HOBAIAH

ho-ba'-ya (chobhayah, "whom Yahweh hides," i.e. "protects"): The head of a priestly family that returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Because they could not trace their genealogy, they were not permitted to serve in the priestly office (Nehemiah 7:63 f). In the Qere of this passage and in the parallel list of Ezra 2:61, this name appears in the form "Habaiah" (chabhayyah). "Obdia" is the form of the word in 1 Esdras 5:38.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.