Jehoiachin

Biblical Figures

This king of Judah, whose name means "the Lord will establish" is known in Tanakh by the name Jeconiah (Yekhoniah). He was one of the last kings of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and only reigned for three months before he was taken into Babylonian exile in 597 BCE by the Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

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The End of a Dynasty

TANAKH

Jehoiachin, also known as Coniah, is marked as doomed, never to have descendants ruling Judah. The prophet Jeremiah delivers a divine decree that Jehoiachin's line will be excluded from the throne of David.

Is this man Coniah
A wretched broken pot,
A vessel no one wants?
Why are he and his offspring hurled out,
And cast away in a land they knew not? O land, land, land,
Hear the word of GOD! Thus said GOD:
Record…

Jeremiah 22:28-30

Ezekiel's Tomb

REFERENCE

After going into exile in Babylon, Jehoiachin is credited with constructing a monument at Ezekiel's tomb. Rabbi Yechiel Heilprin’s 18th-century chronicle, Seder HaDorot, offers a description of this religious compound and Jehoiachin's relationship to it.

Ezekiel died during the lifetime of Nebuchadnezzar and was buried in Babylonia between the Euphrates and Kevar Rivers. And when Evil-Merodach reigned and released Jeconiah from prison, 35,000 Jews came out with him and built a dome over Ezekiel's grave. And upon the grave, there is a will that is called a shildkrot (turtle). It is an amazing [piece] of work, and the engraved names of Ezekiel and Jeconiah and a troop of men are visible still today. And they made a large synagogue near it, and there are about 60 towers in the location of the synagogue…

Seder HaDorot, Almanac 3352:2

The Power of Repentance

MUSAR

Jehoiachin's story illustrates the power of genuine repentance to reverse even the harshest divine decrees. The 15th-century ethical work Orchot Tzadikim uses the biblical example of Jehoiachin to emphasize the importance of repentance and divine forgiveness.

Concerning Coniah in his wickedness, it is said, "Write ye this man childless, a man shall not prosper in his days" (Jer. 22:30), and, "Though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, were the signet upon My right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence" (Jer. 22:24). And inasmuch as he repented when he was in exile, it is said of Zerubbabel, his son, "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and I will make thee as a signet" (Hag. 2:23).

Orchot Tzadikim 26:125

Jehoiachin's Redemption

KABBALAH

Repentance is powerful enough to break even the most absolute divine decrees, as shown by Jehoiachin's story. The Zohar, a foundational work of Jewish mysticism, illustrates how sincere repentance can overturn divine decrees and repair spiritual damage.

Such a one is set upon the way of life, and, notwithstanding his former stain, everything is put right and restored to its former position. Even when the Holy One has decreed most solemnly against a person, He forgives entirely where there is a perfect repentance. Thus we find it written concerning Jehoiachin: “As I live, says the Lord, if thou Coniah the son of Jehoiakim wert the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee hence… write ye this man childless…” (Jer. 22, 24-30); and yet, when he repented and turned again unto the Lord, we read: “And the sons of Jeconia, Assir, etc…

Zohar, Mishpatim 3:228

The Surrender of the Temple Keys

MIDRASH

Jehoiachin reigned as the Kingdom of Judah was in the process of falling to the Babylonians. Louis Ginzberg's early 20th-century work, Legends of the Jews, weaves together various midrashim to create a continuous narrative of Jewish folklore and biblical stories, including this moment, which highlights the divine intentionality behind the history.

Nebuchadnezzar returned to Daphne, and informed the Sanhedrin, who hastened from Jerusalem to meet him, that he desired the surrender of Jehoiachin. If they refused to satisfy his demand, he would destroy the Temple. When the Jewish king was told the threat of his Babylonian adversary, he mounted upon the roof of the Temple, and, holding all the keys of its chambers in his hand, he spoke thus to God: "Until now Thou didst consider us worthy of confidence, and Thou didst entrust Thy keys to us. Since Thou no longer dost esteem us trustworthy, here, take back Thy keys…

Legends of the Jews 4:9:60

Preserving Torah in Exile

MIDRASH

Jehoiachin's relocation to Babylon ensured the preservation of the Oral Law and the continuity of Torah study, according to traditional sources. The Midrash Tanchuma reflects on the Babylonian exile, emphasizing divine justice and the protective role of Torah study during times of hardship.

