Matthew 1:12

And after they were brought to Babylon,.... Not Jechonias, but the father of Jechonias, and the Jews. Jechonias begat Salathiel.

And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; And after they were brought to ('after the migration of') Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel. So 1 Chronicles 3:17.

This Jechonias is generally thought to be Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakin; he is called Jeconiah, , as well as Jehoiachin, ; so also he is called Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, . That this Jechonias begat Salathiel appeareth from . It is here objected that God said concerning this Jeconiah, called also Coniah, Write ye this man childless, how then did he beget Salathiel? But it is easily answered, for that verse. , will expound itself: 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: so as that text is plainly to be understood, without a child that shall actually succeed in the crown; for the text itself supposes that he should have seed, but none that should prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah, which the Scripture, justifieth, for the king of Babylon set up Zedekiah his uncle in his stead, who was the last king in Judah, in the eleventh year of whose reign the Jews were all carried captive. This Jeconiah had eight sons, as we read, ,18. Salathiel is there reckoned as his second son; possibly Assir died young, or at least childless, so as the right of the crown was in Salathiel, who is the person alone here named. But how Salathiel is here said to have begat Zorobabel is yet a greater difficulty; for, , it is said, The sons of Pedaiah (not of Salathiel) were, Zerubabel, and Shimei. If Zorobabel were the son of Pedaiah, how could he be the son of Salathiel? Several answers are given to this. Some think that Zorobabel, because he descended lineally from Salathiel, is called his son, which were a sufficient answer if the supposition were true, that Zorobabel were lineally descended from Salathiel: but that it is not, for according to Pedaiah was not the son, but the brother of Salathiel. Others think that Salathiel is here said to have begot Zorobabel, because Zorobabel succeeded him in the kingdom; but as that is a strange interpretation of the word begat, so neither was Salathiel a king, though possibly the title of the crown was in him as the great grandchild of Josiah, nor did ever Zorobabel assume the crown that we read of. Whereas others say, that there were two Zorobabels, and that this son was the adopted son of Salathiel: both these things are suggested without proof. The most probable opinion, which I perceive the best interpreters acquiesce in, is, that Salathiel dying without issue, Pedaiah his brother married his wife, according to the law of God, , and begat Zorobabel of her that had been the wife of Salathiel; and thence it is said Salathiel begat him, Pedaiah so raising up seed to his brother according to the law aforesaid.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; Ver. 12. And after they were brought to Babylon] This the Evangelist inculcates, and rings often in the ears of his impious countrymen, as a notorious public judgment on a nation so incorrigibly flagitious, so unthankful for mercies, so impatient of remedies, so incapable of repentance, so obliged, so warned, so shamelessly, so lawlessly wicked, quorum maxima beneficia, flagitia, supplicia, as the Centurists set it forth. Abused mercy turns into fury. Jechonias begat Salathiel] Neri begat him naturally, Jechonias, legally; adopting him for his child that was his nephew, 1 Chronicles 3:17. And Salathiel begat Zorobabel] Who brought forth the head stone of the second temple with shoutings, crying, "Grace, grace unto it," Zechariah 4:7. He was a chieftain in the first year of Cyrus, Ezra 2:2, and he lived to see the building of the temple, about the sixth year of Darius Nothus, which is a matter of a hundred years between. So he had a longer life than ordinary, which God granteth to some, because he hath something to be done by them. A short life in some cases is a blessing, 1 Kings 14:13, as grapes gathered before they be ripe are freed from the violence of the winepress; as lambs slain before they be grown escape many storms and sharp showers that others live to taste of. Some wicked live long, that they may aggravate their judgment; others die sooner, that they may hasten it. But they are blessed, that whether they live, they live unto the Lord, or whether they die, they die unto the Lord, and in the Lord, their works following them. Romans 14:8; Revelation 14:13.

(12) Jechonias begat Salathiel.—We come here into a cluster of genealogical difficulties. (1) The natural impression left by Jeremiah 22:30 is that Coniah (or Jechonias) died childless, or, at least, left no descendants who came to rule as Zerubbabel did; (2) In the genealogy given by St. Luke (Luke 3:27), Salathiel is named as the son of Neri; (3) In 1 Chronicles 3:17-19, Salathiel is the son of Assir, the son of Jeconiah, and Zerubbabel the son of Pedaiah, the brother of Salathiel. It is not easy to see our way through these difficulties; but the most probable solution is that Assir was the only son of Jeconiah, and died without issue before his father; that the line of Solomon thus came to an end, and that the descendants of Nathan, another son of David, took their place in the succession, and were reckoned, as by adoption, as the sons of the last survivor of the other line. The practice is, it may be noted, analogous to that which prevails among Indian princes, and in other Eastern nations. (Comp. Note on Luke 3:23-38.)

Verse 12. Jechonias begat Salathiel] After Jechonias was brought to Babylon, he was put in prison by Nebuchadnezzar, where he continued till the death of this prince, and the accession of Evilmerodach, who brought him out of prison, in which he had been detained thirty-seven years, and restored him to such favour that his throne (seat) was exalted above all the kings which were with him in Babylon: Jeremiah 52:31-32. But though he thus became a royal favourite, he was never restored to his kingdom. And, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 22:30, no man of his seed sat upon the throne of David; yet the regal line was continued through his son Salathiel, who died in Babylon: but Zorobabel, his son, returned from captivity, and by him the race of David was continued, according to Matthew, by Abiud; and, according to Luke, by Rhesa. See on Lu 3:23, c. The term carrying away to Babylon, μετοικεσια, from μετοικεω, to change a habitation, or place of residence, would be more properly translated by the word transportation, which is here peculiarly appropriate: the change was not voluntary they were forced away.

12. Jechonias begat Salathiel] Jehoiachin had no children of his own, “write ye this man childless” (Jeremiah 22:30). Salathiel was the son of Neri (Luke), but heir to Jehoiachin.