The hope for the existence of the Jewish people, in fact, for all descendants of the Israelites, whether they know they are Israelites or not, is that the messiah of the world will come through the genes of Kings David and Solomon. This is the foundation of the entire legacy of the messianic hope of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This hope and the fact of its reality in the mind of King David are outlined in David’s understanding of his covenant that the God of Israel gave to him. In private consultation with his youngest son, Prince Jedidiah, King David gave this promise of the God of Israel to him with its warnings and its conditions. This young Prince Jedidiah, when he ascended upon the throne of David, took the royal name of King Solomon. Here were the father’s words to his youngest son from his 10^th and last and beloved wife, Bathsheba:

I Chronicles 22:6-16 – “Then he called for his son Solomon, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, ‘My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house to the name of the Lord my God; but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight.

Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of peace; and it will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ Now, my son, may the Lord be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the Lord your God, as He has said to you.

Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper, if you take care to fulfill the statutes and judgments with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage; do not fear nor be dismayed. Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord;

1. one hundred thousand talents of gold (75 pounds per talent) and

2. one million talents of silver, and bronze, and

3. iron beyond measure, for it is so abundant.

4. I have prepared timber, and stone also, and you may add to them. Moreover there are

5. workmen with you in abundance; woodsmen and stonecutters, and

6. all type of skillful men for every kind of work. Of gold and silver and bronze and iron there is not limit.

Arise and begin working, and the Lord be with you.”

In the mind of King David, the promise and covenant of the Lord to him was unconditional, yet it appears that King David also believed that the promise given to his son was to be conditional. Let us re-read:

I Chronicles 22:13 – “Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper, if you take care to fulfill the statutes and judgments with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

When Solomon ascended to the throne of his father, David, as the king of the United Monarchy of Israel, did he not understood fully that there was no human reason why he should have been appointed to be the king of Israel? Was he not the youngest son, of the last and 10^th wife of King David? Yet, the finger of the Lord of hosts instructed his father, David, that the divine choice was his son, Solomon. Did not Solomon understand that the Ruler of the Universes, the Ein Sof, the Hidden One of Israel, holds in the palm of His hand the choice of who will be the “king” over Israel and every Gentile nation on this planet?

Yes, besides kingship, there are two other attributes that the God of the Universes had total sovereign control; wisdom, and understanding. It was the prayer of David his father that these two hidden attributes would be given to his son. Yet, it would be imperative that King Solomon would “keep the law of the Lord your God” and would “take care to fulfill the statutes and judgments” that the God of Israel gave to Moses upon the mount called Sinai. King Solomon was to remain a Torah observing Israelite who would uphold the image of the “Living Torah” to all of his subjects. Yet, King Solomon failed to “keep the law of the Lord” and failed to “fulfill the statutes and judgments”.

The God of Israel then spoke directly to King Solomon reminding Solomon of His promise to David and also His warning to Solomon, prefacing it with an “if”.

I Kings 9:3 – “But “if” you or your sons all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statues which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land, which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrate for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.’

We begin this segment reminding ourselves that the rulers of the Jewish people are living under the warnings and conditions that were placed upon Solomon and his descendants. The only difference is, at the “time of the end”, the God of Israel will not allow the Jewish people to continue on their wayward and evil paths of geo-political and spiritual destruction. At the end of the ages, the Lord of hosts will bring “two witnesses” to protect Jerusalem and the citizens of the land of Israel from the total destruction of the global forces of the “anti-Messiah”. They too had fallen and had become a contaminated nation like Egypt and an impure like the city of Sodom. Yet their God will turn their hearts towards Himself with the arrival of their messiah, the Maschiach ben David (Messiah son of David).

The Ten Wives and Twenty-three Children of King David

King David, the noble and illustrious king of Israel, was selected by the God of Israel to be that fiery military and enlightened ruler that created the Golden Years of the United Monarchy of Israel. He was a man of fiery passion, who loved his God, and though he did evil, he was always remorseful and of a contrite heart. He was a man of God. We also note that he was the husband of ten wives. Of these ten wives, King David had twenty-two sons, and at least, but only one daughter that is known to us today. Here is a brief summary of these ten wives:

1. Michal was the daughter of King Saul, David’s predecessor, and the first King if Israel. à This Lineage became Extinct.

2. Ahinoam was called the “Jezreelite” à This Lineage became Extinct.

3. Abigail was the widow of Nabal from Mount Carmelà This Lineage became Extinct.

4. Maachah was the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur à This Lineage through Crown Prince Absalom, with his death, became Extinct.

