Eliashib ( ''’Elyāšîḇ'', " El restores") the High Priest is mentioned in

Nehemiah Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC). The name is pronounced o ...

12:10,22 and 3:1, 20-21,13:28 and possibly the

Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible; which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed rabbinic bibles of the e ...

of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Johanan Yohanan, Yochanan and Johanan are various transliterations to the Latin alphabet of the Hebrew male given name ('), a shortened form of ('), meaning " YHWH is gracious". The name is ancient, recorded as the name of Johanan, high priest of th ...

(Ezra 10:6). Some also place him in different parts of Nehemiah including 12:23 and 13:4,7, but this is disputed. Nehemiah 3:20-21 places his home between the area of two working groups constructing the walls of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

on the south side of the city. He helped with the refortification of this wall (Neh 3:1). The size of his house indicated his wealth and high socio-economic status (Neh 3:23-21). This places him as someone who lived during the time of Nehemiah. In the year 445 BCE, Eliashib was the high priest when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in the 20th year of

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the " Artas ...

(Nehemiah 1:1, 2:1). Josephus puts Eliashib as a contemporary of Ezra during the reign of Xerxes, in Ant. 11.5,6-8. He also dates his reign as high priest through the reign of

Cyrus the Younger Cyrus the Younger ( peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ''Kūruš''; grc-gre, Κῦρος ; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC i ...

, who Josephus mentions is "also called by the Greeks, Artaxerxes". Josephus outlines this story i
Antiq. 11:185

Antiq 11:297
The last quotation of this story states, "When Eliasib the high priest was dead, his son Judas succeeded in the high priesthood."(Antiq 11:297) Eliashib's grandson was married to a relative of Sanballat the Horonite (Neh 13:28) and, while Nehemiah was absent in Babylon, Eliashib had leased the storerooms of the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

to Sanballat's associate

Tobiah the Ammonite According to the Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, Tobiah was an Ammonite official who attempted to hinder Nehemiah's efforts to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, and took over the storerooms of the Temple for ...

. When Nehemiah returned he threw Tobiah's furniture out of the temple and drove out Eliashib's grandson (Neh 13:4-9). According to

David Kimhi ''Cervera Bible'', David Qimhi's Grammar Treatise David Kimhi ( he, ר׳ דָּוִד קִמְחִי, also Kimchi or Qimḥi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK () (Rabbi David Kimhi), was a medieval rabbi, biblical comm ...

,Rabbi David Kimchi's Commentary upon the prophecies of Zechariah David Kimchi, Alexander McCaul "Satan is spoken figuratively of Sanballat and his companions, who were adversaries to them, and caused them to stop from their work. Jonathan has thus interpreted it, " And the sinner * stood at his right hand to oppose him. " this is the political background to the allegorical vision of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

, the Angel of the Lord and Eliashib's (possibly deceased) grandfather

Joshua the High Priest Joshua ( ''Yəhōšūa‘'') or Yeshua ( ''Yēšūaʿ'') the High Priest was, according to the Bible, the first person chosen to be the High Priest for the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Cap ...

in Zechariah 3.

Patrilineal Ancestry

As per 1 Chronicles chapter 5

References

{{High Priests of Judaism 5th-century BCE High Priests of Israel Book of Nehemiah Book of Ezra