Achim
Achim was an ancestor of Jesus Christ, mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.
Biography
Achim is listed in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus Christ as the son of Zadok and the father of Eliud (Matthew 1:14). He lived during the post-exilic period, among the generations that followed the Babylonian captivity and the restoration of the Jewish community in Judah. Matthew's genealogy groups the ancestors of Jesus into three sets of fourteen generations, and Achim falls within the third group, from the Babylonian exile to the birth of Christ, representing the often obscure chain of David's descendants who preserved the royal lineage across centuries of Persian, Greek, and early Roman rule. His name may be a shortened form of Jehoiachin or a related Hebrew name.
Significance
Achim's presence in Matthew 1 speaks to the sovereign providence of God in preserving the Davidic messianic line through generations of historical uncertainty and political obscurity. The post-exilic ancestors of Jesus, figures like Achim who appear nowhere else in Scripture, carried an immense promise without fame or visible power. Matthew's careful enumeration of these individuals communicates a central theological conviction: that God's covenant fidelity operates across every generation, even those hidden from historical record. Achim reminds readers that faithfulness in small things, lived out generation by generation, can participate in the fulfillment of promises larger than any single life.
Verse Appearances (1)
Matthew
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]