Tobiah under King Jehoshaphat 873-849 BCE
In the book of 2 Chronicles, the king of of Judah, Jehoshaphat, is recorded has having an official who's name was Tobiyah. Of course modern scholarship has no way to determine the genealogical relationship, if any, between this Tobiyah and the Tobiad dynasty, but traditional rabbinic literature views this official as the first dignitary of the Tobiah dynasty.[1] It has been noted that Tobiah (or Tobiyah) is a name comprised of the word Tov meaning "good" and Y-h which is derived from the name of God within Judaism. This seems to indicate a thoroughly Jewish name, and for a Levite, this name is not at all unusual. This point will be important we consider below whether the Tobiads were "Jewish" or not.
According to biblical law, within the Israelite tribal system the Levites performed a primarily supportive role to the priesthood. Levites naturally required a certain amount of education and training to perform their duties. In the course of time this evolved into a semi-governmental position where they were teachers, the transcribers and interpreters of the law, and chroniclers of the times in which they lived. In the period that followed the Babylonian exile, the Levites contributed to the formation of the Kneset Hagedolah (Great Synagogue) and together with the priests, formed the majority of the proto-Sanhedrin. In this way they had a large share in the administration of justice even in capital cases.[2]
A function closely related to the interpretation of the law was that of prophecy. Both prophecy and jurisprudence shared the common goal of elucidating and applying the law. Even today, the Shulchan Aruch, the classical work of Jewish law, is called by the names of the Urim ve'Tumim, the gemstones of the High Priests breastplate used by kings and prophets for divining matters of law, government policy, and military campaigns. It is not unexpected that the vast majority of Judaic prophets were priests or levites, and the Levitical families maintained a connection, more or less intimate, with the schools of the prophets.
In the narrative in 2 Chronicles 17:3, it can be seen that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, pursued a policy of intensive religious and judicial reform to counter the effects of the revolt of the ten tribes and the policy pursued by Jeroboam, king of Israel. He sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah, accompanied by the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobiyah, and Tob-Adonijah, and by the priests Elishama and Jehoram. For the first time we hear of significant tax revenues being collected. The later Tobiads were sometimes referred to as the governors of Amman. They were also known as far-reaching and great tax-collectors for whatever government was ruling in the Land of Israel, the Persians, Ptolemies, Seleucids or Romans. It is possible that Jehoshaphat's official "Tobiyah" was the first of the dynasty to engage in tax farming for the ruling powers.
Other than tax-farming however, this Tobiyah seemed to be limited to "judge on behalf of the Lord and to settle disputes among the residents of Jerusalem"[3] and "The Levites will serve as officials before you."[4] The division between religious and sovereign authority was clearly made even at this early date. Amariah, the chief priest, would be responsible for all matters pertaining to the Lord’s law, and Zebadiah, of the royal house, would be responsible in all matters pertaining to the king. From this we also see that the royal house of Judah had intermarried with the house of Edom. Zebadiah son of Ishmael was a leader of the family of Judah, and of mixed Edomite-Judean ancestory.