General Notes

King in Babylon

Zerubavel (Zerubbabel Konge) (Zorobabel). He, upon permission of the Persian shah (Cyrus), led the first and largest colony of Jewish Exiles back to Palestine, and, was entrusted with the office of “governor” (“pehah”) of Judea, his ancestors’ old kingdom to which he was heir, which was now a Persian province. His family did not accompany him, but remained behind in Babylonia with the majority of the Jewish “Diaspora”.  married Amytis, a Babylonian princess, called a “foreign wife”, and begot Shazrezzar, a Babylonian name, the ancestor of a major Davidic line. Shazrezzar was an ancestor of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from the Bible.  married Rhodah, a Persian princess, who later re-married a Persian prince, and begot Reza (Rhesa), a Persian name, the half-brother through his mother of the Persian shah, the ancestor of a major Davidic line. Reza was an ancestor of Mary from the Bible.  Married Esthra, a Jewish princess, and begot (1) Meshullam, Hananiah, and Shelomith (the wife of Elnathan, Governor of Judea (c. 500 BC))  Other Children: Hachouba, Ohel, Berekhia, Hassadia, Youchab-Hesed. http://www.hials.no/~hy/_gen/a/d0/i0007384.htm#i7384.  [note: the occupants of the exilarchate at Babylon and the patriarchate or principate at Jerusalem, representing separate branches of the Davidic Dynasty, were rivals for the heirship of the old Jewish Davidic royal house, i.e., the “princes” of the “diaspora”, or the lords of the world’s Jews]  Ezra “The Prophet”, during his reforms (458BC), ruled in favor of the descendants of Zorobabel by his Jewish wife, and said “to be Jewish your mother had to be one”; and, that is why the descent-lines of the sons of Zorobabel’s “foreign wives” were omitted from “Chronicles”, which was written by Ezra’s scribes. Therefore, the descendants of Zorobabel’s Jewish wife are listed first.   Genealogical Note: Information from Zerubbabel down through the Jewish Exilarch's & Rabbi's from genealogy database of  Daniel E. Loeb http://www.delanet.com/~loeb/kings.html  "This information matches up with the Yikhus Letter in the possession of the Sans Hassidim (Zans Khassidim). See The ESKELES Genealogy by Zeev ESHKOLOT which goes through R. Bezaelel Ben Yaacov. This information may deviate from the lineage claimed by the descendants of Rashi. The information through Pedayiah match with biblical accounts. From there though the end of this page (R. Yoseph I) appear many names from the periods of the second Temple, Tanaim, Amoraim, Savoraim, and Babylonian Geonim. "