Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 22:30

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.

30. Write ye ] For the word in the sense of enter in a register of citizens cp. Isa 4:3; Psa 87:6.

childless ] In 1Ch 3:17, etc. he appears to have had children, and Shealtiel (Mat 1:12) is reckoned as his son. Shealtiel was, however, descended from David through his son Nathan (Luk 3:27-31) and not through the line of the kings (Solomon, Rehoboam, etc.), and thus was only counted to Jehoiachin (“Jechoniah” of Mat 1:12) according to the legal not the natural line. It was thus at any rate true that no child of Jehoiachin succeeded to the throne.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Childless – No child to sit on Davids throne. See 1Ch 3:17 note.

Jeconiah was the last king of Davids line. His uncle indeed actually reigned after him, but perished with his sons long before Jeconiahs death (literally 10): and yet from so dead a trunk, from a family so utterly fallen, that spiritual King came forth whose name is Yahweh our righteousness Jer 23:5-6.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 30. Write ye this man childless] Though he had seven sons, 1Ch 3:17, yet having no successor, he is to be entered on the genealogical tables as one without children, for none of his posterity ever sat on the throne of David.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The word translated

childless is but thrice read in holy writ, and by various interpreters translated barren, not increasing, empty, full of sorrow, wanting children, &c. It is thought to be interpreted by the next words,

no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah; for there are seven of his sons named 1Ch 3:17,18. So that he is said to be childless, either because all hies children died before their father, or (which is most probable) because he had no child that sat upon the throne, or ever had any rulers place in Judah, but only some that lived in a mean condition in captivity, amongst whom Salathiel is named, Mat 1:12, as a progenitor of Christ.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless,…. That is, Coniah, or Jeconiah; who though he had children in the captivity, yet they died in it, or however never succeeded him in the throne. This, to show the certainty of the thing, the Lord would have written. The speech is directed, as some think, to the angels, or to the prophets; though the words may be rendered impersonally, “let this man be written childless”, it may be set down, and taken for a sure and certain thing, as though it was written with a pen of iron, that he shall be alone, and die without children, and have none to reign after him;

a man [that] shall not prosper in his days; he sat but three months and ten days upon the throne, and all the rest of his days he lived in captivity, 2Ch 36:9; so that he was a very unfortunate prince;

for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David,

and ruling any more in Judah; none of them were so prosperous and happy as to arrive to the royal dignity, or to sit on the throne of David, and be kings of Judah. Here ended the race of kings of the house of David, until the King Messiah came; for though there were of his line that were governors of Judah, as Zerubbabel, yet not kings. Moreover, Jeconiah was the last of the house of David in the line of Solomon. Salathiel, of whom was Zerubbabel governor of Judah, was the son of Neri, who descended from Nathan the son of David; see Lu 3:29, compared with Mt 1:12; and

[See comments on Lu 3:29] and

[See comments on Lu 3:31] and

[See comments on Mt 1:12].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then he adds, Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man solitary, or childless. Some think that these words were addressed to angels or to prophets; but I regard not such a notion as well founded: this mode of speaking seems rather to me to have been taken from common practice, for decrees which were to continue in force for a long time were usually written. When an edict was proclaimed, and was to be in force only for a few days, it was not commonly recorded in the public monuments; but when a law was enacted, which was to be binding on posterity, it was written in the public tablets. Then the Prophet intimates that this judgment of God could not be rendered void, nor would be momentary like decrees which in a few days are disregarded and soon forgotten, but that it would be certain and permanent. Write ye, then, this man childless This bereavement is set in opposition to the promise of God, that there would be perpetual successors to David on his throne as long as the sun and moon were in the heavens. (Psa 89:37.) And the Prophet shews here that this promise as to Jeconiah would not be fulfilled. (72)

