Ater

Ater is a name carried by three figures associated with the return from Babylon and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem community under Ezra and Nehemiah. Two are family heads named in the parallel registers of returnees — one tied to Hezekiah, one to a porter clan — and the third is a covenant-signer in Nehemiah's day.

A descendant of Hezekiah

The Ezra register of those who came up out of the captivity counts a household reckoned by ancestry: "The sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety and eight" (Ezr 2:16). Nehemiah's parallel list preserves the entry without variation: "The sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety and eight" (Ne 7:21). The two registers agree on both the lineage and the number.

A porter family

A second Ater stands at the head of a porter clan in the same return. Ezra lists him among the gatekeepers: "The sons of the porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all a hundred thirty and nine" (Ezr 2:42). Nehemiah's parallel preserves the same six clans in the same order, with a slightly lower total: "The porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, a hundred thirty and eight" (Ne 7:45).

A signer of the covenant

In the covenant sealed under Nehemiah, the name appears again among the chiefs who set their hand to it: "Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur," (Ne 10:17). The pairing of Ater with Hezekiah here echoes the Hezekiah-family register, though the text presents him as a covenant-signer rather than identifying him with the earlier returnee.