TOBIAH tō bī’ ə (טﯴבִיָּ֖ה). 1. The founder of a family who returned from the Babylonian Exile but could not prove their Israelitish descent (Ezra 2:60; Neh 7:62; 1 Esd 5:37).

2. An Ammonite “servant,” prob. a Pers. governmental official, who joined with Sanballat and others in persistently opposing the work of Nehemiah (Neh 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7; 6:17; 13:4, 8, etc.). Both he and his son Jehohanan were married to Jewish women. He was in high favor with the high priest, Eliashib, who gave him a guest room in the Temple compound. He tried to frighten Nehemiah (Neh 6:17-19), who regarded him as his chief enemy and cast him and his household goods out of the Temple guest chamber (13:4-9). Some scholars think that the house of Tobiah which in the 3rd cent. b.c. vied with the house of Onias for the high priesthood was descended from Tobiah (cf. 2 Macc 3:11; Jos. Antiq. XII. iv).