Who was Salathiel in relation to King David?

Answer 1

A:1 Chronicles 3:17 says that Salathiel was the son of Jeconiah, and therefore a distant descendant, through the royal line, of King David. 1 Chronicles 3:17-19 also indicates that Salathiel was the uncle of Zerubbabel, the leader who would later lead the Jews back from Exile in Babylon. However, Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai say that Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel (Salathiel). Note that three sources are not necessarily better than one, since there is a literary dependency among the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai.

In its genealogy of Joseph and (as was thought) Jesus, Matthew accepts Salathiel as the father of Zorobabel and that he was the son of Jechonias (Jeconiah), therefore descended from David through the royal line.

In its genealogy of Joseph and (as was thought) Jesus, Luke also accepts Salathiel as the father of Zorobabel, but that his father was a commoner called Neri and that he was descended through a line of commoners from David. For the author of Luke, Jesus was much more someone to whom the very poor in society could relate.