Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and give forth thy voice in Bashan, and cry from [the heights of] Abarim for all thy lovers are destroyed.
Jeremiah 22 runs through Judah's last kings. At verse 20 the call goes out to climb the high ground and cry aloud, and two questions follow: why mourn on the mountains, and who were these "lovers" whose ruin leaves nothing to call on?
The order of the chapter is deliberate, and one writer explains why:
The kings named are not in the order they reigned. The purpose is to gather the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah into one cluster. This shows that in reality there was no difference. Some might be a little more marked in their violence and gross sin, but they were all faithless and godless.
So the cry of verse 20 does not answer one bad reign. It answers a whole line. One writer sums up the verdict on that line:
THE ROYAL FAMILY IS CONDEMNED… though this royal house was like Gilead and the summit of Lebanon to the Lord, it would still be laid waste.
The verse names three places, and they sit at the edges of the land. Lebanon is in the north:
The mountain range in the north of Palestine… It is mentioned as the northern boundary of Palestine.
The third name, rendered "passages" in older translations, sits on the opposite edge of the land:
Probably the chain of mountains that lie 'beyond' or to the east of the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan… Mount Nebo was connected with Abarim. It stood opposite Jericho, and it was where Moses viewed the land and died… Abarim is translated 'passages' in Jer. 22:20.
North, east and south-east — the cry must reach every border of the land.
Lebanon carried more than geography, because of what its trees stood for in Scripture:
In Scripture the cedar is always used as a picture of power or high standing, if not pride. When the king of Israel wanted to show his contempt for the king of Judah, he compared himself to a cedar and Judah's king to a thistle (2 Kings 14:9)… When judgment comes upon the great of the earth, the prophet Isaiah says it is the day of Jehovah upon the cedars of Lebanon (2:13). These mark the cedar as the symbol of dignity and power.
Writing on the same word in Lamentations, one commentator names them and shows what is left:
She trusted false gods when she broke faith with the covenant of Jehovah, and those gods can do nothing to ease her present sorrows. She leaned on foreign powers when she forsook the Word of her God, and they are all indifferent to her present plight. He, the "eternal Lover" whom she has despised, is the only One who loves her still.
Another writer stresses the allies rather than the idols — commentators differ on the emphasis:
Now the folly, and the sin, of forsaking Jehovah for others is plain. But not one of her lovers is there to comfort her. All her friends, the allies she counted on, betray her, and are nothing but enemies.
One writer asks what the search for foreign backing ever achieved:
In the end, what was the use of all the politics and the search for alliances and protection, turning now to Assyria, then to Egypt? Did they delay the judgment already decreed by even one moment? And it is the same in our own day, is it not? The guarantees that nations seek to get from one another will all disappear like chaff carried away by the wind, when "the Lamb that was slain" steps forward to take the book of God's counsels and ways toward the world and carry it out.
Losing every support had one result:
Egypt soon failed them, and Assyria only oppressed them. With every human support broken, the remnant had nothing left but God alone, the One they should have counted on from the first.
- One verdict. Jeremiah groups the kings out of order on purpose. There was no real difference between them: all were faithless and godless.
- Empty lovers. The "lovers" are the gods and the allies Judah leaned on after forsaking God's word. When trouble comes, they do not care.
- Empty borders. The cry goes up in Lebanon to the north and in Abarim beyond the Dead Sea. It reaches every frontier, and every frontier is empty.
- Felled cedars. In Scripture the cedars of Lebanon stand for power, rank and pride. Isaiah names them as what the day of the Lord brings down.
- One Lover left. Alliances delay judgment by not one moment. When every human support breaks, the One she despised is the only One who still loves her, and the only One left to count on.
I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity; [but] thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy way from thy youth, that thou hearkenedst not unto my voice.
Jeremiah 22 gathers the last kings of Judah into one charge, and this verse gives the reason: God spoke in their good years, and they refused to hear. The refusal was not one bad day but a habit going back to youth — so what does God do with a person who never listens?
The kings in this chapter do not appear in the order they reigned. Commentators see a purpose in that.
The kings named are out of their chronological order. The purpose is to bring the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah into one cluster, to show that in moral terms there was virtually no difference. Some were a little more open in their violence and gross evil, but they were all faithless and godless.
The charge lands on the royal house as a whole, not on one man alone.
The verse names the season in which God spoke: the good days, not the ruined ones. That timing is the point.
Prosperity often deafens the ear against God. "I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, 'I will not listen'" (Jer. 22:21). Soft pleasures harden the heart. Prosperity has its honey, and also its sting. Anxious care is the evil spirit that haunts the rich man; when his chests are full of money, his heart is full of care. Sunshine is pleasant, but sometimes it scorches. The spreading of a full table may be the spreading of a snare. Many have been sunk to hell with golden weights… The world's golden sands are quicksands.
