Ezra wrote Divrei ha'Yamim. Was he still alive to list seven generations from Zerubavel?
Malbim: Some want to say that a later editor added this. They err 1 .
Malbim: If each man fathered his son at the age of 13, which is not abnormal 2 , there is enough time from Galus Yechanyah, 18 years before the Churban, until Nechemyah, who completed Divrei ha'Yamim (Bava Basra 14b). Nechemyah returned to Yerushalayim in the 32nd year of Artachshasta. Even if Artachshasta is Daryavesh, this was 100 years after the Churban, and 118 years after Galus Yechanyah. If Yechanyah fathered immediately when he was exiled 3 , Ananei, the 10th generation from him, was born 118 years later. And if Zerubavel was Ben Pedayah ben She'alti'el, Ananei is the ninth generation, so Nechemyah could have seen him even if each father was 14 years older than his son. I say that Pedayah was Ben Yechanyah. If so, Ananei was only the eighth generation, so we can say that each father was 15 years older than his son.
Malbim: In Nechemyah, I answered those who asked how six generations from Yehoshua Kohen Gadol until Shimon ha'Tzadik could be born in 34 years (refer to Nechemyah 12:10:2:1).
The father must be an adult at the time of conception (Sanhedrin 69a). If so, a father must be at least 13 and a half when his son is born! (PF)
Concern lest David's seed be eradicated can explain why they lowered a Zonah into Yechanyah's cell, despite the Isur, danger (if the king with find out) and reliance on a miracle (refer to 2:17:2:2). When Yechanyah went to Galus, Nebuchadnetzar wanted Tzidkiyah's reign to endure (refer to 2:15:3:4). Was there concern for eradication of David's seed?! (PF)
