Preface:   It appears that Coniah (also known as Jeconiah), a descendant of King David, is supposed to be cut out of the line of Christ in Jer. 22:24–30. However, we find his name in Matt. 1:11, which is a part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. So what gives?

This is a fascinating doctrine, which has parallels to the sin nature; that is, Coniah himself illustrates the sin nature, and the necessity of the virgin birth.

A great many weird accusations have been made about the Bible, including the idea that so many men got in a room, chose which books to insert, and edited the books so that the Bible would teach doctrines that this elite group favored. This is historically inaccurate, impossible at any point in time, and doctrines like the Coniah Curse show us just how complex and intricate the Bible actually is.

This doctrine of the Coniah curse is based upon the writings of three different men, the first of whom is separated from the second two men by a period of over 600 years. We know this to be true, as there was already a Greek translation of the Old Testament in use when Matthew and Luke came on the scene. The concept of the virgin birth can really be traced back all the way to the 3^rd chapter of Genesis, as well as to the writings of Isaiah. The concept of the sin nature is found throughout Scripture.

I will place the Definition of Terms at the end of this doctrine. Many of these terms were developed by R. B. Thieme, Jr.; but there are technical theological terms included as well. The words will be double-hyperlinked so that clicking on the first use of a technical term will take you to its definition; and you can click on the term next to the definition and be taken back to where you were in the doctrine.

The Coniah Curse (a graphic) from TheNey03 on YouTube; accessed December 11, 2013.

I have covered this doctrine, both within the exegesis of Luke 3 and as a stand-alone doctrine. Both will be presented below:

The Two Genealogies and the Coniah Curse:

There is a very important difference in these two genealogies. From Abraham to David, the genealogies recorded by Matthew and Luke are the same; however Joseph’s genealogy (in Matthew) picks up with Solomon and follows the royal line to Joseph; but Mary’s genealogy (in Luke) picks up with Nathan (presumably Solomon’s younger brother) and follows his line to Jesus.

As we view these two genealogies, bear in mind that Luke begins with Jesus and works backwards to Adam (and to God); Matthew begins with Abraham and works forward to Joseph, Jesus’ step-father.

Luke 3:31b –32a ...the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse,... (unless otherwise noted, the ESV; capitalized will be used in this first section)

Matt. 1:6 ...and Jesse fathered David the king. And David the king fathered Solomon out of her who had been the wife of Uriah,... (Green’s literal translation)

This is where the two lines diverge. The book of Luke presents the line of Heli to Nathan (Heli being the Lord’s genetic grandfather) and the book of Matthew presents the line as going forward from Solomon to Joseph (called the future husband of Mary in Matt. 1:16 and called the supposed father of Jesus in Luke 3:23). Joseph is never tied genetically to Jesus; Joseph is the legal father of Jesus; and throughout his life, he was presumed to be the father of Jesus (even though he wasn’t).

There are two different lines leading to Jesus—the line of Abraham to Jesus, through Solomon, found in Matt. 1:1–16. This is the legal line of Jesus, going from Abraham to Joseph, who is Jesus’ adopted father, but not genetic father. The line in Luke 3 is the actual line of the humanity of Jesus, which goes through Nathan, the son of David, proceeding eventually to Jesus Himself. Both of these lines are identical between Abraham and David; but Joseph and Mary are descended from different sons of David. They are 25^th cousins, give or take.

In the line of David, we come down to Josiah, one of Israel’s last good kings; whose son was Jehoiakim; whose son was the father of Jechoniah (1Chron. 3:16 Matt. 1:11). Jechoniah was cursed by God.

