Sanballat
Nehemiah’s chief opponent, who tried to stop the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. A papyrus of 407 BC from Elephantine in Egypt names him as governor of Samaria.
The book of Nehemiah calls him Sanballat the Horonite and never gives him a title. He was displeased when Nehemiah arrived, mocked the building of the wall before “the army of Samaria”, plotted to attack the builders and tried to lure Nehemiah away or frighten him into hiding (Nehemiah 2:10) (Nehemiah 4:1–8) (Nehemiah 6:1–14). A grandson of the high priest Eliashib married his daughter, and Nehemiah drove the man out (Nehemiah 13:28).
His office is known from a letter written by the Jews of Elephantine in 407 BC, which says that they had sent their appeal to Delaiah and Shelemiah, the sons of Sanballat, governor of Samaria (Elephantine petition to Bagohi verso 12).
Josephus has a Sanballat sent to Samaria by the last Darius, a century later, who marries his daughter to the brother of a high priest and promises him a temple on Mount Gerizim (Josephus, Antiquities 11.302–312). How that account relates to Nehemiah’s is not settled.
In the timeline
- 445 BC, estimated dateNehemiah Rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king, is sent to Judah as governor and rebuilds the ruined walls of Jerusalem in fifty-two days against the opposition of Sanballat of Samaria. He then reforms the city’s debts, Sabbath and temple.