And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
Verse 6 records two facts: Jehoiakim died, and his son took the throne. Yet Scripture never mentions his burial — and Jeremiah had already said why.
The phrase sounds peaceful. How does it fit Jeremiah's word that this king would be thrown out unburied? One writer weighs the exact words Scripture uses. He also holds that the silence of the record proves nothing against the prophecy:
Now as to his end, Scripture is historically silent. 2 Chronicles 36:6 states that Nebuchadnezzar "bound him in chains to take him to Babylon." It does not say he was taken there... And though there is no historical record in Scripture about his death, that is no reason to think Jeremiah's prophecies about his end were not fulfilled to the letter. We do not really need the history of it, for prophecy in Scripture is only pre-written history — printed ahead of the event, we might say. It is enough to know what God had foretold; the fulfilment is certain. Josephus records that Nebuchadnezzar finally came and killed Jehoiakim, "whom he commanded to be thrown before the walls, without any burial." "So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers" simply states that he died. It is a distinct expression in Scripture from "buried with his fathers," as a comparison of 2 Kings 15:38 and 16:20 will readily show.
Jeremiah had said of him: "With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 22:19). One commentator sees the missing funeral notice as part of that fulfilment. He also ties the sentence to what this king did to God's Word:
Then his shameful burial, the burial of a donkey, is predicted. It means that a donkey has no burial, and so Jehoiakim would have no burial; he is the only king of Judah whose burial is not recorded... Most likely because he had done that wicked work of cutting the Word of God to pieces and casting it into the fire, this specially shameful end was announced. Beware, you cutters of the Bible, you mutilators of the Word of God — your end, too, will be a shameful end!
Commentators differ on where and how he died, because verse 6 does not say. Some read 2 Chronicles 36 as pointing to Babylon:
In 2 Chronicles 36:5-6 we read that he was taken in chains to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Evidently he died there after his eleven-year reign.
Another writer places his death at Jerusalem, and reads verse 6 as allowing a first, honourable burial:
According to Jeremiah's prophecy, Jehoiakim died a violent death, and his body, dragged and cast out beyond the walls of Jerusalem where it lay exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night, was "buried with the burial of a donkey" (Jeremiah 22:19; 36:30). Yet it is said that he "slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 24:6), an expression which seems to imply that at first he was placed in the tombs of the kings.
The second half of the verse looks like an ordinary handover from father to son. But God had already spoken against this father:
Jehoiakim had changed masters. He could hardly wait to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar... We learn through Jeremiah what word the Lord had pronounced about him: "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night" (Jeremiah 36:30).
The son did reign. One writer explains how the prophecy still held:
Jeremiah said of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin's father, "He shall have none to sit on the throne of David" (Jeremiah 36:30). The word "sit" here means to "sit firmly," or "dwell"; and Jehoiachin's short three months' reign was certainly not that. And Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's successor, was Jehoiakim's brother, not his son.
Jehoiakim's name is also missing from a genealogy of the royal line. One writer sees a pattern in such gaps:
There are several cases in Scripture where people are left out, or time is left out of the history. God does this to show His thoughts: where His rights have been violated, He refuses recognition. Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, is left out of this list. He was the immediate father of Jeconiah.
- Word spoken. Jeremiah announced no burial for Jehoiakim. Verse 6 records his death and then says nothing about a grave.
- Word kept. He is the only king of Judah whose burial goes unrecorded. The silence itself shows the prophecy came true.
- Word enough. Prophecy is pre-written history. We do not need the record of the event to be sure God's word came true.
- Word measured. "He shall have none to sit" means none who sits firmly; his son's three months on the throne was no firm reign.
- Word final. The man whose knife cut up God's book had his own name left out of the royal line.
And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the torrent of Egypt to the river Euphrates.
Judah's last kings were pawns between two empires: Egypt had put Jehoiakim on the throne, and Babylon then took him away. Here the first of those powers leaves the story for good. The question is who moved the pieces.
Egypt had real reach in the years just before this verse. One writer follows Pharaoh Necho from his march north to his defeat at Carchemish, a city on the Euphrates:
In the days of Josiah, Pharaoh Necho set out to attack the king of Assyria and to win back Egypt's long-lost rule over Syria. Josiah opposed Necho and was killed at Megiddo. Necho won every battle and went as far as Carchemish on the Euphrates. On his way back to Jerusalem he removed Jehoahaz from the throne and carried him off to Egypt, where he died. He made Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim king in his place, and called him Jehoiakim... That Necho could attack the king of Assyria at a place as distant as Carchemish shows the strength of Egypt at that time. But the power of Babylon was increasing. After three years Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho's army at Carchemish, and took control of every place from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.