In the book of Matthew, Joseph’s genealogy goes through Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah or Coniah). This line reads:

Matt. 1:10–12 ...and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,... (ESV)

Jeconiah was evil, as was his generation, so that God caused them all to be deported to Babylon as a national punishment (also known as the 5^th stage of national disciple or the 5^th cycle of discipline). For Israel to be forced out of the land, things had to get pretty bad. Very often, when a nation reaches such a stage when maximum discipline is applied by God, both the leaders and the people are in maximum reversionism (or maximum negative volition towards the plan of God). Whereas, I believe that Coniah was (or eventually became) a believer in the Revealed God, we do not know about the people of Israel. No doubt many were; but it appears that believers in Israel did not grow spiritually during Coniah’s reign.`

The Coniah curse is found in Jer. 22:24, which will present in a fuller context:

Jer. 22:24–27 "As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return." (ESV; capitalized)

God says, if Coniah were a signet ring on His hand, that He would tear that ring off. Does this sound like the line of the Messiah?

Jer. 22:28–30 Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land that they do not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD: "Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah." (ESV, emphasis mine)

Because of the evil done by Coniah, if he were a signet ring on God’s hand, God would tear him off. There is no future for the line of Coniah. God calls for this man to be childless, and that no man will succeed him in his days. None of his children will follow him in sitting on David’s exalted throne. Nevertheless, Coniah’s line continues, as testified to in both the Old and New Testaments. Jeconiah is the father of Shealtiel and Shealtiel fathers Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel, as some of you might know, would be the leader to return to Jerusalem, to build up the walls of the city once again.

The phrasing found here is interesting. This does not read, Let this man be childless; it says instead, Write this man down as childless... The Hebrew word for write is kâthab (כָּתַב) [pronounced kaw-THAHB^V]. In the Qal imperative, it means, write, write down, record [chronicle, document], direct or decree in writing, proscribe; describe. Strong's #3789 BDB #507. Jeconiah is childless by decree or childless by record; but he is not in fact childless, as he does sire children. So, how do I explain the difference? A king may have bastard sons—sons who are genetically his through an affair (or even by a long-standing relationship), but children who are not heirs to his throne (as they are not sons of the wife of the king). As far as many are concerned, these are not his children; and they are not recorded anywhere as being the king’s children. They will never be royalty. This is the way in which Coniah is childless; he is decreed in writing to be childless. He is childless in the way that is most important to a king—particularly as a king on the throne of Judah. His line would no longer yield a royal son and his line would not lead to David’s Greater Son. Jeconiah’s son (s) would never sit on the throne of Judah (which is the remaining southern kingdom).

If Jesus were descended from Coniah, then He could not sit upon the throne of David, as per this curse. Jeconiah had a son (or sons) but they would not sit upon the throne of Israel (actually, Judah).

Jehoiachin’s reign is described in both 2Kings 24:8–16 and more briefly in...

2Chron. 36:9–10 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the LORD, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Nebuchadnezzar did not besiege Judah for a few months, but waged a campaign that apparently went on for many years. After 3 years, the removal of the people of Israel was begun (Daniel 1:1–5); and after 8 years, nearly all were removed (2Kings 24:8–12). With that, the royal family and nearly all the people of Israel were removed from the land (only the poorest remained behind—2Kings 24:14).

Whatever Coniah did was so bad, that the people were removed from the land for 70 years (obviously, the people had turned cold towards God as well, as God is not going to remove an entire people simply because their leader is evil). Coniah was the appropriate leader for the people of Jacob. Coniah was the leader that the people of Israel deserved at that time.

Application: I write this in October of 2020, with a presidential election on the near horizon. Always remember that, a people get the leader they deserve. It does not matter how much politicking that you do, or how many articles you splash on your fb page, the leader which God has determined, the leader who is appropriate, that is the leader that we will get. This may help to explain why we have had so few great presidents in this nation.

Application: The United States is a client nation to God, just as Israel was. Because of this, there is great blessing, but also great scrutiny and, sometimes, great punishment. There are dozens of memes out there portraying 2020 as an horrendous year. However,

if our nation is on the downhill slide, 2020 will seem like a picnic to subsequent years. We need to turn around spiritually as a nation, if we expect to continue in the great blessing that we have enjoyed.

Don’t Ever Go To 2020 (a meme); from Know Your Meme; accessed October 23, 2020.

Back to our topic, which is the Coniah curse.

