Person Old Testament
Shabbethai
Shabbethai, a Levite, opposed Ezra's efforts to address the issue of intermarriage among the returned exiles. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Ezra 10:15.
Why it matters. Levite who opposed Ezra's marriage reforms
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Shabbethai
Shabbethai, mentioned in Ezr.10.15, was a Levite who, along with Meshullam and Jahzeiah, opposed Ezra's efforts to address the problem of intermarriage among the Jewish people who had returned from the Babylonian exile. Ezra had called for a assembly of all the returned exiles in Jerusalem to confront the issue of marriages with foreign women, which was contrary to God's law. Shabbethai and the others stood against this decision, possibly arguing for a more gradual or lenient approach to the situation. Despite their opposition, the assembly agreed with Ezra, and steps were taken to put away the foreign wives and their children.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
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Appears in Scripture
Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.
Ezra (1 verse)