Jeremai was an Israelite from the sons of Hashum who lived in the period after the return from the Babylonian exile. He was one of the men who had taken foreign (non-Jewish) wives and, during Ezra's reforms, committed to sending them away to preserve the religious purity of the people.
Schlüsselereignisse
Listed among those who took foreign wives
Jeremai is mentioned among the sons of Hashum who had taken foreign wives in violation of the Mosaic Law after the return from exile.
Under Ezra's leadership, it was revealed that many Israelites, including Jeremai, had married women from surrounding nations, which was considered a serious breach of the covenant.
1While Ezra was praying and making this confession, weeping and lying prostrate before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israel gathered around him—men, women, and children—for the people were weeping bitterly.
2Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra: "We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples of the land. Yet even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
3So let us now make a covenant with our God to send away all these women along with their children, according to the counsel of the Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.
16So the returned exiles did as had been proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of families, each designated by name according to his father's house. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter,
18Among the descendants of the priests, these were found to have married foreign women: from the sons of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers—Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.
The entire group of Hasshum's sons, including Jeremiah, Mattaniah, Shecaniah, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah, were specifically named as those who had to repent for their mixed marriages.