Prosperity is God's kindness. The strange thing is what people do with it.
What a treacherous thing is the human heart! People take the very blessings of God, which should turn the heart toward Him, and use them to shut Him out completely! The more God pours His favours into a man's lap, the less willing he is to acknowledge Him. So the words in Luke 7:22, "the poor have good news preached to them."
The danger in wealth has a flip side for people with less.
What if we have less food? We have less snare. If less dignity, less danger. As we lack the rich provisions of the world, so we lack the temptations. To give us Christ is more than if God had given us all the world. He can make more worlds, but He has no more Christs to bestow.
God does not charge one bad decision. He charges a way of life running back to youth, and the quietest form of that disobedience does the deepest damage.
Nothing hardens the heart, and nothing destroys the conscience, like habitual disobedience to the word of the Lord. Not disobedience in gross sins, but in religious indifference.
The answer given to God here is flat refusal. Commentators treat that answer as the most dangerous thing a person can say.
When God speaks to His people about their moral and spiritual state, the least they can do is to hear what He has to say, and take it to heart. People who refuse to hear when God speaks are in a hopeless position, whether they are saints or sinners. Refusal to hear brings down the chastening hand of the Lord on His people. Their blessings wither away.
Sudden trouble can wake religious feeling in anyone. Commentators ask how long it lasts.
Sudden alarm will call out religious feelings, but they live only while the danger lasts.
- Spoke. God did not stay silent and then strike. He addressed this king in the comfortable years, so the judgment falls on a refusal, not on ignorance.
- Deafened. The very season that should have softened the ear closed it. Prosperity "has its honey, and also its sting," and God's gifts get used to shut Him out. Less of it means less of the snare.
- Habitual. The charge is a lifelong pattern, not a lapse. Its quiet form, religious indifference, hardens the heart more than gross sin does.
- Hopeless. Refusing to hear is never neutral. It withers blessing and brings the chastening hand, on saints and sinners alike.
- Too late. Alarm can produce religious feeling, but it lasts only as long as the danger. The time to listen is while the sun still shines.
The wind shall feed on all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely, then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
Jeremiah 22 delivers God's verdict on one king of David's line after another. Here the leaders Judah trusted are swept away, her allies are marched off captive, and only then does her shame land.
The chapter moves from king to king. One writer describes the son who followed Jehoiakim onto the throne:
But did Jehoiakim not have a son? A wretched man he was — Jehoiachin, 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. That destroyer was the avenger, under God's providence, of one who did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done.
In older versions this verse speaks of "pastors." The word behind it means to feed, and it points to the men who were meant to care for the nation:
In the Old Testament the word is raah, 'to feed,' and refers to those who should have helped God's people. They, like everyone else, had failed. They had destroyed and scattered the sheep (Jeremiah 2:8; 3:15; 12:10; 17:16; 22:22; 23:1-2). In the New Testament it is poimēn, a word used of Christ Himself as the good Shepherd.
The ESV says the wind will shepherd the shepherds; older versions say the wind will eat them up. Either way, this threat is not isolated. It closes a charge Jeremiah builds across the whole book:
After speaking of the ignorance of the priests, Jeremiah adds, "The pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal" (Jeremiah 2:8). He tells us, "The pastors have become senseless and have not sought the Lord" (Jeremiah 10:11). They trod down the vineyard of the Lord. They made His pleasant portion desolate, so that it mourned to Him (Jeremiah 12:10-11). The Lord says, "My people have been like lost sheep, and their shepherds have caused them to go astray" (Jeremiah 50:6). Woe is pronounced on these scattering, selfish pastors (Jeremiah 23:1-2). The wind will eat them up (Jeremiah 22:22). They will cry and howl when the fierce anger of the Lord falls (Jeremiah 25:34-36).
The "lovers" are not private affections. They are the gods and powers Judah leaned on instead of the Lord. One writer shows what these friends are worth when trouble comes:
Now the choice that forsook the Lord for others is proved to be folly as well as sin. But among her lovers she has no comforter. All her friends, the allies she counted on, betray her, and are nothing but enemies.
Another writer names the One still left when every substitute has walked away:
She broke faith with the covenant of the Lord and trusted false gods. Those gods cannot ease her present sorrows in any way. The powers she tried to lean on when she abandoned the Word of her God are all indifferent to her plight. He, the "eternal Lover" whom she has despised, is the only One who still loves her.
