Lives of Scripture

Evil-merodach became king of Babylon following his father Nebuchadnezzar, and in the very first year of his reign performed an act of remarkable grace: he released Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah who had been a prisoner in Babylon for thirty-seven years, from confinement (2 Kings 25:27; Jeremiah 52:31). The text describes the gesture in careful detail -- Evil-merodach "spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon," changed Jehoiachin's prison clothes, and had him eat at the king's own table "regularly, all the days of his life" (2 Kings 25:28-29; Jeremiah 52:32-33). The narrative adds that Jehoiachin received a regular allowance from the king for the rest of his days (2 Kings 25:30; Jeremiah 52:34). This brief episode closes both 2 Kings and the book of Jeremiah, forming the final note of two of Scripture's darkest historical books -- accounts otherwise dominated by covenant unfaithfulness, siege, destruction, and exile. Evil-merodach's motives are not explained; Scripture records only the fact of his kindness and its concrete, lasting effects on the last king of David's line then living. Ancient Babylonian records independently confirm rations issued to a captive identified with Jehoiachin, lending historical support to the biblical account.