אליעזר עבד אברהם

Athlai was one of the Israelite men from the family of Bebai who had taken foreign wives during the exile and agreed to put them away in response to Ezra's reforms (Ezra 10:28). The crisis of intermarriage addressed in Ezra 9–10 arose because mixed marriages had introduced foreign cultic practices and threatened the distinctiveness of the covenant community. Athlai's compliance with the communal decision to separate from foreign wives represents one of hundreds of personal stories embedded in the reform lists of Ezra. He is known only from this single brief reference.