5. Haggith’s history is unknown à This Lineage with the death of Prince Absalom, Prince Adonijah became the heir expectant, yet this lineage became Extinct.

6. Abital’s history is unknown à This non-royal Lineage is the Obscure non-royal Lineage of the Nasi (President) of the Great Sanhedrin, who was the Prince of Israel Hillel the Great when Jesus was born in 7 BCE.

7. Eglah’s history is unknown à This Lineage became Extinct.

8. Name Unknown in history à This Lineage became Extinct.

9. Name Unknown in history à This Lineage became Extinct.

10. Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel (Eliam) the Gilonite by the daughter of Ahithophel the Gilonite, who was married to and widowed by the death of Uriah the Hittite in the battles of King David. King David and Queen Mother Bathsheba had five known sons and one daughter:

Prince Nathan, the oldest son who became the Ancestor of the non-Royal Lineages of David.

King Solomon, the youngest son who became the Ancestor of the Royal Lineages of David.

The Lineages of the descendants of the royal House of Solomon became divided into two main lineages after the Babylonian and Persian exile, through the Governor of Judea, Zerubabbel. The “Chosen” Jewish Lineages, through the marriage of Prince of David Zerubabbel with his 3^rd Jewish wife, Esthra, became the Senior Lines of Davidic descendants as dictated the Torah ruling of Ezra the Scribe. These lineages split later into two lineages by the Davidic twin descendants called; Prince Tobit, the founder of the Tobaite Line, and Prince Onaid, the founder of the Onaidite Line. Before we begin, let us search deeper and discover, who were the twenty three known children of King David by his ten wives:

1. Michal, the daughter of King Saul (1 Samuel 14:29), was barren and left no royal heirs for King David. The Saul-Davidian dynastic lineage became Extinct.

2. Ahinoam the Jezreelite (2 Samuel 25:43) had one son, (1) Prince Amnon, (II Samuel 3:2) who in the lust of his youth, raped his half-sister, (4) Princess Tamar, the full sister of Crown Prince Absalom (2 Samuel 3:3) who in revenge murdered his half-brother. This Davidian lineage became Extinct.

3. Abigail (2 Samuel 25:3), the widow of Nabal from Mount Carmel had one son, (2) Prince Chileab (aka Daniel) who died apparently in his youth without having any children. This Davidian lineage became Extinct.

4. Maachah (2 Samuel 3:3), the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur had two children with King David; (3) Crown Prince Absalom and his sister, (4) Princess Tamar I. Prince Absalom did become King Absalom in a palace coup against his father, King David. He had three sons by a wife, whose name was not recorded in history. All three sons died in infancy. Prince Absalom also had one daughter, Princess Tamar II, who was apparently named after her aunt, Princess Tamar, the sister of Absalom and daughter of King David. This Davidian lineage became Extinct.

Princess Tamar II, the daughter of Prince Absalom who became the wife of Uriel, the Sheikh of Gibeah, and had one daughter, who became the 2^nd wife of her cousin, King Rehoboam, the first king of the Kingdom of Israel. With Tamar’s marriage to Uriel, the Sheikh of Gibeah, who was not of the tribe of Judah, nor of the House of David, she gave up the rights as the dynastic heiress of her father, Crown Prince Absalom, and as such, this Davidian lineage became Extinct.

5. Haggith, whose ancestry was unknown had one son by King David, called (5) Prince Adonijah. With the death of Crown Prince Absalom, Prince Adonijah became the heir-expectant to the throne of David. This Davidian lineage is presumed to have become Extinct.

6. Abital, whose ancestry was unknown had one son, (6) Prince Shephatiah (Chefatia) who became the royal ancestor of a major secondary line of Davidian descendants to Hillel the Great. We assume that she was an Israelite, but may not have been Jewish. The Jewish temple leadership from the House of Hanan, the high priests, Ananias and his son-in-law, Caiphas, and the Pharisees of Beit Shammai, who were the disciples of Shammai during the years of the ministry of Jesus the Nazarene, favored this lineage, over the lineage of Jesus, for Hillel, who returned from Babylon, was accommodating to the Gentiles and whose family was not involved in the Zealot, and Zionists movements, or what was called the Fourth Philosophy.

7. Eglah, whose ancestry was also unknown had one son, (7) Prince Ithream (Yitream) whom we have no known record of progeny or descendants. By all records, this Davidian lineage became Extinct.

