This name appears exclusively in Ezra 4:8, 9, 17, 23, always with the title 'Shimshai the scribe.' He and Rehum the commander write to King Artaxerxes opposing the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, and they later receive the king's reply and enforce the cessation of work. The name is probably of Persian or Old Iranian origin (various proposals include meanings related to 'sun' or charitable connotations), adapted to fit Hebrew spelling. The multilingual glosses transliterate with minor variations (Spanish Simsai, French Shimshaï, German Schimschi). As a scribe in the Persian administration, Shimshai represents the bureaucratic opposition to Jewish restoration—using legal and political channels to block what God had decreed through Cyrus.