Post by Lee on Aug 2, 2014 12:15:32 GMT
“WRITE YE THIS MAN CHILDLESS” (Jer. 22:30).
G. M., referring to The 1911 Christadelphian, July, p. 314, says that the above passage compared with Matt. 1:12 is an old diffculty, and adds “I have never heard or read anything on the subject, and should be glad if you will say something about it.”
ANSWER.—It is evident from the context that the expression is not to be interpreted too narrowly. Read verses 28–30:—“Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of HIS seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.”
All this was literally fulfilled, as we may read in 2 Kings 24. and 2 Chronicles 36. The young king (only “eight” or “eighteen” years old) after a brief reign of three months was taken captive with all his relations to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the eighth year of that king’s reign. Thus he and his were cast out into a land they knew not. But many years afterwards (2 Kings 25:27) Evil Merodach “lifted up the head of Jehoiachin out of prison” and freed him for the rest of his life. But neither of these historical accounts here mention any children of Jeconiah.
In 1 Chron. 3:17, however, we read: “And the sons of Jechoniah; Assir, Salathiel his son.” But when we turn to Matt. 1:12, we read: “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechoniah begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel.” Was Salathiel then begotten by Jechoniah or by Assir? By both, strange to say, for assir means prisoner, captive, and the revised version renders (1 Chron. 3:14) thus: “And the sons of Jechoniah, the captive, Salathiel his son;” thus harmonizing Matthew and Chronicles.
From Matthew’s genealogy it will be seen that Jechoniah is on Joseph’s side in the genealogy of Messiah, and Jesus is not “his seed.” The final vicissitudes of “the throne of David in Judah” in Jeremiah’s days were as follows:—The good king Josiah had two wives, Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, and Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (not the prophet). By the former he had a son, Eliakim (called Jehoiakim by Pharaoh Necho); and by the latter he had two sons, Jehoahaz or Shallum, and Mattaniah (called Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar). Eliakim or Jehoiakim was the father of Jehoiachin, Jechonias, or Coniah. After Josiah the succession ran thus:—
1. JEHOAHAZ OR SHALLUM. He reigned only three months; was dethroned by Pharaoh Necho, who made Eliakim the brother of Jehoahaz king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz died in Egypt.
2. ELIAKIM, called JEHOIAKIN. He reigned eleven years, was three years tributary to Nebuchadnezzar, who took him captive.
3. JEHOIACHIN, JECONIAS, or CONIAH, grandson of Josiah, and son of the last named. He reigned only three months, was taken captive to Babylon in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar, who made Mattaniah king, changing his name to Zedekiah. In the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin’s captivity he is kindly treated by Evil Merodach, and through Jehoiachin runs the line to MESSIAH.
4. MATTANIAH, called ZEDEKIAH by Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned eleven years, and was taken captive to Babylon. Thus “the throne of David in Judah” came to an end. “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it,” said God by the prophet Ezekiel (21:27), “and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.”
Jesus is he; but he is the seed of the woman and not of Coniah, the broken pot, who for his sins pined away in a Babylonian prison.
1911 Christadelphian p409–410
G. M., referring to The 1911 Christadelphian, July, p. 314, says that the above passage compared with Matt. 1:12 is an old diffculty, and adds “I have never heard or read anything on the subject, and should be glad if you will say something about it.”
ANSWER.—It is evident from the context that the expression is not to be interpreted too narrowly. Read verses 28–30:—“Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of HIS seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.”
All this was literally fulfilled, as we may read in 2 Kings 24. and 2 Chronicles 36. The young king (only “eight” or “eighteen” years old) after a brief reign of three months was taken captive with all his relations to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the eighth year of that king’s reign. Thus he and his were cast out into a land they knew not. But many years afterwards (2 Kings 25:27) Evil Merodach “lifted up the head of Jehoiachin out of prison” and freed him for the rest of his life. But neither of these historical accounts here mention any children of Jeconiah.
In 1 Chron. 3:17, however, we read: “And the sons of Jechoniah; Assir, Salathiel his son.” But when we turn to Matt. 1:12, we read: “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechoniah begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel.” Was Salathiel then begotten by Jechoniah or by Assir? By both, strange to say, for assir means prisoner, captive, and the revised version renders (1 Chron. 3:14) thus: “And the sons of Jechoniah, the captive, Salathiel his son;” thus harmonizing Matthew and Chronicles.
From Matthew’s genealogy it will be seen that Jechoniah is on Joseph’s side in the genealogy of Messiah, and Jesus is not “his seed.” The final vicissitudes of “the throne of David in Judah” in Jeremiah’s days were as follows:—The good king Josiah had two wives, Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, and Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (not the prophet). By the former he had a son, Eliakim (called Jehoiakim by Pharaoh Necho); and by the latter he had two sons, Jehoahaz or Shallum, and Mattaniah (called Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar). Eliakim or Jehoiakim was the father of Jehoiachin, Jechonias, or Coniah. After Josiah the succession ran thus:—
1. JEHOAHAZ OR SHALLUM. He reigned only three months; was dethroned by Pharaoh Necho, who made Eliakim the brother of Jehoahaz king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz died in Egypt.
2. ELIAKIM, called JEHOIAKIN. He reigned eleven years, was three years tributary to Nebuchadnezzar, who took him captive.
3. JEHOIACHIN, JECONIAS, or CONIAH, grandson of Josiah, and son of the last named. He reigned only three months, was taken captive to Babylon in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar, who made Mattaniah king, changing his name to Zedekiah. In the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin’s captivity he is kindly treated by Evil Merodach, and through Jehoiachin runs the line to MESSIAH.
4. MATTANIAH, called ZEDEKIAH by Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned eleven years, and was taken captive to Babylon. Thus “the throne of David in Judah” came to an end. “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it,” said God by the prophet Ezekiel (21:27), “and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.”
Jesus is he; but he is the seed of the woman and not of Coniah, the broken pot, who for his sins pined away in a Babylonian prison.
1911 Christadelphian p409–410