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.