Shelemiah
Shelemiah, an Israelite who married a foreign wife during the time of Ezra.
Biography
Shelemiah is listed in Ezra 10:41 among the Israelites, specifically among the sons of Harim, who had taken foreign wives during the early period of the restoration community and agreed to put them away as part of Ezra's covenant reform. He is one of a series of names recorded in Ezra 10 representing men from various family groups who stood before the assembly and acknowledged their transgression. Like the other individuals named in this passage, Shelemiah's personal circumstances are not elaborated; he appears as one member of a community engaged in a difficult and painful process of communal repentance and reformation intended to preserve Israel's covenant identity before God.
Significance
Shelemiah's place among those who had married foreign wives in Ezra 10 situates him within one of the most theologically freighted crises of the post-exilic period. The dissolution of these marriages, however painful humanly, reflected the community's recognition that its survival as a covenant people demanded the maintenance of boundaries that distinguished Israel's worship from surrounding religious practices. Shelemiah's compliance with the reform process testifies to the power of communal accountability and prophetic leadership in reshaping behavior. His story invites reflection on the ongoing tension between grace and covenant obligation, and on the communal dimensions of repentance in the life of God's people.
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]