Jehiel
Jehiel, one of the descendants of Harim, was a priest who married a foreign woman during the Exile.
Biography
Jehiel was a priest descended from the family of Harim who was listed among those who had married foreign women during the exile, as recorded in Ezra 10:21. When Ezra arrived in Jerusalem and discovered the widespread practice of intermarriage with surrounding peoples, a violation of Mosaic covenant boundaries, he led a period of communal confession and reform. The men listed in Ezra 10, including Jehiel, pledged to put away their foreign wives and the children born of those unions. The decision, painful as it was, represented a communal commitment to maintaining the covenant identity and purity of the restored community. As a priest, Jehiel bore a heightened responsibility: the priestly families were expected to model covenant fidelity more strictly than ordinary Israelites.
Significance
Jehiel's inclusion in the list of Ezra 10 carries important theological weight. As a priest who had entered a forbidden marriage, he represents the pervasive nature of a community-wide drift from covenant standards, one that touched even the most sacred of Israel's institutions. His willingness to participate in Ezra's reform, despite the personal cost of separating from his wife and children, illustrates the gravity with which post-exilic leaders treated covenant faithfulness. This episode speaks to the ongoing tension between personal relationships and communal covenant obligations, a tension that the New Testament resolves not through stricter legal enforcement but through the transforming power of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Verse Appearances (1)
Ezra
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]