'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 Zorobabel or 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 (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 of 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 seeming 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

'Kimchi, also, upon the place (i.e. Jer. 22:30) says 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 Jeconiah

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 Levirate marriage as we shall see.  The word assir instead of

being the name of a son, is considered to be an adjective qualifying

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

(Dr. Lightfoot).

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; 5:2 and 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, and 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

The answer, therefore, to the problems raised appears to be this.

Matthew relates the genealogy of Joseph, Luke the genealogy of Mary.  Mary's