Reaiah

Two distinct figures bear the name Reaiah. The first is a Judahite of the Zorathite clan named in Chronicles' genealogies, with what appears to be a parallel form of the same name in an earlier list. The second heads a family of Nethinim that returned with Zerubbabel from the Babylonian captivity.

Reaiah Son of Shobal

The Chronicler's genealogy of Judah names Reaiah as son of Shobal and father of Jahath, with Jahath's sons producing the Zorathite families:

"And Reaiah the son of Shobal begot Jahath; and Jahath begot Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites." (1Ch 4:2).

An earlier section of the same genealogy names "Haroeh" as a son of Shobal, father of Kiriath-jearim, in a position parallel to Reaiah's:

"And Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth." (1Ch 2:52).

The two passages describe the same Shobal family in slightly different forms, with Haroeh appearing where Reaiah is named in chapter 4.

Reaiah, Ancestor of Returning Nethinim

The second Reaiah heads a Nethinim family in the post-exilic return list. The Ezra census places his sons among those who returned to Jerusalem after the captivity in Babylon:

"the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah," (Ezr 2:47).

The parallel list in Nehemiah preserves the same clan in the same Nethinim grouping:

"the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda," (Ne 7:50).

The two registers are doublets of the same return-list, and Reaiah appears in both at the head of an identifiable family.