Jeconiah

The king carried to Babylon, where Matthew's second group ends

Also written: Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8) · Coniah (Jeremiah 22:24) · Jechonias (Greek form, Matthew 1:11)

Place in the genealogy

Matthew · name 29 · Abraham forward to JesusFrom David to the exile: the monarchyMatthew 1:11'And his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon.' The group ends in exile.

Where Scripture records this person

2 Kings 24:8-17Eighteen years old, three months on the throne, and taken to Babylon.
2 Kings 25:27-30Released from prison in Babylon and given a seat at the king's table.
Jeremiah 22:24-30The word against Coniah: write him childless, none of his seed shall sit on David's throne.
Matthew 1:11-12The hinge of the genealogy, at the carrying away into Babylon.

Who this person is in Scripture

Jeconiah reigns three months and is deported. Jeremiah's word against him is severe: no descendant of his will sit on David's . Yet Matthew runs the legal line straight through him, and 2 Kings ends with him alive and honoured in Babylon.

How those two things fit together is genuinely debated. Some read Matthew's line as legal descent that Jeremiah's curse does not annul, since Jesus is not Joseph's natural son; others point to God's mercy toward Jeconiah's house in Haggai 2:23, spoken over his grandson Zerubbabel. Scripture does not settle it in one verse, and it is honest to say so.

Family, as Scripture gives it

Father: Jehoiakim, 2 Kings 24:6
Children: Shealtiel, according to Matthew 1:12

What this teaches

Matthew makes the exile a hinge, not an ending. The that looked finished keeps going for another fourteen names.

Read in the Bible

Back to the genealogy of Jesus