The descendants of the above Ilananiah were Pelatiah and Jesaiah, besides the children of a third son Be- pkaiah, together with those of AriKin (one of the last- mentioned children), and in like manner the issue again of his son Obadiah and grandson Shtchaniah. [Ver. 22] The family of this last consisted of six descendants, namely, his son Hhemaiah, and grandchildren Hattush, Igeal, Bariah, jVe«)7(//(, and Shaphat. [Ver. 28] Neariah had three sons, Elioeuai, Hezekiah, and Azrikam ; [ver. 24] and l^lioenai again seven, namely, Hodaiah, Elia- shib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani." An objection, it must be admitted, lies against this ar- rangement, namely, that it brings down the list to a later date than the close of the Old-Test, canon (B.C. 406), requiring the supposition of the addition of some of the last names by a subsequent hand. Another view, which condenses the lineage within earlier limits, is given under Dauius 2. The above adjustment, how- ever, is not only conformed to the natural view of the textj but is also contirmed by not a few striking coin- cidences in names and descent with the genealogies of our Lord as given by the evangelists. The following
Generation.
1 Chron. iii.
Matt, i, 12-17.
1 Chron. iii.
Liilie iii, 47-33.
Born B.C.
1
Zerdbbaijei.
ZOBOBABEL
Zf.Iiubbabel
ZOKOBABEL
C.5C0
2
Hiiiiimiiih
Hananiah
?530
3
Rephaiah
Rephaiah
liheiia
?505
4
Arnan
Arnan
Jo;iiina
?475
5
Obadiah
A biud
Obadiah
Jnda
?445
6
Shechaiiiah
Eliakim ?
Shechaiiiah
Joseph ?
?415
7
Shemaiah
tihemaiah
Scmei
Mattathias
]\l;iath
f BS5
8
Neariah
Neariah
Naime
? 35.5
9
Azrikam.
Azor
Elioenai
Edi
?325
10
Johanan
Naitm
?205
11
Amos
?265
12
Sadoc
Mattathias
?235
13
Achim
Joseph
?205
14
E)iud
Jan 11 a
?1T5
15
Eleazar
Melchi
? 145
16
Maitliuu
Levi
?105
IT
Jncol)
Miitthat
? S5
IS
Joseph
Heli
?55
19
Mary
C. 25
20
Jesus
JlCBUS
6
ship between him and the king," etc. (/I ?«^ xi,3). But table will exhibit these at a glance (see Strong, //wr- it is obvious on the face of it that this is simply Jose- I mony and Exposition of the Gosj^els, § 9). See Geneal- phus's invention to reconcile 1 Esdr. with the canonical , ogy (of Christ). Ezra. Josephus has also another story (ibid, xi, 4, 9) which is not found in 1 Esdras, of Zorobabel go- ing on an embassy to Darius to ac- cuse the Samaritan governors and hipparchs of withholding from the Jews the grants made by Darius out of the royal treasury for the of- fering of sacrifices and other Tem- ple expenses, and of his obtaining a decree from the king command- ing his officers in Samaria to sup- ply the high-priest with all that he required. But that this is not au- thentic history seems pretty certain from the names of the governors, iSambabds being an imitation or corruption a^Sanballat, Tanyanesoi Tatnai (or Thauthanai, as in §ept.), Sadraces of Sathrabouzanes, con- fused with Shadrach, Bobelo of Zorobabel ; and the names of the ambassadors, which are manifestly copied from the list in 1 Esdr. v, 8, where Zorobabel, Enenius, and Mardochfeus correspond to Zorobabel, Ananias, and Mar- dochajus of Josephus. Moreover, the letter or decree of Darius as given by Josephus is as manifestly copied from the decree of Darius in Ezra vi, 6-10. In all probabili- ty, therefore, the document used by Josephus was one of those numerous Apocryphal religious romances of which the Hellenistic Jews were so fond about the 4th and 3d century before Christ, and was written partly to ex- plain Zorobabel's presence at the court of Darius, as spoken of in 1 Esdras, partly to explain that of Mordecai at the court of Ahasuerus, though he was in the list of those who were Zorobabel's companions (as it seemed), and partly to give an opportunity for reviling and hu- miliating the Samaritans. It also gratified the favorite taste for embellishing and corroborating, and giving, as was thought, additional probability to, the Scripture narrative, and dwelling upon bygone times of Jewish triumphs. — Smith.
3. The list of Zerubbabel's posterity in 1 Chron. iii, 19-24 is somewhat confused. Perhaps its statements may be harmonized with themselves and with the New- Test, genealogies, if the entire passage read thus: [ver. 19] "The issue of Pedaiah were Zerubbabel (by his brother Salathiel's widow), .Shimei (to whom may be added Zerubbabel's children, MeshuUam, Hananiah. and a daughter Shelomith), [ver. 20] Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, and Hasadiah (called also Jiishab-hesed), making in all five sons (besides Zerubbabel, who was
Zeru'i'ah (Heb. Tseniyah', n^^^Ii [1 Sam. xiv, 1 tX^')'^'\. wounded [Gesen.] or balsam [Fiirst]; Sept. and Josephus, '2apovta\ Vulg. Sarria), a woman noted as the mother of the three leading heroes of David's army — Abishai, Joab, and Asahel — the "sons of Zeru- iah" (1 Sam. xxvi, 6; 2 Sam. ii, 18; 1 Kings i, 7, etc.). B.C. ante 1046. Sh^^nd Abigail are specified in the ge- nealogy of David's family in 1 Chron. ii, 13-17 as "sis- ters oTthe sons of Jesse" (ver. 16; comp. Josephus, Ant. vi, 10, 1), The expression is in itself enough to raise a suspicion that she was not a daughter of Jesse, a sus- picion which is corroborated by thestatement of 2 Sam. xvii, 2.5, that Abigail was the daughter of Nahash. Abigail being apparently the younger of the two wom- en, it is a probable inference that they were both the daughters of Nahash, but whether this Nahash be — as Prof. Stanley has ingeniously conjectured — the king of the Ammonites, and tlie former husband of Jesse's wife, or some other person unknown, must forever remain a mere conjecture. See David; Nahash. Her relation to .Jesse (in the original Ishai) is expressed in the name of her son Ab-ishai. Of Zeruiah's liusband there is no mention in the Bible. Josephus {Ant. vii, 1, 3) explic- itly states that his name was Soiiri CEovpi), but no cor- roboration of the statement appears to have been dis- covered in the Jewish traditions, nor does Josephus himself refer to it again. The mother of such remark- able sons must herself have been a remarkable woman, and this may account for the fact, unusual if not unique, that the family is always called after her, and that her