Surprisingly enough, after 37 years in prison, the next Babylonia leader Evil-merodach, set Coniah free and dined with him, giving Coniah an allowance to live off of. The graciousness of Evil-merodach was no doubt representative of the graciousness of God; which suggests that Coniah had a change of heart towards the God of his people. Yet the Coniah curse still stands.

Again, the curse is: Jer. 22:24, 30 "As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off Thus says the LORD: "Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah."

Although Coniah was not literally childless, the complete independence of nation Israel along with its kingly throne had come to an end. Coniah’s genealogical line continued down to Joseph, but, because Joseph was not the real father of Jesus, Coniah’s line did not lead to the Eternal King. It was cut off, so to speak, with Joseph. There were no more royal sons in the line of Coniah; in that way, he is written off as childless.

But there is another line of David, through his son Nathan, which leads us to Mary (that is the line that we are studying here in Luke 3), and this becomes the true royal line, culminating in the Greater Son of David.

The sin nature is passed along by the human father; and this is illustrated by the Coniah curse. Throughout the Bible there are a number of real things which also are illustrative. Coniah is a real person, and he illustrates a real thing (the sin nature).

The Coniah Curse and the Passing Down of the Sin Nature

1.     God made many promises to Abraham which were continued to David; David was promised that a King from his line would sit on the throne of Israel forever (this is known as the Davidic Covenant). Psalm 89 2.     This Eternal King is Jesus Christ, also called the Son of David. Matt. 1:1 9:27 3.     However, in David’s line there was a king so horrible and God cursed him for all time. This is Jeconiah, also known as Coniah. Jer. 22:24–30 "As I live," says the LORD, "though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it. In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die. They will never return to the land they long to return to." Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known? Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah. (HCSB; emphasis mine) 4.     However, Coniah’s name is found in the line of David, and in the line of Christ in Matt. 1:11. At first, that would seem problematic, as God certainly made it sound as though he is cut out of the Davidic Covenant. 5.     So, how is this man kept out of the line of Christ? Matt. 1:11 is the legal line of Christ, going from Abraham to Joseph. Joseph is Jesus’ legal father, but not His genetic father. Jesus is not actually descended from Coniah, even though His legal father, Joseph, was. 6.     Coniah represents the sin nature. The sin nature cannot be in the line of Christ. Jesus cannot inherit a sin nature. No one with a sin nature can die for our sins. 7.     The sinless Jesus Christ died for our sins. God had Christ, Who was sinless, take our sin so that we might receive God's approval through Him. (2Cor. 5:21; God’s Word capitalized) 8.     Joseph, in the line of Coniah, is not the genetic father of Jesus. Therefore, Coniah is not in the line of Christ. Matt. 1:18–19 David’s Family Graphic from Pastor Ed Collins; accessed April 23, 2014.   9.     The genetic line of Jesus does not proceed through David and his son Solomon to Jesus; but through David and his son Nathan and eventually to Jesus. Compare Matt. 1:6 with Luke 3:31. 10.   So Coniah, representative of the sin nature, is kept out of the genetic line of Jesus Christ; just as the sin nature is not passed along to Jesus, because there was no contribution from a human father. It is the human father who passes down the sin nature. This is why the virgin birth is so important. We inherit the sin nature from our father only. Since Jesus Christ had no human father, He was not born with a sin nature. 11.   Adam sinned knowingly; but his wife sinned because she was deceived. So they are both fallen, but the nature of their original sins is different. 1Tim. 2:13–15 12.   Because of the difference of their sins, God has dealt with the man and woman differently. From the very beginning, the Savior would be born as the seed of the woman. Even as far back as Gen. 3:15, God spoke of the seed of the woman, which would be the natural enemy of the seed of the serpent. 13.   Thus the importance of the virgin birth, which is more than a sign. The virgin birth is the means by which Jesus is born without an indwelling sin nature. Isa. 7:14 Matt. 1:23 Luke 1:35 John 1:14 Heb. 4:15 7:26 1John 3:5 14.   Therefore, Jesus is born without a sin nature because he had no human father. He is also born outside of the line of Coniah, who represents the passing along of the human sin nature. Coniah is cursed; and the sin nature is our curse.