The judgment on the shepherds is real. Yet the same prophecy holds a promise, and it points past the ruined royal house to one King:
The pastors also, who should have cared for the sheep of His pasture, were to be punished as well, for they had destroyed and scattered the flock (Jeremiah 23:1-3). Still, God will graciously gather them again and richly supply them with abundance of blessing (verses 3-4). But for this long-awaited day to dawn, a King of David's royal line must be found to introduce it; we know this from many other Scriptures. Where, then, is this deeply desired King, this One on Whom so much depends? Is He living today? What is His name? The answer to these questions comes in 2 Timothy 2:8: "Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from among the dead."
- Shepherds. The word behind "shepherds" means to feed. These men were meant to care for God's people. They scattered the flock instead.
- Wind. The wind itself carries off the leaders who would not seek the Lord. That is the last word in Jeremiah's long charge against them.
- Lovers. The gods and allies Judah leaned on give no comfort when judgment lands. Her friends turn out to be enemies.
- Shame. Both props go: the shepherds are scattered, the lovers are led away. Only then does she face her own evil.
- Shepherd. The same prophecy that removes false shepherds promises a gathered flock. Its King is Jesus Christ, of David's line, raised from the dead.
Thou inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how pitiful shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, pain as of a woman in travail!
Jeremiah 22 carries God's messages to the royal palace in Jerusalem. This verse pictures the royal house as a bird nesting high in cedar, and asks what that height will be worth when the pain comes.
The chapter deals with Judah's last kings one by one, and the bird in the cedars belongs to that list.
Jeremiah 22 sets out the sin of the representatives of the house of David in further detail. Besides Zedekiah, there are Shallum (Jehoahaz), the son of Josiah (verse 11), Jehoiakim, also a son of Josiah (verse 18), and Coniah (Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, verse 24). The chapter charges them all as evil rulers in the critical times when the monarchy was drawing to its close.
"Inhabitant of Lebanon" is not a place on a map. Earlier in the chapter God gave the royal house that title, and in the same breath He announced its end.
The kings Shallum (Jehoahaz), Jehoiakim, and Coniah (Jehoiachin) are all alike to come under the judgment of God. To the Lord this royal house was as Gilead and the summit of Lebanon, yet it would be laid waste.
The cedar carries a settled meaning through the Bible.
In Scripture the typical use of the cedar is always to denote power or exaltation, if not pride. When the king of Israel wanted to pour contempt on the king of Judah, he compared himself to a cedar and Judah's king to a thistle (2 Kings 14:9). When judgment comes on the great of the earth, the prophet Isaiah says it is the day of the Lord upon the cedars of Lebanon (Isa. 2:13). These mark the cedar as the symbol of dignity and power.
God had set terms for this house earlier in the chapter, and the ruin follows from them.
If one of that family could be found giving right judgments and showing mercy, then God would give this house kings to sit for David on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, with their servants and their people (verse 4). If not, He swore by Himself that this house would become a ruin (verse 5). Those who later saw the desolation would know it happened because they had forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and served other gods.
The ESV reads "how you will be pitied"; older translations end the line "how gracious you will be." One writer used those words to describe religion that only shows up when something hurts.
How often we see this kind of "seeking" among ourselves. Sudden alarm will call out religious feelings; but they live only while the danger lasts.
The threat was not distant. Jehoiakim's son came next, and his reign was over almost before it began.
But did Jehoiakim not have a son? A wretched man he was — Jehoiachin, who inherited his father's guilt and misery. How could anyone say he sat on the throne of David? He reigned in Jerusalem only three months before the lion came up from his thicket and the destroyer of the nations was on his way.
Judah's kings end in failure, yet God's promise still calls for a king from David's line. One writer asks where that King is now.
For this long-awaited day to dawn, we know from many other Scriptures that a King of David's royal line must be found to bring it in. Where, then, is this deeply desired King, this One on whom so much depends? Is He living today? What is His name? 2 Timothy 2:8 answers them: "Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David."
- Perch — God aims these words at the royal house of Judah, pictured as a bird nesting high in cedar. He speaks to kings, not to the nation in general.
- Pride — In the Bible the cedar stands for power and exaltation, "if not pride." To sit among the cedars is to wait for the day when God brings the great of the earth down.
- Pangs — The high nest gives no shelter. God had called this house "the summit of Lebanon," and warned in the same breath that He would lay it waste unless its kings judged right and showed mercy.
- Pretence — Older translations read "how gracious you will be" when the pangs come. Alarm stirs up religious feeling, but it lives only as long as the danger.
- Promise — Jehoiachin's reign collapsed in three months, yet God did not cancel the throne of David. It waits for "Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David."
[As] I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet upon my right hand, yet will I pluck thee thence;
God swears an oath here about King Coniah: even the closest place of honour He could name would not hold him. Three questions follow — who this king was, what the signet on God's right hand meant, and what becomes of David's throne.
