Shecaniah is a biblical figure who appears in connection with the return from exile in Babylon. He is best known for his role in the people's repentance and covenant renewal under Ezra and Nehemiah, where he confessed the people's sin regarding mixed marriages and urged action. The name Shecaniah is borne by several individuals in the Old Testament, but the most prominent one is the man who took the initiative to make a covenant to send away foreign wives.
Shecaniah, son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, spoke up and confessed to Ezra that the people had been unfaithful to God by taking foreign wives from the peoples of the land.
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.
Following Shecaniah's initiative, Ezra gathered the people in Jerusalem, where all the men from Judah and Benjamin came together to take a stand on the matter of foreign wives.
6Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. There he spent the night, eating no bread and drinking no water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of those who had returned from exile.[^1]
[^1]: The Hebrew text reads "and he went there"; "spent the night" follows an ancient reading supported by early versions.
8Anyone who failed to appear within three days would, by decision of the leaders and the elders, forfeit all his property and be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.
9So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem within the three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.
As a result of Shecaniah's initiative, a systematic review of all mixed marriages was launched, and those who had taken foreign wives committed to sending them away.
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,
A Shecaniah, son of Arah, is also mentioned in connection with Nehemiah's work and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, showing the family's involvement in the restoration.
18for many in Judah were bound to him by oath, since he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.