Jehozadak

Jehozadak (meaning justice of the LORD; also Josedech or Jozadak) was the high priest of Jerusalem who was taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar when he destroyed the city in 587/586 B.C. (1 Chronicles 6:14-15). He was the son of Seraiah the chief priest, who was executed at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and the father of Joshua (Jeshua) the high priest who returned from exile with Zerubbabel and led the restoration of worship in Jerusalem (Ezra 3:2; Haggai 1:1).

Though Jehozadak himself never served as high priest in Jerusalem — his entire adult life was spent in Babylonian exile — he forms the crucial link in the Zadokite priestly line between the pre-exilic and post-exilic periods. His son Joshua's ministry, alongside Zerubbabel the governor, becomes the subject of significant prophetic attention in Haggai and Zechariah, who saw in their joint leadership a type of the coming Messiah who would be both king and priest.