chronicles 9:12 and Nehemiah 11:12 name "Pashur, the son of Malchiah" as an ancestor of Adaiah, a priest who lived in Jerusalem after the return from exile. Some identify this Pashur with the figure in Jeremiah and regard the priestly family of "the children of Pashur" in Ezra 2:38 as his descendants. The Bible, however, does not state directly that the two records refer to the same person.
• Some interpreters also identify "Malchiah the king's son," the owner of the cistern in which Jeremiah was confined, with Pashur's father. The text does not state the relationship between the two.
• Because of the shared name, he is often confused with Pashur son of Immer. The two men have different fathers and appear at different times.

In the Korean church

Pashur is rarely the subject of a sermon in his own right. He is typically mentioned only by name, as one of the officials who persecuted the prophet, in sermons or Bible studies on Jeremiah's confinement in the cistern (Jeremiah 38).