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Mat 1:11. Ἰωσίας δὲ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰεχονίαν, But Josiah begat Jechoniah) Many transcribers both in ancient and in modern times, and those principally Greeks, have inserted Jehoiachim here, because, firstly, the Old Testament had that name in this situation, and secondly, the number of fourteen generations, from David to the Babylonian captivity, given by St Matthew, seemed to require the insertion. Jehoiachim, however, must not be inserted: for history would not suffer Jehoiachim to be put without his brothers, and brothers to be thus given to Jechoniah, who had none. Some have sought for Jehoiachim in St Matthew’s first mention of Jechoniah; Jerome[12] has done so especially, when answering Porphyry’s[13] objections to this verse on the ground of the hiatus. No transformation, however, will produce Jechoniah (in the LXX. ἸΕΧΟΝΊΑς) from the Hebrew יהויקים, the ἸΩΑΚΕῖΜ (Joakim) of the LXX., so as to make them one and the same name: nor have we any more reason for supposing that Jehoiachim and Jechoniah are intended by the repetition of the former, than that two separate individuals are intended by the repetition of Isaac’s name; and so on with the other names in the genealogy. The same Jechoniah is twice introduced under his own name: he was descended from Josiah through Jehoiachim, whose name is omitted. St Matthew calls Jechoniah’s uncles his brothers (cf. Gen 13:8), and that with great felicity; for Zedekiah came to the throne after the commencement of the captivity, to the exclusion of the sons of Jechoniah, whom he succeeded, and who, though his nephew, was born eight years before him. The brothers, therefore, of Jehoiachim, of whom Zedekiah was chief, who is expressly called the brother in 2Ch 36:10, and 2Ki 24:17, instead of the uncle of Jechoniah, are appropriately mentioned after Jechoniah as his brothers.[14]-ἘΠῚ ΤῊς ΜΕΤΟΙΚΕΣΊΑς, about the time of the migration[15]) The preposition ἘΠῚ, which is contrasted with ΜΕΤᾺ (after) in the twelfth verse, is also employed sometimes to denote the immediate sequence of that, during or about the time of which something else takes place.-See Gnomon on Mar 2:26. The Hebrew præfix ב has the same force in Gen 10:25. The birth of Jechoniah was followed immediately by the removal to Babylon,-which is called by the LXX. both ἈΠΟΙΚΕΣΊΑ (the emigration), and μετοικεσία (the migration, immigration, or sojourning); the former with reference to Palestine, the latter with reference to Babylon.-Βαβυλῶνος, of Babylon) i.e. to, or into Babylon. In like manner ὁδὸς Αἰγύπτου, in Jer 2:18, signifies the way into Egypt.
[12] One of the most celebrated Fathers of the Christian Church, born of Christian parents at Stridon, on the borders of Pannonia and Dalmatia, in the year 331. Educated at Rome under the best masters. After travelling through France, Italy, and the East, he adopted the monastic life in Syria in his 31st year. He died A.D. 422.-(I. B.)
[13] A Platonic philosopher, born at Tyre, A.D. 223. Studied under Longinus and Plotinus. He was a man of great talent and learning, and one of the most able opponents of Christianity. He died in the reign of Diocletian.-(I. B.)
[14] Irenœus, 218, writes, “Ante hunc Joachim (Joseph enim Joachim et Jechoniæ filius ostenditur, quemadmodum et Matthæus generationem ejus exponit).” So M Cod. Reg. Paris of 9th century, and U Cod. Venetus of same date, in opposition to the ancient authorities, insert Ἰωαχείμ.-ED.
[15] sc. to Babylon.-(I. B.)