Ancient Mysteries & Interpretations
Sheshbazzar receives the temple vessels from Cyrus, is appointed governor and is said to have laid the temple's foundation. Ezra 3 and Zechariah give the foundation to Zerubbabel. Sheshbazzar then disappears from the story. Three main answers have been proposed; none is proven.
Identity: unresolved · Outside evidence: none for either name in this role
"Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah" (Ezra 1:8). "They were delivered unto one, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor… Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation" (5:14, 16).
"Sanabassar" / "Salmanasar"; also distinguished from Zorobabel.
No inscription, seal or tablet names Sheshbazzar or Zerubbabel. Babylonian names of the form Sin-ab-usur ("may Sin protect the father") and Shamash-ab-usur are attested and are proposed as the original of Sheshbazzar; the Greek forms vary.
Traditional reading
Sheshbazzar is Zerubbabel's official Babylonian name (as Daniel was Belteshazzar), so Ezra 3 and 5 describe the same foundation.
Assessment: Both names are already Babylonian-style (Zerubbabel = "seed of Babylon"); 1 Esdras treats them as different men.
Scholarly reconstruction
Sheshbazzar is the Shenazzar of 1 Chronicles 3:18, Zerubbabel's uncle, an older royal leader of the first return succeeded by his nephew.
Assessment: The names are similar but not identical; plausible, not demonstrated.
Scholarly reconstruction
Ezra combined two accounts of the first return, one led by Sheshbazzar under Cyrus and one by Zerubbabel under Darius.
Most likely Sheshbazzar led an early return under Cyrus and made a beginning on the temple; Zerubbabel, perhaps his relative, led the work that was completed under Darius.
What the evidence shows