NATHINEI (Hebr. Nēthānīm; Septuagint Nēthānīm, rarely Nēthānīm and Nēthānīm; Vulg. Nathinae). - Ministers assigned to the most menial services (Ezra 8:20) of the Temple of Jerusalem, mentioned after priests and Levites (1 Chron. 9:2; Ezra 2:43, 70; Neh. 7:46) as a distinct class, though not descended from any particular tribe or lineage. They are placed alongside, by similarity of function, the "servants of Solomon" (Ezra 2:58; Neh. 7:60), descendants of the Canaanites, subjected by that King to servile labor (1 Kings 9:20-21).

It is thought that for the most part the n. were prisoners of war (cf. Josh. 9:21-23) and their descendants. The name is connected with the root nāthān "to give" (a nominal formation with passive sense, qāṭīl), whence today it is usually translated "oblates," "offered" for sacred service, as were the Levites themselves (called nēthānīm "given," passive participle, in Num. 3:9; 8:16, 19). There is no record of them in the period before the exile; it is known, however, that they existed in Babylon, whence a group returned with Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:7; 8:17, 20), where Nehemiah's memoirs recall them as inhabitants of a quarter of their own (Neh. 3:26, 31; 7:73; 11:3, 21) and participants in the reforms of that era (Neh. 10:29).

Giovanni Rinaldi

@incollection{ec8_natinei_ebr_nethanim_settanta, author = {Rinaldi, Giovanni}, title = {Natinei (Ebr. NĒThĀNĪM; Settanta NĒThĀNĪM, raro nēthānīm e nēthānīm; volg. nathinaei)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1678}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/natinei-ebr-nethanim-settanta-nethanim-raro-nethanim-e-nethanim-volg-nathinaei} }

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Nathinei

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