The shining one, or sunny, the secretary of Rehum the chancellor, who took part in opposing the rebuilding of the temple after the Captivity (Ezra 4:8, 9, 17-23).
Shimshai
Shimshai was a scribe, and the Bible meets him at his desk. Together with Rehum the chancellor he sends King Artaxerxes a letter “against Jerusalem” (Ezra 4:8), aimed at stopping the rebuilding. The king writes back, and when the answer is read, the two men “went up in haste to Jerusalem” and made the Jews “cease by force and power” (Ezra 4:23). It is a small cameo with a clear picture in it: opposition to good work can arrive as official paperwork. Ezra 4 tells the whole episode.
4 verses
Ezra
Ezra 4:8
Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort:
Ezra 4:9
Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites,
Ezra 4:17
Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time.
Ezra 4:23
Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.
From Easton's Bible Dictionary
Matthew George Easton, 1897
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
William Smith, 1884
(sunny), the scribe or secretary of Kehum, who was a kind of satrap of the conquered province of Judea and of the colony of Samaria, supported by the Persian court. (Ezra 4:8,13,17,23) He was apparently an Aramaean, for the letter which he wrote to Artaxerxes was in Syriac. (Ezra 4:7) (B.C. 529.)