God is Sovereign Over all Governments - Matthew 1-2

 Matthew 1:11 (ESV)

11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

God is Sovereign Over All Governments

The above verse might seem like an odd verse for a journal entry.   It is on verse out of sixteen that speak about the genealogy of Jesus Christ.  In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ earthly life, he is writing primarily to the Jews.  He needs to show them the connection of Jesus of Nazareth to the prophecy of the Messiah.  Matthew need to first make the argument that Jesus was from the line of Abraham and David.   There are, according to verse seventeen, 14 generations between Abraham and David, 14 generations between David and the deportation to Babylon, and 14 generations from the deportation to Babylon and Christ.   The above passage, about Jechoniah is the focus of this entry.  Jehconiah was the first in the 14 generations of the deportation.    

Jechoniah, who’s name is spelled in various ways in the Old Testament, was taken captive by the Babylonians.   He could have been slaughtered.  Yet, the line of Christ needed to be preserved.   Note what happens while he is in captivity:

2 Kings 25:27-30 (ESV)

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

27 And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, 30 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.

The Babylonians were not gracious people.  There plan was to kill the men (especially the King), rape the women and infuse the children into their nation.   However, in this case, Jechoniah was not only spared, but also given a place of privilege in Babylon.   Each of the names in the list of the genealogy of Christ has a unique story and a contributing part to the birth of Jesus being born in the line of Abraham and David.   Throughout all those generations God was watching over these births and orchestrating, in the midst of evil kingdoms, the birth of Jesus.    God is over the affairs of mankind in the most minute manners.   The Babylonians denied the God of creation.   They through the they were the gods of the earth.   Yet, God withheld their hands from touching a man, who would give seed to the birth of another and then to another, until Jesus was born.  We might pass over reading the genealogy of Christ.  But, inside each of these names is the knowledge that God reigns supremely over the affairs of mankind to accomplish His divine plan.