And he adds, Write ye this man as one who will not prosper in his days; nay, (for כי , seems to me to be emphatic here,) no one of his seed shall prosper; and then he adds an explanation, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Now, it is no wonder that the Jews regarded this judgment of God with abhorrence, as though it was something monstrous, for God seemed to them to be inconsistent with himself, for he had testified that his covenant would never be rendered void, and had appealed to the sun and moon as witnesses. Hence, when the posterity of David failed, at least when his throne was subverted, and no one appeared as his successor, the truth of the promise seemed to have failed, which was very strange. But it was possible for God, who doeth wonders, to execute such punishment on Jeconiah and on such as were like him, and yet in a secret and incomprehensible manner to bring things about, so that the covenant which he had made should not wholly fail. The grace of God, then, was hidden for a time, but never extinguished; for at length a rod did grow up from the stem of Jesse, as it is said by Isaiah.

However, the words seem to imply otherwise, for Jeconiah is said to be solitary, and then unprosperous; and lastly, the Prophet declares that no one of his seed would sit on the royal throne. But we must bear in mind that these words are to be confined to a temporary punishment, and extend only to the coming of Christ, though the posterity of David, as we shall hereafter see, did begin to arise in Zerubbabel, but this was only an obscure and a small prelude. We must, therefore, come to the time of Christ if we would reconcile these two things which seem repugnant, — that Jeconiah became childless, and that a successor from the seed of David never failed; it was so, because this childlessness was only for a time; and this interruption of God’s grace was something like death; but in course of time it appeared that God was mindful of his covenant, even at a time when he seemed to have forgotten it. And this prophecy, therefore, ought; to be connected with that of Ezekiel,

“

Remove ye, remove, remove the crown until he comes whose it is.” (Eze 21:26.)

There, also, Ezekiel repeats the word “remove” three times, as though he had said that there would be no kingdom of David, not only for a few months or years, but through a series of many ages.

There is no wonder, then, that the Prophet declares here that Jeconiah would be childless, for such a sad calamity for so many ages, as the throne of David trodden under foot with scorn and contempt, might have overwhelmed the faithful with despair. This, then, was the reason why he said that he would be childless, and also that his whole posterity would be under a curse. But we must bear in mind that exception, which is expressed by another Prophet,

“

until he comes whose the crown is.” (Eze 21:27)

For it was reserved for the head of Christ, though for a long time it had been exposed to dishonor and to the reproaches of all nations.

Now it is useful to know this, for we are taught that God is ever so consistent with himself, that his covenant, which he has made with Christ and with all his members, never fails, and that yet he punishes hypocrites even unto death. If any one, during a long period, had sought for the Church in the world, there was none in appearance; yet God shewed that he was faithful to his promises, for suddenly there arose a people regenerated by the Gospel, so that his covenant was not dead, but as it were for a time buried. The truth of God, then, was proved by the event; and yet he took a dreadful vengeance on the ingratitude of men when he thus blinded the whole world, now follows —

(72) The word rendered “childless”“ properly means “wholly stripped,” or destitute, or “quite naked.” It is rendered “banished” by the Sept., but “childless” by the Vulg., the Syr., and the Targ. He was “childless” as a king, having had no son as a successor on the throne of David; but he had children, see 1Ch 3:17. And that this is the meaning appears evident from the end of the verse.

