What Does 1 Chronicles 3:17 Mean?

**III.—**The posterity of Jeconiah after the exile (1Chronicles 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 1Chronicles 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.