Sanballat (Heb. Sanballat, perhaps “the moon-god gives life”, “a chestnut tree” or “strength for the army”; Aram. Elephantine papyri, Sn’blt; ac. Sin-uballitt “Sin has given life” ). Governor of Samaria (as revealed by the Elephantine papyri*), contemporary and enemy of Nehemiah, who calls him a “Horonite” (Neh 2:10, 19) without mentioning his official position. It is not known if “horonite” means that he was a native of one of the 2 towns called Beth-horon that were in the ancient territory of Ephraim, or if he was from the city of Horonaim, in Moab, or if he came from Hauran, in in which case it should have been called hauranite. His pagan name and origin, whether Moab or Aramaic Hauran, allow us to suggest that Nehemiah called him “Horonite” in a derogatory way, rather than giving him the title “Governor of Samaria.” Sanballat, along with Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab, through ridicule, intimidation, and threats tried to prevent Nehemiah from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He accused him of rebellion against the Persian government, invited him to the Ono plain for a conference, with the idea of kidnapping and assassinating him, and even made preparations to launch an armed attack on Jerusalem. But Nehemiah rose to the occasion, and did not fall into any of Sanballat’s traps. He took effective measures to defend the City in case of an attack, which Sanballat apparently did not dare to carry out (2:10, 19,20; 4:1-5, 7-9, 11-23; 6:1-9, 12-14). Later, when Nehemiah returned to Judea to begin his second term as Governor, he discovered that a grandson of Eliashib, the Jewish high priest, had married a daughter of Sanballat. Aware of the potential threat to the morality of the people implicit in this fact, Nehemiah expelled the couple (13:28). The name Sanballat appears in a 407 BC letter from the Jews, from Elephantine in Egypt, addressed to Bigvai, the Persian governor of Judea. In that letter the Jews asked Bigvai for permission to rebuild their temple, which had been destroyed by Egyptian enemies, and stated that they had also written “to Doliah and Shelemiah, the sons of Sanballat, governor of Samaria”, with the veiled threat that they would resort to the help of the Samaritans if the Jerusalem authorities did not accede to their request (fig 448). This shows that Sanballat was still alive and apparently in office for him in 407 BC, 37 years after Nehemiah first came as governor of Palestine. But it seems that he was so old at the time that his 2 sons were serving as administrators. See patrons. 448. Aramaic papyrus from Elephantine mentioning the high priest Johanan of Jerusalem (see the 2 mementos in the 1st line below) and Sanballat, the governor of Samaria (see the 1st memento at the top). Josephus mentions Sanballat, referring to him as a cuteo who had been appointed governor of Samaria by Darius III (336/35-331 BC), but who had sided with Alexander after Alexander’s victory over Darius. Josephus further states that Nicasus, the daughter of Sanballat, married Manasseh, the brother of Jaddua (the Jewish high priest), and that consequently Manasseh was expelled from Jerusalem but ordained as a priest of a temple built by his father-in-law on Mount Gerizim, with the permission of Alexander the Great. If Josephus, to confuse his information, was referring to the Sanballat from the time of Nehemiah, then these events would have occurred in the 5th century BC. But if it is another Sanballat from the time of Alexander the Great, then it would be in the 4th century BC. the relationship that exists between the story of Josephus and the biblical narrative, scholars in the past have advanced 3 opinions: 1. That Josephus was wrong. 2. That the story of Josephus is correct from the historical point of view, and that therefore the book of Nehemiah should be corrected. 3. That there were 2 Sanballat (the 1st, the Horonite, contemporary of Nehemiah; the 2nd, the Cuteo, who would have lived 100 years later, at the time of the high priest Jaddua and Alexander the Great). The Elephantine 1051 papyri have confirmed the correctness of the biblical record regarding the existence of Sanballat in Nehemiah’s time; for this reason opinion 2 has almost no value today. Opinion 3 has lately received partial confirmation from certain papyri discovered in 1962 in a cave at Wâd§-Dâliyeh, about 16 km north-northwest of Jericho. Thanks to these documents from the 4th century BC, we have learned that Delaias, son of Sanballat -who according to the Elephantine papyri would have succeeded his father as governor of Samaria-, had as successor another Sanballat (II), perhaps a son his, who in turn had his son Hananiah as his successor. Since we now have knowledge of 2 Sanballat appearing in the records of the time, we can conclude that Josephus’s story about a Sanballat (III) in the time of Darius III is correct. Evidently the name Sanballat was repeated in the grandchildren according to a custom that prevailed in the Near East and that is known as “paponymy”. Bib.: FJ-AJ xi.7.2; 8.2, 4; xiii.9.1; xx.6.1; FM Cross, BA 26 (1963):110-121. Sandal. See Footwear.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
(Heb., sanvallat, asir. Sin-uballit, the god Sin has given life). He was a Horonite, that is, a man from Beth-horon. He was a highly influential Samaritan who tried in vain to defeat Nehemiah’s plans to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 4:1ff.). He then plotted with others to invite Nehemiah to a conference at Ono for the purpose of assassinating him, but Nehemiah saw through his plan and refused to come. When this scheme failed, he tried in vain to intimidate the Jewish governor (Neh 6:5-14). Sanballat’s daughter was related to the family of Eliashib, the high priest at the time of the annulment of mixed marriages prohibited by law (Neh 13:28); but her husband refused to leave her and went with her to Shechem, where he became the high priest of a new temple built by her mother-in-law on Mount Gerizim.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(Sin -moon goddess- gives life). Character who opposed Nehemiah in his efforts to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. The expression that he was † œHoronite † and the association of him with † œTobias the servant Ammonite † and † œGesem the Arabian † seems to allude to a non-Israelite origin. From extra-biblical sources we know that he was governor of Samaria and that he had some sons called Delaiah and Shelemiah, names certainly of Hebrew origin that include the term † œYahweh †. That is why many think that he was a believer in Jehovah, of that mixed faith that would characterize the Samaritans (2 Kings 17: 24-33).
