And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
Ver. 12. And after they were brought to Babylon] This the Evangelist inculcates, and rings often in the ears of his impious countrymen, as a notorious public judgment on a nation so incorrigibly flagitious, so unthankful for mercies, so impatient of remedies, so incapable of repentance, so obliged, so warned, so shamelessly, so lawlessly wicked, quorum maxima beneficia, flagitia, supplicia, as the Centurists set it forth. Abused mercy turns into fury.
Jechonias begat Salathiel] Neri begat him naturally, Jechonias, legally; adopting him for his child that was his nephew, 1 Chronicles 3:17 .
And Salathiel begat Zorobabel] Who brought forth the head stone of the second temple with shoutings, crying, "Grace, grace unto it,"Zechariah 4:7. He was a chieftain in the first year of Cyrus, Ezra 2:2, and he lived to see the building of the temple, about the sixth year of Darius Nothus, which is a matter of a hundred years between. So he had a longer life than ordinary, which God granteth to some, because he hath something to be done by them. A short life in some cases is a blessing, 1 Kings 14:13, as grapes gathered before they be ripe are freed from the violence of the winepress; as lambs slain before they be grown escape many storms and sharp showers that others live to taste of. Some wicked live long, that they may aggravate their judgment; others die sooner, that they may hasten it. But they are blessed, that whether they live, they live unto the Lord, or whether they die, they die unto the Lord, and in the Lord, their works following them.Romans 14:8; Revelation 14:13 .