Sallai

Sallai is the name of two men in the post-exilic community described in Nehemiah. The first was a Benjamite who settled in Jerusalem after the return from exile, listed among the inhabitants of the holy city in Nehemiah 11:8, where 928 Benjamites in total are numbered. The second Sallai was a priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and was the head of a priestly family in the days of the high priest Joiakim (Neh. 12:20). In the parallel list of Nehemiah 12:7, a variant form of the name appears as "Sallu." Beyond their inclusion in these restoration-era registers, neither man is the subject of any narrative record. They represent the broad community of returned exiles — priests, Levites, and laymen — who rebuilt the religious and civic infrastructure of post-exilic Judah.