Tobijah

Two men named Tobijah appear in the Old Testament — a Levite under Jehoshaphat's teaching reform, and one of the returned exiles whose contribution funded a symbolic crown for the post-exilic high priest.

A Levite Sent to Teach the Law

In the early years of Jehoshaphat's reign, the king dispatches a circuit of officials, Levites, and priests to teach the law throughout Judah. Tobijah belongs to the Levite contingent: "and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests" (2 Chr 17:8). He is one of nine Levites named in the list, a teacher of the law on the king's commission.

A Returnee from Babylon

The other Tobijah is one of three named men who come back from Babylon carrying silver and gold. Zechariah is told to receive their gift on the day of their arrival: "Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and you come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon; yes, take [of them] silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest" (Zech 6:10-11). The crowns then occasion the Branch oracle — "Look, the man whose name is the Branch: and he will grow up out of his place; and he will build the temple of Yahweh… and he will be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace will be between them both" (Zech 6:12-13).

The returnees' names are then bound to the temple itself: "And the crowns will be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and for the kindness of the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Yahweh" (Zech 6:14). Tobijah's gift becomes a permanent inscription — his name fixed in the temple as a memorial of the donor.