Matthew 1:12

Matthew 1:12
	← 1:11 1:13 →
	Michelangelo's Josiah-Jechoniah-Sheatiel. Josiah is generally seen as the man on the right with Jechoniah being the child on his knee. The boy being held by the woman is Shealtiel.
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Christian Bible part	New Testament

Last updated October 30, 2019

Matthew 1:12 is the twelfth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the betrothed of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is listed.

The Bible is a compilation of many shorter books written at different times by a variety of authors, and later assembled into the biblical canon. Since the early 13th century, most copies and editions of the Bible present all but the shortest of these books with divisions into chapters, generally a page or so in length. Since the mid-16th century editors have further subdivided each chapter into verses – each consisting of a few short lines or sentences. Sometimes a sentence spans more than one verse, as in the case of Ephesians 2:8–9, and sometimes there is more than one sentence in a single verse, as in the case of Genesis 1:2.

Matthew 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains two distinct sections. The first lists the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to his legal father Joseph, his mother's husband. The second part, beginning at verse 18, provides an account of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

Gospel of Matthew Book of the New Testament

The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and one of the three synoptic gospels. It tells how the promised Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, is killed, is raised from the dead, and finally sends the disciples to preach the gospel to the whole world. Most scholars believe it was composed between AD 80 and 90, with a range of possibility between AD 70 to 110. The anonymous author was probably a male Jew, standing on the margin between traditional and non-traditional Jewish values, and familiar with technical legal aspects of scripture being debated in his time. Writing in a polished Semitic "synagogue Greek", he drew on the Gospel of Mark as a source, and likely used a hypothetical collection of sayings known as the Q source, although the existence of Q has been questioned by some scholars. He also used material unique to his own community, called the M source or "Special Matthew".

Content

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

King James Version 1611 English translation of the Christian Bible

The King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible (KJB) or simply the Authorized Version (AV), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, begun in 1604 and completed as well as published in 1611 under the sponsorship of James VI and I. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. Noted for its "majesty of style", the King James Version has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world.

And after they were brought to Babylon,

Jechonias begat Salathiel;

and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

After the exile to Babylon,

Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel.

Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 1:12

Analysis

Jeconiah was a King of Judah, the last of these kings to be included among Joseph's ancestors. He was captured and brought to Babylon along with many of his subjects, beginning the Babylonian captivity. His son Shealtiel was born in Babylon, as was Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel. It was Zerubbabel who led the Jews out of exile in Babylon and he plays a prominent role in the Book of Ezra.^{[ citation needed ]}

Jeconiah, also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin, was a king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon in the 6th century BCE and was taken into captivity. He was the son and successor of King Jehoiakim. Most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible. Records of Jeconiah's existence have been found in Iraq, such as the Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets. These tablets were excavated near the Ishtar Gate in Babylon and have been dated to c. 592 BCE. Written in cuneiform, they mention Jeconiah and his five sons as recipients of food rations in Babylon.

The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah. According to the biblical account, this kingdom was founded after the death of Saul, when the tribe of Judah elevated David to rule over it. After seven years, David became king of a reunited Kingdom of Israel. However, in about 930 BCE the united kingdom split, with ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel rejecting Solomon's son Rehoboam as their king. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam, and re-formed the Kingdom of Judah, while the other entity continued to be called the Kingdom of Israel, or just Israel.

Babylon was a key kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia from the 18th to 6th centuries BC. The name-giving capital city was built on the Euphrates river and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon was originally a small Akkadian town dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BCE.

Zerubbabel and Shealtiel are also listed in the genealogy of Luke 3:27. However, in Luke, Shealtiel is not listed as the son of Jechoniah but rather of Neri. A number of explanations have been advanced to explain this. Robert H. Gundry believes that Luke gives the actual physical genealogy while Matthew is presenting the ceremonial one. Thus Neri was Shealtiel's natural father, but it was from Jeconiah which came the leadership of the Jewish people. This may link in with the prophecy of Jeremiah 36:30, which states that Jehoiakim's children would never again sit on the throne of David because of his sins. By having Shealtiel be the biological son of Neri, and only the adopted son of Jechoniah, this prohibition is avoided.^[1]

Robert Horton Gundry is an American scholar and retired professor of New Testament studies and Koine Greek.

David is described in the Hebrew Bible as the third king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah, after Ish-bosheth. In the biblical narrative, David is a young shepherd who gains fame first as a musician and later by killing the enemy champion Goliath. He becomes a favorite of King Saul and a close friend of Saul's son Jonathan. Worried that David is trying to take his throne, Saul turns on David. After Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle, David is anointed as King. David conquers Jerusalem, taking the Ark of the Covenant into the city, and establishing the kingdom founded by Saul. As king, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, leading him to arrange the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. Because of this sin, God denies David the opportunity to build the temple, and his son Absalom tries to overthrow him. David flees Jerusalem during Absalom's rebellion, but after Absalom's death he returns to the city to rule Israel. Before his peaceful death, he chooses his son Solomon as successor. He is honored in the prophetic literature as an ideal king and the forefather of a future Messiah, and many psalms are ascribed to him.

This is further complicated as 1 Chronicles 3:19 states that the father of Zerubbabel was Pedaiah, a brother of Shealtiel. Zerubbabel, which means "born in Babylon" was a common name and it is entirely possible that Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel had a cousin also named Zerubbabel.^{[ citation needed ]}

Gundry notes that the opening line "after the exile to Babylon" clearly does not refer to this verse alone. Jeconiah and Shealtiel were in no way after the exile. Rather, the first line is an introduction to this last third of the biography that covers the period from the captivity to the birth of Jesus.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Matthew 1:13 is the thirteenth verse of Matthew 1 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed. This verse covers the section somewhat after the Babylonian Captivity six generations before Jesus.

Matthew 1:11 is the eleventh verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed. It is the last verse of the middle third of the listing.

Matthew 1:8 is the eighth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:7 is the seventh verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:6 is the sixth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but differ radically from that point. Matthew has twenty-seven generations from David to Joseph, whereas Luke has forty-two, with almost no overlap between the names on the two lists.⁠ Notably, the two accounts also disagree on who Joseph's father was: Matthew says he was Jacob, while Luke says he was Heli.

Matthew 1:5 is the fifth verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:4 is the fourth verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:3 is the third verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:2 is the second verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is the first part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:14 is the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:17 is the seventeenth verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is the conclusion to the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:15 is the fifteenth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed.

Matthew 1:25 is the twenty-fifth and last verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Joseph has awakened from a dream in which an angel gave him instructions about the birth of Jesus. He has taken Mary into his home, completing their marriage, and this verse explains what occurs once the couple is united.

Matthew 2:10 is the tenth verse of the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The magi, dispatched by King Herod, have been shown the location of the infant Jesus by the Star of Bethlehem. In this verse they react to this.

Matthew 4:3 is the third verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. This verse opens the section in Matthew dealing with the temptation of Christ by Satan. Jesus has been fasting for forty days and forty nights and in this verse the devil gives Christ his first temptation and encourages him to use his powers to get food.

Matthew 5:1 and Matthew 5:2 are the first two verses of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verses introduce the Sermon on the Mount that will be recited in the next several chapters. The previous verse mentioned the large crowds "from Galilee, and from the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan" who followed Jesus to witness him healing: these verses present Jesus as seeing the crowds and going up onto a mountain to begin teaching.

Shealtiel, transliterated in Greek as Salathiel, was the son of Jeconiah, king of Judah. The Gospel of Matthew 1:12 also list Shealtiel as the son of Jeconiah. Jeconiah, Shealtiel as well as the most of the royal house and elite of Judah were exiled to Babylon by order of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon after the first siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC. During the Babylonian captivity, Shealtiel was regarded as the second Exilarch, following his father.

In Bible prophecy, several verses relate to the future of the Davidic line. Christians argue that Jesus fulfills these prophecies, while skeptics and Jews disagree.

References

↑ Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
↑ Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.

Resources

Albright, W.F. and C.S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
Fowler, Harold. The Gospel of Matthew: Volume One. Joplin: College Press, 1968

Preceded by Matthew 1:11	Gospel of Matthew Chapter 1	Succeeded by Matthew 1:13

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[1] Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.

[2] Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.

Matthew 1:12
← 1:11 1:13 →
Michelangelo's Josiah-Jechoniah-Sheatiel. Josiah is generally seen as the man on the right with Jechoniah being the child on his knee. The boy being held by the woman is Shealtiel.
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Christian Bible part	New Testament