8. Rembrandt. Bathsheba with King David's Letter. The Eighth Wife of King David, whose name is not known, had six sons; (8) Prince Ibhar, (9) Prince Elishua (Elishama), (10) Prince Elpalet (Eliphelet), (11) Prince Eliadah (Beeliada), (12) Prince Abishai, and (13) Prince Nogah. This wife apparently was a secondary wife, whose children did not place in prominence in the Davidian household, neither are any of their progeny known to this day. By all records, this Davidian lineage became Extinct.

9. The Ninth Wife of King David, whose name is not known, had five sons; (14) Prince Japhia; (15) Prince Nepheg; (16) Prince Jerimoth, who had a daughter called Princess Mahalath, who became the 1^st wife of her cousin, King Rehoboam, the 1^st King of the Kingdom of Israel. The children of this marriage were (17) Prince Asahel; and (18) Prince Joab. With no record of any descendants, this Davidian lineage became Extinct.

Bathsheba with King David’s Letter - Painting by Rembrandt (1654) Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France

10. Bathsheba, was the Tenth Wife of King David. She was the daughter of Ammiel (Eliam) the Gilonite in his marriage to the daughter of Ahithophel the Gilonite. She was married to and widowed by the death of Uriah the Hittite in the battles of King David. Bathsheba was the passion of King David that caused him the rebuke of the Lord through the Prophet Naman. Through Bathsheba, King David had five sons;

(19) A young Son who died in infancy;

(20) Prince Nathan, the ancestral heir of the secondary Davidian descendant-lineage through Prince Neriah, that merged with the Solomonic Lineage in the intra-Davidian dynastic marriage with Princess Tamar, the daughter of Crown Prince Johanan (Yohannan), who apparently died with his father, King Josiah, in battle.

(21) Prince Shammuah (Shimea); with no record of any descendants, this Davidian lineage became Extinct.

(22) Prince Shobab; with no record of any descendants, this Davidian lineage became Extinct.

(23) Prince Jedidiah (aka King Solomon), was the youngest son of the 10^th and last wife, Queen Bathsheba. Prince Jedidiah became the 3^rd King of Israel and upon his accession changed his name to King Solomon.

The Failure of King Solomon and the Kings of Judah to Keep the Commandments and Judgments of God

Since the God of Israel made a covenant with King David, which he kept, and renewed that covenant with King Solomon, did he and his sons, descendants, keep their part of the covenant, as God warned, to “keep My commandments and My statues which I have set before you? No!

The Site of King David’s Palace by the Archeological Excavations of Mazat in Jerusalem – See Washington Post Article

Here we read about the response of the Lord of hosts when Solomon turned his life away from the life living the life of Torah.

I Kings 11:9 – “So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, and he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, “I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.”

The evidence is now history. In centuries following the life of King Solomon, there were twenty kings, all descendants of this king known for his wisdom, only seven were righteous and thirteen were noted to be wicked, evil, and did not follow the ways of the Lord.

The Solomonic Lineage from King David to Zerubabbel, as Documented in the

Matthew Genealogy of Jesus (Yehoshua)

The Biblical lineage of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 1:2-12) is a virtual history of the kings of Judah since the days of the United Monarchy of Israel under King David and his son, King Solomon. To give us a sweep of the history of the Davidian Dynasty, let us look at this family dynastic history, through the genealogical lens of the ancestors of Yahshua ben Yosef ben Dovid (Jesus son of Joseph son of David) as recorded in the genealogy of Prince Joseph the son of Jacob. Prince Jacob ben Mattat was the Patriarch of Israel, who as the Governor of the Jews under King Herod, took a contingency of Jewish troops to assist Octavian, the future Augustus Caesar in his fight for Roman primacy over Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt. When Octavian won the war by the defacto twin suicide of Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra VII, the son of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar, Caesarion, was killed, and it is now believed, according to the research of David Hughes, in the Davidic Genealogies, that the posthumous daughter of Queen Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar was given by the undisputed ruler of Rome, Octavian, to an “foreign prince” and arrived in Jewish society as Cleopatra of Jerusalem, now the wife of the Patriarch of Judah, Jacob ben Mattat. Prince Joseph, now the oldest son, also of Cleopatra of Jerusalem and Patriarch Jacob ben Mattat, became the guardian and foster father of their grandson, who became the Jewish rabbi and messiah, known in Christian history as Jesus of Nazareth and in Jewish history as Yehoshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene).

