Habaiah
חֲבַיָּה/huh-BAY-yuh/
“Protected by Jehovah or Jehovah has hidden”
Summary
Habaiah was an ancestor of a priestly family that returned from Babylonian captivity but was excluded from the priesthood because they could not verify their genealogical records.
☩The Excluded Priests
Habaiah's descendants were among the priests who returned from exile with Zerubbabel. However, they were degraded from the priestly office because they could not trace their genealogy to prove their legitimate descent from Aaron. Along with the descendants of Barzillai and Koz, they sought their registration among those enrolled by genealogy but could not find it, and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The name appears as Habaiah in Ezra and as Hobaiah in the parallel passage in Nehemiah.
Key verses:Ezra 2:61Nehemiah 7:63
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Habaiah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Habaiah; Hobaiah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Habaiah," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).