Curse of Jeconiah
- 22:3 “rescue the victim of robbery” - and your palace will endure. Fail
to do your one job, and your palace will be rubble. Something
modern rulers need to hear.
- 22:9 “Because they have forsaken the covenant” - even in their disobedience,
Israel was a light to the nations.
- 22:10 “dead king” - Josiah, “one who is exiled” - Shallum (or Jehoahaz),
deposed by Egypt and taken to Riblah where he eventually died.
Jehoiakim
Installed as puppet king by Egypt when they remove Jehoahaz, he is taken to
Babylon 3 years later when Nebuchadnezzar comes to make Judah a buffer
state with Egypt. He takes Daniel, Ezekiel, and friends, and Jehoiakim
back to Babylon, where they receive training in being part of the
Chaldean empire. Jehoiakim is sent back to Judah as a vassal king,
but is entirely corrupt, concerned only with his own nest.
- 22:13 “uses his neighbors service without pay” - God does not regard the
king as above his countrymen, but as having a unique role and
responsibility.
- 22:15 Living in a palace doesn’t make you a king.
“He (Josiah) administered justice” - that is acting like a king.
- 22:17 “heart set on nothing but your own dishonest gain” - like so many
wicked rulers.
- 22:18 “they will not mourn for him” - Jehoiakim was assassinated and thrown
over the wall to the attackers during the seige.
- 22:21 “I warned you when you were secure” - disobedient from his youth.
Jeconiah
- 22:26 “you and your mother” - this hints of something.
- 22:30 “none of his descendents … will rule again” - the curse of
Jeconiah. So is God’s promise to David broken? “Your house and your
kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne will be established
forever.” 2 Samuel 7:16
“Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.”