Governor (pechah) of Judah under Darius, and the last real Davidic hope in the Old Testament — grandson of the exiled king Jehoiachin, and so a prince of the house of David governing his ancestors' land as a Persian appointee. He led the first company of exiles home (Ezra 2), laid the temple's foundation, and here is roused by Haggai to finish it. His name is Babylonian — Zeru-Babili, 'seed / offspring of Babylon' — the mark of a man born in exile. ⚠ Haggai calls him son of SHEALTIEL (1:1), as does Ezra, while 1 Chronicles 3:19 makes him son of Pedaiah, Shealtiel's brother — most likely a levirate marriage or an adoption within the royal line. Haggai's last oracle makes him the SIGNET RING God will wear (2:23), reversing the curse by which Jeremiah had 'torn off' his grandfather Jehoiachin as a signet (Jeremiah 22:24). He appears in both genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1:12; Luke 3:27) and then vanishes from history without becoming king.