Scott thinks that Zedekiah, the uncle of Jeconiah, is the person spoken of in these two last verses. He considers that the contents of this chapter were repeated in Zedekiah’s reign as a warning to him. But this view is not consistent with the general tenor of the chapter. See especially Jer 22:13; these shew evidently that the prophecy was delivered in the time, probably in the latter time of Jehoiakim; then the Prophet proceeds, in Jer 22:24 to the end of the chapter, prophetically to describe the late of his son Jeconiah. And having said that he would be childless as a king, that none of his seed would sit on the throne of David, he introduces in the next chapter, which is connected with this, the “righteous branch,” the Messiah, the King of Zion. The proper division of the chapter is at the ninth verse. According to this view there is a perfect consistency, — Jeconiah was the last reigning prince in the right line (Zedekiah, his uncle, was not in the right line) on the throne of David, as a temporal sovereign; then he, of whom David was a type, came, not to sit and to rule on the visible throne of David, but on that which it represented. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(30) Write ye this man childless.The meaning of the prediction, as explained by the latter clause of the verse, was fulfilled in Jeconiahs being the last kingly representative of the house of David, his uncle Zedekiah, who succeeded him, perishing before him (Jer. 52:31). In him the sceptre departed, and not even Zerubbabel sat upon the throne of Judah. Whether he died actually childless is less certain. In 1Ch. 3:17 Assir (possibly, however, the name should be translated Jeconiah the prisoner) appears as his son, and as the father of Salathiel, or Shealtiel; and in Mat. 1:12 we find Jechonias begat Salathiel. In these genealogies, however, adoption or succession, or a Levirate marriage so constantly takes the place of parentage, that nothing certain can be inferred from these data, and St. Luke (Luk. 3:27) places Salathiel among the descendants of Nathan, as though the line of Solomon became extinct in Jeconiah, and was replaced by the collateral branch of the house of David (see Note on Luk. 3:23). The command, write ye this man childless, is apparently addressed to the scribes who kept the register of the royal genealogies (Eze. 13:9; Psa. 69:28-29). They were told how, without waiting for his death, they were to enter Coniahs name in that register.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

30. Childless As one with whom his stock becomes extinct who has no posterity. This may be as a man, or as a king; but the latter sense seems most strictly relevant. This would not preclude the fact of children, and they would seem to be implied by Jer 22:28, “his seed.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 22:30. Write ye this man childless I cannot agree with the generality of commentators, who suppose that God hereby declares it as a thing certain, and as it were orders it to be inserted among the public acts of his government, that Jeconiah should die absolutely childless. Other parts of Scripture positively assert him to have had children, 1Ch 3:17-18. Mat 1:12. And both Jer 22:28 and the subsequent part of this verse imply that he either had, or should have seed. But the historians and chroniclers of the times are called upon, and directed to set him down childless; not as being literally so, but yet the same to all intents and purposes of public life; for he was to be the last of his race that should sit upon the throne of David; and his descendants were no more to figure as kings, but to be reduced to the rank and obscurity of private persons. And in this sense the prophesy was actually fulfilled; for, allowing Zerubbabel, who is called governor of Judah, Hag 1:1 to have been a lineal descendant of Jeconiah, yet he could not be said to sit upon the throne of David, and reign, or rule, in Judah, seeing he was but a provincial governor, a mere servant to the king of Persia, in whom the sovereignty resided; nor were any of those kings who afterwards reigned in Judah, even of the family of David, until the time of Christ, who, though of David’s seed, was not the seed of Jeconiah, but descended from the same ancestor in a collateral line.

REFLECTIONS.1st, Kings are God’s vicegerents, and accountable to him for their conduct; and when they abuse the power wherewith they are entrusted, or neglect the duties of their station, they may expect his rebukes. Jeremiah is here sent to the king of Judah, Jehoiakim the successor of David, and sitting on his throne, but grievously degenerated from his virtues. He and his servants are summoned to attend.

1. Their duty is set before them: to administer judgment with impartiality; to vindicate the oppressed and injured; to do no wrong themselves, nor permit others to do it with impunity; to protect the stranger, the fatherless, and widow; and shed no innocent blood, either by lawless violence, or under the cloak of justice. Very opposite to which had hitherto been their conduct.
2. This would secure their prosperity, and entail a blessing upon their posterity; preserving long the crown of Judah to the royal race of David, and enabling them to live in splendor answerable to their high dignity.
3. On the contrary, if they persisted in their disobedience, God, by an oath, to make the sentence more awful and tremendous, swears to make the house of the king of Judah a desolation, and that his kingdom should be involved in his ruin. Though thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon, full of riches, and strongly fortified, yet such ravages should be made in the land, that it should be wholly depopulated, and its fertile plains become a howling wilderness: nor should instruments be wanting to execute the threatened vengeance; I will prepare, or sanctify destroyers, raise them up, and give them a commission of most righteous judgment: in consequence of which, they shall as easily cut down and destroy the mighty men of Judah, as the cedars fall before the axe of the hewer, and are cast into the fire. With astonishment the neighbouring nations behold the destruction, and inquire into the cause, that a people once so favoured of Jehovah should now be so abandoned; and the answer is ready, because they have apostatized from the worship of Jehovah, and sunk into foul idolatry. Note; They who forsake God are justly forsaken of him.

