And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Judah still had a king after Nebuchadnezzar carried Jehoiachin off to Babylon. But a foreign ruler chose that king, and renamed him. Who was Mattaniah? Why did his name change? And what happened to David's throne once a foreign king could hand it out?
The throne was no longer Judah's to fill. One writer lists what Nebuchadnezzar did with Josiah's sons, one after another.
See how completely Judah is under Nebuchadnezzar's power! He puts this king in chains and sets a child of eight years on the throne. Three months later he replaces the boy with his uncle Mattaniah (Zedekiah). Even the change of his name proved Nebuchadnezzar's supreme authority. He did the same to Daniel and his three friends.
Mattaniah was Jehoiachin's uncle — a son of Josiah, and so from the royal family. One commentator points out what the new name did not include.
Zedekiah was Josiah's youngest son... Nebuchadnezzar changed his name, as a sign that he was now under Babylon's rule. But he did not give him the name of some heathen god, as he did with Daniel and the three Hebrew children. Nebuchadnezzar "had made him swear by God." His new name, Righteousness of Jehovah, may have been meant to remind him of that oath. Or it may have had some connection, even in the heathen king's mind, with Jehovah's righteousness in taking the political independence of this wicked people (called by His name) away from them, and putting them under his rule.
Commentators differ on how to translate Zedekiah. Some read it as "righteousness of Jehovah," others as "The Lord is might." Either way, God spoke through the names of this last king just as the kingdom fell.
His name means "the gift of Jehovah," and he changed it to Zedekiah, "the righteousness of Jehovah." Without doubt there is a prophetic hint here. Judah and Jerusalem went down in judgment, in ruin and shame beyond words. Even then God showed, in the very names of the last king, that One would still come from David's line. He is God's own precious gift, and in Him righteousness will be given and established.
Another writer sets both names against the record of his reign:
The name Mattaniah means "gift of the Lord," but the king did not live up to his name. He "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done" (verse 19). Zedekiah means "The Lord is might." The king proved it: his own evil, and the evil of his fathers, could not escape the might of the God of Israel.
Nebuchadnezzar had a political reason for this choice. One writer retells it as a picture of eagles and a vine.
By putting Zedekiah in office, Nebuchadnezzar counted on a king who depended on him and would not stir up new revolts... He had then taken the seed of the land — Zedekiah — and planted it by great waters like a willow tree. It had become a vine, spreading, but not high, because the king of Babylon wanted a humbled kingship in Judah that depended on him. This vine turned toward another great eagle, the Pharaoh of Egypt, instead of staying in submission to the first.
The plan failed because the man failed. Another writer sums up his reign:
Jeremiah 37-39 records the history of Zedekiah's reign. It shows the utter weakness of the man, and yet his stubborn persistence in evil.
One writer looks past the man to the throne he sat on, and to what his broken oath cost it.
While David's throne stood, it was still "the throne of Jehovah," however weak and despicable the men who sat on it might be. The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery. Nebuchadnezzar "made him swear by God" (2 Chron. 36:13), but he despised the oath by breaking the covenant (Ezek. 17:17-18). Nothing was sacred in his eyes... Ever since that day David's throne has lain in the dust.
Yet the overturning was not the end of the story. Reading God's word to Zedekiah in Ezekiel 21 — "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is" (an older translation; the ESV reads "A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs") — one commentator draws the conclusion in a sentence:
Messiah shall come and reign: subversion and only subversion till then. His is the right.
- Placed — Nebuchadnezzar chose Judah's king and renamed him. The new name showed who now held power, as it did with Daniel and his friends.
- Named — Mattaniah, "gift of the Lord," became Zedekiah; the new name may have been meant to remind him of the oath he swore by God.
- Failed — He lived up to neither name. He did evil like Jehoiakim, he was weak yet stubborn, and he broke the covenant he had sworn.
- Overturned — David's throne was still "the throne of Jehovah," even under weak kings. With Zedekiah it fell, and it has lain in the dust ever since.