Readers meet the same man under different labels, and the change is deliberate. One writer traces the names and the point they carry.
Jehoiachin means "The Lord will establish." Jeremiah called him Jeconiah, which means "The Lord establishes." This surely shows that it will be done, not in Jehoiachin, but in our Lord Jesus Christ, as Jeremiah explains in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Just before that he had called him Coniah in scorn, "a despised broken idol; a vessel in which is no pleasure." In Christ alone, raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, can the Kingdom be established for ever.
This king inherited a throne and his father's record with it. He did not hold it long.
But did Jehoiakim not have a son? Yes, a wretched one — Jehoiachin, who inherited his father's guilt and misery. How could anyone say that he sat 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. Under God's providence that destroyer was the avenger against a man who did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father had done.
In that world, a signet ring was more than jewellery.
The signet-ring was among those nations a mark of honour. It was given by monarchs to their prime ministers, conferring all authority upon them.
So the ring pictures authority held as close to God as authority can be. God says He would tear it off even from there.
The same image comes back later as a promise, and two men are set side by side.
God will take the true seed of David and make Him a signet. Here that seed is still called "Zerubbabel my servant," a picture of Christ as "the prince of the house of David." Coniah, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, was faithless, a signet plucked from God's right hand (compare Jeremiah 22:24). Christ is the opposite. He is the signet on God's right hand, to seal all His purposes concerning the nations and concerning His chosen people Israel.
The oath does not end with Coniah. It shuts Solomon's line out of the throne, and yet the promise to David finds another route.
Jehoiachin was carried away into captivity. The last chapter of Jeremiah gives his fate. He never returned. He had children, yet no descendant of Solomon's line was ever to occupy the throne of David. But there were descendants of David through another line, that is, Nathan's; no curse rested on 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 engaged, was a son of David through Solomon's line.
That is why the way Christ entered David's family matters in law.
If our blessed Lord had been the son of Joseph, this prophecy would have barred the throne to Him. Only the marriage of Joseph to Mary, which united the legal and the natural lines, gave the Lord the title to the throne of David.
A chapter of judgment on kings sounds like a dead end. But if David's line had truly ended, far more than a throne would be lost.
This whole question of "the house of David" and "the throne of David" is of the greatest importance. If David's seed has failed forever, then there is no gospel for us today! For the gospel makes known the sure mercies of David. There would also be no coming age of world-wide blessing for this earth, because He who rules and reigns to bring it must be of David's line!
- Signet — a king handed the ring to his highest officer, and it carried full authority. Even that place would not hold Coniah.
- Plucked — nearness to God is no shelter for a man who does evil. The closest place named is the place God tears him from.
- Renamed — Jeremiah drops "the LORD will establish" for the blunt "Coniah." The establishing would not happen in him.
- Rerouted — the curse shut Solomon's line out of the throne. Nathan's line stayed clear, and Mary came through it.
- Restored — Christ is the signet God never removes. The fall of one royal house makes room for the King who cannot fail.
and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them before whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah is speaking to a young king of Judah — Coniah, also known as Jehoiachin. God tells him where he will end up: not on David's throne, but in the grip of the power he dreaded. Two questions follow. Why would God hand a son of David over to a foreign king? And what happens to David's royal line when He does?
One writer notes how short his reign was, and who stood behind the invading army:
How could anyone say he sat 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. Under God's providence he came as the avenger against one who did evil in the sight of Jehovah, just as his father had done.
The verse names Nebuchadnezzar as the hand, but not as the cause. The cause was a king who repeated his father's evil.
Just before this verse, God pictures Coniah as a signet ring on His own right hand. Even from that place He plucks him off. Another passage takes the same image and turns it the other way:
Haggai 2:20-23 looks to the future, when all nations will be shaken. Then God will take the true seed of David — here still called "Zerubbabel my servant," a picture of Christ as "the prince of the house of David" — and make Him as a signet. Coniah, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, was faithless: a signet plucked from God's right hand. Christ is the opposite. He is the signet on God's right hand, to seal all His purposes concerning the nations and His chosen people Israel.
So the signet is not lost. It passes from a king God removed to Christ, who seals God's purposes.
The threat came true in detail, down to the mother taken with him:
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.
This sentence closed more than one reign. Jeremiah says this man is to be written down childless, yet he also speaks of his offspring. One writer holds the two together by limiting the word to the throne:
The point 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 that God had decreed something about the throne of David. As far as that throne went, he was to be written childless, because none of his seed would rule any more in Judah. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
One writer follows this closed line down to the birth of Christ:
So a curse fell on 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.