Pharaoh "did not come again out of his land." That was not his choice:
Nebuchadnezzar crushed Pharaoh's army at Carchemish. The result was more than the loss of all his possessions in Asia. From then on the king was also shut up inside his own land.
Judah did not go free in the change. Babylon now held what Egypt had held:
But the king of Egypt did not come back to Judah. Nebuchadnezzar had proved himself stronger than Egypt, and had taken control of the land Egypt once ruled.
Egypt was the ally Judah kept running to. One writer says God had to break that support Himself, and takes the lesson wider than Judah:
Egypt has been a breaking staff to Israel. It was a staff of reed, which promised much but never kept its promises, and brought only ruin to all who trusted it. Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of the people of God. God had rescued them from that land, and in their own rescue they had seen His judgment on it. Yet they could turn back to it again and again. Sad to say, it is an inconsistency that none of us who knows himself can claim to be free from... So God Himself must break, for Israel, this staff that they leaned on... The lesson is as plain as it is basic. It is the lesson, "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"
Ezekiel pictures two great eagles. One writer names the second eagle, and says who decided the contest:
Here the second great eagle is the king of Egypt, who sought the empire of the world and fought Nebuchadnezzar for it. But God rules, and He gave it to the king of Babylon.
Read this way, the verse is not a stray note about borders but one rung on a ladder:
The first man to gain the empire of the world — Nebuchadnezzar — comes up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Afterwards he rebels. The Lord puts him down. His son Jehoiachin reigns in his place. And the king of Egypt came no more out of his own land, because Nebuchadnezzar had put him down. These are the steps by which Nebuchadnezzar comes to the throne of the world. He gets it as the sovereign gift of Jehovah.
Once Egypt is out and Babylon is in, a long period opens that has not yet closed:
Here "the times of the Gentiles" began. ... 2 Kings 24 and 25 record three separate successful campaigns against Jerusalem by this same Nebuchadnezzar. The last was the complete and decisive one. Since then Israel has been subject to Gentile rule. Its kings have been only vassals. The nation has paid tribute to one Gentile power after another, and depended on its will. These times of Gentile rule, we say again, are the times of the Gentiles.
- Cause. Egypt stopped marching because Nebuchadnezzar beat Pharaoh at Carchemish. Pharaoh lost every possession outside his borders and stayed inside them.
- Prop. Judah's favourite ally was a reed that promised much and gave ruin. God broke that staff Himself, so the only confidence left was in Him.
- Reach. The land from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates passed whole from one hand to another. Babylon took everything that had belonged to Egypt.
- Ruler. Egypt and Babylon both wanted the empire of the world. God gave it to Babylon; no army won it for itself.
- Result. These steps brought Nebuchadnezzar to the throne of the world. The times of the Gentiles began here, and Israel's kings have been vassals ever since.
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
Jehoiachin came to the throne at eighteen and held it for three months. Behind that short entry lie a puzzle about his age, a prophecy already spoken against him, and a name that held hope for a ruined kingdom.
The same man appears in Scripture under several different names.
Son and successor of Jehoiakim king of Judah. He reigned only three months. Then Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, and the great captivity of Judah took place. They carried Jehoiachin to Babylon and kept him in prison for thirty-six years. When Evil-merodach came to the throne, he freed him from prison and raised him above the other captive kings. Jehoiachin ate bread before the king all the days of his life. He is called JECONIAH in 1 Chr. 3:16-17; Esther 2:6; Jer. 24:1. He is also called CONIAH in Jer. 22:24, 28, and JECHONIAS in Matt. 1:11-12.
The parallel record in Chronicles gives a different age. Which number is right?
2 Chronicles 36:9 says he was eight years old when his reign began, not eighteen as here. The Greek and Latin versions say the same. But some Hebrew manuscripts read "eighteen" in Chronicles, and so do the Syriac and Arabic. So "eight" must be a copying error. All the internal evidence is in favour of eighteen.
A brief reign is not a mild one.
It was a very short reign. But it was long enough for him to show what he was, for "he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done" (verse 9).
Another writer reads the surrender to Babylon that followed as the one sensible thing he did.
Jehoiachin (also called Coniah) was only 18 years of age when he reigned for three months. But this was time enough to prove his evil character. He followed the course of his father, apparently in idol worship (vv. 8-9). Jehoiachin took the wise course of surrendering to Babylon. He and his servants were taken prisoner (v. 12).
