Who is…
Pashhur

also known as: Pashur

Meaning: release

This was the name of 2 or more biblical men. The name appears in 12 Old Testament verses.

1. Pashhur, son of Immer

   also known as: Pashur ben Immer

   This son of Immer (probably the same as Amariah, Neh. 10:3; 12:2), the head of one of the priestly courses, was “chief governor [Hebrew: paqid nagid, meaning ‘deputy governor’] of the temple” (Jeremiah 20:1-2).

   At this time the nagid, or “governor,” of the temple was Seraiah the high priest (1 Chronicles 6:14), and Pashhur was his paqid, or “deputy.”

   Enraged at the plainness with which Jeremiah uttered his solemn warnings of coming judgments, because of the abounding iniquity of the times, Pashhur ordered the temple police to seize him, and after inflicting on him corporal punishment (40 stripes save 1, Deuteronomy 25:3; compare 2 Corinthians 11:24), to put him in the stocks in the high gate of Benjamin, where he remained all night.

   On being set free in the morning, Jeremiah went to Pashhur (Jeremiah 20:3, 5), and announced to him that God had changed his name to Magormissabib, i.e., “terror on every side.” The punishment that fell upon him was probably remorse, when he saw the ruin he had brought upon his country by advising a close alliance with Egypt in opposition to the counsels of Jeremiah (Jer. 20:4-6).

   Pashhur was carried captive to Babylon, and died there.

   Q & A

   • Who is Immer?
   • Who is Amariah?
   • What is a Hebrew priest?
   • What is the repaired temple of the days of Ezra?
   • Who is Jeremiah?
   • What is a prophet in the Bible? and who is one?
   • What is the Book of Jeremiah?
   • Who is Seraiah?
   • Who is Magormissabib?
   • What is a high priest?
   • What is The Captivity?
   • What is the Kingdom of Babylon (aka Babylonian Empire)?

2. Pashhur, a priest

   also known as: Pashur ben Malchiah

   He is a priest sent by King Zedekiah to the prophet Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord (1 Chronicles 24:9; Jeremiah 21:1; 38:1-6).

   He advised that the prophet should be put to death.

   Pashhur’s father is Malchiah.

   Q & A

   • Who is Zedekiah?
   • Who is Nebuchadnezzar?
   • What is the Kingdom of Babylon (aka Babylonian Empire)?

3. Pashhur, father of Gedaliah

   also known as: Gedaliah ben Pashur

   Gedaliah is another of the 4 men who threw the prophet Jeremiah into the cistern because they hated his message (Jeremiah 38:1).

   Q & A

   • Who is Gedaliah?
   • Who is Jeremiah?
   • What is the Book of Jeremiah?

Pottery shards (ostraca) found by archaeologists at Tel Arad, Israel (1970s) include the name Pashhur, written in Paleo-Hebrew script. Tel Arad is the ancient city of Arad.