Shechaniah

The name Shechaniah — printed in UPDV as "Shecaniah" — is borne by several distinct men in the records of the post-monarchic and post-exilic period. A priestly course-head under David, a steward under Hezekiah, a descendant in the royal line through Hananiah, two clan-heads in the lists of those who returned with Ezra, the man who first urged the putting-away of foreign wives, the father of a builder on the wall, the father-in-law of Tobiah, and a returning Levite under Zerubbabel — the name does not gather around a single figure but tags a recurring family-line whose branches surface in temple administration, royal genealogy, and the work of restoration.

A priest in the time of David

When David sets the courses of the priests by lot, the tenth division falls to this name: "the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah," (1Ch 24:11). The Shecaniah here is the head of one of the twenty-four priestly courses set in order for service at the sanctuary.

A priest in the time of Hezekiah

A second priestly Shecaniah is named among the trusted distributors of the tithes under King Hezekiah. After Hezekiah reorganizes the priests and Levites and commands that portions be brought in, the assistants in charge of the priests' cities are listed: "And under him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by courses, to the great as well as to the small:" (2Ch 31:15). His task is the impartial distribution of the consecrated portions to the priests in their cities, "to the great as well as to the small."

A descendant of David

In the Davidic genealogy of Chronicles, Shecaniah appears in the line that runs forward from the exile. The roster reaches: "And the sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah, and Jeshaiah; the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah" (1Ch 3:21). The next verse turns the line through him: "And the sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six" (1Ch 3:22). This Shecaniah is fixed as the father of a Shemaiah and the grandfather of a Hattush — a continuation of the royal line after the captivity.

Heads in Ezra's caravan

Among the heads of fathers' houses who came up with Ezra from Babylon, the name appears twice in the same chapter. The first occurrence is associated with the line of Parosh: "Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty" (Ezr 8:3). The second stands as a returning leader in his own right: "Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males" (Ezr 8:5). Two distinct figures with the same name appear inside one register of the same caravan.

The proposal to put away foreign wives

After the people confess that they have intermarried with the surrounding nations, the first man to speak in the assembly is Shecaniah of the house of Elam. He answers Ezra and frames a covenant: "And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land: yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing" (Ezr 10:2). This Shecaniah is the one who first names the trespass, and the one who first names the hope; the act that follows in Ezra rests on the proposal he has just spoken.

Father of a builder on the wall

In Nehemiah's account of the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall, a Shecaniah is identified by his son's labor on a particular section. Working east along the wall, the record reads: "After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer across from his own house. And after him repaired Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate" (Ne 3:29). Shecaniah here is named as the father of Shemaiah, the keeper of the east gate. (This Shecaniah is sometimes identified with the Davidic-line figure of 1Ch 3:22 who also fathers a Shemaiah; the texts themselves do not equate them.)

Father-in-law of Tobiah

A Shecaniah of the house of Arah is named as the father-in-law of Tobiah, the Ammonite servant who opposes the wall-builders. Nehemiah notes the marriage tie that binds Tobiah to Judahites by oath: "For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife" (Ne 6:18). The kinship runs through Shecaniah's daughter to Tobiah, and through Tobiah's son Jehohanan into the house of Meshullam — a network of marriage alliances cutting across the wall-building company.

A Levite returning with Zerubbabel

In the catalogue of priests and Levites who came up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the name stands among the priestly heads of the first return: "Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth," (Ne 12:3). This Shecaniah belongs to the company that comes up before Ezra and Nehemiah, in the earliest wave of restoration.