The record of these last kings keeps naming the queen mother, and one commentator sees a pattern in it.
Jehoiachin, otherwise known as Coniah, continues in his father's path. His mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. It becomes more and more clear that the mothers of these last kings had forgotten the Lord, just as their sons had.
Her name itself reads like a warning of what was coming: "Nehushta, his mother's name, means copper. It refers to anything made of copper, whether a copper coin, a copper mirror, or fetters: and both she and her son, with all his family and household, were carried captive to Babylon."
Even a wicked king's name could steady the faith of godly people watching the throne crumble.
His character was no different from that of his two predecessors. It is the same sad, unchanging record: "He did what was evil." How the godly must have longed for the "King" Isaiah spoke of, the one who would "reign in righteousness"! They little knew, or even suspected, all that their nation would have to suffer. Nor did they know how many long, weary centuries would pass 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; the fact they were assured of.
One word in the prophecy against his line is easy to misread.
"Childless" here does not mean he had no descendants. The prophecy itself mentions "his seed." It means he had no direct heir in line for the throne. Matt. 1:12 shows conclusively that he had descendants ("Jechonias begat Salathiel"), as does 1 Chron. 3:17. The prophecy probably refers to his uncle succeeding him to the throne instead of his son Assir. Anyway, God made no mistake. He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast.
The genealogy of Matthew names him, and then stops naming kings.
His name (as "Jechonias") is the last of the kings of Judah mentioned in the list of Matthew chapter 1. The next is "Jesus who is called Christ," anointed King, not of Israel or the Jews only, but of the nations also.
- Named — one man, four names: Jehoiachin here, Jeconiah in Chronicles, Coniah in Jeremiah, Jechonias in Matthew 1.
- Numbered — eighteen, not eight. The reading in Chronicles is a copying error, and all the evidence favours eighteen.
- Judged — three months on the throne was long enough to show he was his father's son in evil.
- Written childless — he had descendants, but no heir who would ever rule in Judah again.
- Replaced — the royal list closes with Jechonias. The next King named is Jesus, and in Him the meaning of Jehoiachin's name comes true: Jehovah will establish.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.
Jehoiachin came to the throne of Judah at eighteen and lasted three months, and God's record of him repeats the record of his father. So how much time does a person need to show what he really is — and what happens to a royal line that keeps repeating the same sin?
His reign was one of the shortest in Judah's history. One commentator says it was still long enough to show what the young king was:
Jehoiachin (also called Coniah) was only 18 years old when he reigned for three months. But this was time enough to prove his evil character, following the course of his father, evidently in idol worship.
The verse measures the son by his father: "according to all that his father had done." One writer follows that pattern through Judah's last kings, and notes that their mothers were no help either:
Jehoiachin, otherwise known as Coniah, continues in his father's path. His mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. It appears more and more evident that the mothers of these latter kings had themselves, like their sons, forgotten the Lord.
One writer links the verdict of this verse to the army already on its way, and asks whether such a man could be said to sit on David's throne at all:
But did Jehoiakim not have a son? He did: Jehoiachin, a wretched man, who inherited his father's guilt and misery. How could he be said to sit on the throne of David? He reigned in Jerusalem only three months. Then the lion came up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations was on his way — the avenger, under God's providence, of one who did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
God's sentence on this king reached past his three months. One writer explains what it did and did not mean:
The significance of that sentence 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 that God had decreed that, as far as the throne of David was concerned, he was to be written down as childless, for none of his offspring should rule any more in Judah. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
So where did that leave the promise of a King from David's family? One writer follows the family tree:
He had children; no offspring of the line of Solomon was ever to occupy the throne of David. But there were the descendants of David through another line, that is, Nathan's; no curse rested upon that line. The virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord, was of David through Nathan (Luke 3:31). Joseph, to whom Mary the virgin was betrothed, was a son of David through Solomon's line.
Even this king's name carried a promise. One writer shows what the godly could still hold on to:
His character was no different from that of his two predecessors. It is the same sad, unchanging record: "He did what was evil." How the godly must have longed for that "King" mentioned by Isaiah, who should "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, but they were sure of the fact. And so they could "with patience wait for it."
- Evil — three months was long enough to show what Jehoiachin was — his father's son in conduct, not just in birth.
- Inheritance — the verse ties him to his father's path, most likely idol worship. One writer notes that even the mothers of these last kings had forgotten the Lord.