- Waiting — The names of the last king point ahead to One from David's line. In Him righteousness will be established. Until He comes whose right it is, there is only overthrow.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Judah's last king was Babylon's choice — twenty-one years old, renamed by the man who put him on the throne. Why did God grant him eleven more years, and what was that borrowed name meant to tell him?
Zedekiah came from Josiah's own family. One commentator gives his line, and explains what the change of name stood for.
Zedekiah was Josiah's youngest son, and full brother of Jehoahaz. He was, at his father's death, only ten years old. Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to mark that he was a vassal. But he did not give him the name of a pagan god, as he did with Daniel and his three Hebrew friends. Nebuchadnezzar "had made him swear by God." He may have given him the new name, Righteousness of the Lord, to remind him of that oath. Or the name may have had some link, even in this pagan king's mind, with the Lord's righteousness in taking away the political independence of this wicked people, who were called by His name, and putting them under his own rule.
after
His birth name was Mattaniah. Commentators differ on the exact force of the new name — some read it as "righteousness of the Lord," others as "the Lord is might" — but one writer finds in the pair of names a promise buried in the wreckage.
His name means "the gift of the Lord," and Nebuchadnezzar changed it to Zedekiah, "the righteousness of the Lord." This is surely a prophetic hint. Judah and Jerusalem went down in judgment, in ruin and shame beyond words. Yet in the very names of the last king, God showed 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.
Read the other way, the name was a warning he failed to hear.
The name Mattaniah means "gift of the Lord," but the king did not live up to his name. He "did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done." Zedekiah means "The Lord is might," and the king proved that his own evil, and the evil of his fathers, could not escape the might of the God of Israel.
The verse names his mother. One writer describes where she came from, and why a mother like her no longer counted.
From now on, mothers who come from among the people of God have no influence. Either there is no ear left to hear them, or they share in the ruin themselves. Hamutal, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz, was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and it seems she came from a priestly family.
The same writer draws a wider lesson from these kings: godly parents do not produce a godly son.
Grace alone explains the characters of Hezekiah and of Josiah. The last kings of Judah prove it: they were ungodly, even though they had Jewish mothers and a godly father.
The eleven years were not just a countdown to the end. In that time, something could still have been saved.
Zedekiah gained nothing from the disasters that struck the kings before him. He was Israel's last hope. He was "a spreading vine of low stature" (Ezekiel 17:6) — a very humiliating picture indeed! But there might still have been crumbs of blessing for the unhappy people had he walked humbly with God.
He did not walk humbly. His sin was not open cruelty but pretence.
He pretended to want the prophet's prayers, saying, "Pray now to the Lord our God for us." At times he also pretended to trust Jeremiah's prophecies — "Ask the Lord for us" — yet when the answers came, he refused to listen or believe. He was perhaps not as openly wicked as the three kings before him, and not eager to persecute. But the Lord does not see as man sees, and His thoughts are not man's thoughts.
With him, an era closed and another opened.
Zedekiah was the last man to wear the crown, though perhaps he wore it in name only. He added treachery to his many sins, and dishonoured the name of his God. Then Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, and the rule passed into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. So "the times of the Gentiles" began.
- Named — Nebuchadnezzar renamed Mattaniah, "gift of the Lord," as Zedekiah. The new name marked him as a vassal, and may have recalled the oath he swore by God.
- Warned — the name he wore preached to him. He did not live up to it, and proved instead that his evil could not escape the might of Israel's God.
- Untaught — a mother from among God's people and a godly father still produced an ungodly son. Grace alone, not parentage, explains a Hezekiah or a Josiah.
- Offered — he was Israel's last hope, a vine of low stature, with eleven years still given. Had he walked humbly with God, crumbs of blessing might still have come.
- Ended — he asked for the prophet's prayers but refused his word. With his fall the crown passed to Babylon, and the times of the Gentiles began.