Pashur

Pash'ur

[some Pa'shu/r] (Heb. Pa'shur', פֵּשׁחוּר [Gesen., from an Arabic root, surrounded with prosperity; Furst, from a Heb. root, liberation; the etymology, as implying something favorable, seems to be referred to in Jer 20:3]; Sept. Φασχώρ, Φασούρ, v.r. Φασσούρ [Ezr 2:38; Ezr 10:22], Φασεούρ [Ne 7:41], Πασχώρ [in Jeremiah]), the name of two or three men.

1. A priest, the son of Immer, and a contemporary of Jeremiah, who acted so as to incur a severe threatening from that prophet; B.C. 607. Presuming on his position as "chief governor in the house of the Lord" (Jer 20:1) — that is, probably, being at the head of those who had the charge of maintaining order and decorum about the Temple — he smote Jeremiah, when he heard him prophesying of the desolations which were going to fall upon Jerusalem, and put him in the stocks. In this humiliating and painful situation the prophet remained for a night; and on being brought forth on the morrow, he declared to Pashur that the Lord no longer called his name Pashur, but Magor-misabib — on every side enveloped in trouble and distress. This, the prophet further intimates, was to be verified by both Pashur and his family being involved in the terrible disasters that were presently to burst on Judah and Jerusalem from the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; they were to be all carried away into captivity to Babylon, and die in that foreign land (Jer 20:6). We have no specific account of the fortunes of the family; but the circumstances which soon took place leave no room to doubt that the prediction was verified.

⇒Bible concordance for PASHUR.

2. Another priest in the time of Jeremiah, being the son of Melchiah (Jer 21:1; Jer 38:1). B.C. 589. He twice came in contact with the prophet: once when sent along with some others to inquire what was the mind of the Lord respecting the meditated assault of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, which drew forth an announcement of certain overthrow; and again when concurring with several others in an application to the king to have Jeremiah put to death on account of the denunciations he was uttering, as tending to discourage the people and produce in them a spirit of disaffection. The application led to Jeremiah's imprisonment, from which he was only delivered by the special interposition of Providence (1Ch 9:12). Pashur's family, however, were among those who returned from the captivity of Babylon, and seem to have possessed a place of importance both as to position and numbers (Ne 7:41; Ne 11:12).

3. The father of Gedaliah, which latter took part with the Pashur last named in the accusation and imprisonment of Jeremiah (Jer 38:1). B.C. 589. He was perhaps identical with one or the other of the foregoing.