Jehoiachin
Jehoiachin [Heb. yehoyakin "the Lord upholds"]. A king of Judah (598-597 BC).
Jehoiachin, otherwise known as Jeconiah (1 Chr 3:16) or Coniah (Jer 22:24), was a son of Jehoiakim and grandson of Josiah, both kings of Judah (1 Chr 3:15-16). Jehoiachin became king of Judah at the age of 18, and reigned for only three months after the death of Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 24:8). Second Chronicles 36:9 differs from 2 Kings 24:8, and mentions that Jehoiachin became king when he was eight. However, the Greek (LXX) and Syriac versions of 2 Chronicles 36:9 read "eighteen." The notion that Jehoiachin became king at the age of eighteen rather than at the age of eight seems evident from, for example, the biblical description of Jehoiachin as being an utterly wicked king from the moment he ascended the throne (2 Chr 36:9; Jer 22:24-28). It is thus most likely that 2 Chronicles 36:9 contains a scribal error in some Hebrew manuscripts.
Jehoiakim had switched his allegiance to Babylon (2 Chr 24:1) after Babylon's decisive victory over Egypt in 605 BC. Nebuchadnezzar campaigned again in 597 BC, in the year in which Jehoiachin succeeded his wicked father to the throne, and Jerusalem surrendered in March of that year. The Lord delivered Jehoiachin and his people into the hands of the Babylonians for their manifold sins (2 Kgs 24:9, 20). The Babylonians captured Jehoiachin along with 10,000 other prisoners, including the prophet Ezekiel (2 Chr 24:10-16). The Babylonian Chronicle records that Nebuchadnezzar "set camp against the city of Judah and on the 2nd of Adar took the city and captured the king. He appointed a king of his choosing there." This inscription supports the biblical record, which states that Nebuchadnezzar made the uncle of Jehoiachin king and changed his name to Zedekiah (2 Chr 24:17-18). From 597 until 560 BC Jehoiachin remained in prison, or likely house arrest. He was released from prison and given some measure of authority when Evil-Merodach succeeded to the Babylonian throne (2 Kgs 25:27-30). On a clay prism found in Babylon there is a reference to Jehoiachin and his family receiving food rations from the Babylonian court.
The prophet Jeremiah tells of the Lord's utter rejection of Jehoiachin (Jer 22:24-30). Although Jehoiachin had sons (1 Chr 3:17), the prophet called him childless in the sense that none of his descendants would sit on the throne of David (Jer 22:30). Some biblical scholars believe that Jehoiachin's son Shealtiel, who is mentioned as father of the Davidic successor Zerubbabel in some biblical genealogies (Matt 1:12), may have actually been a foster son of Jehoiachin and a physical descendant of someone else in the royal ancestry. It is possible that like this the Lord bypassed the wicked king while still keeping the messianic linkage between David and Jesus unbroken.