- Verdict — his three months ended with the destroyer of the nations on his way — the avenger, under God's providence, of a king who did evil.
- Curse — God wrote him down as childless as far as the throne was concerned. He still had descendants, but none of them would rule in Judah, and one writer traces the promised King to David's other line, through Nathan.
- Hope — his name means "Jehovah will establish." The godly could not know the time, but they were sure of the fact, and could wait patiently for the King who would reign in righteousness.
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
Jehoiachin had been king for only three months when Babylon's army closed in on Jerusalem. Two questions sit behind this short report: why did God allow it, and why has Israel lived under foreign rule ever since?
Commentators trace the siege back long before Jehoiachin. God had passed sentence on Judah generations earlier:
From the time of Manasseh this unchangeable decree had gone out from the Lord. He held it back during Josiah's reign, and would have kept holding it back under his successors had they been willing to listen. There were two causes for this final judgment: idolatry, and innocent blood. Jehoiakim, like Manasseh, had shed innocent blood as far as he was able in Jerusalem, the city that has killed the prophets and stoned those who were sent to it.
The son also paid for his father's broken word:
It was against Jehoiachin and his people that Nebuchadnezzar poured out the anger that had built up in his heart because of the false, disloyal conduct of Jehoiakim.
Jeremiah had spoken about this siege before it happened. He even named the king by his other name, Coniah:
In Coniah's day, Nebuchadnezzar's servants besieged Jerusalem. Then this great king came to take part in the siege in person. Jehoiachin went out to him. He was carried captive to Babylon, along with his mother, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah: "As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off."
Another writer ties the whole outcome back to God's word:
This was all "as the Lord said," through His prophet Jeremiah. Heaven and earth will pass away and perish, but not one word of God.
Jehoiachin does not fight. He walks out of the city and gives himself up:
Jehoiachin took the wise course of surrendering to Babylon and, with his servants, was taken prisoner.
Judah's last king, Zedekiah, chose the opposite:
Jehoiachin went to Babylon, yielding there to the judgment of God, and in the end he was exalted. Zedekiah stayed at home, and instead of accepting the punishment of his sin by submitting to the king of Babylon, the Lord's rod, he rebelled against him, and at last perished.
Later God showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs. His view of them was the opposite of the world's:
To the world the good figs were the people remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah; to God's heart they were those carried away from Judah. Their goodness rested on this: they had submitted to the judgment God passed on their iniquity. This same principle holds true for us. Only thanks be to God, we have suffered our judgment in the person of Christ, condemned in our place on the cross. Once God had carried out the sentence, He could look down with favour on those who had borne it.
This siege was one of three. Together they moved world rule from Jerusalem to the nations:
Now here began "the times of the Gentiles." In 2 Kings 24 and 25 there is a record of no fewer than three separate successful expeditions against Jerusalem by this same Nebuchadnezzar. The last was the complete and decisive one. Since then Israel has been subject to Gentile rule.
Yet the godly in Judah still had one thing to hold on to. This king's name meant something his life did not:
But there was something about even this wicked king that could give them hope — his name, "The LORD will establish." They might not know when it would come, but they were sure it would come. And so they could wait for it patiently.
- Cause — The siege was no accident of politics. Idolatry and innocent blood had already brought God's sentence. Josiah's reign delayed it, and Jehoiakim's treachery set it off.
- Word — Every detail matched what Jeremiah had spoken. Even if this king had been the signet ring on God's right hand, God would still have torn him off, because not one word of His fails.
- Surrender — Jehoiachin walked out and gave himself up. Zedekiah resisted the rod and perished; submission to God's judgment is the wiser path.
- Reversal — God called the exiles the good figs and the ones left behind the bad. Those who accept His verdict come under His favour, as believers do through Christ judged in their place.
- Hope — World rule passed to the nations here, and Israel has lived under them since. But the captive king's name still says the LORD will establish, so His people can wait for that day.
And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, while his servants were besieging it.
Judah's new king had reigned just three months when Babylon's army surrounded Jerusalem, and then the emperor came in person. Was this only a strong empire crushing a weak one, or was Someone else directing the siege?
One writer traces what happened, and ties the outcome to words Jeremiah had already spoken.
Jehoiachin, otherwise known as Coniah, continues in his father's path... It grows more and more clear that the mothers of these last kings had forgotten the Lord, just as their sons had. In Coniah's day, Nebuchadnezzar's servants besieged Jerusalem. This great king himself then came to take part in the siege in person. Jehoiachin went out to him. He was carried captive to Babylon, along with his mother, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah.