2nd, Kings are not too high for God to humble, nor for his prophets to reprove. We have here the sad doom of two read, who reigned successively in Judah, the sons of good Josiah, from whose steps they shamefully departed.

1. Shallum, the same as Jehoahaz, the immediate successor of Josiah, 2Ch 36:1. After a short reign of three months, see 2Ki 23:34 he was carried captive into Egypt, and thence he must, by the divine decree, never return, but die in ignominy. Him, therefore, the people are called upon to bewail, and rather to weep over the captive son, than bedew with their tears the corpse of his pious father, who was at rest, and removed from beholding the evil to come. Note; Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are to be pitied.

2. Jehoiakim his successor has not a more favourable judgment. His sins were great; and, though he now sat on his throne, the prophet faithfully dares to rebuke him. Proud, and affecting to rival the greatness of his most illustrious predecessors, during the most flourishing state of their kingdom; though himself no better than a viceroy, first to the king of Egypt, and then to the Babylonish monarch, he was building or enlarging his palace in the most magnificent taste, and with the most expensive decorations; and as the revenues of his kingdom probably were insufficient, he became tyrannical and oppressive, extorting money from his subjects, or constraining them to serve and supply him with materials, without paying them for their labour. Secure, and self-confident, he promised himself many long years to enjoy his house of cedar, and that his pomp would be his protection: unjust and cruel withal, unlike his pious father, who lived in sobriety and temperance, and administered justice with impartiality. Was not this to know me? saith the Lord; it shewed true regard to God, and consequently was attended with the divine blessing; then it was well with him. But he with harpy talons stopped at no violence to gratify the insatiate covetousness of his heart, and shed the blood of the innocent, that he might seize their substance. In consequence of which his doom is read: he shall die unlamented; neither his subjects nor relations shall express the least concern for his fate; his corpse shall not have a tear dropped over it, and even want a grave, buried with the burial of an ass; drawn with ignominy, and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem; which, though not observed in the history of the kings, was no doubt literally accomplished. Note; (1.) That great men should dwell in palaces, is becoming; but when pride rears the structure, condemnation lies against the soul. (2.) The chambers built by wrong will cry out for vengeance against the oppressor; and God will not let the defrauded labourer’s complaint pass by unheard. (3.) They who place dependence on prosperity and the enjoyment of the fruits of iniquity, will find their hopes terribly disappointed. (4.) Covetousness is the root of all evil: hence spring rapine, bloodshed, and every evil work. (5.) The way to prosper is to know God, and serve him; while destruction inevitable must be the portion of those who forget and forsake him. (6.) It is an aggravation of sin to have lived under pious parents, and in the face of their instructions and examples to prove rebellious. (7.) They who are lifted up the highest in pride, will shortly fall the lowest in misery.

3rdly, We have line upon line, and warning upon warning, yet all insufficient to alarm a stupid people.
1. Their misery and distress are painted in lively colours. When their enemies were advancing, they are represented as running to the mountain-tops, and calling out for help to the neighbouring nations; but in vain; for all thy lovers are destroyed, and none willing to shew them the least kindness in the day of their calamity. They had been deaf to the warnings of the prophets, from the day when they came out of Egypt, and disobedient to the voice of God; vain of their prosperity, and confident that they should never be removed. But now their desolation approaches, when they should be ashamed and confounded for all their wickedness; as destitute of help within, as of assistance from without; because the wind shall eat up all thy pastors, the governors in church and state, kings, nobles, priests, and prophets, as weak to resist the Chaldean hosts, as stubble to oppose the furious whirlwind. Though lofty in pride as Lebanon, and dwelling in houses ceiled with cedar, these would be no security, but be food for the devouring flames; while from their enemies they might expect to find no favour, in the day when their deepest anguish should seize them as the pangs of a travailing woman. The words, mah neichant, How gracious shalt thou be, some render, What favour wilt thou find? others, How shalt thou groan? (see the notes) and intimates the desperateness of their case, which seems most agreeable to the context; though they may also be interpreted of the effects which these judgments should have upon them, when their distresses should drive them in penitence to God, and they should find mercy with him in the land of their captivity. Note; (1.) Prosperity is a dangerous state: they who live at ease too often care not to attend the warnings of God. (2.) Creature-dependence will fail in the day of calamity. (3.) It is well for us, if what we suffer brings us at last in pangs of real repentance to God.

