Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah.
Judah's last kings get only a few verses each, and Jehoiachin gets two: a reign counted in days, ending with his removal to Babylon. Two questions press on this verse — how old was he, and how can so short a reign carry so heavy a verdict?
The number here does not match the parallel account in 2 Kings. Commentators call it a copying slip, not a contradiction. One writer sets out the manuscript evidence:
2 Chronicles 36:9 makes him eight years old at the start of his reign, instead of eighteen as 2 Kings has it; the Greek and Latin versions read the same. But some Hebrew manuscripts, and the Syriac and Arabic, read "eighteen" in Chronicles, so "eight" must be an error of transcription. All the internal evidence is in favour of eighteen.
The verse pairs a very short reign with a plain verdict.
He reigned only three months, which was enough to prove him evil in the sight of the Lord.
By now the throne of David had become a plaything of foreign powers, handed back and forth as Egypt and Babylon pleased.
The king of Egypt made Eliakim king and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But as Egypt's king made him king, so Babylon's king unmade him. He comes up, carries him to Babylon, and sets up Jehoiachin his son in his place. And Jehoiachin too did what was evil, and Babylon carried him away as well.
Three kings in a row receive the same verdict. Yet this king's name still gave the faithful something to hope for.
His character was no different from that of the two kings before him. It is the same sad, unchanging record: "He did what was evil." How the godly must have longed for the "King" Isaiah spoke of, who would "reign in righteousness"! ... 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; the fact they were assured of. And so they could "with patience wait for it."
Jeremiah pronounced sentence on this same king, whom he calls Coniah. One writer explains what "childless" means there:
God calls the whole earth to listen to what He says to Coniah (Jehoiachin): "O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD, write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days: for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah" (vv. 29-30). The significance of this verse is not that he should have no family, for it speaks of his offspring; and Matthew 1:11-12 shows his descendants. What we are told is this: God had decreed that, as far as the throne of David was concerned, he should be written down as childless. None of his offspring would rule in Judah again. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
The man who lost the throne in three months spent decades in a Babylonian prison — and then the story turns.
He did more than bring the captive king of Judah out of prison with kind words. He set his throne above the other subject kings who were there. Every day, for the rest of his life, he gave him bread to eat at his own table. So the prophets had given solemn warnings, and one king of Judah was now proving them true in his own misery. Yet in Jehoiachin's case God was showing that He holds the hearts of all men under His control. He can change long years of languishing, at His will, into a peaceful end of life — though not a prosperous one, according to His word (Jer. 22:30). But this does not hinder His pitifulness and tender mercy.
Another writer reads that release as a picture of something far larger:
This is a striking picture of grace shown to one who has long been in shame and disrepute. Is it not a foreshadowing of the eventual recovery of the nation Israel from their long history of disobedience to God? Jehoiachin did not deserve this grace. It came only from the kindness of the king of Babylon. In the same way, God will bring Israel back from misery and bondage by His own sovereign work of grace toward them.
- Eight or eighteen. Kings says eighteen, Chronicles says eight. Some Hebrew manuscripts and other early versions read eighteen, so commentators call "eight" a copyist's slip.
- Short is enough. Three months and ten days gave him no time to build, but time enough to prove what he was. Egypt and Babylon were already making and unmaking the throne at will.
- Same record, same throne. Three kings in a row earn the same verdict. Hope rested not on the man but on his name: Jehovah will establish.
- Childless as to the throne. "Write this man down as childless" does not deny him children. Matthew names his descendants. It closes the throne of David to his line.
- Mercy at the end. After thirty-seven years in prison, Babylon's king brought him out with kind words, seated him above other kings and fed him at his own table: grace to the unworthy, and a picture of Israel's own recovery.
And at the turn of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of Jehovah; and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Spring came, and with it Nebuchadnezzar. He took the young king Jehoiachin to Babylon, took the treasures of God's house with him, and put an uncle on the throne instead. Two things in this short verse settle the rest of Judah's story. The holy vessels leave the land, and the last king of David's line sits on a throne that is not his to hold.
Judah was not destroyed in one blow. This was the second of three deportations, and Babylon would come back for more.
Jehoiachin and his servants surrendered without a fight. 2 Chronicles 36:10 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar summoned him to Babylon, and that the costly articles from the house of God went to Babylon too — though not all of them yet. This is a picture of how the truth of God has been slowly stolen from the Church in our own day, because of the failure and disobedience of the people. Nebuchadnezzar then made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother (Jehoiachin's uncle), king in Judah… he was clearly trying to find someone he could fully control.
The verse calls Zedekiah Jehoiachin's brother. He was in fact his uncle — the brother of Jehoiachin's father.
Measured by damage, this was not the worst invasion. Measured by God's clock, it was the one that counted.
The last of these three did the most damage. The temple burned, and very large numbers went into captivity. But the 70 years of captivity are counted from the first deportation — the one we would call minor. Why was that first one the important one in God's eyes? Because of the vessels… Such a thing had never happened before. True, some kings had taken silver from the treasury, and even from the doors of the temple (Ahaz and Hezekiah), to buy off the king of Assyria. But no one had ever touched the holy vessels.
God's sentence on Jehoiachin sounds like a curse of childlessness. It is not.
The point of that sentence is not that he would have no family, for it speaks of his descendants, and Matthew 1:11-12 lists them. What we are told is this: God had decreed that, as far as the throne of David went, he counted as childless, because none of his descendants would rule in Judah again. God had decided the end of this sinful line.
Zedekiah did not choose his own name. Nebuchadnezzar gave it, and the giving of it said everything about who was really in charge.
Nebuchadnezzar changed his name as a sign that he was now a subject king. But he did not give him the name of some pagan god, as he did with Daniel and the three young Hebrew men. He "had made him swear by God." His new name, Righteousness of Jehovah, may have been given to remind him of that oath. Or it may have had some link, even in the pagan king's mind, with Jehovah's righteousness in stripping this wicked people — a people called by His name — of their political independence, and bringing them under his rule.
The verse reads like politics. It is judgment. God was moving the king who moved all the other kings.
The king of Babylon carries out Jehovah's wrath on Jerusalem, and Egypt must now submit to the man God had appointed to rule the world. Nebuchadnezzar set up anyone he chose, and he threw down anyone he chose… See how completely Judah lies under the power of Nebuchadnezzar! He puts this king in chains, sets a child of eight years on the throne, and three months later puts his uncle Mattaniah (Zedekiah) there instead.
Even in the wreckage, the names of Judah's last king carry something forward.
His name means "the gift of Jehovah," and Nebuchadnezzar changed it to Zedekiah, "the righteousness of Jehovah." Surely there is a prophetic hint here. When Judah and Jerusalem went down under judgment, in ruin and shame beyond words, God showed in the very names of the last king that One would still come from David's line: He who is God's own precious gift, and in whom righteousness will be given and established.
- Vessels first. No one had ever touched the holy vessels before. God counts the seventy years from the day they were taken, not from the later burning of the temple.
- Truth gone. The vessels left in stages, not all at once — a picture of how God's truth is slowly stolen from His people through failure and disobedience.
- Throne gone. Jehoiachin counted as "childless" only as to the throne. His family line continued, but no descendant of his would rule in Judah again.
- Name gone. A foreign king now chose Judah's king and renamed him. The new name proved whose authority stood over David's throne.
- God not gone. Nebuchadnezzar was only carrying out Jehovah's wrath. And the last king's two names, "gift of Jehovah" and "righteousness of Jehovah," still pointed to the One yet to come from David's line.