SALATHIEL (Hebr. Sè'alti'èl = asked of God =). — Zorobabel (v.) in Ezra 3:2; 5:2; Neh. 12:1; Hag. 1:1, 12, 14; 2:3, 24; 1 Chron. 3:17 and in the genealogies of Jesus (Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27).
Since in 1 Chron. 3:19 Zorobabel is called the son of Phadai, brother of S., the question arises whether S. is the natural or merely the legal father (by the law of levirate [v.], or for other reasons) of Zorobabel (several Greek manuscripts, however, have S. instead of Phadai in 1 Chron. 3:19). A similar question arises from the fact that in Luke 3:27 S. is called the son of Neri, while in Matt. 1:12 he is called the son of Jechoniah (as in 1 Chron. 3:17). In this case too, one may be the natural father and the other the legal father. The opinion of Cornelius a Lapide, who distinguishes the S. of the Gospels from that of the Old Testament, is unlikely. In Judg. 8:1, in the Vulgate, S. is read among the ancestors of Judith; but this is a variant of Salamiel.