The Inadequacy Of Jehoiachin (Jechoniah, Coniah) (Jeremiah 22:20-30).
Finally Jeremiah brings out the unsuitability of Jehoiachin (Jechoniah), Jehoiakim's son, to be the promised coming son of David who would deliver Judah/Israel. Jehoiachin may well have ruled alongside his father since he was eight (2 Chronicles 36:9) and he was only eighteen when he came to the throne as sole king in the most difficult of circumstances (2 Kings 24:8-17). Jerusalem was at that stage surrounded by the besieging armies of Nebuchadrezzar against whom his father had rebelled, and his father had either just sacrificed himself, or been sacrificed by others, in order to gain terms from Nebuchadrezzar. Jehoiachin was therefore left to enter into peace negotiations, probably assisted by the queen mother Nehushta (2 Kings 24:8). In Judah the queen mother was politically powerful (note her mention as an important personage in 2 Kings 24:12).
When people are in desperate circumstances it is easy for hopes to be raised, and it is easy to see why Jehoiachin's succession was seen as a possible beacon of hope to a people who were almost without hope. Perhaps YHWH would now step in and miraculously deal with the Babylonian army, as he had with the Assyrian army in the days of Hezekiah and Isaiah. Perhaps a satisfactory deal could be made with Nebuchadrezzar. And possibly in the future Jehoiachin would prove to be the expected Saviour of the land. Certainly later, when he was in Babylon, great expectations would be raised concerning him by false prophets who claimed to speaking in YHWH's Name, who would claim that within two years Nebuchadrezzar's yoke would be broken and Jehoiachin would be returning in triumph to Judah bringing with him the Temple treasures and all the exiles. See Jeremiah 28:3-4.
But YHWH seeks here through Jeremiah to dampen all those hopes and to make clear to them that at present Judah was without hope and that Jehoiachin was not ‘the coming son of David' for whom they were hoping. No son of Jehoiachin would prosper sitting on the throne of David. From that point of view it was as though he was childless (Jeremiah 22:30).
While we may feel sorry for Jehoiachin we must remember that the verdict on him in Kings was that from the beginning he ‘did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH', continuing to favour syncretistic religion, participating in idolatry and continuing the ways of his father. Furthermore he had presumably refused to respond to Jeremiah's pleading (and possibly his coronation address as described above). Had he responded to Jeremiah with his whole heart who knows what might have happened?
“Go up to Lebanon, and cry,
And lift up your voice in Bashan,
And cry from Abarim,
For all your lovers are destroyed.”
Lebanon was to the north west of Judah, and Bashan to the north east. Abarim was a mountain range to the south east in the Dead Sea area (incorporating Mount Nebo). See Numbers 27:12; Numbers 33:47; Deuteronomy 32:49. The people of Judah and Jerusalem were therefore called on to cry vainly for assistance from these mountains to their erstwhile allies (lovers - see Ezekiel 23:9), who however no longer existed as possible helpers against Babylon. They had all been desolated and pacified. (Others see the criers as looking inwards over the kingdom). Judah therefore stood alone. It may be significant that no mention is made of the south east, for Egypt was the one country still able to hold out against Babylon, and it is possible that there were still vain hopes among some people of Egyptian intervention.
“I spoke to you in your prosperities (periods of prosperity),
But you said, ‘I will not hear.'
This has been your manner from your youth,
That you do not obey my voice.”
YHWH reminds them that when they had had periods of prosperity over the centuries (note the plural ‘prosperities') He had constantly spoken to them. But their reply had been that ‘I will not hear'. That had been their way right from the beginning, that they had refused to hear His voice. It was indeed why these troubles had come upon them, and why there could now be no hope for them.
“The wind (spirit) will shepherd all your shepherds,
And your lovers will go into captivity,
Surely then you will be ashamed,
And confounded for all your wickedness.”
As a consequence of their disobedience and rebellion their shepherds (rulers) would all be shepherded by the wind (or ‘spirit'), along with any former allies, into captivity. The idea of the wind (ruach) may have been in order to indicate how little would be required for it to happen. All that would be needed was a puff of wind (or the wind of fortune) blowing them like so much chaff. Alternately a storm wind may have been in mind. For the translation ‘spirit' indicating a general ‘spirit' engendered by YHWH compare Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 28:6; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 63:14; Zechariah 6:8. There was no hope for them to look forward to. All that now awaited them was to be shamed and confounded because of their wickedness.
Here ‘their lovers' would appear to refer to their influential leaders, priests and prophets whose ways they had loved to follow.
And indeed within three short months of Jehoiachin coming to the throne he, and the queen mother, and all the important people in the land would be carried away to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-2; 2 Kings 24:10-16), never to return.
