Conaniah

Person

Conaniah (meaning: made or established by Jehovah) was a chief of the Levites in the time of King Josiah. He is named in 2 Chronicles 35:9 among the leaders who contributed generously to the great Passover celebrated in Josiah's eighteenth year — the Passover held after the discovery of the book of the law in the temple. Conaniah, along with his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel and other Levitical chiefs, gave to the Levites five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen for the Passover offerings.

An earlier Conaniah appears in 2 Chronicles 31:12–13 during Hezekiah's religious reform, serving as an overseer of the tithes, freewill offerings, and dedicated things brought to the temple. Whether these are the same individual or two different men of the same name separated by a generation is uncertain; the Hezekiah-era Conaniah served under a brother named Shimei as second in charge. Both men are portrayed as faithful administrators of the temple's resources during periods of significant religious renewal in Judah's history.