The story does not end in prison. One writer notes who honoured Jehoiachin later in Babylon, and who else was living in that city:
In the last chapter of Jeremiah we find one who was an object of contempt at Jerusalem — Coniah! — raised to high honour by Evil-merodach at Babylon. Like many who are unfaithful to God and His people, he is exalted amid the corruptions of Babylon, which was already beginning to sink. This was the king who showed favour to Jehoiachin and provided his food, and before whom he ate all the days of his life. Of Daniel, at Babylon, we read that he would not defile himself with the king's food; and he represents the faithful remnant, who will be delivered out of Babylon in a future day.
- Hand of God. The closest place of honour — a signet ring on God's right hand — gave Coniah no safety. He copied his father's evil, and God plucked him off.
- Hand of man. God handed him to the very people he feared. Going out to meet Nebuchadnezzar did not save him from Nebuchadnezzar.
- Hand emptied. The sentence fell on the throne, not on the family. He had descendants, yet none would ever rule in Judah again.
- Hand of Babylon. Babylon's king later fed him at the royal table — honour in a city already sinking. Daniel refused that food, and pictures the faithful remnant God will deliver.
- Hand secured. The signet taken from a faithless king appears again on God's right hand in Christ. As the true seed of David, He seals God's purposes for Israel and the nations.
And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
This verse comes near the end of a long judgment on Judah's last kings. God speaks it over Coniah — also called Jehoiachin — and tells him that he and his mother will end their days in a foreign country.
This king's reign was short. One writer measures him against the throne of David:
But did Jehoiakim not have a son? He was a wretched one — Jehoiachin, 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. Under God's providence he came to punish a king who did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done.
Jeremiah does not use the king's royal name. One writer finds the reason in what these names mean:
Jehoiachin means "The Lord will establish." Jeremiah called him Jeconiah instead, which means "The Lord establishes." This surely shows that it will be done, not in Jehoiachin, but in our Lord Jesus Christ, as Jeremiah explains in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Just before this he had called him Coniah in scorn (Jer. 22:24-28), "a despised broken idol; a vessel no one delights in." In Christ alone, raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, can the Kingdom be established for ever.
The verse names his mother too, and she was no innocent bystander:
His mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. It grows clearer and clearer: the mothers of these last kings had forgotten the Lord, just as their sons had.
Her name and her rank both carry meaning:
Nehushta, his mother's name, means copper. It covers anything made of copper: a coin, a mirror, or chains. Both she and her son went into captivity in Babylon, with all his family and household… The king's mother here is the queen mother mentioned in Jeremiah 13:18.
We can check this threat against history. Jeremiah's words about Judah's last kings all came true:
The word about Jehoahaz, or rather "Shallum" (Jer. 22:11-12), came to pass with solemn precision, and so did the word about Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:17-19). His son carried two names — Jehoiachin from his father, Coniah from the prophet — and he became another witness to the truth of God's holy word (Jer. 22:24-30).
One writer weighs God's word against the universe itself:
Heaven and earth will pass away and perish, but not one word of God.
The verse fixed the place of his death, and history matched it:
The Babylonian captivity dates from Jehoiachin's reign. He never returned from his captivity. There he spent thirty-six years in prison until Nebuchadnezzar died. Then Nebuchadnezzar's son Evil-merodach came to the throne. His father had once shut him in prison too, and there he probably met the royal captive from Judah. He remembered his old prison companion.
That kindness did not cancel the sentence:
One king of Judah was proving the truth of the prophets' solemn warnings in his own misery. In Jehoiachin's case God was showing that He holds the hearts of all men under His control. At His will He can turn long years of languishing into a peaceful end of life — though not a prosperous one, according to His word (Jer. 22:30). None of this prevents His pity and tender mercy.
Exile was one thing; the end of the royal line was another:
The point of this verse is not that he would have no family. It speaks of his seed, and Matthew 1:11-12 shows his descendants. The point is that God had decreed this: as far as the throne of David went, he was to be written childless, because none of his seed would rule in Judah any more. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
But the next chapter turns from ruin to promise:
So Jeremiah 23 brings their general and solemn judgment. But it also brings the vision of sovereign mercy, when the Son of David shall arise. How refreshing to read such words in the middle of the moral horrors we have had before us!
- Inherited guilt. Jehoiachin walked in his father's ways for three months, and the sentence fell on the house, not just the man.
- Name emptied. "The Lord will establish" became "Coniah," a despised broken vessel — Christ alone would make good the promise that name carried.
- Mother included. The queen mother went into exile with him. These kings had mothers who had forgotten the Lord as their sons had.
- Word verified. Jeremiah's word about these kings came true to the letter: Jehoiachin never came back from Babylon.
- Mercy without reversal. A foreign king remembered him and eased his last years. Yet he never prospered and never returned. The throne of David waited for the Son of David.
