Habaiah

Habaiah is the ancestor of a priestly family among the returnees from the Babylonian exile. He himself is named only as a forefather; what is recorded is the descent of his sons, who appear in the post-exilic registers alongside the sons of Hakkoz and the sons of Barzillai.

A priestly house among the returnees

Ezra's register lists him directly: "And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name" (Ezra 2:61). He stands at the head of a priestly clan whose claim to the priesthood is being examined as the community resettles.

Nehemiah's parallel list of the same returnees attests the same house with a small spelling variant: "And of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name" (Neh 7:63). The pairing with Hakkoz and Barzillai in both lists ties Habaiah / Hobaiah to the Barzillai-Gileadite connection through which a priestly line had taken its name.