Rehum and Shimshai

Biblical Account

Rehum and Shimshai appear only in Ezra 4:8–23. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) calls Rehum a bangbaek and Shimshai a seogigwan. Bangbaek denotes a high official in charge of a province, and seogigwan an official who drafts documents; the KJV renders the titles "chancellor" and "scribe." The original-language term for Rehum's title is understood to refer to an official responsible for royal decrees or reports, but his precise duties remain unclear.

According to Ezra 4:9–10, the two men worked together with colleagues of various ethnic origins. These colleagues were people whom Asnapper had brought over and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the region "on this side the river" (west of the Euphrates). They sent a letter to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, making the following claims (Ezra 4:11–16):

• The Jews who had returned from captivity were rebuilding the rebellious city of Jerusalem and repairing its walls.
• Once the city was completed, they would no longer pay tribute and taxes.
• An examination of the ancient records would show that this city had been a place of rebellion.

After having the records searched, the king issued a decree ordering that the building of the city be stopped until further command (Ezra 4:17–22). When the decree was read, Rehum, Shimshai, and their colleagues hurried to Jerusalem and made the work cease by force and power (Ezra 4:23).

Significance Within Scripture

The two men are presented as representatives of the opposition that obstructed the rebuilding after the return from exile. Ezra 4:8 through 6:18 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew, and their letter and the king's decree fall within this section. The two men are not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

Ezra 4 first describes the opposition in the time of Cyrus (vv. 1–5) and then records later accusations made in the reigns of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes (vv. 6–23). In verse 24 it returns to the account of the rebuilding of the temple, which had been halted until the reign of King Darius. For this reason, many scholars regard the episode involving Rehum and Shimshai as a section inserted on thematic rather than chronological grounds. The letter's complaint, moreover, concerns the city and its walls, not the temple. Others, by contrast, have identified this Artaxerxes with a different, earlier king in order to preserve the narrative order. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus is reported to have placed this event in the reign of King Cambyses.

Tatnai, the governor who investigated the temple work in chapters 5–6, belongs to the reign of King Darius and appears in an incident separate from that of Rehum and Shimshai. The men named Rehum in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 3:17; 10:25; and 12:3 are different individuals who merely share the name. Scripture records nothing about the origins or later careers of Rehum and Shimshai.

In the Korean Church

Sermons devoted specifically to these two men are rare. They are mentioned as examples of the opposition that hindered the rebuilding in expository sermons or Bible studies that work through Ezra 4 passage by passage.