Who was Hashum in the Bible?

The name of at least two Old Testament Israelites

Hebrew name: חָשֻׁם (chashum)

Name meaning: The meaning of this name is uncertain.

a. The ancestral head of a post-exile family (Ezra 2:19, 10:33; Nehemiah 7:22)

After the exile, thousands of Jews returned to Jerusalem after the decree of Cyrus the Great (~539 B.C.) which allowed them to leave Babylon. Upon returning, exiles were catalogued and organized according to families, identified by a common ancestor. Hashabiah was the common ancestor of one such family. 223 descendants of Hashabiah returned with Zerubbabel (6th century B.C.) during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

b. A post-exile leader (Nehemiah 8:4, 10:18)

Hashabiah is documented as one of the signers of Nehemiah’s covenant. This covenant involved the newly returned exiles agreeing to follow the Law of Moses and to obey God’s commandments as they attempted to re-settle Judah.