7And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;8And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
Note 1 Chronicles 3:10-12: And Solomon's son was Rehoboam, Abia his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son,…. Thus, there were 3 generations and 3 kings – Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah – between Joram and Ozias. (Ozias is also called “Azariah,” or “Uzziah” [2 Chronicles 26:1]). Why were these three kings omitted from the genealogy?
The kings in Matthew’s genealogy who reigned after the division of the nation were kings in the southern kingdom of Judah. Ahab, a king in the northern kingdom of Israel, married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon. Jezebel worshipped Baal, an idol. Ahab built an altar to Baal in Israel and began to worship Baal (1 Kings 16:31-32). Jezebel provided sustenance for prophets of Baal and of Asherah (1 Kings 18:19). Ahab and Jezebel did much harm to God’s people.
God declared judgment against Ahab: For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. (2 Kings 9:8-10). God declared that the whole house of Ahab would perish.
But Joram (also called “Jehoram”), the king in the southern kingdom of Judah who is named in Matthew’s genealogy, married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel: Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD (2 Chronicles 21:5-6). Then Joram’s son, grandson, and great grandson (the three kings omitted from the genealogy) also did evil, and all three were murdered (2 Kings 8:27;9:27; 2 Chronicles 24:22-25; 25:14-16; 2 Kings 14:18-19).
In Exodus 20:4-5, God said, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me…. God executed judgment on Ahab, on Jehoram his son-in-law, and on the succeeding three generations. It is probably for this reason that Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah were not named in the genealogy in Matthew. Verse 8 of the genealogy says that “Joram begat Ozias.” That is true in that Joram was the ancestor of Ozias (compare the language of verse 1 : Jesus was the “son” of David and the “son” of Abraham).
11And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
Note 1 Chronicles 3:15-16: And the sons of Josiah were, the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son.
Jechonias (“Jeconiah”) was the grandson of Josias (“Josiah”). Both were kings. Between the reigns of Josiah and Jeconiah, Jeconiah’s uncle Shallum (also called “Jehoahaz” [2 Chronicles 36:1]), reigned three months, and Jeconiah’s father Jehoiakim reigned eleven years. Jeconiah (also called “Jehoiachin” [2 Chronicles 36:8]) began to reign when he was eight years old and reigned for only three months and ten days. Then he was taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 6:9-10). So the total time of the three kings, two sons and one grandson, who followed Josiah was just over eleven years and six months. Probably that is the reason the time from Josiah through Jeconiah is counted as only one generation. Also, the statement “Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren” is broad in expression.
12And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
Compare 1 Chronicles 3:17-19: And the sons of Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son, Malchiram also, and Pedaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. And the sons of Pedaiah were, Zerubbabel, and Shimei….
It is probable that Salathiel died without any children of his own. In that case, according to Jewish law, his brother (Pedaiah) should take Salathiel’s widow to be his wife. The child first born of that marriage would be considered a child of Selathiel (see Deuteronomy 25:5-6). Thus, a family’s property rights would be preserved.
Note Luke 3:27,31: …which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri… which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David…. The genealogy in Luke contains descendants of David through David’s son Nathan, rather than through David’s son Solomon, as in Matthew. The genealogy in Luke is most likely Jesus’s biological genealogy through His mother Mary. By ancestry, the “Zorobabel” and “Salathiel” of Luke’s genealogy cannot be the same people as the Zorobabel and Selathiel of Matthew’s genealogy. Coincident names are not unusual. Also, it is possible that the Selathiel in Luke’s genealogy named his son “Zorobabel” because of the fame of the leader “Zerobabel” who is named in Matthew’s genealogy (see Haggai 1:1; Ezra 3:2).
13And Zorobabel begat Abiud….
Compare 1 Chronicles 3:19-20: …and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister: and Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushabhesed, five.
It is interesting that in all of the list of David’s descendants in 1 Chronicles 3 there is only one mention of a “sister.” It may be that there was an incident related to this sister. In the case of incest, it would not be surprising if a child born (perhaps Abiud) should be called the son of the grandfather Zerubbabel. It is also interesting that there is a noticeable end of specificity in 1 Chronicles 3:21 concerning the immediately following (perhaps disgraced) generations.
13And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; 14And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; 15And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; 16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Perhaps the greatest external confirmations of the genealogy recorded in these verses concerning the period which followed the Babylonian captivity are these:
(1) The Jews in Jesus’s day, who sought to attack Him in every way they could, never raised any
question about the familial descent of Joseph from King David. There must have been records
extant at that time which confirmed that Joseph was in the line of David. Matthew would also
have had access to these records.
(2) Luke 2:1-5: And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar
Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went
up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is
called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary
his espoused wife, being great with child. Joseph knew that he should go to Bethlehem to be
taxed because he was of the house and lineage of David.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.