And into the land whereunto they lift up their souls to return, thither shall they not return.
Jeremiah 22:27 closes the sentence passed on Coniah, the young king also called Jehoiachin, who was carried off to Babylon. It names the one thing he will never get back: the land he aches for. Why does God shut a door that His own promise to David seemed to hold open?
The chapter puts the last rulers of Judah side by side.
In Jeremiah 22 the sin of the representatives of the house of David is set out in further detail. Besides Zedekiah, others are charged as evil rulers: Shallum (Jehoahaz), the son of Josiah (verse 11), Jehoiakim, also son of Josiah (verse 18), and Coniah (Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, verse 24). These were the critical times when the monarchy was drawing to its close.
Other voices promised the exiles the very thing this verse denies. A prophet named Hananiah said it in the temple, in front of everyone.
Hananiah the prophet spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in front of the priests and all the people. He said, "This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon… and I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the Lord."
Jeremiah wrote to the exiles and told them who had really put them in Babylon.
The fall of the Jews was no accidental slip by Jeconiah and the people. No power of the king of Babylon accounted for it. It was the Lord of hosts who had them carried away to the city of the conqueror… It was worse than useless to hope for a return to Palestine at once. No conspiracies, no resolutions would work.
Jeremiah does not use this king's full name here. Commentators find meaning in the names themselves.
Jehoiachin means "The Lord will establish." Jeremiah called him Jeconiah, which means "The Lord establishes." This no doubt shows that it will be done, not in Jehoiachin, but in our Lord Jesus Christ, as he explains in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Just before this he had called him Coniah in scorn (Jer. 22:24-28) — a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for. Only in Christ, raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, can the Kingdom be established for ever.
The people of Judah thought well of this king. God's verdict on him was different.
Though, like his father, "he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord," Jehoiachin appears to have been a favourite with the people. "Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot?" the prophet asked with irony. But he adds at once, "a vessel no one cares for" — which is really what he was in God's eyes.
The sentence written over Coniah is narrower than it first sounds.
It is implied, not that the line of David should fail, but that this man's line should.
The sentence over Coniah also calls him childless. That word needs care.
"Childless" here does not mean without descendants, for the prophecy itself mentions "his seed." It means he had no direct heir of his own sitting on the throne of David. Matthew 1:12 shows that he did have children: "Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel."
Jehoiachin's story does not end in a prison cell. It never ends back in Judah either.
He no longer wore prison clothes. Instead he was given food "before the king" all the days of his life. So he received both mercy and grace. Mercy is compassion shown to someone in need, while grace freely gives generous provision to satisfy every need and much more… He was not restored to his place as king of Judah, and no descendant of Coniah will ever reign as king. But they will rejoice in recognising the Lord Jesus as the true King of all Israel.
- Charged. Coniah stands with the last kings of Judah, all named together as evil rulers while the monarchy ran out.
- Longing. The exiles ached for home. False prophets fed that ache by promising Jeconiah's return, a hope no plotting could deliver.
- Refused. The exile was the Lord's own act, not Babylon's strength. That is why the door stayed shut.
- Rewritten. The throne was shut to his sons, yet David's line was not cut off. His name meant "the Lord will establish," and the establishing passed to Christ, of David's seed.
- Released. He ate at a foreign king's table, yet never got his throne back. Mercy came, but not reversal. The kingdom waits for the true King.
Is this man Coniah a despised broken vase? a vessel wherein is no delight? Wherefore are they thrown out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
Jeremiah has just announced the end of the royal line: God tears the young king Jehoiachin off His hand like a signet ring and throws him into Babylon. Verse 28 turns that tragedy into a question — is the heir of David nothing more than a smashed pot nobody wants, hurled with his children into a land they have never seen?
Older translations word the two images differently: "a despised broken idol" and "a vessel wherein is no pleasure." The writers quoted below use that wording.
Jeremiah does not use this king's full name. The change carries the message — an insult, and a hope hidden behind it:
Jehoiachin means "The Lord will establish." Jeremiah called him Jeconiah, which means "The Lord establishes." This surely shows that it will be done, not in Jehoiachin, but in our Lord Jesus Christ, as he explains in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Just before this, Jeremiah had called him Coniah in scorn: "A despised broken idol; a vessel wherein is no pleasure." In Christ alone, raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, can the Kingdom be established for ever.
The two halves of the question are not saying the same thing. The first sounds like the crowd's outrage; the second is God's own estimate:
Like his father, "he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord." Yet Jehoiachin appears to have been a favourite with the people. "Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol?" (or, "vase") the prophet asked ironically. But he at once adds, "Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure?" — which is really what he was in God's eyes.
