Rehum
Re'hum (Heb. and Chald. Rechum', רחוּם, compassionate; Sept. ῾Ρεούμ, but in Ne 3:17 ῾Ραούμ), the name of five men.
1. One of the "children of the province" who returned from the Babylonian captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:2). B.C. 536. In the parallel passage (Ne 7:7) he is called NEHUM.
2. One of the priests who returned from Babylon at the same time (Ne 12:3). B.C. 536. In a subsequent verse (ver. 15) he seems to be called HARIM SEE HARIM (q.v.).
3. A Persian officer in Samaria, joint author with Shimshai of a letter which turned Artaxerxes against the building-plans of the Jews (Ezra 4:8; 9, 17, 23). B.C. 535. "He was perhaps a kind of lieutenant-governor of the province under the king of Persia, holding apparently the same office as Tatnai, who is described in Ezr 5:6 as taking part in a similar transaction, and is there called 'the governor on this side the river.' The Chaldee title, בּעֵלאּטעֵם, bel-te4m, literally 'lord of decree,' is left untranslated in the Sept. Βαλτάμ and the Vulg. Beelteem; and the rendering 'chancellor' in the A.V. appears to have been derived from Kimchi and others, who explain it, in consequence of its connection with 'scribe,' by the Hebrew word which is usually rendered 'recorder.' This appears to have been the view taken by the author of 1 Esdras 2:25, ὁ γράφων τὰ προσπίπτοντα, and by Josephus (Ant. 11:2, 1), ὁ πάντα τὰ πραττόμενα γράφων. The former of these seems to be a gloss, for the Chaldee title is also represented by Βεελτέθμος "
4. A Levite, son of Bani, and one of the builders of the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Ne 3:17). B.C. 445.
⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
5. One of the chief Israelites who signed the covenant with Nehemiah (Ne 10:25). B.C. 410.