The king at the city wall was not the real mover of these events. One writer sets out the place God gave him.
He was the man in whom God set up the Gentiles. The house of David, the throne of Judah, had corrupted itself. The people's sin had reached its full measure, and God's patience with them had run out in Nebuchadnezzar's day. So the Lord used him as the rod of His anger against Jerusalem, and as the hand that took from Him the sword of rule and judgment in the earth.
The king, his mother, and his whole household went into exile. One writer draws the weight of the whole account from one short phrase in it.
The king's mother and her son, with all his family and household, were carried captive to Babylon... This was all "as the Lord said," through His prophet Jeremiah. Heaven and earth will pass away and perish, but not one word of God.
Babylon's armies — the Chaldeans — came against Judah more than once. This deportation was one stage in a longer collapse, and it swept up Ezekiel, who would later prophesy among the exiles.
The Chaldeans overthrew the kingdom of Judah and carried away her king, princes, priests, and people on three separate occasions. In 599 B.C. Jehoiachin, the second last king of Judah, had reigned only three months. He was then taken captive, along with the leading people of the land, including Ezekiel (2 Kings 24).
What began with these invasions outlasted the exile itself.
In 2 Kings 24 and 25 we have a special record of three separate successful expeditions against Jerusalem. All were made by this same Nebuchadnezzar. The last was the complete and decisive one. Since then Israel has been under Gentile rule. Its kings have been only servants of other masters. The nation has had to pay tribute to one Gentile power after another, and has depended on their will.
Jehoiachin did not fight. At eighteen, after three months on the throne, he walked out and gave himself up.
Jehoiachin (also called Coniah) was only 18 years old when he reigned for three months. But this was time enough to prove his evil character. He followed the course of his father, evidently in idol worship (vv.8-9). Jehoiachin took the wise course of surrendering to Babylon, and Babylon took him and his servants prisoner (v.12).
Another king of Judah, Zedekiah, went the opposite way. One writer draws the contrast and turns it on us.
We must be broken to be blessed... We would sooner "bend our roots" towards whatever may help us in the world. But that way, which is our own way, will end, as with Zedekiah, in shame and ruin. Accepting the judgment of God, submitting under His mighty hand, will end, as with Jehoiachin, in blessing and exaltation.
After this deportation Jeremiah saw two baskets of figs. God's view of them turned the popular verdict upside down.
What people saw was exactly the opposite of what God reveals to Jeremiah. To the world the good figs were the people remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah; to God's heart they were those carried away from Judah. Their goodness lay in this: they had submitted to God's judgment, which their sin deserved. This same principle holds true for us, only thanks be to God, we have suffered our judgment in the person of Christ, condemned in our place upon the cross.
- Siege — Nebuchadnezzar's officers surrounded the city. Then the emperor came himself, and the greatest power of the day pressed on one small capital.
- Servant — That conqueror was God's rod. Judah's guilt was full and God's patience had run out. Rule over the earth passed from David's house to the Gentiles.
- Said — Every loss matched what God had spoken through Jeremiah. Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one word of His.
- Submission — Jehoiachin gave himself up and came to blessing. Zedekiah went his own way and ended in shame and ruin. Breaking comes before blessing.
- Selection — The world pitied the exiles, but God called them the good figs. They had bowed to His judgment — and believers now see that judgment borne for them at the cross.
And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his chamberlains; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
Jerusalem is under siege, and Judah's king walks out of the gate to give himself up to Nebuchadnezzar. It looks like a small political note, but commentators treat it as the moment the throne of David passed out of Jewish hands.
Jehoiachin's surrender did not surprise God. One writer sets it beside words Jeremiah spoke years before.
Jehoiachin, also known as Coniah, continues in his father's path. In Coniah's day, Nebuchadnezzar's servants besieged Jerusalem. Then the great king came to take part in the siege in person. Jehoiachin went out to him. Nebuchadnezzar carried him and his mother captive to Babylon. This fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy: "As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off… I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die."
There is no battle in this verse. One writer notes what left the temple with the king.
2 Kings 24:10-12 records that the Babylonians came to besiege the city, though we are not told the immediate reason for this. Jehoiachin and his servants surrendered without resistance. 2 Chronicles 36:10 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar sent for him to come to Babylon. The valuable articles from the house of God went to Babylon too, though not all of them yet. This pictures how the truth of God has been stolen from the Church little by little in our own day, through the failure and disobedience of the people.
