Jehovah will establish
2 Kings 24:8-17; 25:27-308Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. 10At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. 12And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. 14And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. (2 Kings 24:8‑17)
27And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 28And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; 29And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. 30And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. (2 Kings 25:27‑30); 2 Chron. 36:9-109Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. 10And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 36:9‑10)
Contemporary Prophets: Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel
“Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done” (2 Kings 24:8-98Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. (2 Kings 24:8‑9)).Various English versions of 2 Chron. 36:99Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 36:9), as well as the Septuagint and Vulgate, make him eight years old at the beginning of his reign, instead of eighteen. But some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, and Arabic, read “eighteen” in Chronicles; so eight must be an error of transcription. All the internal evidence is in favor of eighteen.
His character was no different from that of his two predecessors. It is the same sad, unvarying record: “He did that which was evil.” How the godly must have longed for that King mentioned by Isaiah, who would reign in righteousness! They little knew or even suspected, perhaps, all that their nation would have to suffer, and the long, weary centuries—in fact, millennia—that would have to wear themselves away before that day of righteousness and peace would come. But there was something about even this wicked king that could give them hope—his name, “Jehovah will establish.” They might not know the time; but they were assured of the fact. And so they could with patience wait for it.
Nehushta, his mother’s name, means “copper.” It refers to anything of copper, whether a copper coin, or a copper mirror or fetters: and both she and her son, with all his family and retinue, were carried captive to Babylon.
“And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives [wives, confirming his age as eighteen not eight], and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon” (2 Kings 24:11-1511And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. 12And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. 14And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. (2 Kings 24:11‑15)).
The temple was despoiled of its remaining treasures. A few years before, the king of Babylon had carried away the solid and smaller vessels (2 Chron. 36:77Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. (2 Chronicles 36:7)). On this occasion he (literal translation) “cut the gold off” the larger plated vessels-the ark, the altar of incense, the showbread table, etc. There is no contradiction here, or anywhere in Scripture, for “the Scripture cannot be broken.” The king’s mother would be the queen mother mentioned in Jer. 13:1818Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. (Jeremiah 13:18).
The Babylonian captivity dates from Jehoiachin’s reign. He never returned from his captivity. There he spent thirty-six years in prison until the death of Nebuchadnezzar in his eighty-third or eighty-fourth year, after a reign of forty-three years. His son Evil-merodach succeeded him on the throne. This son had once been himself shut up in prison by his father, where he probably made the acquaintance of the royal Hebrew captive. He was not like the ungrateful butler who when released from prison forgot Joseph; he remembered his old prison companion.
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, and spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; and changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. And for his diet there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life (Jeremiah 52:31-3431And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, 32And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, 33And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. 34And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. (Jeremiah 52:31‑34)).
He was not the first king of David’s house to be held a prisoner in Babylon. Some time before, his father’s great-grandfather, Manasseh, was brought a prisoner, and there in his affliction he sought and found the Lord. Whether Jehoiachin ever did so, we cannot say. His name (as Jechonias) is the last of the kings of Judah, mentioned in the list of Matt. 1. The next is “Jesus who is called Christ,” anointed King, not of Israel or the Jews only, but of the nations also (Rev. 15:33And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. (Revelation 15:3)).
Jeremiah said of Jehoiakim, (Jehoiachin’s father) “He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David” (Jer. 36:3030Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. (Jeremiah 36:30)). The word sit here means to “firmly sit” or “dwell,” and Jehoiachin’s short three-month reign was surely not that. And Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s successor, was Jehoiakim’s brother, not his son.
Though, like his father, “he did evil in the sight of the LORD,” Jehoiachin appears to have been a favorite with the populace. Jeremiah ironically inquired “Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol [or, vase]?” (In 1 Chron. 3:1717And the sons of Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son, (1 Chronicles 3:17) Jehoiachin is called Jeconiah, of which Coniah is an abbreviation.) But he immediately added, “Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure?”-which is really what he was in God’s eyes. “Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they knew not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD: Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah” (Jer. 22:28-3028Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? 29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. 30Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. (Jeremiah 22:28‑30)). Childless here does not mean without descendants (for the prophecy itself mentions “his seed”) but “no direct lineal heir to the throne” (Fausset). Matt. 1:1212And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; (Matthew 1:12) shows conclusively that he had descendants (“Jechonias begat Salathiel”), as does also 1 Chron. 3:1717And the sons of Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son, (1 Chronicles 3:17) (“The sons of Jeconiah; Assir,” etc.). The prophecy of Jeremiah probably refers to his uncle’s succeeding him to the throne instead of his son Assir—his firstborn probably; or it may have been a prophecy of Assir’s premature death. This may be why Assir is not mentioned in the genealogy in Matthew Anyway, God made no mistake. He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast. “And the word of our God shall stand forever.”