King David ¹, King of Israel, who by his 10^th and favorite wife, Queen Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel (Eliam) the Gilonite, and the former wife of Uriah the Hittite, begot;

King Solomon ²(born as Prince Jedidiah) was the youngest of five sons, yet he was chosen as the ancestor of the chief royal lineage, who by his last and 5^th Jordanian wife, became the father of;

King Rehoboam ³, who by his 2^nd wife, Michaiah (Maachah), the granddaughter of Absalom, the crown prince of Solomon, the father of Princess Tamar II, Absalom’s daughter that was married to Uriel of Gibeah, became the father of;

King Abijah ⁴, who by his wife, Ana, the daughter of Ahimaaz the Naphalite, King Solomon’s official purveyor and Basemath, the daughter of King Solomon and his Egyptian wife, Nicaule (Tashere), by the Pharaoh Psusennes II (Psusennes III) of Egypt, became the father of;

King Asa ⁵, who by his non-Jewish wife, Azuba, the daughter of Shilhi and granddaughter or great-granddaughter of King Jeroboam of Israel, by his non-Jewish wife, Egyptian wife, Karamat, the daughter of Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt, became the father of

King Jehoshaphat ⁶, who by an unnamed wife, suspected of being of Syrian birth, became the father of;

King Joram (Jehoram, Yehoram) ⁷, who by his non-Jewish Hebrew-Phoenician princess, Athalia, the daughter of King Ahab of Israel and Jezebel of Tyre, a Phoenician princess, became the father of;

The Seal of Queen Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab of the Kingdom of Israel – The Israel Museum in the Israeli Antiquities Authorities Collection

King Uzziah ⁸, who by his wife, Jerusha, the Zadokian Levitical daughter of the High Priest Zadok II, became the father of;

King Jotham ⁹, who by his wife, Ahia, the Hebrew princess, the daughter of the Benjamite Sheikh Azrikam of the royal House of King Saul, became the father of;

King Ahaz ¹⁰, who by his wife, Abijah, the daughter and dynastic heiress of King Zechariah of Israel of the House of Jehu, became the father of his youngest son;

King Hezekiah ¹¹, who by his wife, Hephzibah, became the father of a daughter, (1) Bilhah who married a foreign prince, (3) Amariah, who became the father of

Gedaliah, who became the father of Ahikam, who became the father of Governor Gedaliah, who was set up to rule by King Nebuchadnezzar after the exile of King Zedekiah and the death of all his sons, the princes of Israel. King Hezekiah became the father of the Crown Prince;

King Manasseh ¹², who by his 2^nd wife, Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, became the father of;

King Amon ¹³, who by his wife, Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath, became the father of;

King Josiah ¹⁴, who by his wife, became the father of Princess Tamar III^rd, who as the royal dynastic heiress, transferred the title of inheritance to her first husband, Prince Neriah, of the non-royal House of Nathan, the son of King David

King Jeconiah ¹⁵, the 1^st Exilarch, the adopted father of;

Prince of Israel Shealtiel ¹⁶, the 2^nd Exilarch, the son of Prince Neriah of the non-royal House of Nathan who was married to Princess Tamar III of the House of Solomon, who was later adopted by King Jeconiah, and transferred the royal title of King David through the House of Solomon to the Prince of Israel Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of;

Prince of Israel Zerubabbel ¹⁷, became the 3^rd Exilarch, Persian Governor of Judea, and later as the 1^st Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Let us now telescope our studies to the last fifty years of the reigns of the descendants of Kings David and Solomon in Jerusalem. We will begin with the reign of the twelfth ruler, King Josiah, before the fall of the Kingdom of Judah, in 586 BCE.

The Reformation of Good King Josiah and the Prophet Jeremiah

Good King Josiah (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chronicles 34:1) was one of the biblical success stories in the relationships of the kings of Judah with the God of Israel. Reigning for 31 years between the years 640 to 609 BCE, he started his rule at the tender age of eight years of age in an age in which the Nation of Judah was in social unrest and turmoil. His father, King Amon, was notoriously wicked, and his rule came in stark contrast to his son, Josiah, who was recognized as a noble and godly man, but most noted for his religious temple reforms.

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt van Rijn

When Josiah came of age to rule at the age of eight, he discharged all those of the regency that had ruled during his youth, and took charge of his own administration. Somewhere between his twelfth and his eighteenth year of rule, depending on the historical scholars, King Josiah began his spiritual and religious reformation.

