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Shephatiah

Old TestamentDivided MonarchyMaleKing

Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, an official during King Zedekiah's reign who opposed Jeremiah.

Shephatiah illustration
Shephatiah

Biography

Shephatiah son of Mattan was a senior official in the court of King Zedekiah of Judah during the final years of Jerusalem before its destruction by Babylon in 586 BC. He is prominently mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1 as one of the officials who heard the prophet Jeremiah's proclamations of imminent judgment and demanded that Zedekiah put Jeremiah to death for demoralizing the soldiers defending the city. When Zedekiah acquiesced, Shephatiah and his colleagues had Jeremiah lowered into a cistern to die, a fate from which the prophet was rescued by Ebed-melech the Ethiopian. Shephatiah thus appears as an antagonist in the Jeremiah narrative, representing those who resisted the word of God in Israel's final hour.

Significance

Shephatiah son of Mattan serves as a cautionary figure in the prophetic history of Judah's fall, embodying the tragic pattern of political leadership that suppressed divine warning at the cost of national catastrophe. His opposition to Jeremiah illustrates the perennial conflict between prophetic truth and political self-interest, as officials who should have led the nation toward repentance instead silenced the voice calling them back to God. His actions against Jeremiah recall the broader biblical theme that rejecting the prophetic word brings judgment (2 Chronicles 36:15-16). His story warns that proximity to power can deafen individuals to the word of God, with consequences that extend far beyond their own lives.

Verse Appearances (1)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
  4. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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