The Royal Lineage

.... The royal lineage begins with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The prophecy that the Messiah who would be born of their seed is abundant, for in their Seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).
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.... In a further prophecy, Jacob foretold that the scepter would be given to Judah (Genesis 49:8-10), and a special blessing would later come to Perez, one of Judah’s sons (Ruth 4:11,12). This blessing was similar to Abraham’s own promise, so the covenant was passed along in this way. The same blessing came to Boaz, another of the forefathers, through the same prophecy.

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.... From Boaz came Obed his son, then Jesse his son (Isaiah 11:1), then David himself, which is neatly summarized in Ruth 4:18-22. And when David became king, he received the covenant of the Messiah as previously discussed. Our mystery is about to begin.

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.... After David, Solomon was born, and through him came the lineage of the kings of Judah. The title to David’s throne passed through their dynasty, but a mysterious new silence appeared as well. For after the days of David, neither Solomon nor any of the kings of Judah had the Messianic promise renewed concerning them. God never said that the Messiah would come through their seed.

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.... Nevertheless the monarchy did continue through them, and with it the right to David’s throne. The royal lineage transcended the centuries, from David to the Babylonian captivity, and is agreeable between the Old and New Testaments.

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.... At last came Josiah, the great reformer king, who was prophesied by name more than three centuries earlier (1 Kings 13:2). And in the days of this providential man the Divine mystery would deepen.

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.... To Josiah, four sons were born: Johanan the firstborn, Jehoiakim the second, Zedekiah the third, and Shallum the forth (1 Chronicles 3:15). Through these sons a strange fate would befall David’s throne.

.... Johanan, the firstborn of Josiah, was never mentioned in Scripture again. It is commonly believed that he died in childhood, leaving no descendants after him. Therefore the title should have passed to Jehoiakim, the second son – but this was not to be.

.... Upon the death of Josiah in 610 B.C., the people of the land took Shallum, the youngest son, and made him king instead of his brother Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:30,31). Shallum is also known as Jehoahaz.

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.... Jehoahaz reigned three months in Jerusalem, doing evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 23:30-33). After he had reigned for three months, Pharaoh Necho took him prisoner, and the Lord spoke of him in this way:

.... "For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: ‘He shall not return here anymore, but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.’"

(Jeremiah 22:11,12)

.... Soon afterward, Jehoahaz died in Egypt according to the word of the Lord (2 Kings 23:34), and he left no descendants after him. Therefore, the dynasty could not have continued through him. Without a son for an heir, the title would have passed to one of his brothers. This left Eliakim (Jehoiakim) and Mattaniah (Zedekiah) the last of Josiah’s sons.

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.... After the captivity of Jehoahaz in Egypt, Pharaoh Necho took Eliakim, one of Josiah’s remaining sons, and made him king of Judah. He also changed his name to Jehoiakim (608 B.C.). Jehoiakim was the second son of Josiah, and true heir to the throne following the infantile death of Johanan.
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.... Jehoiakim reigned 11 years, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, and then rested with his fathers (2 Kings 23:36,37). Three of Josiah’s four sons had now perished.

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.... But unlike his brothers, Jehoiakim did have an heir to whom the title passed. This was his son Jehoiachin, and upon his father’s death he ascended the throne of Judah (597 B.C.) Jehoiachin is also called Jechoniah, or Coniah.

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.... Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months (2 Kings 24:8). Jehoiachin did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Jehoiakim had done (v 9), and he was taken prisoner by the king of Babylon after a short siege.
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.... Here the royal mystery deepens still more, as two additional prophecies are considered. Because Jehoiachin, (also called Jechoniah, or Coniah,) had done evil in the sight of the Lord, and God was displeased with him, He spoke against him in this way:

.... "Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol? Is he a vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, and cast into a land which they do not know? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord: 'Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah.’"

(Jeremiah 22:28-30)

.... A unique situation arose from this judgment. Coniah’s descendants were the true heirs to David’s throne, yet they could never claim it because of this judgment against them. They became persona non grata in relation to the monarchy.

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.... But the mystery deepens still more when a second prophecy is considered. This one is found in Jeremiah 24:1-7:

.... " . . . After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah . . . thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.’"

.... Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. (Jeremiah 52:31).

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.... Through this, the house of Jehoiachin survived. God had set His eyes upon him for good, according to the second prophecy, though he and his descendants were still excluded from the throne, according to the first. We will return to the discussion of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) later.

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.... After Jeconiah went into captivity with his family, there remained no other sons of Jehoiakim (his father) to ascend the throne. Because of this, the lineage reversed a generation to an uncle, the last of Josiah’s four sons, Mattaniah, who was also called Zedekiah. The king of Babylon made Zedekiah king of Judah in 597 B.C.

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.... Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon and reigned 11 years (2 Kings 24:20). In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, and after two more years the city was taken. Zedekiah was captured and brought to Riblah, to be set before the king of Babylon for judgment.

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.... In Riblah, a severe judgment was pronounced. Zedekiah’s sons were slain before his eyes, then Zedekiah himself was blinded and taken captive for the rest of his life (2 Kings 25:7). Through this, the house of Zedekiah perished.

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.... Here is a summary of the royal lineage, as traced among the sons of Josiah:

1) Johanan, the eldest, had died in his childhood, and there were no descendants after him.

2) Likewise Shallum, called Jehoahaz, died childless, a prisoner in Egypt.

3) Mattaniah, called Zedekiah, had sons; yet they were slain at Riblah, so none of his descendants remained alive. Zedekiah himself was blinded, and taken captive for life.

4) Eliakim, called Jehoiakim, was the only one of Josiah’s sons with a living heir. His son was named Jehoiachin, (also called Jeconiah or Coniah,) and Jehoiachin had descendants also, though they were all in captivity. Later, a new king of Babylon had mercy on Jehoiachin and brought him out of the prison, changed his clothes, and gave him an allowance for the rest of his life.

.... Only the descendants of Coniah remained alive. God had set His eyes upon them for good, and had given them a heart to know Him, just as He had promised long before. Yet, because of His judgment on Coniah their forefather and his household, they could never prosper in regard to the throne. None of them were able to claim it.
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.... Therefore, in a mysterious sense, the monarchy was suspended, with each generation begetting sons who were entitled to the throne yet never able to claim it. All they could do with their title was to receive it from their fathers and pass it along to their sons.

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.... At last the title came to Joseph, the husband of Mary, to whom Christ was born. The throne would have been passed to Joseph had the monarchy not fallen; yet Joseph himself was from the seed of Coniah and subject to God’s word in this matter. All he could do with his title was pass it along to his son, as his fathers had done in passing it along to him. We will return to this later, also.