Shimshai

Shimshai is a scribe in the Persian provincial administration who, with Rehum the chancellor, leads the written opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Artaxerxes.

The Letter Against Jerusalem

Shimshai is named alongside Rehum as the author of the complaint sent up to the Persian court: "Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort:" (Ezra 4:8). The list of co-signers behind the letter places him among the senior officials of the province: "then [wrote] Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their fellow slaves, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites," (Ezra 4:9).

The King's Reply

Artaxerxes' answer is addressed back to the same pair: "[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).

Stopping the Work

When that reply reaches them, Shimshai is among those who move at once on Jerusalem to halt construction: "Then 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).