Nebuchadnezzar looks like the decisive figure here. One writer gives him a smaller part.
Nebuchadnezzar was only the executor of God's sentence. No son of David has since that time sat upon his throne. Here Matthew's second period closes. The foreigner has ruled them ever since, and will until the true Heir, the next King of the house of David, even the Lord Jesus, come. Until then they lie under the judgment of God.
What changed hands was more than a crown. Writers call the period that opened here "the times of the Gentiles" — the stretch of history in which nations other than Israel hold the ruling power.
The whole order of things that came from His dwelling at Jerusalem was set aside. Universal supremacy passed to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the first great chief of the Gentiles. It was with him that the times of the Gentiles began.
Jeremiah's sentence on this same king sounds absolute. One writer weighs the word "childless" against the rest of the same verse.
The significance of this verse is not that he should have no family, for it speaks of his seed; 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 was to be written childless. That is because none of his descendants would rule in Judah any more. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
So how could the promised King still come from David? One writer points to a second branch of the family:
A curse was thus pronounced upon the house of David in the line of Solomon. But there was still the line of Nathan the son of David. Messiah, the Son of David, could therefore not spring from the line of Solomon; He must come from the line of Nathan. Joseph, the husband of the virgin Mary of Nazareth, was a son of David through the line of Solomon, the disinherited line. But Mary of Nazareth was a daughter of David through the line of Nathan.
Those taken away with Jehoiachin looked like the losers. One writer sets what people saw beside what God told Jeremiah.
What men saw was exactly the opposite of what God reveals to Jeremiah. To the world the good figs were the people remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah; to God's heart they were those carried away from Judah. Their goodness rested on one thing: they had submitted to the judgment their sin deserved. The same principle holds true for us. Thank God, we have suffered our judgment in the person of Christ, who was condemned in our place on the cross. Once God had carried out the sentence, He could look down with favour on those who had borne it.
- Word first. Jeremiah had already named Coniah and said God would tear him off like a signet ring. The surrender carried out a word already spoken.
- Surrender, not siege. Jehoiachin gave himself up without resistance. The temple's treasures went to Babylon by stages — a warning picture of truth lost little by little.
- Sentence, not accident. Nebuchadnezzar was the executor of God's sentence, and no son of David has sat on that throne since.
- Handover. With him the times of the Gentiles began. Power over Jerusalem passed to the nations, and stays there until the true Heir comes.
- Grace to the exiles. God called the captives the good figs, because they had bowed to His judgment. Christ has borne ours.
And he brought out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.
Nebuchadnezzar strips the temple and the palace, breaks up the gold vessels Solomon had made, and hauls them all to Babylon. The verse ends by tying this to a word God had already spoken, which turns a military looting into something far more solemn: God keeping His own word against His own house.
This loss was announced in advance. Commentators tie it to a warning the prophet Isaiah once gave King Hezekiah:
Nebuchadnezzar cut in pieces the articles of gold that Solomon had made in the house of the Lord, probably to transport them to Babylon more easily. This fulfilled the word of the Lord to Hezekiah by Isaiah in chapter 20:16-18.
What Hezekiah showed off to the world is what the world came and took:
All was to go to that very Babylon whose ambassadors had ensnared him. Everything in which his poor heart might boast before the men of this world must go to ruin. He had displayed his treasures to the world, and these very treasures the world was about to carry away; but the "peace and truth" — in other words, the treasures which he had in God — the world could neither give nor take away.
Commentators point to more than one prophecy behind the closing words. Another writer traces them to Jeremiah:
This was all "as the Lord said," through His prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 20:5). Heaven and earth will pass away and perish, but not one word of God.
Babylon had already looted the temple once. This second raid reached different objects:
The temple was stripped of its remaining treasures. A few years before, the king of Babylon had carried away the solid and smaller vessels (2 Chron. 36:7). On this occasion he literally "cut the gold off" the larger plated vessels — the ark, the altar of incense, the showbread table, and so on. There is no contradiction here, or anywhere in Scripture, for "the Scripture cannot be broken."