Around the year of 628 BCE, the Prophet Jeremiah, a kohen and a member of the priestly family began his prophetic career as a young priest. It is of interest that Jeremiah strode into the Judean geo-political stage during the same years that the young prince, now King Josiah began his religious reformation? Here a young king, somewhere between the years of twelve and eighteen, plotted out the political and spiritual future of his nation with his slightly older priestly friend, the future Jeremiah the Prophet.

Jeremiah was reputed to have been from the village of Anathoth, about three miles north of Jerusalem. It is not positive whether this was the city of his birth, or the city where he planned to retire, with his purchase of a plot of land in Anathoth, days before the fall of Jerusalem, to be the future place of his residence. We will suggest later that Jeremiah of Anathoth was the same as Jeremias of Libnah, the fortified priestly city southwest of Jerusalem.

During most of his prophetic career, the Prophet Jeremiah went to reside in the capital city of Jerusalem where he became the spiritual advisor and no doubt the fulcrum of the epic religious reforms that were about to be underway in the days of King Josiah. In the years when the royal political advisors to the later kings of Judah, became antagonistic to the prophet and sought to kill him, it is possible that the Prophet Jeremiah moved to the Levitical fortified royal city of Libnah.

This prophetic icon in Jewish history had the great ability not only to pointedly aim the laser of divine inspection upon the Jewish kings and the citizens of Jerusalem, but also was a charismatic performance artist. He used props or dramatic demonstrations in order to make his point while engaging the public into the major changes the God of Israel demanded of His people. Later in his prophetic career, the Prophet Jeremiah walked around the city wearing a yoke around his neck. Another time, he served wine to a family who had made a vow of temperance in order to make a spiritual point. During the height of the Babylonian siege, he bought his family estate at Anathoth, three miles north of Jerusalem, while he was sitting in isolation in prison. What was even more amazing was that he did this last outrageously appearing act while the Babylonians were camped upon the land which he bought. This reminds us of the Jewish sage’s remarks that, when you see the messiah come or be revealed on this earth, go plant a tree. In spite of the days of great catastrophes and calamities, this planet earth will continue to exist. As then, so it is today, this is the “time of the end”, not the “end of time”.

The Prophetic Mandate of King Josiah and the Prophet Jeremiah to Hide the Treasures of Solomon in Order to Save them for the End of Days

From all appearances, King Josiah and the Prophet Jeremiah became the best of friends. They were partners in a divine mission, to restore the sanctity of the temple, bring the last reformation to the Land of Judah, until the “time of the end” of national Judah had come. More than that, it was a time in which to document, itemize, and restore all the important articles, furnishings, and utensils used in the service of the Temple of the Lord and to preserve them for use at the time of the end when the temple of the Lord will be built by the messiah, David, son of David.

Looking at the Land of Israel from the Mount Nebo where Moses was buried.

King Josiah and the Prophet Jeremiah also had a second and more treasured mission, to prepare for the final dissolution of the temple and the service of God in which it was to be represented for a future age. The King of Judah, Josiah, and the Prophet Jeremiah were also on a divine mission to fulfill the long and arduous mission; to bury the treasures of the Temple of Solomon in multiple hidden chambers in the mountains under and surrounding Jerusalem. It was their mission to preserve them until the time of the end when the temple of the Lord would be restored by the messiah son of David. This same reformation of King Josiah with the Prophet Jeremy was written in the inter-testament Book of the Maccabees, that testified:

11 Maccabees 2:1-8 - “It is also found in the records, that Jeremy the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire, as it hath been signified: And now that the prophet, having given them the law, charged them not to forget the commandments of the Lord, and that they should not err in their minds, when they see images of silver and gold, with their ornaments. And with other such speeches exhorted he them, that the law would not depart from their hearts.

It was also contained in the same writings, that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God. And when Jeremy came thither, he found a hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door. And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it.

Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, ‘As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gathers His people again together, and receives them unto mercy.’ Then shall the Lord shewed them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was shewed under Moses, and as when Solomon desired that the place might be honourably sanctified.”

