Son of Jehoiakim and, therefore, grandson of Josiah, who ruled Judah for just three short months upon the death of his father soon after his rebellion against his Babylonian overload. As an act of punishment Jehoiachin was dethroned and , together with other officials (including Ezekiel) taken into exile (the First Deportation). Despite his short reign, the author of Kings thought poorly of him; "he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father did" (2 Ki 24:9).
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His father, Jehoiakim had originally been set on the thone by the Egyptians but became a Babylonian vassal after Nebuchadnezzer dealt the Egyptian a fatal blow at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. Jehoiakim, however, was an unhappy Babylonian subject and in c.601 had rebelled against his suzerain. In 598 Nebuchadnezzar marched south to set things right, but Jehoiakim died—possibly murdered by his own officers—just before the former's arrival in Judah, and eighteen-year-old Jehoiachin was set on the throne. Jerusalem was breached on 15/16 Mar 597 but Nebuchadnezzar chose not destroy the city. Instead he had Jehoiachin hauled off as hostage to Babylon and replaced him with his uncle Zedekiah as king.
Jehoiachin remained in prison until 562 when he was released from prison by Nebuchanessar's successor, Evil-Merodach; "In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived" (2 Ki 25:27-30). Jehoiachin left behind several sons, from one of whom came Zerubbabel who later led the return of the exiles to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple (1 Chron 16-19; Ezr 3:2).
Despite his exile, Jehoiachin remained the focus of hope for the Jews left behind. Hananiah, e.g., proffered false hopes for the people when he prophesied that, "within two years," Yahweh would break the yoke of Nebuchadnessar and bring back to Jerusalem Jehoiachin and all the articles from the temple that had been taken away into exile (Jer 28). Jeremiah, on the other hand, foretold that no such thing will take place, that Jehoiachin would never return to the land. The vision given to Jeremiah of the baskets of good and bad figs (Jer 24) also presents a startling idea of what the exiled means; "Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart" (vv5-7). The fact that the book of Kings ends with the report of Jehoiachin's release from prison and generous treatment by the Babylonian king makes Jehoiachin, thus, a subject of hope of redemption rather than despair, though not in the way Hananiah would have it.
Matthew's genealogy of Jesus reports Jehoiachin as Jeconiah.
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