Matthew 1:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Jehoiachin, the last listed king of Judah before the captivity was carried into Babylon with his wives, where at first he was kept in prison. But he was released in the thirty seventh year of his captivity (Jeremiah 52:31), and it was then, presumably, that he had at least one child, Salathiel (Shealtiel). God was still watching over the line of the Messiah and the promises made to Abraham and David, to fulfil them, in spite of what seemed like insurmountable difficulties. To Shealtiel was born Zorobabel (Zerubbabel). It was Zerubbabel who led those who returned from the captivity following the decree of Cyrus and who became governor of Judah. This remarkable and unexpected decree, which for many years was only known from the Bible, was ridiculed as fiction by sceptics. But the Cyrus Cylinder, now in the British Museum, wonderfully confirmed its accuracy. Ezra records this decree of Cyrus and the response to it from the faithful in Babylon. Many returned with Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Zerubbabel is named in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah, and Haggai’s prophecies concerning him are given to encourage the nation and to assure Judah that God’s plans for the Messiah are still on track in spite of the political upheavals they have just been through.Many of the names that follow come from the intertestamental period and are not recorded anywhere else in Scripture until we come to Joseph. Matthew gives us Christ’s genealogy through Joseph, whom Scripture calls his parent, and who was his legal father through marriage to Mary, but who was not his true father since Christ was conceived of a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit. A comparison with Luke’s list of names from the same period (though through a different line) reveals that Luke had more generations. Possibly again here Matthew skips generations to arrive at round numbers.