Jehoiachin

Biblical Record

According to 2 Kings 24, Jehoiachin succeeded his father Jehoiakim and became king at the age of eighteen. He reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan. Scripture's verdict is that "he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done" (2 Kings 24:9).

During his reign the army of Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. Jehoiachin surrendered together with his mother and his officials, and he was carried off to Babylon along with the treasures of the temple and the royal palace, the officials, the mighty men of valor, and the craftsmen (2 Kings 24:10–16). This event is commonly referred to as either the first or the second Babylonian exile and is generally dated to around 597 BC. Among those deported at this time was Ezekiel. Ezekiel dates his prophecies by reference to Jehoiachin's captivity, as in "the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity" (Ezekiel 1:2). Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle Mattaniah king and changed his name to Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17).

According to the closing section of 2 Kings, in the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, released him from prison. Evil-merodach set his throne above the thrones of the other kings and allowed him to eat at the king's table for the rest of his life (2 Kings 25:27–30). The same account appears in Jeremiah 52:31–34.

Significance Within Scripture

Jeremiah called him "Coniah" and pronounced a severe judgment on him. The LORD declared that even if Coniah were the signet upon His right hand, He would pluck him off (Jeremiah 22:24), and that "no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah" (Jeremiah 22:30). Yet Haggai records God's word that He would make Zerubbabel, who belonged to the generation of Jehoiachin's grandsons, "as a signet" (Haggai 2:23). Many interpreters read this verse in contrast to Jeremiah's pronouncement.

1 Chronicles 3 lists Shealtiel and others as sons of "Jeconiah." Esther 2:6, in introducing the family of Mordecai, mentions that they had been carried away captive with Jeconiah. In the New Testament he appears as "Jechonias" in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:11–12, where the line continues from him to Salathiel (Shealtiel) and Zerubbabel. A widely known interpretation reads the fact that 2 Kings ends with his release as a sign of hope that the Davidic dynasty had not been cut off even during the exile.

Interpretations and Issues

• Age at accession: 2 Kings 24:8 gives his age as eighteen, while 2 Chronicles 36:9 (in the New Korean Revised Version) gives eight. Because some manuscript traditions read eighteen in Chronicles as well, many scholars regard the difference as having arisen in the process of scribal copying.
• Jeremiah's pronouncement and the genealogy of Jesus: There are several ways of reading Jeremiah 22:30 together with Matthew's genealogy. One interpretation regards Matthew's genealogy as the legal line through Joseph; since Jesus was born of a virgin, He was not a biological descendant of Jeconiah. This view is often presented together with the view that the genealogy in Luke 3 traces the line of Mary. Another interpretation takes the word "childless" to mean that no one in his own generation would succeed him on the throne. Jewish tradition also preserves an account that he repented during his captivity and that the pronouncement was revoked, but this is not found in the biblical text.
• Historical sources: Ration tablets discovered in Babylon are known to record distributions of oil to "Ya'ukinu," king of Judah, and his sons. These records are frequently cited as evidence related to the final chapter of 2 Kings.

In the Korean Church

Sermons treating Jehoiachin as a subject in his own right are uncommon. He is usually mentioned in expository series on 2 Kings or in sermons on the genealogy in Matthew 1. Such sermons typically emphasize two themes: the disobedience of the kings of Judah in the period leading up to its fall, and the faithfulness of God displayed in Jehoiachin's release after thirty-seven years of captivity.