Shema

Rumour. (1.) A Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:8).

(2.) A Benjamite (1 Chr. 8:13).

(3.) One who stood by Ezra when he read the law (Neh. 8:4).

(4.) A town in the south of Judah (Josh. 15:26); the same as Sheba (ver. 5).

1. A Reubenite, ancestor of Bela. (1 Chronicles 5:8) (B.C. before 1090.)

2. Son of Elpaal. (1 Chronicles 8:13) Probably the same as Shimhi. (B.C. after 1450.)

3. One of those who stood at Ezra’s right hand when he read the law to the people. (Nehemiah 8:4) (B.C. 458.)

4. (Joshua 15:26) [SHEBA]

Shema (1)

she'-ma (shema`; Samaa): A city of Judah in the Negeb (Jos 15:26). If, as some think, identical with SHEBA (which see) of Jos 19:2, then the latter must have been inserted here from Jos 15:26. It is noticeable that the root letters (sh-m-`) were those from which Simeon is derived. Shema is probably identical with Jeshua (Ne 11:26). The place was clearly far South, and it may be Kh. Sa`wah, a ruin upon a prominent hilltop between Kh. `Attir and Khirbet el-Milch. There is a wall around the ruins, of large blocks of conglomerate flint (PEF, III, 409, Sh XXV).

E. W. G. Masterman

Shema (2)

(shema`):

(1) A Reubenite (1Ch 5:8, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus Sama, Lucian, Semeei).

See SHIMEI.

(2) One of the heads of "fathers' houses" in Aijalon, who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath (1Ch 8:13, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus Sama, Lucian, Samoa); in 1Ch 8:21 he is called "Shimei." The statement is very obscure and the whole incident is probably due to some marginal note.

(3) One of those who stood at Ezra's right during the reading of the Law (Ne 8:4, Samaias). He is called "Sammus" in 1 Esdras 9:43.

Horace J. Wolf