Looking Back for Jehoiachin

Looking Back for Jehoiachin examines the life and legacy of the last living Davidic king during the Babylonian captivity. It investigates the names Yehoyachin, Yeconiah, and Coniahu in the Hebrew Bible, Yechonias in the Septuagint, Intertestamental literature, and the New Testament. It also surveys those extrabiblical inscriptions that contribute to a thorough account of this king.

The ninety- to one-hundred-day ""evil"" tenure of Jehoiachin and his exile to Babylon should have finalized the evaluation of his reign, but the revision of his legacy into a thoroughgoing hagiography in Josephus, the rabbinic writings, and the New Testament is notable.

Jehoiachin's is the linking name between Abraham, David, and Jesus Christ in the genealogy list of Matthew 1. Jehoiachin's captivity provides a fascinating study on the longevity of the promises of the Old Testament for a future, eternal King of Judah and Israel.


""It is with a special bit of pride and joy that I greet the revision and publication of James Critchlow's dissertation. It covers one of the most important eras in Israel's later history and the life of a neglected but pivotal player in the events of Judah's last days before the Babylonian captivity: King Jehoiachin.""
--Walter C. Kaiser Jr., President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

""James Critchlow has produced nothing less than a uniquely valuable contribution to biblical studies with this thorough and insightful monograph on Jehoiachin. . . . Readers of this book will not only encounter a trove of biblical-era history and Old and New Testament theology, but will come to appreciate the pivotal nature of Israel's last legitimate king. . . . It's a serious book, but very readable, with both scholarly perquisites, including a comprehensive bibliography on Jehoiachin, and popular, practical insights.""
--Doug Stuart, Professor of Old Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary


James R. Critchlow is Ranked Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biblical Languages and Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of West Point and served twenty years in the U.S. Army prior to graduating from the University of Edinburgh.