Jozabad

Jozabad is a recurring Hebrew name (יוֹזָבָד, "Yahweh has bestowed") borne by several distinct figures in the postexilic and Davidic-era records of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Six distinct figures bear the name: two warriors of Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag, a Gederathite among David's mighty men, two Levites in Hezekiah's and Josiah's reigns, the son of Jeshua who weighed the temple treasure under Ezra, a priest of the sons of Pashhur who took a foreign wife, and a cluster of three Levites involved in the postexilic reform and temple oversight.

Warriors with David at Ziklag

Two men named Jozabad appear among the Manassites who defected to David during his exile at Ziklag. The Chronicler lists them side by side: "there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh" (1Ch 12:20). A third Jozabad, distinguished by his town, stands among David's elite "thirty": Jozabad the Gederathite, listed alongside Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, Jeremiah, Jahaziel, and Johanan (1Ch 12:4).

Levites under Hezekiah and Josiah

A Jozabad serves as one of the overseers in Hezekiah's reorganization of temple offerings, set under Conaniah and Shimei "by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the leader of the house of God" (2Ch 31:13). Another Jozabad appears in Josiah's Passover, where the chiefs of the Levites — "Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad" — contribute "five thousand [small cattle], and five hundred oxen" for the Passover-offerings (2Ch 35:9).

Son of Jeshua at Ezra's Treasury

When Ezra's caravan reaches Jerusalem, the silver, gold, and vessels are weighed on the fourth day in the house of God. Jozabad the son of Jeshua, identified as a Levite, witnesses the transfer alongside Meremoth the priest, Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and Noadiah the son of Binnui (Ezr 8:33).

A Priest among the Sons of Pashhur

In the catalog of those who had married foreign wives, Jozabad appears among "the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah" (Ezr 10:22). His placement under the priestly family of Pashhur marks him as a priest, distinct from the Levitical Jozabads in the same chapter and in Nehemiah.

Levites of the Postexilic Reform

Three further Levites bear the name in the rebuilt community. The first appears at the head of the Levitical list in Ezra's marriage purge: "And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer" (Ezr 10:23). The second stands among the Levites who, when Ezra reads the law at the Water Gate, "caused the people to understand the law" (Ne 8:7). The third is named with Shabbethai as one of the chiefs of the Levites "who had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God" (Ne 11:16) — that is, the public administrative affairs of the temple as distinguished from the inner sanctuary service.