JEHOIACHIN"
800
JEHOIADA
roads of the armed hands of Chaldreans, Ammonites, and Moabites, sent against tiiem by Nebuchadnezzar in consequence of Jehoiakim's rebellion. See Jehoiakim. Jerusalem at this time, therefore, was quite defenceless, and unable to offer any resistance to the regular army which Nebuchadnezzar sent to besiege it in the eighth year of his reign, and which he seems to have joined in person after the siege was commenced (2 Kings xxiv, 10, 11). In a very short time, apparently, and without any losses from famine or lighting which would indicate a serious resistance, Jehoiachin surrendered at discre- tion ; and he, and the queen-mother, and all his servants, captains, and officers, came out and gave themselves up to Nebuchadnezzar, who treated them, with the harem and the eunuchs, as prisoners of war (Jer. xxix, 2 ; Ezek. xvii, 12 ; xix. 9). He was sent away as a captive to Babylon, with his mother, his generals, and his troops, together with the artilicers and other inhabitants of Je- rusalem, to the number of ten thousand. (This number, found in 2 Kings xxiv, 14, is probably a round number, made up of the 7000 soldiers of ver. 16, and the 3023 nobles of Jer. lii, 28, exclusive of the 1000 artificers men- tioned in 2 Kings xxiv, 16 ; see Brown's Ordo Smclorum, p. 186.) Among these was the i)rophet Ezekiel. Few were left but the poorer sort of people and the unskilled laborers ; few, indeed, whose presence could be useful in Babylon or dangerous in Palestine. See Captivitv. Neither did the Babylonian king neglect to remove the treasures which coidd yet be gleaned from the palace or the Temple, and he now made spoil of those sacred ves- sels of gold which had been spared on former occasions. These were cut up for present use of the metal or for more convenient transport, whereas those formerly taken had been sent to Babylon entire, and there laid up as trophies of victory. If the Chaldasan king had then put an end to the show of a monarchy and annex- ed the country to his own dominions, the event would probably have been less luihappy for the nation; but, still adhering to his former policy, he placed on the throne Mattaniah, the only surviving son of Josiah, whose name he changed to Zedekiah (2 Ivings xxiv, 11- 16 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi, 9, 10 ; Jer. xxxvii, 1). See Neb- uchadnezzar.
Jehoiachin remained a captive at Babylon — actually in prison (xbs ni3), and wearing prison-garments (Jer. li, 31, 33— for thirty-six years, viz. during the lifetime of Nebuchadnezzar ; but, when that prince died, his son, Evil-merodach, not only released him, but gave him an honorable seat at his own table, with precedence over all the other dethroned kings who were kept at Bab- ylon, and an allowance for the support of his rank (2 Kings XXV, 27-30 ; Jer. lii, 31-34). B.C. 561. To what he owed this favor we are not told, but the Jewish com- mentators allege that Evil-merodach had himself been put into prison by his father during the last years of his reigii, and had there contracted an intimate friendship with the deposed king of Judah. We learn from Jer. xxviii, 4 that, four years after Jehoiachin had gone to Babylon, there was a great expectation at Jerusalem of his return, but it does not appear whether Jehoiachin liimself shared this hope at Babylon. The tenor of Jer- emiah's letter to the elders of the captivity (chap, xxix) would, however, indicate that there was a party among the captivity, encouraged by false prophets, who were at this time looking forward to Nebuchadnezzar's over- throw and Jehoiachin's return ; and perhaps the fearful death of Ahab, the son of Kolaiah (verse 22), and the j close confinement of Jehoiachin through Nebuchadnez- zar's reign, may have been the result of some disposi- tion to conspire against Nebuchadnezzar on the part of a portion of the cai)tivity. But neither Daniel or Eze- kiel, who were Jehoiachin's fellow-captives, make any further allusion to him, except that Ezekiel dates his prophecies by the year " of king Jehoiachin's captivity" (i, 2 ; viii, 1 ; xxiv, 1, etc.) ; the latest date being " the twenty-seventh year" (xxix, 17 ; xl, 1), We also learn from Esth. ii, 0 that Kish, the ancestor of Mordecai, was
Jehoiachin's fellow-captive. But the apocryphal books are more communicative. Thus the author of the book ofBaruch (i, 3) introduces " Jechonias, the son of Jehoi- akim, king of Judah," into his narrative, and represents Baruch as reading his prophecy in his ears and in the ears of the king's sons, and the nobles, and elders, and people, at Babylon. At the hearing of Baruch's words, it is added, they wept, and fasted, and prayed, and sent a collection of silver to Jerusalem, to Joiakim, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum the high-priest, with which to purchase burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and in- cense, bidding them pray for the prosperity of Nebu- chadnezzar, and Belshazzar his son. The history of Susanna and the elders also apparently makes Jehoi- achin an important personage, for, according to the au- thor, the husband of Susanna was Joiakim, a man of great wealth, and the chief person among the captives, to whose house all the people resorted for judgment — a description which suits Jehoiachin. Africanus {Ejy. ad Orig. ; Kouth, Rel. Sac. ii, 113) expressly calls Susanna's husband king, and says that the king of Babylon had made him his royal companion ((jvp^povog'). He is also mentioned in 1 Esd. v, 5, but the text seems to be corrupt. That Zedekiah, who in 1 Chron. iii, 16 is call- ed "his son," is the same as Zedekiah his uncle (call- ed " his brother" in 2 Chron. xxxvi, 10), who was his successor on the throne, seems certain. But it is prob- able that "Assir" ("I3N = captive), who is reckoned amongst the family of Jeconiah in 1 Chron. iii, 17, may really have been only an appellative of Jeconiah him- self (see Bertheau on 1 Chron. iii, 16). See Assir. In the genealogy of Christ (Matt, i, 11) he is named in the received text as the "son of Josias" his grandfather, the name of Jehoiakim having probably been omitted bj' er- roneous transcription. See Genealogy. In the dark portrait of his early character by the prophet (Jer. xxii, 30), the expression " Write ye this man childless" refers to his having no successor on the throne, for he had children (see Meth. Qmir. Revieu; Oct., 1852, p. 602-4). See Salathieu Josephus, however (^A nt. x, 7, 1), gives him a fair character (see Keil, Commentary on Kings, p. 602). The compiler of 1 Esd. gives the name of Jecho- nias to Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, who reigned three months after Josiah's death, and was deposed and car- ried to Egypt by Pliaraoh-necho (1 Esd. i, 34 ; 2 Kings xxiii, 30). He is followed in this blunder by Epiphani- us (i, 21), who says "Josiah begat Jechoniah, who is also called Shallum. This Jechoniah begat Jechoniah who is called Zedekiah and Joakim." It has its origin, doubtless, in the confusion of the names when written in Greek by writers ignorant of Hebrew. — Kitto ; Smith. See Judah, kingdom ok.