Jozabad
Jozabad was one of the priests who had married foreign women during the time of Ezra and agreed to put them away.
Biography
This Jozabad was a priest listed among those who had contracted marriages with foreign women during the turbulent period of post-exilic restoration under Ezra (Ezra 10:22). He belonged to the priestly family of Pashhur and is named in Ezra's reform assembly as one who pledged to dissolve his foreign marriage in compliance with the covenant renewal demanded by Ezra and the community leaders. The crisis of intermarriage in Ezra's account was not primarily ethnic but theological: such marriages threatened the spiritual purity of the restored community and risked repeating the idolatrous compromises that had led to the original exile. His compliance represented a painful but necessary act of covenant faithfulness.
Significance
Jozabad's situation illuminates one of the most difficult passages in Old Testament ethics, the dissolution of marriages for theological reasons. His compliance with Ezra's demand illustrates the high cost of covenant renewal: real reformation sometimes requires painful personal sacrifice. The episode also raises enduring questions about the relationship between religious community standards and individual family life. Theologically, the priestly community's willingness to hold its own members accountable, naming individuals publicly and requiring concrete action, models a pattern of communal discipline grounded in genuine desire for covenant integrity rather than social exclusion.
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]