Shebna () was the royal steward (''`asher `al ha-bayith'', "he who is over the house"; the chief or prime minister of state) in the reign of king

Hezekiah Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Kingdom of Judah, Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.Stephen L Harris, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "G ...

of Judah, according to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Easton's Bible Dictionary: Shebna
/ref> Because of his

pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

he was ejected from his office, and replaced by Eliakim the son of Hilkiah as recorded in

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amo ...

(). Shebna also appears to have been the leader of the party who favored an alliance with

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

against Assyria.

Biblical accounts

Shebna may have been the same "Shebna the scribe" who was sent by Hezekiah to confer with the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n ambassador recorded in the

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Is ...

(; ; parallel accounts in , , 22; 37:2), although

Easton's Bible Dictionary The ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', better known as ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'', is a reference work on topics related to the Christian Bible, compiled by Matthew George Easton. The first edition was published in 1893, and a revised editio ...

refers to them as being different people.

Tomb and inscription

A royal steward's

rock-cut tomb A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...

discovered in Silwan is conjectured to be Shebna's,Jewish Magazine - Jerusalem Tombs
/ref> although only the term "-yahu" remains legible on the lintel from the tomb that is now kept in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. British Museum Collection
/ref> The partially preserved inscription was deciphered to read "...yahu who is over the house". The assumption is that Shebna's name may have been pronounced 'Shebna-yahu', the missing name fitting onto the damaged portion of the inscription."Ancient Jerusalem's Funerary Customs and Tombs: Part Two," L. Y. Rahmani, ''The Biblical Archaeologist'', Vol. 44, No. 4 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 229–235.

References

{{Authority control 8th-century BCE Hebrew people 7th-century BCE Jews

Biblical accounts

Tomb and inscription

See also

References