Zerubbabel

Zerubbabel (probably from Akkadian ZER- Babili, scion of Babylon ', because born in exile, in the Septuagint and Vulgate Zerubbabel ) was governor of the province of Judah in the time of the Persian king Darius I ( 6th century BC).

Zerubbabel was the grandson of 597 BC deported to Babylonia King Jehoiachin of Judah. Jehoiachin had two sons, Pedaja and Shealtiel, and Zerubbabel is referred to both as the son of the one as well as the son of the other ( 1 Chronicles 3:19, Ezra 3.2 EU), suggesting that he was the child of a brother in law marriage.

After Cyrus had 538 bc provided for the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Zerubbabel was a result of his royal origin of the natural candidate for the governorship. According to biblical tradition, he led the Jews back to Judah, built in Jerusalem the altar to worship YHWH again, and thus reversed the sacrificial service again. According to the prophet Haggai, the messianic expectation Judas lifted him up ( Hag 2:21-23 EU). According to Zechariah, he laid the foundation stone for the rebuilding of the Temple (Zech. 6:12 f EU).

According to tradition, the biblical Esrabuches he began still under Cyrus with the construction of the temple, however, faltered and was resumed only after the work of Haggai and Zechariah and completed around 515 BC. Following the biblical books of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah was shown in the meantime that the construction of the temple of Zerubbabel was ever taken only under Darius I in 518 BC in attack. Since Jude was a part of the empire of Persia and only Zerubbabel governor and could not be king, the center of Judah went over to the temple and the high priest Joshua. Zerubbabel is the last mentioned in the Old Testament Davidic scion of the dynasty.

In the New Testament Zerubbabel is mentioned both in Matthew and in Luke, the son of Shealtiel, and descendant of David and ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth.