Tobiah
Exile
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H2900H
Tobiah was an ancestor of some returned exiles who were unable to prove their Israelite lineage and were excluded from the priesthood.
Tobiah was the ancestor of a family that returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile in Zerubbabel's company but could not prove their Israelite descent from the priestly or Levitical registers (Ezra 2:60; Nehemiah 7:62). As a result, they were excluded from the priesthood until a priest could determine their status by consulting the Urim and Thummim. This same family name is associated elsewhere with Tobiah the Ammonite, who opposed Nehemiah's wall-building project, though the precise relationship between these figures is unclear.