God was not defeated here. One writer asks who Nebuchadnezzar really was, and follows the stolen vessels through to their end in Babylon:
What was this Nebuchadnezzar but the whip the Lord had chosen and used to punish His guilty, lawbreaking people Israel? God raised him up for that purpose … The lesson to be learned from this is that God will never take part in hypocrisy, nor will He keep His people going in a false condition. He knows how to take care of His own glory, even though His people fail completely, so He allows the vessels of His sanctuary on earth to be carried into captivity. But then Belshazzar, drunk with wine, waved these trophies of victory in the face of the Lord. He praised gods of gold and silver, of brass, iron, wood and stone, as if they had won the victory. He insulted God to His very face, and God resented the insult.
The gold sat in a pagan treasure-house, but God still counted it as His:
In God's eyes the holy vessels were holy still, however much the sins of His kings and priests had polluted them. They had been used in the house where He had put His name for ever, the house where His eyes and His heart would always be (1 Kings 9:3). True, in judgment He had let them share the captivity of His people. But He could not let the Gentile king and his immoral companions defile them. That would not fit with all that He was and all that He purposed.
The story did not end in Babylon. The vessels came home again, though not everything did:
It was not policy but the Lord who stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon. The holy vessels were counted and restored, as far as was fitting, for the Lord's house in Jerusalem. The ark was not there — the centre, the highest in value, the nearest to the glory. Sadly, the glory itself had withdrawn. But in the day that the salvation of Israel comes out of Zion, the glory will return, never to leave again.
- Said — The gold did not leave Jerusalem by accident of war. The verse ties the loss to a word God had already spoken, and not one word of His fails.
- Shown — Hezekiah displayed his treasure to Babylon's envoys; Babylon came back for it. What we parade before the world, the world comes to carry off.
- Surrendered — God let Babylon loot His own sanctuary instead of keeping His people in a hollow, hypocritical condition. He can guard His glory without propping up their pretence.
- Sacred — Captivity did not make the holy things common. In a pagan treasure-house the vessels were holy still, and God answered Belshazzar when he abused them.
- Restored — Cyrus, stirred up by God, sent the vessels back. Yet the ark and the glory were missing. The recovery was real but incomplete, waiting for the day the glory returns for good.
And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths none remained but the poorest sort of the people of the land.
Nebuchadnezzar stripped Jerusalem of everything that made it strong: its king, its nobles, its soldiers, its craftsmen and its metalworkers. Ten thousand went to Babylon and only the poorest stayed, so commentators ask what God was doing in this loss.
The deportation did not catch heaven by surprise. One writer points back to Jeremiah, who had said this would happen.
This was all "as the Lord said," through His prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 20:5). Heaven and earth will pass away and perish, but not one word of God.
The list is not random. One writer sees a deliberate strategy in whom Nebuchadnezzar chose.
More than this, Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive all the captains and mighty men of valour, 10,000 of them (v.14), and all the craftsmen and smiths, one thousand (v.16). Only the poorest of the people remained. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make sure Jerusalem could never rise to greatness again.
A smith is a worker in metal, and Scripture elsewhere shows what a nation loses when its smiths are gone.
When the Philistines were oppressing Israel, we read that "there was no blacksmith to be found in all the land of Israel," because the Philistines meant to stop the Hebrews making swords or spears. So God's people stood unarmed before their enemies. They even had to go to the Philistines to get their farm tools sharpened (1 Sam. 13:19-20). Later this changed: when the people went into captivity, smiths are named among the captives (2 Kings 24:14, 16).
The king went into exile too, and the sentence on him reached past his own lifetime.
Jeremiah 22:24-30 speaks with great seriousness about God's judgment on Jehoiachin, who is also called Jeconiah or Coniah. "Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol, a vessel no one wants? Why are he and his children thrown out, cast into a land they do not know? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord: record this man as childless. He will not prosper in his days, and none of his descendants will prosper, sitting on the throne of David and ruling in Judah again."
After this deportation, Jeremiah saw two baskets of figs in a vision — one very good, one very bad. Anyone watching would have sorted the people into the wrong baskets.
What people saw was the exact opposite of what God reveals to Jeremiah. To the world the good figs were the people remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah; to God's heart they were those carried away from Judah. Their goodness rested on one thing: they had submitted to the judgment God brought on them for their sin.
The two baskets matched two responses to Babylon.
The bad figs resisted. Instead of yielding, they turned to Egypt, hoping that political power and military help would offset the strength of the king of Babylon. The Lord tells them that the good figs were those who had submitted, the ones carried away captive to Babylon in the days of Jeconiah.
This deportation has a date attached to it. One writer uses it to fix when Ezekiel left Judah.
