PASHHUR

(Pashʹhur) [what remains round about].

1. Father of the Gedaliah who was one of the princes of Judah responsible for having Jeremiah thrown into a cistern.—Jer. 38:1, 4, 6.

2. A prince in the delegation King Zedekiah sent to inquire of Jeremiah concerning the future of Jerusalem. (Jer. 21:1, 2) Pashhur also petitioned the king for permission to put Jeremiah in the cistern. (Jer. 38:1, 4, 6) Pashhur is called in these two passages “the son of Malchi[j]ah.” The family of priests returning from Babylonian exile contains a similar link in their genealogy, “Pashhur the son of Malchijah.” (1 Chron. 9:12; Neh. 11:12) If prince Pashhur was indeed a priest, he may be the same as No. 3 below, and perhaps the one from whom the “sons of Pashhur” (No. 4 below) draw their name.

3. A priest, “the son [or descendant] of Immer, . . . the leading commissioner in the house of Jehovah.” Pashhur, objecting to Jeremiah’s prophecies, struck him and put him into the stocks and released him the following day. As a result Jehovah, through Jeremiah, foretold captivity and death in Babylon for Pashhur and, accordingly, changed his name from Pashhur to “Fright all around” (Heb., Ma·ghohrʹ mis·sa·vivʹ) (Jer. 20:1-6), an expression occurring several times in this book.—Jer. 6:25; 20:3, 10; 46:5; 49:29; see No. 2 above.

4. The “sons of Pashhur” were a paternal house of priests, 1,247 of whom returned from the exile with priest Jeshua in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 36, 38; Neh. 7:41) Six of these married foreign wives but sent them away after Ezra arrived in 468 B.C.E.—Ezra 10:22, 44; see No. 2 above.

5. A priest, or the forefather of one who in the time of Governor Nehemiah supported the covenant not to take foreign wives.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 3, 8.