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The greatest hope of the religious Jews throughout the ages has been the hope of the Messiah, a Jewish man who is to bring peace on earth and set Israel at the head of the nations. In the Talmud, a collection of traditions and commentaries from the Post-Biblical period (from about 300 B.C.E. until about 500 C.E.), there are two messiahs mentioned--one who suffers and is rejected by his people and another who reigns gloriously. The Suffering Messiah is called Messiah Son of Joseph (Mashiach Ben-Yosef) because, like Joseph, he is rejected by his brothers. Thus, this Messiah is rejected by Israel. The Glorious Messiah is called Messiah Son of David (Mashiach Ben-David) for two reasons. First of all, like David he will reign gloriously over Israel and subjugate the other nations under Israel. The second reason that he is called Messiah Son of David is that he must be a physical descendant of David, according to the Tenach (Old Testament). For the purposes of this study, we are going to talk about the descent of the Messiah Son of David.
The first mention that the Glorious Messiah must come from David is found in II Samuel 7:12-16:
When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever (NIV).
In this Biblical passage, G-d is promising that the Davidic dynasty would be eternal. If the Davidic king were to commit sin, he would be punished in things of this world, but the dynasty would never be cut off. Beginning with this promise, Israel's Messianic expectation was to have the blessing of G-d by living under the "Lord's Anointed" (Messiah comes from the Hebrew Mashiach, which means "anointed one"). This expectation increased under Solomon, the king who built the First Temple. Every king of Israel was the Messiah for his generation, including even Saul (I Sam. 24:9-10, etc.). Also, the High Priest was called "the priest that is anointed" (Heb. Haccohen Hammashiach, Lev. 4:3,5,16). Sometimes, even a prophet was anointed to begin his ministry (I Kings 19:16).
After the reign of Solomon, with all the peace and prosperity that accompanied it, the hopes of the people for a lasting peace were dashed by the division of the kingdom into Israel (the 10 northern tribes) and Judah (the kingdom of the South, with Judah and Benjamin, the Temple, the Levites from the whole country, and Rehoboam, the Davidic King; cf. II Chronicles 11:5-14). For all the years up to the Babylonian captivity, the Messianic hope was that the Davidic King would eventually reunite the two kingdoms and restore the glory that existed in the days of Solomon.
By the time of Isaiah, it was obvious that there was going to be a great punishment from G-d, instead of the awaited glory. The kings of Judah became worse and worse, in spite of the strong warning of seeing Israel taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C.E. Since the reign of Manasseh (II Kings 21:1-18), it was certain that the captivity of Judah would occur, as threatened by G-d in Deuteronomy 28:36-48. For this reason, in chapters 40-66, Isaiah stops exhorting Judah to repent (because they wouldn't listen), and focuses on the Suffering Messiah, the Glorious Messiah, and the glorious future for Israel way beyond the coming captivity (see chapters 42,53,60,61,65,66).
Some believe, but not all, that Isaiah 40-66 is not the work of another author, but rather of the same author in other circumstances. The sins are similar, but worse: perverting the case of widows and orphans (10:1-2, cf. 59:4-9), religious hypocrisy (29:13, cf. 58:2-4), etc. The idolatry condemned is worse than in the first part of the book. In 57:4-5, Isaiah condemns idolatry in high places, religious prostitution, and the sacrifice of infants to Molech, practices common in the reign of Manasseh (II Kings 21:6; II Chronicles 33:6). In 57:7 Isaiah condemns worship in high places (Hebrew, bamot), a practice common before, but not during the captivity. During the captivity it was not possible because Babylon is flat and has no mountains. In fact, none of the above condemned practices existed during the exile in Babylon. Thus we see that Isaiah 40-66 refers to the period of Manasseh.
After Manasseh there was an almost continuous chain of bad kings up until the Babylonian captivity: Amon (II Kings 21:19-26), Jehoahaz (23:31-35), Jehoiakim (23:36--24:7), Jehoiachin (24:8-16), and Zedekiah (an uncle of Jehoiachin, not in the royal line, 24:18-25:7). The only exception was Josiah (22:1--23:30), a good king who took away idolatry (23:24-27). However, the sin of Manasseh had been definitive in bringing on Judah the exile (23:26) in spite of these reforms.
In the times of Jeremiah, just as Israel was going into exile, G-d made two declarations that appeared contradictory about the last Davidic King over Judah, Jehoiachin (or Coniah). The first declaration was that, of his physical descendants, no one would ever sit upon the throne of David, in spite of the fact that they would continue to inherit the rights to sit on it. In Jeremiah 22:28-30 G-d says:
Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: "Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah (NIV)."
Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon, where Shealtiel was born and continued the royal line, but no one from this line ever sat on the throne of David again because of this curse -- even Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, who was a prominent leader of the return from exile.
The second declaration by G-d through Jeremiah, which appears to contradict the first, is in chapter 33:14-17:
"In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness." For this is what the Lord says, "David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel (NIV)."
As we put together the two declarations, we note that, from Jehoiachin onward, the heirs of the Throne of David cannot sit on it, but that the line will not lack a man to sit upon the throne. There was also promised a "Righteous Branch," a man who would raise up the Throne of David and who would also sit upon it. Beginning, then, with the deportation into Babylon, the expectation of the Messiah, Son of David, became a longing for the appearance of a future figure. The Israelites could see the descendant of David in each generation, but he was not anointed (Messiah for his generation) nor did he reign, because of the curse of Jehoiachin.
Answer for yourself: How could this dilemma be resolved? How could one be born in the royal line of David and inherit the rights to the Throne of David without being a descendant of Jehoiachin and inheriting the curse also?
Many creative attempts to explain this prophecy can be found throughout Church History as well as answers written within the New Testament. Such answers run the gamut from the creation of a virgin birth scenario to remove the Christ-child from human linage as well as convoluted and conflicting genealogies in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke where are pure nonsense if one tackles such a study. In reality these genealogies are but rubbish and poor attempts to get "Yeshua" out of the cursed lineage.
Answer for yourself: Is there an answer to this Jehoiachin problem? Stay tuned.
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