The omitted kings in the 3rd period of Jesus' genealogy
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Scripture reading: Matt. 1:11
Scripture reading: Matt. 1:11
and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
Today we turn to the last kings of Judah. Last week we had a look at the kings Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, and we asked the question, “What made them bad kings?” This time, we’re going to include Zedekiah, and we’re going to ask the question, “Why did God omit these three kings from the genealogy of His Son?”
To answer this question, we need to think about the defining characteristics of the genealogy. The genealogy of Jesus was written to show the unceasing flow of the covenant through the spiritual line of faith.
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
So how do we distinguish between the children of the flesh and children of God? The children of God are children of the promise. They have the Word of God. But more than that, the Word must be activated by faith on the part of the believer. And when a person believes in God’s Word, it changes them and transforms them into god-likeness. See, a person would only be censored or erased off the family tree if the head of the family decided that the person did not embody the family likeness. And family likeness covers a wide range of qualities. No one would believe me if I showed a blonde child and said it’s my kid. Many eyebrows would be raised if my kid doesn’t like to eat. So what about the family likeness of Christ? The Bible tells us that it is god-likeness.
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
So what we see here is that the family likeness of Christ is the image of God, beginning from Adam, who inherits the image of God from God Himself, and passes it onto Seth, and so on. In a family, the son inherits the father’s image and likeness, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The field of genetics can explain how the physical image is passed down, but what about the emotional and spiritual image? They are passed down through relational proximity; closer is better. And so the only way for us to manifest the family likeness of God is to receive God’s Word. God’s Word is God’s self-revelation to us, which forms our minds, our souls, and our character. God’s Word enlightens us to who God is and who we are. The line of Seth is thus the line that has the Word of God. So we in the church call each other brothers and sisters in Christ, and we call God our Father, and Jesus our brother.
If we extrapolate this logic further, it means that any generation or period which does not have God’s Word and the family likeness of Seth, does not belong to the genealogy of Christ. And the biggest example of this is the line of Cain, which began with Cain’s departure from God.
We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The line of Cain is the line that says to God, “You’re not my father”, and instead follows the family likeness of the Devil, the father of lies. It’s the sin of idolatry. They refuse God’s Word for the word of the serpent. They were created in the image of God, but they manifest the serpent through murder and lies. The Apostle Paul talks about this in his letter to the Romans.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
And so when we talk about omissions in the genealogy, one of the most helpful metaphors for sin is that of vandalism. Sin is the vandalism of the image of God in us. There have been many acts of art vandalism as of late. Van Gogh’s Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers has been splashed with Heiz tomato soup. But you can still recognize it through the bright orange smears. There’s something still recognizable. It’s still a Van Gogh. But when the vandalism is too much, when there’s nothing of the original image left, when the restoration team cannot do anything about it, then it is a painting lost to the world. The same could be said of those who were omitted from the genealogy. They were lost to the world, they lost the Word of God, and they lost the spiritual image of God beyond all recognition.
So now let’s put this to the test and have a brief look at the omitted generations in the first and second periods, before attending to the three omitted sons of Josiah.
Omitted periods in 1st & 2nd periods of Jesus’ genealogy
Omitted periods in 1st & 2nd periods of Jesus’ genealogy
There were three occasions of omission before that of the Kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah.
430 years in Egypt (Matt. 1:4)
340 years of Judges (Matt. 1:5)
Kings associated with Athaliah (Matt. 1:8)
The first omitted period was the 430 years in Egypt, spread thinly across Hezron, Ram, and Amminadab. Next was the 340 years of the Judges period, sandwiched between Rahab and Ruth. And third was the generation of kings who were associated with Athaliah: Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, and Amaziah.
And each of these omitted generations tells us something new about God’s redemptive history. In Egypt, the Israelites did not worship God. They didn’t have access to God’s Word. They were slaves to Pharaoh and lived under his jurisdiction. But more than that, they were made subject to the various Egyptian idols. So if we were to summarize this period in one word, it would be ‘Ignorance.’
The judges period didn’t fare much better. They did what was right in their own eyes, and the spiral of sin echoed louder and louder like a negative feedback amplification loop. The Israelites had conquered most of Canaan land, but they had assimilated the Canaanites and their idols into Israelites society. Idolatry proliferated, sin became louder and louder, and the Word of God became softer and softer. And in the final chapters from Judges 17-21 what we see is plainly absurd. They are totally unrecognizable. Idolatry, banditry, sodomy, mysogyny, homicide, and civil war barely sums it up. They might share the blood of Seth, but no one would recognize them as children of the promise.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
To summarize this Judges period in one word, it would be ‘Autonomy.’
And the same goes for the kings Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, who were associated with Athaliah, the wife of King Jehoram and daughter-in-law of Jehoshaphat. Athaliah’s marriage with Jehoram had taken placed under the context of alliance between the north and southern kingdoms. The problem is that both kingdoms were united in royal family and idolatry.
