The Curse of Coniah - A Glimpse of God’s
Grace
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God became a member of the human race not only to die for man's sin, but also to rule from a literal throne as King of the earth (Psa. 2). He came into the world through the Jewish family of Judah and the kingly line of David. "When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your
fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and
I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he
shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of
men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from
him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house
and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall
be established forever. According to all these words and according to all
this vision, so Nathan spoke to David" (2 Sam. 7:12-17). David would build a house for the Lord but not of the customary
wood and stone. The house he would build would to be his physical line, or
his future generations. David’s family line would ultimately produce a son that
would establish his kingdom forever. King David had a desire to build a temple to Jehovah God. Up to
that time, the ark of the covenant - the symbol of the dwelling place of God
- had been placed in a tent. The thought of allowing the ark of the covenant
to remain in a simple tent while he himself lived in a luxurious house of
cedar did not set well with David. Solomon, David's son, would be the one to build God's physical
temple. However, through David's genetic line, the throne of Israel was
established forever. Though Solomon was disobedient and endured chastisement
from God, this future promised kingdom was never taken away. "My covenant I will not break nor alter the word that
has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to
David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me; It
shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in
the sky" (Psa. 89:34-37). David's Line Corrupted The credentials for the throne of Israel involved two things: the
legal right, which was the right bloodline, and the royal right. The royal
right declared that the king must be the firstborn of the right family tree.
In order to be King, Jesus Christ must have these credentials. Joseph was a sinner!
For that reason, he was disqualified from being the biological father
of Jesus Christ. If Jesus had been the natural son of Joseph, He would have
been a sinner, and could not have been the redeemer of the human race. The
miracle of the virgin birth prevented this from happening. But in order to prove beyond a doubt that Jesus Christ was the
sinless Son of God and that He alone has the credentials to be our redeemer
and the king, God created a humanly impossible dilemma. Remember, the king of Israel must be the firstborn of the
bloodline of King David. However, God cursed one of the kings in David’s
line, because of extreme wickedness. "As I live, says the Lord, though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim,
king of Judah, were the signet upon my right hand (that is, he was to be my
king), yet I would pluck you off; and I will give you into the hand of those
who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear-the hand
of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans. So I will
cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you
were not born; and there you shall die. But to the land to which they desire
to return, there shall they not return. Is this man Coniah a despised, a
broken idol? Is he a vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out,
he and his descendants, and are cast into a land which they do not know? O
earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord, Write
this man down as childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for
none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and
ruling any more in Judah" (Jer. 22:24-30). No child in Coniah’s line could rule upon the throne of David. This
same truth is stated again in 2 Kings 24:5-15, only here Coniah is named
Jehoiachin. Second Kings states that after Jehoiakim's death, Jehoiachin
(also called Coniah or Jeconiah), his son, reigned. And Jehoiachin did evil
in the sight of the Lord (vs. 6-9). Just what evil the king committed we are
not told. But true to God's word, Babylon conquered Judah and took the king
and his family and the treasures of Solomon into captivity. The prophecy
concludes with, "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
Kings 24:15). Did Jehoiachin have sons? Yes, he did, but none ever reigned
in Judah as king. Because of this curse, Israel has not had a monarchy
from the time of the Babylonian captivity until now. In Matthew chapter one we are given the genealogy of Jesus
Christ. His line rightly goes through David's father, and then through David
himself, and then through Solomon. Notice carefully the genealogical line
after Solomon. "Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers, about the
time they were carried away to Babylon" (Matt. 1:11). Here is the mention of Jeconiah. The line involving Jeconiah ended with a carpenter named
Joseph the husband of a young virgin named Mary. "And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom
was born Jesus who is called Christ" (Matt. 1:16). Joseph was in Jeconiah's line. So if Jesus Christ were to
be the legitimate king in Israel, it would have been impossible for him to be
the natural son of Joseph. Joseph was a sinner and under the curse imposed
upon his genetic line through Jeconiah. This makes it impossible for Joseph to have
been the physical father of Jesus Christ. Did this frustrate the sovereign will of an infinite God? Not at
all! God used this very problem to illustrate His genius and the credibility
of His word. If you were to ask any thinking Jew today, "Who will be your
king?" he might respond, "We do not have a king." You might nod your head in agreement and say, "If you had a
king, who would it be?" "Well, let's investigate the genealogical records. In
Matthew 1:16 the line ends with a man named Joseph, a carpenter. He was the last
son of David, through Solomon. So he, this carpenter, had the legal royal
right to rule in Israel." "So Joseph came through David then through Solomon?" "Yes, that is correct." "Wait a second, isn't Jeconiah in that line?" "Yes he is, why?" "Well what about the curse of Jeremiah 22:30? Wouldn't that
disqualify him from being king?" "Yes, you're right." "So Joseph and all his children would be disqualified?" "That's correct." "Well, did David have any other sons?" "Yes, he did. He had other sons. One was Nathan." "Well, let's trace the kingly line through Nathan in Luke
3:23-38." If we begin with verse 38 and read backwards and focus our
attention on verse 31, we see that this line, likewise, came through David
(just like Matthew 1:6). But here we find a strange twist. Solomon is missing
from this line. By coming through Nathan, Solomon is bypassed and thus so
is Jeconiah. This line ends mysteriously in a man named Heli (verse 23).
Heli had no sons. However, he had three daughters. One of his daughters was
named Mary. Isn't that an interesting coincidence! Mary then just happened to
fall in love with the carpenter named Joseph and they married. So Heli's
son-in-law became Joseph. Now ask this thinking Jew this question. "Did Mary have a
Son? . . . .Well did she?" "Well, yes she did." "Who was He?" "Well, he had a questionable birth." "Oh, I see. . . but what was his name?" "Jesus!" "What was that again?" "Jesus!" "So then legally this One called Jesus has the right to the throne
of Israel?" "Yes!" "Well, what about his royal right as the first born? Did
Joseph legally adopt Jesus Christ as his firstborn son?" "Yes, he did." "Is that an acceptable practice in Israel." "Yes." "Then according to the historical record Jesus Christ is the
only legal, royal heir to the throne of Israel?" "Yes, that is true." What a magnificent plan! By being conceived by the Holy Spirit
(Luke 1:30-35), Jesus Christ bypassed the Adamic sin nature passed down
genetically from Adam (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22). Mary, because of her bloodline, gave Him his legal right to the
throne. Thus he was in the bloodline of David and also free from the curse of
Coniah. Joseph gave Him his royal right to the throne of Israel because Jesus
was adopted as his firstborn Son. Could man in his human genius ever have conceived such an
incredible plot and then communicated it in a book? I think not! No one will
be king of the earth until the One who has the legal, royal right to the
throne comes. "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne
of David and over his kingdom, to order it, and establish it with judgment
and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this" (Isa. 9:6-7). "Blessed are all those who put
their trust in Him" (Psa. 2:12). New
American Standard Bible Dr.
Art Crawford Bible
Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament The
Works of Josephus |
God
reveals to us His wisdom as He preserves the line of Jesus Christ in a
miraculous way. |