Eleven years before the King of Babylon destroyed the city and the temple, Ezekiel went into captivity. 2 Kings 24:14 records this deportation. Others had already been taken to Babylon before Ezekiel went with the princes and the mighty men — Daniel and his three companions among them.
The verse reads like an ending. One writer finds a beginning in it.
In the midst of the ruin God opened a door of hope to the people. God would raise up a remnant from among those carried away — the core of the Israel of the future. Over them the king of righteousness, the Anointed of the Lord, would reign, after all the sons of David had failed completely in their responsibility.
- Carried, as said. The Lord had said through Jeremiah that this would come. The empty city shows that no word of God ever fails.
- Carried, and stripped. Nebuchadnezzar took the soldiers and the smiths together, leaving Jerusalem with no defenders and no way to arm them.
- Carried, yet chosen. People saw the exiles as the losers and those left in Jerusalem as the fortunate ones. God called the exiles the good figs.
- Carried, and named. Ezekiel went into captivity in this deportation, and Daniel had gone to Babylon before him.
- Carried, for a future. From these captives, not from those left behind, God would raise the remnant over whom His Anointed would reign.
And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and the mighty of the land, he led into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon;
Judah's independent history ends here, with the young king Jehoiachin and his whole court walking to Babylon as prisoners. The verse reads like a bare list. Yet commentators find in it a prophecy fulfilled word for word, a throne shut down, and the people God Himself called good.
Jehoiachin surrendered, and his family went with him. Jeremiah had named this outcome in advance, including the mother's exile. The women of this royal house were no better than the men.
It is more and more clear that the mothers of these last kings, like their sons, had forgotten the Lord... He was carried captive to Babylon, along with his mother, just as Jeremiah had prophesied: "As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you... into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die."
One writer stops on the meaning of her name.
Nehushta, his mother's name, means copper. It refers to anything made of copper — a copper coin, a copper mirror, or fetters. Both she and her son, with all his family and household, were carried captive to Babylon.
The verse counts "the chief men of the land" among the exiles. One writer adds the numbers.
Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the captains and brave fighting men, 10,000 of them (v.14), and all the craftsmen and metalworkers, one thousand (v.16). Only the poorest people stayed. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make sure that Jerusalem could never become important again.
In Babylon the captives needed direction. Jeremiah wrote to tell them how to live under a foreign king.
In Jeremiah 29, the prophet sent a letter to the rest of the elders taken captive to Babylon in the time of Jeconiah the king of Judah (2 Kings 24:12-16). And the word of the LORD of hosts commanded them to submit completely to Nebuchadnezzar. They were not only not to rebel; they were to obey. They were no longer Jews under the direct government of God in their own land. They were to recognise the authority of the Gentile king whom God had now set over them because of their sins.
After this deportation Jeremiah saw two baskets of figs in a vision, one good and one bad.
What people saw was exactly the opposite of what God reveals to Jeremiah. To the world the good figs were the people remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah; to God's heart they were those carried away from Judah. Their goodness rested on their submission to God's judgment on their sin. The same principle holds true for us. Only, thanks be to God, we have suffered our judgment in the person of Christ, condemned in our place on the cross.
Jehoiachin's removal ends the working monarchy. Jeremiah's sentence on him is easy to read too widely.
The point of this verse is not that he would have no family, for it speaks of his offspring, and Matthew 1:11-12 lists his descendants. What we are told is that God had decreed that, as far as the throne of David was concerned, he was to be written childless, for none of his offspring should rule any more in Judah. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
So how does the promise to David reach Christ? One writer answers that the cursed line kept the legal title and could pass it on:
As far back as Irenaeus, writers drew this conclusion: a curse strikes the direct line of descent, yet the line still keeps the legal title. So it could hand on to another what could be of no benefit to itself. The marriage of Joseph and Mary was, in God's wisdom, the means of bringing this about. The Lord's birth from Mary made Him the real Son of David (Luke 1:32), while His mother's marriage made Him David's legal heir.
- Carried away as promised — the king, his mother and the nobles went into exile just as Jeremiah had said.
- Carried away in strength — Babylon took the captains, the fighting men and the craftsmen, and left only the poorest, so the city could never rise again.
- Carried away from rule — they no longer lived under God's direct government in their own land. God set Nebuchadnezzar over them, and they had to submit.
- Carried away and counted good — the world wrote these exiles off, but God called them the good figs, because they accepted His judgment on their sin.
- Carried away, not cast off — no descendant of Jehoiachin would rule, yet the line still held the legal title, and God's promise to David reaches its heir in Christ.