Judah, the double genealogy is provided, assuring the Gilead rights to this

son of the house of Judah, and all this through his mother, the daughter of

The genealogies of the Saviour given in Matthew and Luke present a

number of problems, among them the presence in both genealogies of the names

of Salathiel and Zorobabel, who, on the surface appear to be sons of

two brothers, Solomon and Nathan, which is, of course, physically impossible.

When we have sorted out the problem raised by these two names, we shall be

well on the way to discerning the purport of the two genealogies of Matthew

and Luke.  Matthew tells us that Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel

begat Zorobabel (Matt. 1:12).  Luke tells us that Zorobabel was the son of

Salathiel (Luke 3:27) and this accords with the record of Matthew, but

differs from Matthew by saying that Salathiel was the son of Neri, who traces

his descent, not from Solomon, but from Nathan.  Jechoniah is said to have

had sons, 'Assir, Salathiel his son' (1 Chron. 3:17).  Jechoniah's name was

changed to Coniah, removing from his name the letters 'Je' which form part of

the name of the Lord, and of this king, Jeremiah was moved to say:

'Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days:

for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David,

and ruling any more in Judah' (Jer. 22:30).

While the Scriptures tell us that Zerubbabel was the

son of Shealtiel, or as his name is in Matthew and

Luke, Salathiel, we learn that Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah (1 Chron.

3:19) and from the same genealogy that Pedaiah was the brother of Salathiel

(1 Chron. 3:17,18).  We, therefore, have a duplicate of the problem in the

two genealogies of the Saviour, for Salathiel and Zerubbabel appear in them

as though they were the descendants of both Solomon and his brother Nathan.

We also have the added complication of a man who was to be written as

'childless' nevertheless having seven sons.  How are these apparent

contradictions to be resolved?  First let us consider the apparent

contradiction that a childless man should have sons.  The Hebrew word

translated 'childless' is ariri.  This word occurs but four times in the Old

Testament.  Genesis 15:2 where Abraham said, 'seeing I go childless', in

Leviticus 20:20,21 and in the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning Coniah.

Talmudic comment on the use of this term is suggestive:

'Kimchi, also, upon the place (i.e. Jer. 22:30), the word ariri means

thus: that his sons shall die in his life, if he now have sons: but if

he shall not now have sons, he never shall'.

We have, however, the actual words of Jeremiah to consider.  He said,

concerning Coniah, 'wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed?'  That

Jechoniah had children, 1 Chronicles 3:17 affirms, and the prophecy of

Jeremiah does not involve a contradiction, it simply declares, that Jechoniah

shall not 'prosper' in his days, and goes on to indicate wherein he should

fail, 'for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of

David, and ruling any more in Judah'.  This, therefore, does not rule out a

son by adoption or by Levitical marriage as we shall see.  The word assir (1

Chron. 3:17), instead of being the name of a son is considered to be an

adjective with Jechonias:

'Now the sons of Jechonias bound (or imprisoned) were ...' (Dr.