TEXT [Commentary]
4. Hope for Israel’s royal line (25:27-30)
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to[*] Jehoiachin and released him[*] from prison on April 2 of that year.[*] 28 He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. 29 He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 30 So the king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived.
NOTES
25:27 thirty-seventh year. I have argued elsewhere that this was indeed a significant year (exactly 480 years after the accession of David, as reckoned by antedating; see the commentary for details).
Evil-merodach. Son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, his Babylonian name was “Amel-Marduk.” Harkins (2007) suggests that the Hebrew version of his name (’ewil merodak [TH192, ZH213]) contains a pun, with ’ewil [TH3807, ZH216] meaning “foolish.” In any case, he lasted only two years on the throne, being assassinated by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who in turn reigned for five years.
He was kind to. This is perhaps a too-vague translation of the Hebrew, which reads “he raised the head of” (cf. NLT mg). Elsewhere this idiom denotes “taking note of, paying special attention to” (Gen 40:13, 19, 20; but there the expression can be both positive and negative). In the present passage, the sense may well be “to pardon” or the like (Cogan and Tadmor 1988:328), but the less specific NLT translation well conveys the tenor of the Hebrew.
released him from prison. Most commentators suggest a kind of amnesty given to commemorate Evil-merodach’s accession or the like (cf. Cogan and Tadmor 1988:329; Sweeney 2007:469-470). Wiseman (1985:115) notes the later tradition of strong antipathy between Evil-merodach and his father Nebuchadnezzar, the former, at the instigation of Jehoiachin, even removing the latter’s corpse from the grave and disposing of it!
25:28 spoke kindly. The same idiom is found in 1 Kgs 12:7; there the sense is to speak “appeasing” words (Cogan 2001:348).
gave him a higher place. Lit., “placed his throne above (the thrones of the kings who were with him)”; for the names of some of those “other kings,” cf. the “Unger Prism” of Nebuchadnezzar (Cogan and Tadmor 1988:329).
25:29 dine in the king’s presence. For Sweeney’s comparison with David and Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, see the references in the next note.
25:30 as long as he lived. See the commentary for the slight variation in the Jeremiah parallel. Note that this is how both the books of Kings and Jeremiah come to an end. For the indication that this is the end of the Davidic dynasty, and also the final outworking of the curse of Elijah, pronounced in the ninth century BC on the descendants of Ahab and Jezebel (so Sweeney 2007:343, 349, 363), see the commentary on 14:1-22.
COMMENTARY [Text]
This final section of 2 Kings is probably an appendix to the Deuteronomistic History (Cogan and Tadmor 1988:329-330). Wiseman (1993:308-309, 317) labels it a “second appendix” (the “first appendix” being 24:8–25:26). Many discount its importance for the overall Deuteronomistic History, but I, for one, will not follow in their footsteps.
Young Jehoiachin, ill-starred as king, finally gets (in a sense) his rightful due in this brief but significant section of Scripture. After a 43-year reign, Nebuchadnezzar is finally gone. But Jehoiachin and his children are still around. For whatever reason, Jehoiachin had been put in prison, but then he was released—and not only that, he was given special honor. He was able to retain that honor, evidently, up to the time the books of Kings “went to press” (contrast Jer 52:34, which ends with a reference to the “day of his death”). Thus, a sweet, if quite muted, ending to these books filled with bloodshed, heartache, and tragedy is to be found here.
People who write history obviously cannot make up things, nor do they have much “wiggle room” with how to conclude their story (e.g., the fact that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the very same day, July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years—to the day—after the ratification of the Declaration of Independence back in 1776, would seem too bizarre for coincidence if it were not so well attested in the historical record). So it is here—at least, that is what I concluded decades ago (for the details, see Barnes 1991:137-149; and for a synopsis, see “Excursus on Chronology” in the Introduction). By ancient rules of reckoning (i.e., antedating), according to the Judahite listing of kings from David to the Exile, Jehoiachin’s release from prison took place exactly 480 years after the first crowning of King David on the throne of Judah (to be sure, the actual length of time by modern reckoning was more like 449 years [cf. Barnes 1991:146], but that would not have been evident to the ancient editor). I admit that there is no attestation of any editorial awareness of such a 480-year period of time found anywhere in Kings (although a 480-year period of time between the Exodus and the founding of the first Temple is clearly noted in 1 Kgs 6:1). Nevertheless, in my opinion, it is too remarkable a number to be merely an accident. In any case, in this final appendix to this long and involved history of God’s people, we are reminded that one era may be over but another lies ahead. And as I so often have noted throughout this commentary, the Davidic hope still lives! And all peoples on earth will eventually be blessed by that wonderful fact. To God be the glory!