Hodiah

Hodiah is the name carried by several Israelite figures and is also given in the form Hodijah. The name surfaces in two narrow precincts of the Hebrew Bible: a single genealogical notice from Judah's clan records in 1 Chronicles, and the post-exilic restoration accounts in Nehemiah, where Hodiah appears among the Levites who taught and led the people and among the chiefs who sealed the renewed covenant.

A Husband in Judah's Genealogies

The first Hodiah is named only obliquely, by way of his wife, in the Judahite genealogies of 1 Chronicles. The clan record links him to Naham's sister and to the founders of Keilah: "And the sons of Hodiah's wife, the sister of Naham: Dalia the father of Keilah and Simeon the father of Joman. And the sons of Naham were the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite" (1 Chronicles 4:19). Nothing further is told of him; the verse preserves his name solely as a node in the line that produced Keilah and Eshtemoa.

A Levite Who Taught and Blessed

A second Hodiah belongs to the company of Levites active in Jerusalem after the return from exile. When Ezra read the Law before the assembled people at the Water Gate, Hodiah was among the Levites who interpreted what was read so that the hearers could grasp it: "Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place" (Nehemiah 8:7).

The same Hodiah, or one of the Levitical bearers of the name, reappears at the great penitential assembly of the next chapter, leading the congregation into doxology: "Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Yahweh your⁺ God from everlasting to everlasting; and let them bless your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise" (Nehemiah 9:5).

When the people committed themselves in writing to keep the Law, Hodiah's name occurs twice within the roster of Levites who set their seal to the covenant — first in the cluster of Kadmiel's brothers, and again a few names later: "and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan" (Nehemiah 10:10), and "Hodiah, Bani, Beninu" (Nehemiah 10:13). The repetition within the same Levitical list shows that more than one Levite of this name was active in the post-exilic community.

A Chief of the People

A further Hodiah is listed not among the Levites but among the lay leaders who likewise sealed the covenant. After the priestly and Levitical names, the document turns to "the chiefs of the people," and Hodiah stands in their company: "Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai" (Nehemiah 10:18). His placement on the lay side of the seal-list distinguishes him from the Levitical Hodiahs of the same chapter and identifies him as one of the heads of the families who pledged the nation to the renewed obligations of the Law.