His mother's name - On the position of the "queen mother" see 1 Kings 15:10 note. Nehushta's rank and dignity are strongly marked by the distinct and express mention which is made of her in almost every place where her son's history is touched (2 Kings 24:12; compare Jeremiah 22:26; Jeremiah 29:2).

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old - He is called Jeconiah, 1 Chronicles 3:16, and Coniah, Jeremiah 22:24. In 2 Chronicles 36:9, be is said to be only eight years of age, but this must be a mistake; for we find that, having reigned only three months, he was carried captive to Babylon, and there he had wives; and it is very improbable that a child between eight and nine years of age could have wives; and of such a tender age, it can scarcely be said that, as a king, he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. The place in Chronicles must be corrupted.

That he was a grievous offender against God, we learn from Jeremiah 22:24, which the reader may consult; and in the man's punishment, see his crimes.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign,.... In 2 Chronicles 36:9 he is said to be but eight years old; which may be reconciled by observing, that he might be made and declared king by his father, in the first year of his reign, who reigned eleven years, so that he was eight years old when he began to reign with him, and eighteen when he began to reign alone (q). Dr. Lightfoot (r) gives another solution of this difficulty, that properly speaking he was eighteen years old when he began to reign, but, in an improper sense, the son of eight years, or the eighth year, as the Hebrew phrase is; that is, he fell in the lot of the eighth year of the captivity of Judah, which was in the latter end of the third, or the beginning of the fourth of his father's reign, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar's, and it was now in the eighth of Nebuchadnezzar that he was king, see 2 Kings 24:12, but very probably in 2 Chronicles 36:9 there is a mistake in the copyist of eight for eighteen, since in the Arabic and Syriac versions it is there eighteen, as here:

he reigned in Jerusalem three months; the ten days besides are here omitted for shortness, 2 Chronicles 36:9.

and his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem; a person no doubt well known in those times.

(q) So in Seder Olam Rabba, c. 25. (r) Works, vol. 1. p. 122.

(cf. 2 Chronicles 36:9 and 2 Chronicles 36:10). Jehoiachin, יהויכין or יויכין (Ezekiel 1:2), i.e., he whom Jehovah fortifies, called יכניהוּ in 1 Chronicles 3:16-17, and Jeremiah 27:20; Jeremiah 28:4, etc., and כּניהוּ in Jeremiah 22:24, Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 37:1, probably according to the popular twisting and contraction of the name Jehoiachin, was eighteen years old when he ascended the throne (the eight years of the Chronicles are a slip of the pen), and reigned three months, or, according to the more precise statement of the Chronicles, three months and ten days, in the spirit of his father. Ezekiel (Ezekiel 19:5-7) describes him not only as a young lion, who learned to prey and devoured men, like Jehoahaz, but also affirms of him that he knew their (the deceased men's) widows, i.e., ravished them, and destroyed their cities-that is to say, he did not confine his deeds of violence to individuals, but extended them to all that was left behind by those whom he had murdered, viz., to their families and possessions; and nothing is affirmed in Jeremiah 22:24 and Jeremiah 22:28 respecting his character at variance with this. His mother Nehushta was a daughter of Elnathan, a ruler of the people, or prince, from Jerusalem (Jeremiah 26:22; Jeremiah 36:12, Jeremiah 36:25).

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.

24:8 To reign - In his eighth year he began to reign with his father, who made him king with him as divers other kings of Israel and Judah had done in times of trouble; and in his eighteenth year he reigned alone.

Jehoiachin: also called Jeconiah and Coniah

Margin eighteen

Cf. 2Chr 36:9 1Cor 10:8. See Scofield Note: "1Cor 10:8".

2Ki 24:8, 9. Jehoiachin Succeeds Him.

8. Jehoiachin-that is, "God-appointed," contracted into Jeconiah and Coniah (Jer 22:24).

eighteen years old when he began to reign-At the age of eight his father took him into partnership in the government (2Ch 36:9). He began to reign alone at eighteen.

24:8-20 Jehoiachin reigned but three months, yet long enough to show that he justly smarted for his fathers' sins, for he trod in their steps. His uncle was intrusted with the government. This Zedekiah was the last of the kings of Judah. Though the judgments of God upon the three kings before him might have warned him, he did that which was evil, like them. When those intrusted with the counsels of a nation act unwisely, and against their true interest, we ought to notice the displeasure of God in it. It is for the sins of a people that God hides from them the things that belong to the public peace. And in fulfilling the secret purposes of his justice, the Lord needs only leave men to the blindness of their own minds, or to the lusts of their own hearts. The gradual approach of Divine judgments affords sinners space for repentance, and believers leisure to prepare for meeting the calamity, while it shows the obstinacy of those who will not forsake their sins.