Zerubbabel

From Bible Exegesis

ze-rub´a-bel (זרבּבל, zerubbābhel, probably a transliteration of the Babylonian name Zeru-Babili, “seed of Babylon”; Ζοροβάβελ, Zorobábel):

The seed of Babylon, the son of Salathiel or Shealtiel (Hag_1:1; Zorobabel, Mat_1:12); called also the son of Pedaiah (1Ch_3:17-19), i.e., according to a frequent usage of the word “son;” the grandson or the nephew of Salathiel. He is also known by the Persian name of Sheshbazzar (Ezr_1:8, Ezr_1:11). In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, he led the first band of Jews, numbering 42,360 (Ezr_2:64), exclusive of a large number of servants, who returned from captivity at the close of the seventy years. In the second year after the Return, he erected an altar and laid the foundation of the temple on the ruins of that which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (Ezr_3:8-13; Ezra 4 - 6). All through the work he occupied a prominent place, inasmuch as he was a descendant of the royal line of David.

1. Name:

Is commonly called the son of Shealtiel (Ezr_3:2, Ezr_3:8; Ezr_5:2; Neh_12:1; Hag_1:1, Hag_1:12, Hag_1:14; Mat_1:12; Luk_3:27); but in 1Ch_3:19 he is called the son of Pedaiah, the brother apparently of Shealtiel (Salathiel) and the son or grandson of Jeconiah. It is probable that Shealtiel had no children and adopted Zerubbabel; or that Zerubbabel was his levirate son; or that, Shealtiel being childless, Zerubbabel succeeded to the rights of sonship as being the next of kin.

2. Family:

Whatever may have been his blood relationship to Jeconiah, the Scriptures teach that Zerubbabel was his legal successor, of the 3rd or 4th generation. According to 1Ch_3:19, he had one daughter, Shelomith, and seven sons, Meshullam, Hananiah, Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah and Jushab-hesed. In Mat_1:13 he is said to have been the father of Abiud (i.e. Abi-hud). As it is the custom in Arabia today to give a man a new name when his first son is born, so it may have been, in this case, that Meshullam was the father of Hud, and that his name was changed to Abiud as soon as his son was named Hud. In Luk_3:27, the son of Zerubbabel is called Rhesa. This is doubtless the title of the head of the captivity, the rēsh gelūthā', and would be appropriate as a title of Meshullam in his capacity as the official representative of the captive Jews. That Zerubbabel is said in the New Testament to be the son of Shealtiel the son of Neri instead of Jeconiah may be accounted for on the supposition that Shealtiel was the legal heir or adopted son of Jeconiah, who according to Jer_36:30 was apparently to die childless.

3. Relation to Sheshbazzar:

It has been shown in the article on Sheshbazzar that he and Zerubbabel may possibly have been the same person and that the name may have been Shamash-ban (or bun)-zer-Babili-usur. It seems more probable, however, that Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah, was governor under Cyrus and that Zerubbabel was governor under Darius. The former, according to Ezr_1:8 and Ezr_5:14-16, laid the foundations, and the latter completed the building of the temple (Ezr_2:2, Ezr_2:68; Ezr_4:2; Hag_1:14; Zec_4:9).

4. History:

All that is known certainly about Zerubbabel is found in the canonical books of Zechariah, Haggai and Ezra-Nehemiah. According to these he and Jeshua, the high priest, led up a band of captives from Babylon to Jerusalem and began rebuilding the temple in the second year of Darius Hystaspis. They first constructed the altar of burnt offerings, and afterward built a temple, usually called the Second Temple, much inferior in beauty to that of Solomon. According to Josephus and the apocryphal Book of Ezra (1 Esdras 3, 4), Zerubbabel was a friend of Darius Hystaspis, having successfully competed before him in a contest whose object was to determine what was the strongest thing in the world - wine, kings, women, or truth. Zerubbabel, having demonstrated that truth was the mightiest of all, was called the king's “cousin,” and was granted by him permission to go up to Jerusalem and to build the temple. Zerubbabel was also made a governor of Jerusalem, and performed also the duties of the tirshatha, an official who was probably the Persian collector of taxes.

See Tirshatha.