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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) Write ye this man childless.—The meaning of the prediction, as explained by the latter clause of the verse, was fulfilled in Jeconiah’s being the last kingly representative of the house of David, his uncle Zedekiah, who succeeded him, perishing before him (Jeremiah 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 1Chronicles 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 Matthew 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 (Luke 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 Luke 3:23). The command, “write ye this man childless,” is apparently addressed to the “scribes who kept the register of the royal genealogies (Ezekiel 13:9; Psalm 69:28-29). They were told how, without waiting for his death, they were to enter Coniah’s name in that register.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:20-30 The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secure, but fear lest they should be plucked thence. The Jewish king and his family shall be carried to Babylon. We know where we were born, but where we shall die we know not; it is enough that our God knows. Let it be our care that we die in Christ, then it will be well with us wherever we die, thought it may be in a far country. The Jewish king shall be despised. Time was when he was delighted in; but all those in whom God has no pleasure, some time or other, will be so lowered, that men will have no pleasure in them. Whoever are childless, it is the Lord that writes them so; and those who take no care to do good in their days, cannot expect to prosper. How little is earthly grandeur to be depended upon, or flourishing families to be rejoiced in! But those who hear the voice of Christ, and follow him, have eternal life, and shall never perish, neither shall any enemy pluck them out of his almighty hands.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Childless - No child to sit on David's throne. See 1 Chronicles 3:17 note.

Jeconiah was the last king of David's line. His uncle indeed actually reigned after him, but perished with his sons long before Jeconiah's 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" Jeremiah 23:5-6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29, 30. O earth! earth! earth!—Jeconiah was not actually without offspring (compare Jer 22:28, "his seed"; 1Ch 3:17, 18; Mt 1:12), but he was to be "written childless," as a warning to posterity, that is, without a lineal heir to his throne. It is with a reference to the three kings, Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah, that the earth is thrice invoked [Bengel]. Or, the triple invocation is to give intensity to the call for attention to the announcement of the end of the royal line, so far as Jehoiachin's seed is concerned. Though Messiah (Mt 1:1-17), the heir of David's throne, was lineally descended from Jeconiah, it was only through Joseph, who, though His legal, was not His real father. Matthew gives the legal pedigree through Solomon down to Joseph; Luke the real pedigree, from Mary, the real parent, through Nathan, brother of Solomon, upwards (Lu 3:31).

no man of his seed … upon the throne—This explains the sense in which "childless" is used. Though the succession to the throne failed in his line, still the promise to David (Ps 89:30-37) was revived in Zerubbabel and consummated in Christ.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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 1 Chronicles 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 ruler’s place in Judah, but only some that lived in a mean condition in captivity, amongst whom Salathiel is named, Matthew 1:12, as a progenitor of Christ.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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, 2 Chronicles 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 Luke 3:29, compared with Matthew 1:12; and See Gill on Luke 3:29 and See Gill on Luke 3:31 and See Gill on Matthew 1:12.

Geneva Study Bible

Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this {t} 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.

(t) Not that he had no children (for later he begat Salathiel in the captivity, Mt 1:12) but that none would reign after him as king.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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

childless] In 1 Chronicles 3:17, etc. he appears to have had children, and Shealtiel (Matthew 1:12) is reckoned as his son. Shealtiel was, however, descended from David through his son Nathan (Luke 3:27-31) and not through the line of the kings (Solomon, Rehoboam, etc.), and thus was only counted to Jehoiachin (“Jechoniah” of Matthew 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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - Write ye this man childless; i.e. enter him in the register of the citizens (comp. Isaiah 4:3) as one who has no heirs. He may have children, but none of them shall succeed to his place in the community. This is all that the passage means; there is no discrepancy with history: how should there be, when Jeremiah himself has mentioned the posterity of Jehoiachin (ver. 28 and the latter part of this verse)? Yet the Septuagint thought it necessary to avoid the appearance of such a discrepancy by rendering, not "childless," but "one proscribed" (ἐκκήρυκτον).



Jeremiah 22:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The land is to take the king's fate sore to heart. The triple repetition of the summons: Land, gives it a special emphasis, and marks the following sentence as of high importance; cf. Jeremiah 7:4; Ezekiel 21:32; Isaiah 6:3. Write him down, record him in the family registers, as childless, i.e., as a man with whom his race becomes extinct. This is more definitely intimated in the parallel member, namely, that he will not have the fortune to have any of his posterity sit on the throne of David. This does not exclude the possibility of his having sons; it merely implies that none of them should obtain the throne. ערירי sig. lit., solitary, forsaken. Thus a man might well be called who has lost his children by death. Acc. to 1 Chronicles 3:16., Jechoniah had two sons, Zedekiah and Assir, of whom the former died childless, the second had but one daughter; and from her and her husband, of the line of Nathan, was born Shealtiel, who also died childless; see the expos. of 1 Chronicles 3:16. Jechoniah was followed on the throne by his uncle Mattaniah, whom Nebuchadnezzar installed under the name of Zedekiah. He it was that rose in insurrection against the king of Babylon, and after the capture of Jerusalem was taken prisoner while in flight; and being carried before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, saw his sons put to death before his eyes, was then made blind, thrown in chains, and carried a prisoner to Babylon, 2 Kings 25:4.