And the mighty of the land He took away (Ezek. 17:13). The mighty here alludes to the nobles of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, concerning whom it is said: Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I regard the captives of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for good (Jer. 24:5). And elsewhere it is written: And so the Lord hath hastened the evil and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works (Dan. 9:14)…

Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 3:12

Treatment in Captivity

COMMENTARY

The end of the book of Jeremiah details a change in Jehoiachin's treatment at the hands of the Babylonian ruler. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's modern translation and commentary offers clarifying comments inserted within the Biblical verses.

Not only did he release Yehoyakhin, but he, Evil Merodakh, spoke kindly to him and placed his seat above the seat of the kings who were with him in Babylon. Other kings of countries conquered by Nebuchadnezzar were also held in the prison, in poor conditions. The chapter does not explain what motivated Evil Merodakh to grant Yehoyakhin preferable status. Furthermore, he changed his, Yehoyakhin’s, prison garments, and Yehoyakhin was given the clothes of a free man, and he ate bread before him, the king of Babylon, always…

Steinsaltz on Jeremiah 52:32-33

Echoes of Abraham

COMMENTARY

Jehoiachin was cursed with a lack of succession, as declared in Jeremiah 22:30. Sforno, a 16th-century Italian rabbi, connects this curse to Abraham's statement to God in Genesis 15:2, showcasing the Jewish tradition of intertextual biblical analysis.

ערירי, “I have no son who can take my place.” Compare Jeremiah 22,30 כתבו את האיש הזה ערירי כי לא יצלח מזרעו איש יושב על כסא דוד, “record this man as without succession; one who shall never be found successful, for none of his offspring will be accepted to sit on the throne of David.” (the subject of this curse is כניהו son and heir of Yehoyakim)

Sforno on Genesis 15:2:2

A Tale of Two Kings

MIDRASH

Yehoyachin enjoyed high status and privileges while in exile. The Sifrei Devarim, a second-century halakhic midrash, contrasts the fates of Yehoyachin and his father Yehoyakim, who suffered dishonor in death in the land of Judah, to emphasize the inherent tragedy of exile.

"But weep for the one that goes (into exile)": This is Yehoyachin king of Judah. What is written of him? (Ibid. 52:53) "He changed (from) his prison clothing, etc." — whence we learn that the corpse of Yehoyakim king of Judah which was cast to the heat of day and the cold of night was to be preferred to the life of (the exile), Yehoyachin king of Judah, whose seat was above that of all the kings, and who ate and drank in the chamber of kings!

Sifrei Devarim 43:30

The Exile of Elites

SECOND TEMPLE

The violent and tragic end of King Jehoiakim, the brief reign of Jehoiachin, and the exile of prominent individuals, including the young prophet Ezekiel, to Babylon, mark a pivotal moment in Jewish history. Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, provides a detailed account of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and the subsequent exile in his work, 'The Antiquities of the Jews'.

3. Now, a little time afterwards, the king of Babylon made an expedition against Jehoiakim, whom he received [into the city], and this out of fear of the foregoing predictions of this prophet, as supposing he should suffer nothing that was terrible, because he neither shut the gates, nor fought against him; yet when he was come into the city, he did not observe the covenants he had made, but he slew such as were in the flower of their age, and such as were of the greatest dignity, together with their king Jehoiakim, whom he commanded to be thrown before the walls, without any burial…

The Antiquities of the Jews 10:6:3

The Brief Reign of Jehoiachin

TANAKH

Jehoiachin's brief reign and the geopolitical shifts of his time highlight the dramatic changes in power dynamics in the ancient Near East. The second book of Kings details the transition of power from Jehoiakim to his young son Jehoiachin, and the Babylonian conquest that led to Judah's exile.

Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king. The king of Egypt did not venture out of his country again, for the king of Babylon had seized all the land that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

II Kings 24:6-8

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