JEHOIACHIN jĭ hoi’ ə kĭn (יְהﯴיָכִ֣ין, LXX ̓Ιωακιμ, may the Lord establish, Albright JBL, LI [1932], 81, root kyn; less prob. protect, Noth, Israelitische Personennamen, 28, 62, 202 n. 1, from root knn, argued from the alternate form JECONIAH [1 Chron 3:16f., Jer 24:1 etc., cf. CONIAH 22:24, 37:1]). Albright thinks this was vocalized Yekenyahu, cf. Canaanite Yakin-el, BASOR XCIX (1945), 11 (cf. Gordon, Ugaritic Handbook, 234, and Akkad. Yaukin, BA [1942]), 52. Son of Jehoiakim, and the last king of Judah before the Exile (597 b.c.).
1. Chronology. Jehoiachin reigned three months and ten days (2 Chron 36:9), from the death of his father till the capture of Jerusalem (March 16, 597 b.c., dated by the Babylonian Chronicle). This means that Jehoiakim died early in Dec. 598 (D. J. Wiseman, Documents from OT Times, 81); E. Vogt and E. Auerbach consider that Jehoiachin’s reign ended on his departure for Babylon in April, but agree that he became king before the city was besieged. If the first year of his exile (spring reckoning) was 597/6, the thirty-seventh was 561/0, the first (full, regnal) of Amel-Marduk (Evil-Merodach, 2 Kings 25:27; Jer 52:31).
2. Names. Jehoiachin (Jojachin, Yaukin) prob. was the throne name, because (1) it parallels Jehoiakim, Jehoahaz, and Josiah; (2) it occurs in the Babylonian “ration tablets” and the seal of Eliakim steward of Yaukin (Ywkn); (3) (Je)Coniah, like Shallum (see Jehoahaz), is used by Jeremiah (cf. the very personal 22:28), whereas Kings and Chronicles use “Jehoiachin.” On the other hand, “Jeconiah” and “Shallum” occur in 1 Chronicles 3.
3. Reign. Jehoiachin came to the throne at the age of eighteen (2 Kings 24:8; cf. 2 Chron 36:9). “Eight” is certainly a scribal error, as it is shown from the “ration tablets” that he had five sons at latest by 592 b.c.; if he was born in 615 b.c., Jehoiakim’s early paternity would be consistent with that of all the last kings of Judah.
It may be assumed that Jehoiachin had virtually no chance of developing an independent policy, because it is recorded that he endorsed the religious and social attitudes of his father (2 Kings 24:9). At his accession, Judah was already under pressure from Moabites and other Trans-Jordanians, who had been encouraged by Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian king now advanced S from Syria, where he had reestablished his authority after recovering from his repulse by Egypt in 601 b.c. He invested Jerusalem, which offered surprisingly little resistance. In view of the sieges that the city has withstood (for instance, a few years later under Zedekiah), it is obvious that the Jewish leaders thought it politic to make terms with Nebuchadnezzar (see Albright, JBL, LI, who argues that Nehushta the queen-mother, of a Jerusalem family, would have exercised no small influence). Nebuchadnezzar aimed at rendering Judah powerless to hinder his operations against Egypt. Accordingly he deported the nobility, trained soldiers and men of ability, leaving only a population sufficient to maintain agriculture; appointed a puppet king (Zedekiah), binding him by a special oath of loyalty; and stripped the capital of significant wealth, even from the Temple, leaving only what was needed for the religious service. Thus there is no need to see, with Gray, a contradiction in 2 Kings 24:13 with Jeremiah 27:19f.; moreover, the Babylonian Chronicle mentions heavy tribute, and it appears that the prisoners and booty were not moved till late April or May (cf. 2 Chron 36:9, 10, Wiseman [Chronicles, p. 34], and Kutsch).
4. Exile. Jehoiachin was not a hostage for the good behavior of those left in Jerusalem, else his story would have ended at Zedekiah’s revolt. Taken with his people, he was treated as their chief representative, under duress and later in relaxation; for toward the end of the thirty-seventh year (spring 560 b.c.), King Amel-Marduk released him from prison and gave him a place at court. Tablets have been found in the ruins of a storehouse in Babylon, recording issues of oil rations to prisoners, among whom “Jehoiachin king of Judah” is named with his sons and their Jewish governor; the sons, five of the seven named in 1 Chronicles 3:17, were therefore children. One of the Jehoiachin tablets published by Weidner is dated (592 b.c.); others in the find date from 595 to 569 (cf. 2 Kings 25:27-30).
The discovery of two impressions at Tell Beit Mirsim, and one at Beth-shemesh, from a seal of Eliakim “steward of Joiachin,” suggests that Jehoiachin’s estates were not confiscated, and prob. his needs were largely supplied from them. It seems that the Babylonians regarded him as the legitimate king, even in prison, whereas Zedekiah and Gedaliah were virtually regents. A party in Jerusalem yet hoped and schemed for his return; and it has been pointed out that dating by years of captivity (Ezekiel) was equivalent to dating by the reign of Jehoiachin (Albright, JBL, LI, 93 ff.; cf. May, AJSL, LVI). Jeremiah, however, although he saw the exiles as “good figs” and heirs of the promise, would have nothing to do with the idea of the king’s return (Jer, chs. 28, 29), and had even denied that his posterity would reign (22:24-30).
Bibliography W. F. Albright, JBL, LI (1932), 77, 84, 91-103; D. Diringer, Iscrizzioni Ant. Ebr. (1934), 126, 127; H. May, AJSL, LVI (1939), 146-148; E. Weidner, Melanges Syriens II (1939), 923-935; W. F. Albright, BA, V (1942), 49-55; A. Honeyman, JBL, LXVII (1948), 13ff.; A. Malamat, JNES, IX (1950), 224, PEQ (1951), 81-87; J. Montgomery, Kings ICC (1951); W. F. Albright, JBL, LXXI (1952), 253ff.; J. B. Pritchard, ANET2 (1955), 308; D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of the Chaldaean Kings (1956); D. Freedman, BA, XIX (1956), 56ff.; H. Tadmor, JNES, xv (1956), 226-230; J. Hyatt, JBL, LXXV (1956), 279ff.; E. Thiele, BASOR, CXLIII (1956), 22-27; W. F. Albright, ibid., 28; A. Malamat, IEJ, vi (1956), 246-256; E. Vogt, Vet Test Supplement 4 (1957), 92-97; D. W. Thomas (ed.), Documents from OT Times (1958), 81; E. Kutsch, ZATW, LXXI (1959), 270-274; E. Auerbach, Vet Test, IX (1959), 113ff., XI (1961), 128ff.; J. Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology (1964), ss. 319-329; E. Thiele, Mysterious Numbers2 (1965), 163-173.