Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 36

Verses 1-23

2 Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

2 Chronicles 36:9 “Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign” Word Study on “Jehoiachin” The Hebrew name “Jehoiachin” is also contracted to Jeconiah and Coniah (1 Chronicles 3:16, Jeremiah 22:24).

1 Chronicles 3:16, “And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son.”

Jeremiah 22:24, “As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;”

Comments - We are told in 2 Kings 24:8 that Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign.

2 Kings 24:8, “Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.”

Note the Hebrew ( בֶּן־שְׁמֹנֶ֨ה עֶשְׂרֵ֤ה שָׁנָה֙ ) son of eighteen years.

Note the Hebrew ( בֶּן־שְׁמוֹנֶ֤ה שָׁנִים֙ ) son of eight years.

There are several ideas that scholars use to justify this difference in age.

1. Jehoiachin Co-Reigned with His Father - It is possible that Jehoiachin began to co-reign with his father at the tender age of eight, and that he took full leadership at the age of eighteen. However, this is only speculation.

2. Jehoiachin’s Reign Began in the Eighth Year of Babylonian Captivity John Gill refers to John Lightfoot, who suggests that he was eighteen years old when he began to reign, which was the eighth year of the Babylonian captivity based on 2 Kings 24:12. [47] However, this is also speculation.

[47] John Gill, 2 Kings, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on 2 Kings 24:8.

2 Kings 24:12, “And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign .”

3. A Copyist Error - Many scholars believe that this is a copyist error, this idea being supported by the fact that the ancient Syriac and Arabic versions correct both texts to read “eighteen.”

It is not probable that Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign. This is because an eight-year old child would not be considered as doing “that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 24:9), and also because he would not have had wives at this early age, as the Scriptures declare in 2 Kings 24:15.

2 Kings 24:15, “And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives , and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.”

2 Chronicles 36:9 “and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem” Comments - We see in 2 Kings 24:8 that Jehoiachin reigned in Jerusalem three months only, without the reference to ten days. Scholars believe that the author of 2 Kings was simply rounding off this figure.

2 Kings 24:8, “Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.”

2 Chronicles 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

2 Chronicles 36:16 “ till there was no remedy” - Word Study on “remedy” The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word is used 16 times in the Old Testament, and in the KJV, it is translated, “ health 5, healing 3, remedy 3, incurable 1, cure 1, sound 1, wholesome 1, yielding 1.”

Note other uses of this same Hebrew word, “remedy”:

Proverbs 6:15, “Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy .”

Proverbs 29:1, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy .”

The opposite of “remedy” would be “trouble or calamity.” Note the use of the same Hebrew as it is translated “health, healing”:

Jeremiah 8:15, “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health , and behold trouble!”

Jeremiah 14:19, “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing , and behold trouble!

2 Chronicles 36:21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

2 Chronicles 36:21 Comments - Leviticus 25:4-5 states that every seventh year was a Sabbath year, a year of rest for the land, with no sowing and harvest taken. Seventy weeks of years would have fulfilled four hundred ninety (490) years (7 X 70).

Leviticus 25:4-5, “But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.”

2 Chronicles 36:22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

2 Chronicles 36:22 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia” Comments - Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire, ruling over various parts of this region from 559-530 B.C., a period of twenty-nine years. His rule began in 559 B.C. in Anshan, a region of the Median Empire. His reign was extended in 550 B.C. when he overthrew the Median king, taking full control of Media. Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., extending his reign over most of the Middle East. [48] The Old Testament references to Cyrus the Great date his reign beginning with the overthrow of Babylon in 539 B.C. (2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-8; Ezra 3:7; Ezra 4:3; Ezra 4:5; Ezra 5:13-17; Ezra 6:3; Ezra 6:14, Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1, Daniel 1:21; Daniel 6:28; Daniel 10:1), perhaps because his role in redemptive history did not begin until this period of history. Thus, in the first year of his reign as king ( מֶלֶךְ ) over the Medo-Persian Empire in 538 B.C., Cyrus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (740 - 701 B.C.), who ministered about one hundred and fifty years before this event took place, by ordering the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1), and by asking the Jews to return and fulfill this decree, thus ending the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews after seventy years, as prophesied by Jeremiah (Ezekiel 1:1-4). During the third year of his reign (535-534 B.C.), Daniel was given the vision recorded in Daniel 10-12.

[48] Jack Martin Balcer, “Cyrus the Great,” in The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1994), 1208.

Isaiah 44:26-28, “That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus , He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”

Isaiah 45:1, “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;”

Ezra 1:1-2, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”