You are strongly recommended to add to your library the excellent revised edition of Harper's Bible Dictionary titled, The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition [book review], edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature (NY: Harper Collins, 1996). It is currently the best one-volume Bible dictionary in English, and it is available at Border's Books, Christian Science Reading Rooms, http://www.borders.com, or http://www.christianbook.com.

Sanballat, governor of Samaria in the latter half of the fifth century b.c. and one of the chief opponents of Nehemiah’s plan to rebuild Jerusalem. Sanballat conspired with Tobiah, governor of Ammon, and Geshem, king of Kedar, to intimidate the Jews and interrupt the work (Neh. 2:10, 19). As the walls neared completion, they authorized raids on the city (Neh. 4:1-2) and, accusing Nehemiah of planning a rebellion against Persian rule, repeatedly summoned him to account for his actions (Neh. 6:1-7). Sanballat’s name was Babylonian (Sinuballit), but the names of his sons, Delaiah and Shelemiah, mentioned in the Elephantine papyri, show that he was a worshipper of Yahweh. In Neh. 2:10 he is called ‘the Horonite,’ i.e., a native of Beth-horon. The founder of a dynasty was sometimes referred to this way, and there is evidence that five of Sanballat’s descendants governed Samaria, including Sanballat II early in the fourth century and Sanballat III at the time of Alexander the Great.