Delaiah

Delaiah is the name borne by several distinct men in the Hebrew scriptures, scattered across the priestly courses of the monarchy, the court of Jehoiakim, the post-exilic returnees, and the royal line of Judah. The name surfaces only in lists, brief notices, and one charged scene in Jeremiah, but the cluster spans roughly five centuries of Israel's life.

Head of the Twenty-Third Priestly Course

In David's organization of the sons of Aaron, the lots fall by household. The twenty-third allotment goes to Delaiah: "the three and twentieth to Delaiah, the four and twentieth to Maaziah" (1Ch 24:18). The notice is bare, but it places a Delaiah at the head of one of the twenty-four rotating divisions that served at the sanctuary.

A Prince in Jehoiakim's Court

A second Delaiah, son of Shemaiah, sits among the princes when Baruch's reading of Jeremiah's scroll is reported in the king's house. The scribe's chamber gathers "Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes" (Jer 36:12). When Jehoiakim moves to destroy the roll, Delaiah is among those who try to stop him: "Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them" (Jer 36:25). The intercession fails, but it is recorded.

A Family Among the Returnees

A Delaiah also stands at the head of a household whose descent could not be verified after the exile. The lists of those who came up from Babylon name "the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two" (Ezr 2:60), and the parallel register reads, "The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred forty and two" (Ne 7:62). The two counts differ, but in both rolls the household of Delaiah is grouped with families whose Israelite genealogy could not be proved.

Father of Shemaiah the False Prophet

In Nehemiah's memoir a different Delaiah appears as the grandfather of a hired voice. Nehemiah recounts: "And I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay you; yes, in the night they will come to slay you" (Ne 6:10). Shemaiah is the figure who tries to lure Nehemiah into the sanctuary; Delaiah is named only as his father.

In the Royal Line of Judah

Finally, a Delaiah appears at the tail of the Davidic genealogy in Chronicles, among the sons of Elioenai: "And the sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Delaiah, and Anani, seven" (1Ch 3:24). The list extends the line of Jeconiah down past the return from exile, and Delaiah stands among the seven sons closing the chapter.