Cononiah

The umbrella collects two Levites who appear in Chronicles, both bearing this name (UPDV spells it Conaniah). Both serve under the southern reform-kings — one under Hezekiah, the other under Josiah — and both are placed in charge of distributions tied to the temple.

Hezekiah's overseer of the tithes

The first Conaniah is appointed when Hezekiah's reform produces a backlog of donated produce that must be inventoried and distributed. The narrative records the appointment in two stages. The collection comes in: "And they brought in the oblations and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: and over them Conaniah the Levite was leader, and Shimei his brother was second" (2Ch 31:12). And the staff under him is then named: "And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the leader of the house of God" (2Ch 31:13). His responsibility is administrative — supervising the receipt and storage of tithes — and he holds it by direct royal appointment.

Josiah's contributor to the Passover

The second Conaniah appears in the great Passover Josiah holds at Jerusalem, where the chiefs of the Levites supply animals for the Passover offerings of their own people: "Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover-offerings five thousand [small cattle], and five hundred oxen" (2Ch 35:9). Here the role is donative rather than supervisory — he is among the levitical chiefs whose contribution makes the festival possible.