Sheshbazzar

A prince of Judah. (Ezra, i. 8.) The name seems to be compounded of Shush, joy - - Beth, the preposition inand Tzarar, tribulation; perhaps alluding to the faithful in Babylon still rejoicing in the Lord in the midst of tribulation.

Sheshbaz´zar [ZERUBBABEL]

See ZERUBBABEL.\par

Sheshbazzar. (worshipper of fire). The Chaldaic or Persian nam, e given to Zerubbabel in Ezr 1:8; Ezr 1:11; Ezr 6:14; Ezr 6:18. See Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel’s Persian or Babylonian name (Ezr 1:8; Ezr 1:11; Ezr 5:14; Ezr 5:16). (See ZERUBBABEL.) "Prince" (ha-nasi, the Jewish term for head of the tribe) and "governor" (pechah, the Persian Cyrus appointing him) of Judah. "Sheshbazzar laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem" as Zechariah (Zec 4:9) foretold that Zerubbabel should do (compare Ezr 1:11 with Ezr 2:1-2).

[Sheshbaz’zar]

Apparently the Chaldean or Persian name given to ZERUBBABEL, Ezr 1:8; Ezr 1:11; Ezr 5:14; Ezr 5:16.

(Assyrian [Winckler], "Shamash-[a] bal-uṣur" or [E. Meyer] "Šin-[?] uṣur"):

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Schulim Ochser

Prince of Judah, at the head of the first Jews that returned to Jerusalem after the Exile. In 539-538 B.C. Cyrus granted the exiles permission to return. At once a question must have arisen as to the legitimate successor of the last king, Johoiachin. Sheshbazzar must have been entitled to the succession if he was, as Meyer supposes, identical with the Shenazar mentioned in I Chron. iii. 18 as a son of the late monarch.

On arrival at Jerusalem, Sheshbazzar seems to have become involved in controversies with the conservative party. Zimmern concludes from Dan. ix. 25-27 (since no other sources before the time of Ezra are available) that Cambyses on his campaign against Egypt took Jerusalem, but dealt leniently with it, removing Sheshbazzar in some way of which no details are given. Recent scholars have given up the attempt to identify this ruler with Zerubbabel, as was done by Wellhausen.

The following facts in regard to Sheshbazzar may be stated definitely: he is called "prince" in Ezra i. 8; at the command of Cyrus, the Persian official Mithredath delivered to him the sacred vessels of the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away, all these things being taken back to Jerusalem (ib. v. 16); Zerubbabel refers in the reign of Darius to the permission which Cyrus had given Sheshbazzar (ib. v. 13-14).

Bibliography:

Schrader, K. A. T. 3d ed., p. 279 et passim;

Eduard Meyer, Entstehung des Judenthums, pp. 73 et seq., Halle, 1896;

Wellhausen, I. J. G. 2d ed., pp. 154 et seq.;

Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, ii. 439, 440.

SHESHBAZZAR.—This name is of Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] origin, and appears in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] in several forms, some of which point to the sun-god Samas, others (e.g. Sanabassar) to the moon-god Sin as the derivation, the meaning being ‘O sun-god [or moon-god], protect the lord [or the son].’ The person Sheshbazzar is described as ‘the prince of Judah,’ and is said to have received from Cyrus the sacred Temple vessels and to have taken them to Jerusalem (Ezr 1:8; Ezr 1:11, cf. 1Es 2:12; 1Es 2:16). The same fact is stated in Ezr 5:14; Ezr 5:16, where Sheshbazzar is designated ‘the governor’ (pechâh), and is also said to have laid the foundations of the Temple (cf. 1Es 6:18; 1Es 6:20). It is probable that the Persian title ‘Tirshatha’ in Ezr 2:63, Neh 7:65; Neh 7:70 refers to Sheshbazzar.

Some have identified Sheshbazzar with Zerubbabel on the ground that the laying of the foundation of the Temple is in Ezr 3:8 ascribed to Zerubbabel and in Ezr 5:16 to Sheshbazzar, while instances of men bearing two different names occur not infrequently (e.g. 2Ki 23:34; 2Ki 24:17, Dan 1:7). But, when we compare Ezr 3:8; Ezr 5:16, it does not seem necessary to assume that the two men are identical. Both may have returned from Babylon at the same time, and while Sheshbazzar was the ruling official, Zerubbabel may in all likelihood have been the moving spirit in building the Temple. Ezr 3:8 gives the Chronicler’s own account of the work, while Ezr 5:1-17 purports to be an official report, and would naturally mention the official head of the community as the person responsible for what occurred during his term of office. Then the possibility of the one person bearing two names, while not impossible, seems unlikely here, because (1) both names are of foreign origin, unlike the double names Daniel and Belteshazzar, where the one is Hebrew and the other foreign; and (2) as a rule the Chronicler is careful to note the identification—e.g. ‘Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar.’

If, then, Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were two different men, was Sheshbazzar a Jew or a foreigner? In all probability he was a Jew. It was quite in accordance with the policy of the Persians to appoint a Jew to act as governor in Jerusalem, while the name Sheshbazzar, being of Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] origin, would not likely be borne by a Persian. It has been conjectured that Sheshbazzar is identical with the Shenazzar of 1Ch 3:18, a son of Jehoiachin and uncle of Zerubbabel; and this would justify the title ‘prince of Judah’ given to him in Ezr 1:8. Then, further, it is not unlikely that the younger man, Zerubbabel, took the leading part in the work of restoration, and as a result his uncle’s memory would fall into the background. This theory is made more probable by the fact that Zerubbabel succeeded to the governorship as early as the reign of Darius Hystaspis, b.c. 520 (cf. Hag 1:1; Hag 1:14; Hag 2:2).

W. F. Boyd.

shesh-baz´ar (שׁשׁבּצּר, sheshbaccar or שׁשׁבּצּר, shēshbaccar): Sheshbazzar is the Hebrew or Aramaic form of the Babylonian Shamash-aba-uṣur, or Shamash-bana-uṣur: “Oh Shamash, protect the father.” It is possible that the full name was Shamash-ban-zeri-Babili-uṣur, “Oh Shamash, protect the father (builder) of the seed of Babylon.” (See Zerubbabel, and Compare the Babylonian names Ashur-bana-uṣur, Ban-ziri, Nabu-ban-ziri, Shamash-ban-apli, Shamash-apil-uṣur, Shamash-ban-aḥi, and others in Tallquist’s Neubabylonisches Namenbuch, and the Aramaic names on numbers 35, 44, 36, and 45 of Clay’s Aramaic Dockets.) If this latter was the full name, there would be little doubt that Sheshbazzar may have been the same person as Zerubbabel, since the former is called in Ezr 5:14 the governor of Judah, and the latter is called by the same title in Hag 1:1, Hag 1:14; Hag 2:2, Hag 2:21. It is more probable, however, that Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were different persons, and that Sheshbazzar was governor of Judah in the time of Cyrus and Zerubbabel in that of Darius. It is possible that Sheshbazzar came to Jerusalem in the time of Cyrus and laid the foundations, and that Zerubbabel came later in the time of Darius Hystaspis and completed the building of the temple (compare Ezr 2:68; Ezr 4:2; Hag 1:14).

According to Ezr 1:8 Sheshbazzar was the prince (Hannasi) of Judah into whose hands Cyrus put the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put in the house of his gods. It is further said in Ezr 1:11 that Sheshbazzar brought these vessels with them of the captivity which he brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem. In Ezr 5:14 f it is said that these vessels had been delivered by Cyrus unto one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor (peḥāh), and that Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God which was in Jerusalem. See SANABASSAR.