1 Chronicles 3

1 Chronicles 3:10-16 . HIS LINE TO ZEDEKIAH.

10. Solomon's son was Rehoboam, &c.--David's line is here drawn down to the captivity, through a succession of good and bad, but still influential and celebrated, monarchs. It has rarely happened that a crown has been transmitted from father to son, in lineal descent, for seventeen reigns. But this was the promised reward of David's piety. There is, indeed, observable some vacillation towards the close of this period--the crown passing from one brother to another, an even from uncle to nephew--a sure sign of disorderly times and a disjointed government.

15. Zedekiah--called the son of Josiah (compare Jeremiah 1:3 , 37:1 ), but in 2 Chronicles 36:19 he is described as the brother of Jehoiachin, who was the son of Jehoiakim, and consequently the grandson of Josiah. Words expressive of affinity or relationship are used with great latitude in the Hebrew.
Shallum--No king of this name is mentioned in the history of Josiah's sons ( 2 Kings 14:1-29 , 23:1-37 ), but there is a notice of Shallum the son of Josiah ( Jeremiah 22:11 ), who reigned in the stead of his father, and who is generally supposed to be Jehoahaz, a younger son, here called the fourth, of Josiah.

1 Chronicles 3:17-24 . SUCCESSORS OF JECONIAH.

17. the sons of Jeconiah; Assir--rather, "Jeconiah the prisoner," or "captive." This record of his condition was added to show that Salathiel was born during the captivity in Babylon (compare Matthew 1:12 ). Jeconiah was written childless ( Jeremiah 22:30 ), a prediction which (as the words that follow explain) meant that this unfortunate monarch should have no son succeeding him on the throne.

18. Malchiram also--As far as Jeconiah, everything is plain; but there is reason to suspect that the text in the subsequent verses has been dislocated and disarranged. The object of the sacred historian is to trace the royal line through Zerubbabel; yet, according to the present reading, the genealogical stem cannot be drawn from Jeconiah downwards. The following arrangement of the text is given as removing all difficulties [DAVIDSON, Hermeneutics]:-- 1 Chronicles 3:17 . And the sons of Jeconiah the the captive, Salathiel (Shealtiel, Ezra 3:2 , Nehemiah 12:1 , Haggai 1:12 Haggai 1:14 , 2:2 ) his son. 1 Chronicles 3:18 . And the sons of Salathiel; Zerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister. 1 Chronicles 3:19 . And Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushab-hezed. 1 Chronicles 3:20 . And Malchiram, and Rephaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. 1 Chronicles 3:21 . The sons of Hananiah; Pelatiah and Jesaiah; the sons of Rephaiah; his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah.