Rehum

Rehum is a name borne by several distinct figures in the post-exilic record of Ezra and Nehemiah. The name attaches to a returnee from Babylon, a Persian official who tried to halt Jerusalem's rebuilding, a Levite wall-builder, a layman who sealed Nehemiah's covenant, and a priest among Zerubbabel's company. The narratives keep these men separate by office and context, even where the spelling of the name varies.

Returnee with Zerubbabel

The first Rehum stands in the leadership list of those who came back from exile under Zerubbabel and Jeshua: "who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah" (Ezra 2:2). The parallel roster in Nehemiah lists the same group with several name variants and gives the form Nehum in his place: "who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah" (Neh 7:7). The two lists agree in position and surrounding names, marking Nehum and Rehum as the same returnee.

The Chancellor against Jerusalem

A second Rehum holds office under Artaxerxes as a Persian administrator stationed in Samaria. With Shimshai the scribe and a coalition of resettled peoples beyond the River, he writes to the king to stop the Jews' building work in Jerusalem: "Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort" (Ezra 4:8). The letter charges that "the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations" (Ezra 4:12), and warns that a rebuilt Jerusalem will refuse "tribute, custom, or toll" (Ezra 4:13).

Artaxerxes answers in kind: "[Then] the king sent an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their fellow slaves who dwell in Samaria, and in the rest [of the country] beyond the River: Peace, and so forth" (Ezra 4:17). His search of the records confirms a history of insurrection, and he orders the work stopped (Ezra 4:19-22). Acting on the decree, "when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their fellow slaves, they went in a hurry to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power" (Ezra 4:23).

The Levite Wall-Builder

A third Rehum appears in Nehemiah's catalog of those who repaired the wall: "After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, for his district" (Neh 3:17). His patronymic and Levitical placement distinguish him from both the returnee on the Zerubbabel list and the Persian chancellor.

The Covenant Signer

A fourth Rehum is counted among the chiefs of the people who sealed the covenant under Nehemiah's hand. The list of lay leaders ends with the cluster: "Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah" (Neh 10:25). The chapter's framing places these names with "the chiefs of the people" (Neh 10:14) rather than with the priests or Levites already named earlier in the seal.

The Priest with Zerubbabel

A fifth Rehum stands among the priests who went up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua: "Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth" (Neh 12:3). The opening of the chapter names this company as "the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua" (Neh 12:1), and closes the same roll as "the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua" (Neh 12:7). His priestly office sets him apart from the earlier Rehum on the lay list of Ezra 2:2.