“O inhabitant of Lebanon, who make your nest in the cedars,
How greatly to be pitied will you be,
When pangs come upon you,
The pain as of a woman in travail!”
The ‘inhabitant of Lebanon' being appealed to could be Jehoiachin, whose palace included the House of the Forest of Lebanon with its great cedar pillars, and itself contained much cedar all through (Jeremiah 22:14-15). But he was to be commiserated with, for soon, instead of luxuriating in his palace, he would be suffering pangs like a woman in childbirth (popularly the most severe pain known). Alternately it could signify the whole of Jerusalem in terms of the houses of cedar of their leaders.
“As I live, the word of YHWH,
Though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah,
Were the signet on my right hand,
Yet would I pluck you from there,”
But false hopes were not to be clung to, for even had YHWH seen Jehoiachin (Coniah) as His own signet ring on His right hand (which in fact He did not) it would not have prevented him being plucked from his nest of cedars and despatched to Babylon. A signet ring was a treasured possession and was never removed from the finger, thus demonstrating YHWH's determination. It was the equivalent o a man's signature and was used to seal important documents and letters. It represented a man's very being (see Esther 8:8; Haggai 2:23). But even had Jehoiachin been as important as that to YHWH he would still have been removed.
The name Coniah was probably Jehoiachin's given name at birth (see also Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 37:1). In 1 Chronicles 3:16-17 it was given as Je-coniah (Coniah with YHWH's Name attached). See also Jeremiah 24:1; Jeremiah 27:20; etc. Jehoiachin was presumably his throne name. (It is an indication of the mercy of YHWH that Jehoiachin's grandson Zerubbabel (1 Chronicles 4:19) would in fact be the equivalent of the signet ring on God's right hand - see Haggai 2:23).
“And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life,
And into the hand of those of whom you are afraid,
Even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
And into the hand of the Chaldeans.”
Jehoiachin was warned that he was to be given into the hands of those who, by continuing to besiege Jerusalem, were seeking his life, the hands of those of whom he was, with good reason, afraid. There was thus to be no miraculous deliverance. He would be given into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
“And I will cast you out,
And your mother who bore you,
Into another country where you were not born,
And there you will die,
But to the land to which their soul longs to return,
There will they not return.”
Indeed Jehoiachin, together with the queen mother, would be cast out of the land, into another country which was not his native land (into Babylon), and there he would die, along with all who went into captivity with him. Though their souls would long to return to their native land (literally ‘to which they were lifting up their souls), they would not return. They would all die in exile (whatever the false prophets were saying).
“Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel?
Is he a vessel in which none delights?
Why are they cast out, he and his seed,
And are cast into the land which they know not?”
We may see these questions as either asked by the people, or as asked rhetorically by Jeremiah. In the former case they are questioning whether Jeremiah can be right. Is Coniah (Jehoiachin) really a despised broken vessel, one that is of no use? Is he really a vessel in which no one delights? Why should he and his seed be cast out into a land which they do not know? They are wanting proof and clarification. (This would explain the strength of Jeremiah's reply in Jeremiah 22:29).
If, however, the questions are being asked by Jeremiah we may see the answers expected as ‘yes'. As in chapter 19 he is a despised broken vessel, unwanted and unusable, and therefore of no use to anyone. YHWH has tested him and found him wanting. And that is why he and his seed are to be cast out into a land which they do not know.
‘O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of YHWH.
Thus says YHWH,
“Write you this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days,
For no more will a man of his seed prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling in Judah.”
The threefold appeal to the earth is powerful and rare. It expresses intensity of feeling. Compare Jeremiah 7:4; Isaiah 6:3. Let the earth (as emphasised in contrast with the heavens) hear the word of YHWH. It was clearly indicating that it was important that the earth wake up and recognise the truth that Heaven already knows. For what YHWH has said is that the genealogical recorders on earth are to write Jehoiachin down as childless, for while he may have children they will not inherit. Neither he nor they will prosper and as a result they will not sit on the throne of David and rule in Judah. Judah must not look in this direction for the coming son of David.
In fact Jehoiachin would be carried to Babylon and imprisoned. But he did continue to be seen as king of Judah (Ezekiel dates his writing from the years of his captivity and refers to him as king - Ezekiel 1:2), and when Nebuchadrezzar died Evil-Merodach would release him from prison and treat him with honour (2 Kings 25:27-30), whilst retaining him in Babylon. Interestingly the reference to his allowance of food is confirmed archeologically for ration tablets found near the Ishtar Gate in Babylon refer to ‘Yaukin, king of the land of Yahud'.