Sheshbazzar

When Cyrus king of Persia let the exiles return, he brought out the vessels of Yahweh’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away, “and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah” (Ezra 1:7–8). “Sheshbazzar brought all these up when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:11).

Years later, when Tattenai the governor beyond the River asked who had allowed the rebuilding, the elders of the Jews answered that the vessels had been “delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor”, and that “the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of God’s house which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 5:14–16).

Many identify Sheshbazzar with Zerubbabel, whose hands “have laid the foundation of this house” (Zechariah 4:9; Ezra 3:8). Others, noting that the elders speak of Sheshbazzar in the past while Zerubbabel is at work (Ezra 5:2), take them to be two men.