Who was Shimeon in the Bible?

Shimeon was an Israelite man who lived during the time of the Babylonian exile. He is specifically mentioned as one of the men who had married a foreign wife, which was against God's law for the returning exiles (Ezra 10:31).

What did Shimeon do in the Book of Ezra?

In Ezra chapter 10, Shimeon is listed among those who confessed to marrying foreign women. In response to Ezra's prayer and the community's covenant, he agreed to send his foreign wife away to purify the people and obey God's command (Ezra 10:44).

Why is Shimeon's story significant?

Shimeon's story is a small part of a larger narrative about the returning exiles' struggle to maintain their religious identity. His agreement to dissolve his marriage highlights the extreme measures the community took to recommit themselves to the Mosaic Law and separate from foreign influences.

Shimeon

Old TestamentExile & ReturnMaleWife

Shimeon was an Israelite who had married a foreign wife during the Babylonian exile and agreed to send her away.

Shimeon

Biography

Shimeon was an Israelite man listed in Ezra 10 among those who had contracted marriages with foreign women during the period following the Babylonian exile. When Ezra, the priest and scribe, discovered the extent of this intermarriage, he mourned publicly and offered a prayer of national confession. His grief mobilized the community, leading to a formal assembly and binding resolution to dissolve these unions in accordance with Mosaic covenant law. Shimeon, whose name is a variant form of Simeon, is listed specifically among those who complied with this decision, surrendering his foreign wife as an act of covenant recommitment. Though mentioned only briefly, his name is preserved as part of Israel's solemn record of communal repentance and reformation during the critical restoration period.

Significance

Shimeon's appearance in the Ezra 10 dissolution list places him among a community engaged in one of the most demanding expressions of covenant faithfulness in the post-exilic period. The willingness of named individuals like Shimeon to comply with Ezra's reform demonstrates that abstract covenant theology must be embodied in concrete, often painful, personal decisions. Theologically, this episode affirms God's ongoing demand for his people's undivided loyalty even after exile, judgment, and partial restoration. It also reflects the biblical pattern in which true repentance requires not merely inner contrition but visible, communal action, a theme that runs from Sinai through the prophets and into the New Testament call for lives transformed by the gospel.

Authority Records

Wikidata

Verse Appearances (1)

Ezra

Ezra 10:31

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]

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