SHESHBAZZAR shĕsh băz’ ər (Heb. שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּ֔ר). This personage is said to have been the “prince of Judah” in Ezra 1:8ff. There is, however, no other mention of the name in corroborating cuneiform texts. There is a high probability that this ruler was the son of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, who reigned from 598-597 b.c. when he was carried into captivity by the neo-Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadrezzar II. A son of this king is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:18 by the name of Shenazzar, quite possibly a variant form of Sheshbazzar. Indeed the name in the Chronicle genealogy has many variants in the MSS. If the identification is correct then he was a prince of Israel, pretender to the throne and Pers.-appointed governor. He is titled “governor” in Ezra 5:14. The appointment of such a member of the Judean royal house as Pers. representative in Judah is totally in line with the rather magnanimous policy of Cyrus the Great toward his subject peoples. If the assumption is correct that the two names are the same essentially, then the decree of Cyrus recorded in Ezra 5:15-17 was directed to him and he was responsible for clearing the rubble and beginning the foundations of the walls. According to the historical record he was not able to finish his commission, but may possibly have died during the rebuilding because Ezra 6:1, 2 states that Darius, the next ruler of Persia, again ordered the renovation of the “house of God in Jerusalem.” The original edict of Cyrus must be dated about 538 b.c. while the decree of Darius must be set after 522 b.c. This would make Sheshbazzar the first governor of the Second Commonwealth and uncle of his successor Zerubbabel (5:1, 2).

Some authorities have proposed that Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were in fact the same person. 1 Esdras 6:18, however, states that the Temple vessels previously taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar II were entrusted to Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel as separate individuals, but there is some confusion among the MSS and conflation is evidenced so that the names are either substituted or combined as one. The objection often has been raised that the account of Ezra and Haggai represent both Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel as beginning the renovation and rebuilding of the Temple. This is in no way a contradiction, as Ezra 3:2 refers to the state of the Temple’s reconstruction in the time closest to that of the author while 5:16 refers to the previous decree of Cyrus. In so far as Darius’ decree was only a recommissioning of Cyrus’ decree, both leaders were carrying out Cyrus’ original order. It is well known that the OT narratives of whatever era are not concerned with the chronological analysis of historical continuities, but comprehend history in relation to an overarching theme which is self-consciously metaphysical, in fact spiritual. To demand chronological inflexibility of Ezra is to look at the rebuilding of the Temple in preparation for the Messianic appearance through the eyes of Thucydides, a patent impossibility. A further argument has been raised that Sheshbazzar is the governor’s Akkado-Babylonian name while Zerubbabel is his Jewish name, on the analogy of the parallel names in Daniel 1:7. However, such a proposal is specious as Zerubbabel is simply a transliteration of the Akkad. zēr-bābili (cf. J. J. Stamm, “Die Akkadische Namengebung,” Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft 44 [1939], 269ff.). There is additional evidence that Zerubbabel’s career is placed by the author of the Ezra chronicles in the reign of Darius. Although Sheshbazzar is one of the minor characters of the OT narrative he holds an important place in the continuation of the Davidic royal line, which after the return and restoration of the city of David and the other covenant sites of his once glorious kingdom, should produce the Savior which is Christ the Lord. The hope of Cyrus, called by God, “his anointed” (Isa 45:1) was that the divine Temple of the Jews be rebuilt and that the core of Israel’s heritage be preserved and both were accomplished through Sheshbazzar.

Bibliography W. F. Albright, “Date and Personality of the Chronicler,” JBL, XL (1921) 108-110; J. Gabriel, Zorobabel (1927), 48-79; R. D. Wilson, “Sheshbazzar,” ISBE Vol. IV (1939), 2766; E. F. Wiedner, “Jojachin, König von Juda,” Mélanges Syriens, Dussaud-Festschrift II (1939) 925ff.