Gazette Vol 1 No 4 - The Shealtiel Family Worldwide

december 1995 SHEALTIEL GAZETTE vol i no iv
HISTORY
The Biblical Shealtiel
To flesh out the background to Vibeke Olsen’s article in our last issue speculating
about the descent from David, Alex Schattil of Sydney, Australia sets out the
Biblical account of the original bearer of the name and his descendants.
A telephone call late one night was to set
me on a search through the Bible and other
historical books, to unravel the origin of my
family name, Schattil. The call came from a
niece in London who was terribly excited
about our possible descent from the Biblical
Shealtiel of the House of David. She was sending
me an article from the Chicago Tribune of 4,
September 1994, about a reception in Amsterdam
of some people who all had names similar
to Shealtiel, such as Saltiel, Sealtiel, Chaltiel
and Scheatiel. They came from widely scattered
countries in Europe, the Middle East and
the Americas. They also spoke in many languages
such as English, German, Dutch,
French, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish,
Flemish and Ladino, which is spoken by
the Sephardic Jews of Southern Europe in
much the same way as Yiddish is spoken by
Ashkenazi communities in Eastern Europe.
It is thought that the family name came from
the Shealtiel, son of the last king of the House
of David, who was taken into captivity by the
Babylonian invaders who conquered Jerusalem
and later destroyed the Temple. However, in
more modern times, the name Shealtiel was
borne by Sephardic Jews who fled from Spain
in 1492 at the time of the Spanish Inquisition,
and was taken by them to Holland, Germany
and the Ottoman Empire.
My niece asked whether I thought we
could also be descended from Shealtiel of the
House of David. I replied that I did not know,
that I had never heard of any tradition in our
family of any connection with the Biblical
Shealtiel. My first reaction was: who was
Shealtiel and when did he live? Apart from the
newspaper article, I did not remember seeing
his name anywhere, so I began to study the
Bible in search of this character. As he was
stated to be a descendent of King David, I began
my search in I Samuel, 16, which relates
the story of King David, but it soon became
apparent that he lived at a much later time,
and that I would have to search elsewhere. I
approached Rabbi Cohen for assistance, and
he referred me to the book of Ezra, where, in
3:2, I read that Zerubbabel was the son of
Shealtiel.
”
Thereafter, I found numerous references
to Zerubbabel and his father, Shealtiel. It soon
became obvious that he lived in turbulent
times, and the Encyclopaedia Judaica reveals
that he was the first or second son of King Jehoiachin
who was exiled from Judah at the age
of eighteen in 597 BCE. He came to the throne
on the death of his father, Jehoiachin, who was
a vassal of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
He rebelled against the Babylonians after three
years (II Kings, 24:1­6), and he appears to
have met a violent death probably as a result of
a palace revolt, since his body was thrown outside
the gates of Jerusalem and left to die there
like the carcass of an ass (Jeremiah 22: 18­19,
36:30).
After a reign of three months, Jehoiachin
must have decided that there was no future in
resisting the mighty army of King Nebuchadnezzar,
and in company with his mother,
Neaustha, his wives, nobles, officers and servants,
he surrendered to the Babylonians who
took him into captivity to Babylon. With him
went all the treasures of the Temple and the
King’s house (II Kings, 24:8­15). He was succeeded
as King of Judah by his uncle, Mattaniah,
who changed his name to Zedekiah (II
Kings, 24:17). He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar,
and after a long siege, he fled from Jerusalem
and was captured on the plains of
Jericho. The Babylonians executed his sons before
his eyes, blinded him, bound him with fet­
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