Nehemiah 13:28 (KJV)

What does Nehemiah 13:28 mean?

Nehemiah 13:28 describes Nehemiah driving away a member of the high priest’s family because that man had married into the family of Sanballat. The verse shows that Nehemiah treated the marriage as a serious problem, even though the man belonged to a prominent priestly household.

Nehemiah speaks in the first person when he says, “I chased him from me.” Sanballat had opposed Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall earlier in the book, so the marriage joined the high priest’s family to a known opponent of Nehemiah.

The Hebrew behind Nehemiah 13:28

• “son in law” — חָתָן (ḥatan): This word refers to a male relative connected through marriage, often a son-in-law. Here it identifies Joiada’s son as married to a daughter of Sanballat.
• “chased” — בָּרַח (baraḥ): This word can mean to flee or, in the form used here, to drive someone away. It gives a forceful sense to Nehemiah’s action toward the man.

Why Nehemiah 13:28 matters

• The family connection reaches to the highest priestly office. The man was a son of Joiada and a grandson of Eliashib, whom the verse calls “the high priest.”
• The marriage mattered within a wider concern about marriages to foreign peoples. In verse 27, Nehemiah challenges the people about marrying foreign wives; verse 28 shows that his concern reached into the high priest’s family.
• Nehemiah saw consequences for the priesthood in the man’s conduct. In verse 29, he speaks to God about people who had “defiled the priesthood,” placing the incident alongside his concern for the priests’ duties.