Rehum
REHUM (rē'hŭm, Heb. reḥûm, beloved)
A Hebrew who returned from captivity with Ezra (Ezra.2.2). Called “Nehum” in Neh.7.7.An officer of Artaxerxes’s court who helped frame a report to his king, accusing the Jews of rebelling and warning him that to permit the completion of the job of restoring Jerusalem would result in the loss of these vassal people (Ezra.4.7-Ezra.4.24).A son of Bani. He helped repair the walls of Jerusalem (Neh.3.17).One who signed the covenant with God after Israel had returned from captivity and had been so signally blessed (Neh.10.25).A priest among those who returned to Palestine with Zerubbabel (Neh.12.3).
REHUM re’ həm (רְח֣וּם or רְחֻ֖ם; LXX ̔Ρεόυμ, meaning merciful). 1. The name of one of the leaders in the return from the Exile with Zerubbabel recorded in Ezra 2:2 (1 Esdras 5:8 reads ROIMUS). The parallel passage in Nehemiah 7:7 reads NEHUM, which appears to be a transcriptional error.
2. The name of a Pers. officer who coauthored a letter to Artaxerxes opposing the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple (Ezra 4:7-24). When a favorable reply came, “Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates...went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease” (v. 23; cf. 1 Esd 2:16-30 where the name is RATHUMUS).
3. The name of a Levite, the son of Bani, who helped Nehemiah repair the wall of Jerusalem (Neh 3:17).
4. The name of one of those who set the seal to the “firm covenant” of Nehemiah (Neh 10:25). He may be the same man as the Rehum of Nehemiah 3:17 or related to the Rehum in Ezra 2:2.
5. The name of one of the priests listed in Nehemiah 12:1-7 who came with Zerubbabel. Comparison with Nehemiah 12:15 and 1 Chronicles 24:8 has led some to understand this as a miswriting of Harim. In the consonantal text, that change could be effected by transposing the first two letters. The LXX omits the name altogether.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
(rechum, or rechum):
(1) One of the twelve heads of the Jewish community returning from captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:2; Ne 7:7 (by a copyist’s error "Nehum"); Ne 12:3; 1Esdras 5:8, "Roimus").
(2) A Persian officer of high rank (literally, "master of judgment, taste, reason") who with others wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes (Ezr 4:8,9,17,23).
(3) Son of Bani, a Levite, one of the wall-builders under Nehemiah (Ne 3:17).
(4) One of the signers of the covenant in Ne 10:25.
(5) In Ne 12:3 (omitted in the Septuagint) one Rehum is mentioned with those who went up with Zerubbabel. It is probable that we should read here "Harim" (charim for rechum of Ne 12:15).