Ahaziah walked in the way of the house of Ahab (2 Kgs. 8:27)
Athaliah led them in the way of her parents Ahab and Jezebel, and smuggled Baal worship into the south (2 Kgs. 11:18)
Joash worshiped the Asherim after the high priest Jehoiada died (2 Chr. 24:17-18)
Amaziah worshiped the gods of the sons of Seir (2 Chr. 25:14)
To summarize this period in one word, it would be ‘Idolatry.’
What we see here is that there are many ways to vandalize the image of God in us. Each omitted period has a different emphasis of sin, of walking in the line of Cain.
Egypt period = IGNORANCE
Judges period = AUTONOMY
Athaliah period = IDOLATRY
The omitted sons of Josiah: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, & Zedekiah
The omitted sons of Josiah: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, & Zedekiah
Now let’s turn our attention to the sons of Josiah, the brothers Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. Last week we already saw how Jehoahaz was a man full of talents, but of pride as well. He was dragged off to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco and died there (cf. 2 Kgs. 23:31-33).
Jehoiakim then came to the throne, but inherited a heavy Egyptian debt the needed paying off. And so he squeezed the silver and gold from his people. Nebuchadnezzar came up and subjected him into Babylonian servitude. He rebelled three years later when Egypt managed to gain victory in battle against Babylon, hoping that Egypt would assist Judah as well. Egypt didn’t, and Jehoiakim was bound in chains and taken to Babylon.
Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.
He returned after a fashion, but died, as tradition dictates, several years later in 597BC when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon assaulted the city. He was dragged out of the city, beyond the gates of Jerusalem, and buried like a donkey.
Jer. 22:18-19 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’ They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’ With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.””
Now what about Zedekiah, the last king of Judah?
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah in 588BC, the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, and he was terrified. So he sent someone to ask Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord, and he didn’t like what he heard.
Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. Afterward, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’
But there was an out: the person who surrenders to Babylon will live.
“And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war.
And Jeremiah kept repeating this message: surrender to Babylon and live.
“Thus says the Lord: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live.
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.
So why didn’t Zedekiah listen to God’s Word? It is the same battle over and over again. The line of Seth is the line that has the Word of God, but the serpent keeps whispering his own word into their ears. False prophets started to appear who lied to Zedekiah, saying that he would gain victory.
Then I said: “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”
And so God gives Zedekiah another warning.
So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.
Instead of obeying the Word of God from Jeremiah, Zedekiah had faith in the lies of the serpent and sent envoys to Egypt asking for backup. The Egyptian army came, Babylon backed off, and Zedekiah grew confident.
But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army. Will he thrive? Can one escape who does such things? Can he break the covenant and yet escape?
But once the Egyptian army went back to Egypt, Babylon came up again and beseiged the city of Jerusalem. This took place in the 10th month of the 9th year of Zedekiah’s reign, and lasted until the 4th month of the 11th year of his reign. If we use the Tishri calendar, that amounts to about 30 months. And in the end, the city was breached, Zedekiah was caught, his sons slaughtered in front of his eyes, his eyes were put out, and he was taken to Babylon.
Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There are three common points across the three omitted brothers.
They trusted in things other than God.
They did evil in the sight of the Lord.
They died outside of the city of Jerusalem.
Jehoahaz was dragged off to Egypt, Jehoiakim was dragged outside the city, and Zedekiah was dragged to Babylon. They had faith in foreign entities instead of God, and so they died because of foreign entities like Egypt and Babylon.
They had forsaken the Word of God for the word of the serpent, and abandoned the covenantal promise that should have been theirs to uphold. In their wickedness, godlessness, and stubborn obstinance, they vandalized the spiritual image of God within themselves beyond recognition. God called out to these kings more than any other, but they refused to listen. So if we were to summarize the sons of Josiah period in one word, it would be a period of ‘Obstinacy.’
Egypt period = IGNORANCE
Judges period = AUTONOMY
Athaliah period = IDOLATRY
Sons of Josiah period = OBSTINACY
Ultimately, the omitted generations had no faith in Christ. And we might ask, “How could they possibly have faith in Christ when Christ only came in 4 BC?” But we must remember that Christ Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s covenant. If you had faith in God’s Word and clung onto God’s covenant, then you were having faith in Jesus, even before Jesus was born. And so to put it simply, those who did not carry the covenant in faith found themselves cut off from the spiritual lineage. Here’s what Jesus had to say.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Ironically, the names of the three kings paint us a picture of redemption.
Jehoahaz = YHWH has grasped
Jehoiakim = YHWH has lifted up
Zedekiah = YHWH’s righteousness
See, we were all like Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. We trusted in ourselves or other things, and if not for God’s Holy Spirit, we would still refuse His call to us. But I believe the Lord has grasped us, He has lifted us up from our lowly estate, and into His very own righteousness.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So let us abide in Christ by having faith in His Word. Let us not vandalize the image of God in us, but grow in the family likeness of those who belong to Christ Jesus in His genealogy.
Let us pray.