Nehemiah’s restoration is described in seven stages, each one corresponding to some type of opposition in which S. had a preponderant part. Thus, it went from disgust (Neh 2:10), to contempt (Neh 2:19), scorn (Neh 4:1-3), military threat (Neh 4:7-8), distraction (Neh 6 :1-3), gossip (Neh 6:5-8), and bribery (Neh 6:10-12). Although the high priest † ¢ Eliashib supported Nehemiah, one of his sons † œwas the son-in-law of S. † Nehemiah drove that man away, which may include dismissal from the priesthood for marrying a foreigner (Neh 13: 28).
descendant of S. appears involved in the reconstruction of the temple in the famous Jewish colony of Elephantine Island, which imitated that of Jerusalem.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG HOMB HOAT
vet, (ac.: “Sin has given life”). Influential Samaritan (Neh. 2:10), called a Horonite, which does not seem to mean that he came from Horonaim, a city of Moab, but from Beth-horon (cf. Neh. 4:2; 6:2). He opposed Nehemiah’s rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but he did not succeed (Neh. 4:7, 8). Sanballat and his accomplices requested an interview with Nehemiah, whom they wanted to assassinate (Neh. 6: 1-4). Nehemiah having refused to meet with them, they tried in vain to intimidate him, accusing him of sedition (Neh. 6:5-14). Sanballat the Horonite was a contemporary of the high priest Eliashib, who was the great-grandfather of Jaddua. Sanballat associated with Tobias the Ammonite and opposed Nehemiah in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (Neh. 3:1; 4:7). He was governor of Samaria shortly before 407 BC, in the seventeenth year of Darius Notus (Elephantine Papyri). A son of Jehoiada (who was the son of the high priest Eliashib) married a daughter of Sanballat. Nehemiah punished him by excluding him from the priesthood (Neh. 13:4, 28). Josephus mentions a Sanballat, a native of Cuta, whom Darius, the last king of Persia (336 / 5 – 331 BC), sent to Samaria as governor When Darius fell, this Sanballat supported Alexander the Great in 331 BC His daughter Nicaso was given as a wife to Manasseh, brother of the high priest Jaddua. This marriage to a foreign woman was frowned upon by the Jewish authorities who expelled Manasseh from the Temple in Jerusalem. Sanballat, with the consent of Alexander, then erected a temple on Mount Gerizim, and made his son-in-law the high priest of this sanctuary (Ant. 11:7, 2; 8:2 and 4). These statements by Josephus do not agree well with the biblical data about Sanballat. Ancient commentators thought that Josephus was speaking of some later Sanballat. But Josephus links the Horonite Sanballat with Neh’s marriage. 1:28 p.m. It is very likely that the Jewish historian placed Sanballat 100 years later to make the facts fit with his view that Sanballat’s son-in-law had not only founded or developed the religion of the Samaritans, but also founded the temple of Gerizim. Josephus believed that this temple had been erected after Alexander’s conquest (Ant. 13:9, 1), some two centuries before 128 BC, and that the high priest Jaddua and Alexander the Great had been contemporaries (Ant. 11:8 , 5). Josephus makes a date error (which is certainly not the only one) placing Nehemiah’s mission in the 25th year of Xerxes (who only reigned 21 years, Ant. 11:5, 7), instead of placing it in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, his successor (Neh. 2:1). And to the arrival of Ezra in Jerusalem he assigns the date of the year 7 of Xerxes (Ant. 11: 5, 2), instead of placing this date 21 years later, in the year 7 of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7: 1, 8). Lastly, he confuses Onias I with Onias III, who lived a century later (1 Mac. 12:7, 20; Ant. 12:4, 10).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
(from Akkadian, meaning: †œWithout Healed† ).
Horonite (meaning a resident of Beth-horon or Horonaim) who opposed Nehemiah’s efforts to restore the wall of Jerusalem. (Ne 2:10) He is believed to be the Sanballat mentioned in a papyrus found at Elephantine, Egypt, where he is identified as the governor of Samaria and the father of Delayah and…