Coniah is not singled out as the worst of the kings. This chapter gathers several of them out of their historical order, and that arrangement explains the sentence:
The kings named are out of their chronological order. The purpose is to bring the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah into one cluster, to show that in effect there was no difference between them. Some might be a little more pronounced in their violence and gross wickedness, but they were all faithless and godless. So the Lord spoke the solemn sentence... The implication is not that the line of David would fail, but that this man's line would.
Just before this question stands another picture: a signet ring — the seal that stamps a king's authority — pulled off God's right hand. A later prophet, Haggai, turns that picture around:
Haggai 2:20-23 is still another message from God. It points to the time when God will take the true seed of David and make Him as a signet. In that passage He is still called "Zerubbabel my servant," a picture of Christ as "the prince of the house of David." Coniah, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, was faithless, and was plucked off God's right hand like a signet (compare Jeremiah 22:24). Christ is the opposite: He is the signet on God's right hand, to seal all His purposes for the nations and for His chosen people Israel.
Coniah appears again in the New Testament, in the family list that opens Matthew. That raises a problem about who the father of Jesus could be:
An interesting point is that Matthew brings in Jechonias (1:11), the Jehoiachin of the Old Testament, called Coniah in Jeremiah 22:28-30. As those verses show, no man of Coniah's seed was to prosper, sitting on the throne of David. So Joseph could not be the father of our blessed Lord. The virgin birth was necessary, so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
Jeremiah's book does not end with the sentence. It ends with this same man:
At this time, when Evil-merodach became king, Daniel does not appear to have been prominent. But Jehoiachin, the Coniah of Jeremiah 22:28, a despised broken idol, an outcast of the Lord, is raised up. Evil-merodach, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, brought him out of prison, gave him a place above the other royal captives at the palace, and provided him a daily allowance until the day of his death.
This kindness does not cancel the sentence. He never rules again. But it shows who was in control:
In Jehoiachin's case God was showing that He holds the hearts of all men under His control. Long years of wasting away may be changed at His will to a peaceful end of life, though not a prosperous one, in keeping with His word (Jeremiah 22:30). But this does not hinder His pity and tender mercy.
- Name — Jeremiah drops "Jehoiachin" ("the Lord will establish") for the shortened "Coniah." What that name promised comes true in Christ, not in this king.
- Verdict — the first question sounds like public outrage at a favourite king. The second states what he was before God: a vessel no one cares for.
- Cause — his prophecy stands in a cluster with the other kings' to show there was no real difference between them. All were faithless. His line ends, not David's.
- Substitute — the signet ring torn off God's hand here goes back on in Haggai. There the true Seed of David becomes the seal of all God's purposes.
- Mercy — the sentence stood, yet the same book closes with this broken vessel brought out of prison. God keeps His word and His pity together.
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah!
Jeremiah 22 moves from king to king — Shallum, Jehoiakim, Coniah — and God judges each one in turn. Now the call goes wider. The whole earth must hear what God has decided about the royal house of David.
A note on wording: the ESV reads "O land, land, land." The writers quoted below use older translations, which read "O earth, earth, earth."
God passes sentence on one man, but the audience He calls reaches far past Judah.
The chapter deals with each of these kings of David's line in turn. It ends by stressing the ruin of this royal family — the family the world's peace and prosperity depended on. God calls the whole earth to listen to what He says to Coniah (Jehoiachin).
This cry also carries a message for everyone who holds power over others.
When speaking of these evil men on Israel's throne, the Holy Spirit said, "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD." He wants the rulers of every nation and every age to understand one thing. They rule over people as God's responsible stewards, and their unrighteous ways are hateful to Him.
Why does this chapter list the kings out of the order in which they reigned?
The kings are named out of the order in which they reigned. The purpose is to gather the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah into one cluster. The moral aim is to show that in reality there was no difference between them. Some were more openly violent and wicked than others, but they were all faithless and godless.
The next verse says to write this man down as childless. Yet the same sentence still speaks of his offspring.
This verse does not mean he would have no family, since it speaks of his offspring, and Matthew 1:11-12 shows his descendants. What we are told is that God had decreed him childless as far as the throne of David was concerned. None of his offspring would rule in Judah any more. God had determined the end of this sinful line.
Yet the ruin has a limit, and that limit is everything.
The meaning is not that David's line would fail, but that this man's line would.
Centuries later this sentence shaped how the Messiah had to come. Matthew's record of Jesus' family line runs straight through Coniah.
One interesting point is that Matthew brings in Jechonias (1:11). He is the Jehoiachin of the Old Testament, called Coniah in Jeremiah 22:28-30. As those verses show, no descendant of Coniah was to prosper sitting on the throne of David. So Joseph could not be the father of our blessed Lord. The virgin birth was therefore necessary for Scripture to be fulfilled.
