Shallum meaning

Meaning

Recompense, Retribution

Etymology

From the verb שלם (shalem), to be or make whole or complete.

Related names

• Via שלם (shalem): Abishalom, Absalom, Bishlam, Islam, Jerusalem, Meshelemiah, Meshillemith, Meshillemoth, Meshullam, Meshullemeth, Muslim, Salamis, Salem, Salim, Salmone, Salome, Shallun, Shalmai, Shalmaneser, Shelemiah, Shelomi, Shelomith, Shelumiel, Shulammite, Solomon, YHWH-shalom

There are quite a few men named Shallum in the Bible, one of whom is also known as Shillem:

• A son of Jabesh and murderer of king Zechariah of Israel, the last of the dynasty of Jehu. This Shallum usurped the throne, but was himself assassinated and succeeded by the gruesome Menahem, son of Gadi, of Tirzah (2 Kings 15:10-15; in 15:10 spelled שלם).
• A son of Tikvah and husband of Huldah the prophetess, whom king Josiah of Judah consulted regarding the Book that was found in the temple of YHWH during restorations (2 Kings 22:14, 2 Chronicles 34:22; both spelled שלם ).
• A son of Sismai of Judah and the father of Jekamiah (1 Chronicles 2:40-41).
• The fourth son of king Josiah of Judah, mentioned in a genealogy of king Solomon (1 Chronicles 3:15). We learn from Jeremiah 22:11 (here spelled שלם) that this Shallum was briefly king after his father, but was succeeded by his older brother Jehoiakim, also known as Jehoahaz.
• A son of Simeon, the second son of Jacob and Leah (1 Chronicles 4:25, spelled שלם).
• A son of Zadok and father of Hilkiah as mentioned in the genealogy of the high priestly line from Levi, through Kohath, Amram, Aaron and Eleazar to Jehozadak, who was taken to Babylon, "when YHWH carried Judah and Jerusalem away into exile by Nebuchadnezzar"(1 Chronicles 6:12-13, Ezra 7:2).
• A son of Naphtali, the sixth son of Jacob and the second of Bilhah (1 Chronicles 7:13). This man is known as Shillem in Genesis 46:24 and Numbers 26:49, and he was the patriarch of the Naphtalian sub-clan of the שלמי; Shillemites (Numbers 26:49).
• A chief gatekeeping Korahite Levite who returned from exile, and who was stationed at the eastern King's Gate (1 Chronicles 9:17-19). His oldest son Mattithiah became the restored temple's chief baker (which was a big deal considering that the production of the Show Bread fell under his responsibilities; 1 Chronicles 9:31-32, spelled שלם). This Shallum is probably the same as the gatekeeping Shallum mentioned by Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 2:42, Nehemiah 7:45). He may even be the same as the gatekeeping Shallum who had married and would divorce his foreign wife during the purge of Ezra (Ezra 10:24, spelled שלם).
• The father of Jehizkiah, who was among the men of Ephraim who backed up the prophet Obed's protest concerning the taking and mistreating of a large group of Judaic prisoners of war (2 Chronicles 28:12, spelled שלם).
• One of the many sons of Bani, who all pledged to divorce their foreign wives during the purge of Ezra (Ezra 10:42).
• A son of Hallohesh, the official of half the district of Jerusalem. This Shallum appears to have had nothing but daughters, because Nehemiah notes him and the girls as working on the wrecked wall of Jerusalem after the return from exile (Nehemiah 3:12).
• An uncle of the prophet Jeremiah, whose son Hanamel came to Jeremiah to inform him that he had successional rights to a plot of land in the environs of Anathoth (Jeremiah 32:7, spelled שלם).
• The father of Maaseiah, who was a doorkeeper of the temple of YHWH in the time of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 35:4, spelled שלם).

Note that some translations (NAS, Young) have a Shallum repairing the Fountain Gate in Nehemiah 3:15, but the Hebrew here reads שלון; Shallun (as transliterated correctly by the NIV, KJV, JSP, ASV and Darby translations).

The name Shallum is spelled and pronounced the same as the noun שלום (shillum), meaning recompense, and is spelled the same as but pronounced slightly different from the familiar word שלום (shalom), meaning peace. Both these words come from the verb שלם (shalem), to be or make whole or complete:

For a meaning of the name Shallum, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Recompense and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Retribution. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret the name Shallum but does list it under the verb שלם (shalem).