Zabad
Zabad, son of Nebo, was an Israelite who had married a foreign wife during the Exile.
Biography
Zabad son of Nebo is listed in Ezra 10:43 among the Israelite men who had taken foreign wives and who, in response to Ezra's reformation, pledged to put away these women and their children. He was among a group of men from the family of Nebo, a clan within the returning exiles, who stood before the assembly gathered in Jerusalem during the ninth month of Ezra's first year. The post-exilic community had been warned repeatedly that intermarriage with foreign women posed a serious threat to covenant fidelity, as it had done historically under Solomon and others. Zabad's inclusion in this list marks him as one who ultimately responded to the communal call for covenant renewal, however painful that process must have been.
Significance
Zabad's compliance with Ezra's reform (Ezra 10:43) represents the difficult but necessary act of covenant recommitment in the post-exilic era. For the returned Jewish community, the issue of foreign wives was inseparable from the danger of religious syncretism and the erosion of distinctive Yahwistic worship. Zabad's willingness to comply with the community's decision illustrates the serious demands of covenant life, that personal relationships must sometimes be subordinated to communal faithfulness. His story cautions against the gradual compromise of faith through seemingly personal choices, while also demonstrating that genuine repentance and reform require both communal accountability and individual courage.
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]