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Tobiah (Heb., ‘Yahweh is good’; cf. Tobijah, also Tobias in the book of Tobit, Tabeel, Tobiads).

1 The head of a priestly clan whose genealogy was in doubt (Ezra 2:60; Neh. 7:62).

2 An opponent of Nehemiah (Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7; 6:1-19; 13:4-8) with Sanballat and Geshem. He is described as ‘the Ammonite’ and also (Neh. 2:10, 19) as ‘the servant.’ These descriptions suggest a derogatory attitude, but ‘servant,’ which has royal connotations in the [ot], may indicate high office (i.e., ‘servant of the [Persian] king’; cf. 2 Kings 22:12). ‘Ammonite’ may indicate his origin or be a nickname; more probably it indicates his responsibility for that area, placing him alongside Sanballat, who was governor of Samaria, and Geshem, who could have been the Arab ruler of Qedar. All three would then occupy important positions under Persian authority. They appear together (Neh. 2:19; 4:7) but there are indications of harmonization in the text, suggesting that they were not really so closely linked. They show general opposition to the restoration of Jerusalem in the late sixth-early fifth centuries b.c. (Neh. 2:10-20; 4:19). Tobiah and Sanballat are associated with an attempt to get Nehemiah to act sacrilegiously (Neh. 6:10-14); Tobiah is shown as in high favor with leading men in Jerusalem, bound to him by marriage relationships (Neh. 6:15-19). During Nehemiah’s absence in Babylon, Eliashib the priest gave Tobiah a special room in the Temple, from which Nehemiah ejected him (Neh. 13:4-9). It is clear that Tobiah was a man of considerable influence. It is possible that he was of the same family as the later Tobiads, prominent in the second century b.c. (cf. 2 Macc. 5:10-13)