Tobiah

Nehemiah had an opponent who did not go away. Tobiah the Ammonite was grieved that anyone had come “to seek the welfare of the children of Israel” (Nehemiah 2:10), and with Sanballat and Geshem he laughed the builders “to scorn.” Years later, in Nehemiah 13, Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem and finds that the priest Eliashib had given Tobiah “a great chamber” in the courts of the temple, where the offerings had been stored. “It grieved me sore,” Nehemiah writes, and he throws out Tobiah’s belongings and brings the vessels back. Read Nehemiah 13:4-9.

9 verses

Ezra

Ezra 2:60

The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 2:10

When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

Nehemiah 2:19

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

Nehemiah 13:4

And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah:

Nehemiah 13:5

And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests.

Nehemiah 13:6

But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:

Nehemiah 13:7

And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

Nehemiah 13:8

And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.

Nehemiah 13:9

Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Pleasing to Jehovah, the “servant,” the “Ammonite,” who joined with those who opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Exile (Neh. 2:10). He was a man of great influence, which he exerted in opposition to the Jews, and “sent letters” to Nehemiah “to put him in fear” (Neh. 6:17-19). “Eliashib the priest” prepared for him during Nehemiah’s absence “a chamber in the courts of the house of God,” which on his return grieved Nehemiah sore, and therefore he “cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber” (13:7, 8).

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(goodness of Jehovah).

(1.) "The children of Tobiah" were a family who returned with Zerubbabel, but were unable to prove their connection with Israel -- (Ezra 2:60; Nehemiah 7:62) (B.C. before 536.)

(2.) "Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite," played a conspicuous part in the rancorous position made by Sanballat the Moabite and his adherents to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. (B.C. 446.) The two races of Moab and Ammon found in these men fit representatives of that hereditary hatred to the Israelites which began before the entrance into Caanan, and was not extinct when the Hebrews had ceased to exist as a nation. But Tobiah, though a slave, (Nehemiah 2:10,19) --unless, this is a title of opprobrium --and an Ammonite, found means to ally himself with a priestly family, and his son Johanan married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. (Nehemiah 6:18) He himself was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, (Nehemiah 6:17) and these family relations created for him a strong faction among the Jews.