Sheshbazzar

Biblical Record

Sheshbazzar is named only in Ezra 1 and 5. Near the end of the Babylonian exile, Cyrus, king of Persia, permitted the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-4). Cyrus then had Mithredath the treasurer bring out and count the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and he delivered them to Sheshbazzar, "the prince of Judah" (Ezra 1:7-8). The Hebrew word rendered "prince" here, nasi, denotes a chieftain or head. Sheshbazzar brought 5,400 vessels of gold and silver up to Jerusalem together with the exiles (Ezra 1:11). It has long been noted, however, that the itemized counts in the immediately preceding verses, 1:9-10, add up to 2,499, which does not match this total.

Sheshbazzar is mentioned again in Ezra 5, in a letter that Tatnai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, sent to King Darius. According to this letter, the elders of Judah answered as follows: Cyrus had appointed Sheshbazzar governor (Aramaic pechah) and entrusted the vessels to him; Sheshbazzar came to Jerusalem and laid the foundation of the house of God; and from that time until the present the building had been under way (Ezra 5:14-16).

Significance Within Scripture

Sheshbazzar led the first stage of the return from exile. The temple vessels entrusted to him are read as a sign that the worship once taken away was beginning to be restored. Nothing is recorded of his later activities or his death, and he is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debate

The chief point of debate is his relationship to Zerubbabel. Ezra 3:8-10 records that Zerubbabel and Jeshua laid the foundation of the temple in the second year after the return, and Zechariah 4:9 likewise says that the hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation. Ezra 5:16, however, attributes the same work to Sheshbazzar. Commentators are broadly divided among three views.

• Same-person view: Sheshbazzar is taken to be Zerubbabel's Babylonian name, comparable to Daniel receiving the name Belteshazzar (Daniel 1:7).
• Shenazar view: Sheshbazzar is identified with Shenazar, listed in 1 Chronicles 3:18 as a son of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), which would make him Zerubbabel's uncle.
• Separate-person view: Sheshbazzar was the first official in charge, who led the initial return and began the foundation work, and Zerubbabel later succeeded him, resumed the work, and brought it to completion. Some add that the account in Ezra 5 is a statement made before Persian officials and therefore appeals to the person whom Cyrus had officially appointed.

No denomination has an established official position on this question, and commentators differ even within the same denomination. Sheshbazzar is also commonly described as a descendant of the Davidic royal line, but this is a conjecture based on the Shenazar view; the text of Ezra does not state it directly.

In the Korean Church

Sheshbazzar is rarely treated on his own in sermons or hymns. He is mentioned mainly in programs for reading through the Bible and in Bible studies on Ezra, in connection with the process of rebuilding the temple and with Zerubbabel.