1 Chronicles 3:17

III.—The posterity of Jeconiah after the exile (1 Chronicles 3:17-24). This section is peculiar to the chronicle.

(17) Assir.—This word means prisoner, captive; literally, bondman. It so occurs in Isaiah 10:2; Isaiah 24:22. Accordingly the verse may be rendered, “And the sons of Jeconiah when captive—Shealtiel (was) his son.” This translation (1) accords with the Masoretic punctuation, which connects the term assir with Jeconiah; and (2) accounts for the double reference to the offspring of Jeconiah, first in 1 Chronicles 3:16, “Zedekiah his son,” and then again here. Zedekiah is thus separated from the sons born to Jeconiah in captivity. The strongest apparent objection against such a rendering is that the expression “the sons of Jeconiah the captive” would require the definite article to be prefixed to the word assir. No doubt it would; but then “the sons of Jeconiah the captive” is not what the chronicler intended to say. He has said what he meant—viz., “the sons of Jeconiah when in captivity” or “as a captive.” The Talmudic treatise, Sanhedrin, gives “Assir his son;” but another, the Sedw Olam, does not mention Assir, who is likewise wanting in the genealogy of our Lord (Matthew 1:12; see the Notes there).

Salathiel.—The form in the LXX., Σαλαθιήλ; and Matthew 1:12, Heb., Shealti-el (“request of God”): Haggai 1:12, Shalti-el.