Paseah

The name Paseah (also rendered Phaseah) belongs to a small set of Old Testament figures whose appearances are confined to Judah's genealogical and post-exilic records. The umbrella collects three references: a Judahite descendant of Eshton, the head of a temple-servant family that returned from Babylon, and the father of one of the men who rebuilt Jerusalem's gates after the exile.

A Son of Eshton in Judah

In the Chronicler's expansion of Judah's genealogy, Paseah appears among the descendants of Chelub, brother of Shuhah:

"And Eshton begot Beth-rapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah" (1Ch 4:12).

The line is set within the wider Judahite roll and ends with the geographic note that these were the men of Recah.

A Family Among the Returnees from Babylon

In the registers of those who came back from captivity, Paseah heads a family of Nethinim — the temple servants enrolled with the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, and singers. The same name appears in both parallel registers:

"the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai," (Ezr 2:49).

"the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah." (Ne 7:51).

Father of Joiada the Wall-builder

The third reference belongs to the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, where a son of Paseah is named among the men who repaired the gates of the city. He is likely the same figure as the head of the returnee family:

"And the old gate repaired Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, and its bolts, and its bars." (Ne 3:6).

The post-exilic references thus link the name Paseah to both the temple-servant lineage and the practical work of restoring Jerusalem's defenses.