2. Their king’s judgment is pronounced. He is called Coniah, instead of Jeconiah, in contempt. His name is shortened, intimating that his reign should be cut short, and his regal honour depart from him. Doomed to a miserable servitude, God threatens to give him up into the hands of the king of Babylon, whom he feared, and who sought his life, with his mother and family; and, pining in vain for the land of their nativity, they should long drag their ignominious chain, and die in the place of their captivity. His pious fathers had been as a signet on God’s right hand; so dear to him, and valued by him as the ring which bears the picture, or is the gift, of the person whom we love: but his ill conduct had cast him out of favour, and therefore God in high displeasure threatens that he will pluck him thence, and abandon him to ruin: and this his determination is irrevocable, confirmed with an oath: As I live, saith the Lord, who, since he can swear by no greater, swears by himself. Note; (1.) They are undone for ever whom God abandons. (2.) The greatest must not be too confident: they know not what strange calamities may await them.

3. All who beheld this monarch fallen would tauntingly say, Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Yes: so despicable is he grown, who late was idolized. Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? he that was late the people’s darling, is now disregarded, and cast by as a broken vessel; led, with all that pertained to him, into a strange land, there to suffer the punishment of his iniquities.

4. The earth is summoned to mark his judgment: either the people of Judah in particular, or of the world in general: or, as if the clod under their feet would be more attentive than the hardened hearts of the men of that generation, it is called upon to hear the solemn sentence. Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; after a short reign of three month’s, he spent his whole life in captivity in Babylon: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

REFLECTIONS

READER! Who can go through a Chapter of such contents as this unmoved! Who, but for God’s authority, in his holy word, confirming the melancholy truth, could have believed, that a nation so highly favoured as Israel, should have sunk so foully. But look we within, and there read the same, sad pages of the human heart. Are we better than they? Solemn question of the Apostle. And as sad an answer. No! in no wise: for he hath concluded all under sin! Blessed Lord Jesus! was it indeed necessary that thy people should be thus taught in Israel’s history, what they also are by nature and by practice? Hath God the Holy Ghost held up in them a faithful mirror, to show what all men are? And must thy people, still look and still learn by way of keeping up remembrance, such once were we: but we are washed and sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Help Lord then all thy people, to see and know more and more that in themselves they are all as despised idols, as broken vessels, wherein is no water! And if now they are renewed, and made as Gilead, and as Lebanon to thee: it is thou Lord that art the sole cause of their recovery. Oh! precious Jesus, how increasingly precious art thou to thy people, who see their need of thee more and more, and are desirous of living to thee here by faith, that ere long they may live in thee, and by thee, in glory to all eternity. Amen.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jer 22:30 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.

Ver. 30. Write ye this man childless ] a As to succession in the royal dignity, as well as to success in his reign. The Septuagint render it, A man abdicated or proscribed. This God would have to be written – that is, to be put upon public record for the use of posterity. Our chronicles tell us of John Dudley, that great Duke of Northumberland, in King Edward VI’s days – who endeavoured by all means to engrand his posterity, reaching at the crown also, which cost him his head – that though he had six sons, all men, all married, yet none of them left any issue behind them. “Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; serve the Lord with fear.”

a Ariri – i.e., orbus vel solus, sicut in deserto myrica. – Fuller.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)