How then did the legal right to David's throne reach Jesus?
Writers have pressed this point as far back as Irenaeus. Here the direct line of descent is struck with a curse, yet it did not lose the legal title. So it could hand on to another what could be of no use to itself. In the wisdom of God, the marriage of Joseph and Mary was the means of doing this. 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.
The next chapter does not leave David's throne empty. After all these failed kings, God speaks of a King of His own.
However, He would raise up a capable Ruler and Shepherd-King for His sheep. "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. A King shall reign and prosper, and shall do what is just and right in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall live in safety. And this is the name He shall be called by: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. 23:5-6).
- Earth listens — the call reaches far past Judah, because the world's peace and prosperity hung on this royal line.
- Rulers warned — God means every ruler in every age to hear how much He hates unrighteous government.
- Line cut — "childless" means no heir on David's throne, not no descendants; Matthew 1 lists his family.
- Promise kept — this man's line failed, David's line did not; the sentence had a limit set by God.
- King given — God answers the empty throne with the righteous Branch, born of a virgin, so the curse on Coniah's line could not touch Him.
Thus saith Jehovah Write this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
These words fall on Coniah — also called Jehoiachin or Jeconiah — the young king of Judah taken away to Babylon. If none of his descendants could ever rule again, how could the Messiah, the Son of David, ever take the throne?
The word sounds like a prediction that he would have no family. But the same sentence speaks of his offspring.
The point of this verse is not that he would have no family. It speaks of his offspring, and Matthew 1:11-12 shows his descendants. What we are told is this: as far as the throne of David was concerned, God had decreed that he was to be written childless. None of his offspring would rule in Judah again. God had determined the end of this sinful stock.
Commentators differ on how the sentence worked out in his own family. One points to the king who followed him.
The prophecy probably refers to his uncle taking the throne instead of his son Assir, who seems to have been his firstborn. Or it may have been a prophecy of Assir's early death. Anyway, God made no mistake. He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast.
Jeremiah has just passed judgment on one king of Judah after another. This sentence lands on all of them at once.
The kings named are out of chronological order. The purpose is to gather the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah into one cluster. It shows that there was no real difference between them. Some were more open in their violence and gross sin, but they were all faithless and godless. ... The meaning is not that David's line would fail, but that this man's line would.
A signet is the ring a king uses to stamp his seal on his orders. God pulled Coniah off His hand like that ring. Later prophecy turns the picture around.
Another word from God looks ahead to the future, when all nations will be shaken. Then God will take the true seed of David and make Him as a signet. Coniah, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, was faithless, a signet plucked from God's right hand. Christ is the opposite. He is the signet on God's right hand, to seal all His purposes for the nations and for His chosen people Israel.
Joseph, the husband of Mary, came from this cursed line. That looks like a fatal blow to Jesus' right to the throne. Writers have long seen it as the place where God's wisdom shows.
As far back as Irenaeus, writers pressed the consequence. Here the direct line of descent is struck with a curse, yet it was not stripped of the legal title. So it could hand on to another what could be of no use to itself. The marriage of Joseph and Mary was, in the wisdom of God, the means of accomplishing this. The Lord's birth from Mary made Him the real Son of David, while the marriage of His mother made Him David's legal heir.
David had other sons besides Solomon, and the sentence here touched only one branch of the family.
So God pronounced a curse on the house of David in the line of Solomon. But there was still the line of Nathan, the son of David. The Messiah, the Son of David, could not come from the line of Solomon. He had to come from the line of Nathan. Joseph came from David through the line of Solomon, the disinherited line; but Mary was a daughter of David through the line of Nathan.
The verse says he will not succeed in his days, and that stayed true to the end of his life. Yet his last years show something else about God too.
The last event in the story is the compassion that the king of Babylon showed to Jehoiachin in the thirty-seventh year of his captivity. He brought the captive king of Judah out of prison with kind words and gave him bread at his own table for the rest of his life. 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. At His will, long years of suffering may turn into a peaceful end of life — though not a prosperous one, in keeping with His word. But this does not hinder His pity and tender mercy.
- Sentence. "Childless" is a throne word, not a family word: he had sons, but none of them would ever rule.
- Scope. The line cut off is Coniah's, not David's — God ended one sinful branch, He did not cancel His promise.
- Signet. God tore one ring off His hand in judgment. Prophecy shows another: Christ, the signet God uses to seal His purposes.
- Succession. The cursed branch kept a title it could not use. Through Joseph it passed to a Son born of Mary from David's other branch.
- Mercy. God brought even the disinherited king out of prison to a peaceful end. The sentence stood, and His pity still reached him.