Mattaniah

mat-a-ni'-a (mattanyaha, "gift of Yah"):

(1) King Zedekiah's original name, but changed by Nebuchadnezzar when he made him king over Judah instead of his nephew Jehoiachin (2 Kgs 24:17).

(2) A descendant of Asaph (1 Chr 9:15), leader of the temple choir (Neh 11:17; Neh 12:8). Mentioned among the "porters," keepers of "the storehouses of the gates" (Neh 12:25), and again in Neh 12:35 as among the "priests' sons with trumpets."

(3) May be the same as (2), though in 2 Chr 20:14 he is mentioned as an ancestor of that Jahaziel whose inspired words in the midst of the congregation encouraged Jehoshaphat to withstand the invasion of Moab, Ammon and Seir (20:14 ff).

(4-7) Four others who had foreign wives,

(a) the Matthanias of 1 Esdras 9:27 (Ezra 10:26);

(b) the Othonias of 1 Esdras 9:28 (Ezra 10:27);

(c) the Matthanias of 1 Esdras 9:31 (Ezra 10:30);

(d) the fourth of these in 1 Esdras 9:34 the King James Version has had his name blended into that of Mattenai, and the two appear as the composite name Mamnitanemus (Ezra 10:37). He is a son of Bani.

(8) A Levite, father of Zaccur, ancestor of Hanan the under-treasurer of the Levitical offerings under Nehemiah (Neh 13:13).

(9) One of the sons of Heman the singer, whose office it was to blow the horns in the temple-service as David had appointed it (1 Chr 25:4; 1 Chr 25:5). He was head of the 9th division of the 12 Levites (1 Chr 25:16), who were proficient in the Songs of Yahweh (1 Chr 25:7).

(10) One of the sons of Asaph who helped Hezekiah in the fulfilling of his vow to cleanse the house of the Lord (2 Chr 29:13).

Henry Wallace