2 Kings 25:27

THE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT OF JEHOIACHIN BY EVIL-MERODACH

"And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life: and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life."

There is surely a mystery in this. Why should Evil-merodach have done such a thing? What a change for a man who had spent the previous 37 years in prison! One explanation is that the new king of Babylon, Evil-merodach, desired to make an ostentatious display of his power, and at meal-times he had before him the numerous kings who had been defeated by Babylon seated on `thrones' (substantially below that of Evil-merodach, of course), but this does not explain why Jehoiachin's throne should have enjoyed some preeminence above that of the other captive kings.

Certainly the sacred writer considered the episode as important, hence, its inclusion here.

Keil has this comment: "This event was intended as a comforting sign to the whole of the captive people, that the Lord would one day put an end to their banishment, if they would acknowledge that their captivity was a well-deserved punishment for their sins, that because of those sins they had been driven away from the face of the Lord, and that God would again bless them if they would turn again to Him with all their heart."[27]

It is of interest that Dentan spoke of Jehoiachin and commented that, "According to Matthew 1:12, Jesus Christ was descended from this very Jehoiachin."[28] This writer can sympathize with a mistake like that, because he himself made the same mistake in his commentary on Matthew, where he made mention that Bathsheba also was among the ancestors of Jesus. Not so! The genealogy of Christ in Matthew is actually that of his foster father Joseph, given for the purpose of revealing Christ as the heir to the throne of David. Christ's title to the throne indeed came through Bathsheba, Jeconiah and Joseph, but he was the descendant of David, NOT through Solomon, but through Nathan, according to the genealogy in Luke 3:23ff.