One of the sons of Bebai who sent away his foreign wife
El regresoLeaderc. 450 B.C.E.
Atlai was one of the descendants of Bebai who lived in the period after the Babylonian exile. He was among the Israelite men who had taken foreign wives and, following Ezra's exhortation, agreed to send them away to preserve the religious purity of the people.
Hechos clave
Listed among those who had taken foreign wives
Atlai is mentioned among the sons of Bebai who had married foreign women, which was contrary to the Mosaic Law.
Ezra discovered that many Israelites, including priests and Levites, had married women from the surrounding nations, and he called a large assembly to address the matter.
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.
11Now then, make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his will: separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from your foreign wives."
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,