An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 6 - Doctrinal Truth - Page 163 of 270
INDEX
Reverting to the question of the true parentage of Zerubbabel, we have
drawn attention to the fact that the records appear contradictory, Zerubbabel
is said to be the son of Shealtiel (Salathiel), in Ezra 3:2,8, and in 5:2,
also in Nehemiah and Haggai, prophets and instruments in the return from the
captivity.  In the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 3:19, Zerubbabel is said to be
the 'son of Pedaiah', and Salathiel and Pedaiah were brothers.  It is evident
that Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai were at pains to stress the descent of
Zerubbabel from Salathiel, and to avoid any reference to Pedaiah, the reason
appears to be that Pedaiah, the true father of Zerubbabel, being the actual
son of Jechoniah, was precluded any further right to the throne of David, but
that Salathiel, whose father is recorded by Luke to have been 'Neri ... the
son of Nathan, which was the son of David', had succeeded to the royal title
and was therefore looked upon as the son of Jechoniah by legal adoption, the
royal line being transferred from the line of Solomon to the line of Nathan
at this point, possibly by a marriage between the two families.
The answer, therefore, to the problems raised appears to be this:
Matthew relates the genealogy of Joseph; Luke the genealogy of Mary.  Mary's
genealogy becomes necessary because of the bar that was set up to any of the
seed of Coniah.  The crown rights being forfeited, Nathan's line succeeds and
so although attacked from within and without, the Saviour that was born at
Bethlehem has the full right to the throne of David.  We now consider one or
two subsidiary evidences that go to confirm this line of teaching.  Dr.
Lightfoot draws attention to the genealogy given in Genesis 36:2: 'Aholibamah
the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon'.
Every reader, not made aware of the problem, would naturally assume
upon reading this entry, that Anah was the daughter of Zibeon.  But Anah was
a man (Gen. 36:24,25); Anah was the father of Aholibamah.  In like manner,
the title, 'The Son' in Luke 3:23, is never again used in the genealogy, the
words throughout being in italics, and the genealogy reads:
Jesus was the legal son of Joseph
Jesus was the son of Matthat
Jesus was the son of Levi
until the end of the record which does not tell us that Adam was the son of
God, but
Jesus which was the Son of God.
We are familiar with the blessed words of Revelation 22:16 where the
Saviour declares His Divine and Human nature, being not only the 'offspring'
but the 'root' of David, but we may not have given sufficient heed to the
prophetic statement of Isaiah 11:1:
'... there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch shall grow out of his roots'.
These words do not suggest a straightforward growth, but rather picture
a 'stem', i.e., the 'stock' of a tree that had been cut down, sending forth a
'sucker', not from the stem of the tree in the normal way, but from the
roots, as though making a fresh start.  Job uses this figure saying:
'For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout
again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.  Though the