SHEALTIEL

(She·alʹti·el) [I have asked of God].

A descendant of King David and ancestor of Jesus in the tribe of Judah. Shealtiel is called the son both of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) and of Neri. Both Shealtiel and his brother Pedaiah are called the father of post-exilic Governor Zerubbabel.

As to Shealtiel’s father: Shealtiel is listed first among the sons born to Jehoiachin during his exile. (1 Chron. 3:17; Matt. 1:12) If Shealtiel married an unnamed daughter of Neri through whom Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy, Shealtiel might be termed by Luke “the son of Neri,” “son” embracing son-in-law, the same as Luke later calls Joseph, who apparently married Heli’s daughter Mary, simply “the son of Heli.”—Luke 3:23, 27.

As to Zerubbabel’s father: Pedaiah is once so identified (1 Chron. 3:19), but Pedaiah’s brother Shealtiel (1 Chron. 3:17, 18) is so termed in all other instances. (Ezra 3:2, 8; 5:2; Neh. 12:1; Hag. 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2, 23; Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27) If Pedaiah died when his son Zerubbabel was a boy, Pedaiah’s oldest brother Shealtiel might have raised Zerubbabel as his own son. Or, if Shealtiel died childless and Pedaiah performed levirate marriage on his behalf, the son of Pedaiah by Shealtiel’s wife would have been the legal heir of Shealtiel.