The operational complexity of this mammoth, highly sensitive and secret commando operation was given to five young priests or princes; Shimur the Levite, later the high priest after the exile, Hezekiah whose identity is yet unknown, Zedekiah who possibly was Prince Zedekiah, the crown prince later as the son of King Jeconiah, Chaggai, known today as Haggai the Prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Ido the Prophet, known also as the Prophet Zechariah. They had to literally move most of the ancient gold and silver vessels, temple furnishings, high priests garments including the sacred breast plate, plus a giant menorah, including the entire Mishkhan, the Tabernacle of the Congregation, with the Ark of the Covenant, that was constructed under the supervision of Moses on the plains surrounding the mount called Sinai to secret hidden depositories.

This secret mission started years before the first invasion of Prince Nebuchadnezzar to Jerusalem and continued right under the noses of the military troops of Nebuchadnezzar. Is it not amazing that these same young men took large caches of sacred treasuries with them while political prisoners, as they were led to the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, and buried them in Babylon and ancient Baghdad.

This inventory of the caches was documented in detail and preserved in the documents or mishnayots, called the Emeq HaMelekh, meaning the “Valley of the Kings” that were to be preserved for future ages.

Emeq HaMelekh – “These Mishnayot ["Records"] were written by five righteous men. They are: Shimur the Levite, Hizkiyah, Zidkiyah, Chaggai the Prophet and Zechariah, son of Ido the Prophet. They concealed the vessels of the Temple and the wealth of the treasures that were in Jerusalem which will not be discovered until the day of the coming of Moschiach, son of David, speedily in our times, Amen, and so it will be.”

The documentation of this secret mission was engraved in bas relief inscription, just like the engraving found on the Copper Scroll. This time, it was on two white marble tablets first discovered at Mount Carmel and then rediscovered in the museum archives in Beirut, Lebanon. These same writings were identical to the Emeq HaMelekh (Valley of the Kings) and the missing 9^th century document, called the Massakhet Keilim. They were found in a lost Tosephta Mishnayot III under the section of Kilim that was hidden in the Genizah of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo. Here they were preserved in the storage room where no longer used sacred writings in which the holy name of the Almighty One of Israel, YHVH, was written upon were stored. The only addition in the writing in contrast to the Massakhet Keilim was, upon the two white marble tablets was written the date of its inscription. It read:

“These are the words of Shimur HaLevi, the servant of HaShem.

In the year 3331 of Adam”.

Let us consider this archeological fact. For decades there have been arguments and discussions about the verity and validity of the Rabbinic calendar of the Jews called the Seder Olam Rabbah (The Great Order of the World). It was felt to have been initially put in written form by the well known Talmudist Rabbi Yose b. Halafta and confirmed by Rabbi Yohanan’s statement, “The tanna of the ‘Seder Olam’ was R. Jose” (Yeb. 82b; Niddah 46b).

The Seder Olam Rabbah dated the destruction of the Temple of Solomon to the Jewish year of 3338 that corresponds to the modern calendar year of 442 BCE. It is also understood that both the Temples of Solomon and Herod were destroyed on the seventh Sh’mittah year of the seven year Sabbatical year cycle. With this fact, the Emeq HaMelekh, was written also on the seventh Sh’mittah year of the Sabbatical cycle, seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple in the Jewish year of 449 BCE.

It was November, 2002 that BibleSearchers first wrote about the Emeq HaMelekh, in a thirteen part series, titled by the first article, “The Emeq HaMelekh (Valley of the Kings) – The Hebrew Account of hiding the Ark, the Sanctuary, and the Treasures of Solomon’s Temple”. This series studied each of these Jewish Mishnahs and is today the most complete research on the hidden treasures of King Solomon from the Temple of Solomon.

The National Revival to the Torah under King Josiah

With the cooperation of the High Priest Hilkiah, King Josiah’s first work of order was to clear the temple proper of the idols, imagery, and all the instruments used in the worship of Baal and the “hosts of heaven” that his grandfather King Manasseh, and later his father, King Amon, brought into and desecrated the sanctity of the temple itself. In the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 103b is the discussion of the significant sin of King Amon. One opinion suggested that he burned all the books of the Torah, and eliminated the word of the Lord entirely from the Land of Israel.

The Scroll of the Torah being read to the young King Josiah

The temple itself was in disrepair but why after 218 years since the repairs in the days of King Joash did the temple need to be repaired? As we will see in the lineages of the kings, during this era, the criminal activity of Queen Mother Athalia and her sons, King Ahaziah and King Amaziah had made significant damage to the House of God (2 Chronicles 24:7).

The temple had to be cleansed, restored, and repaired of all the neglect during the prior royal administrations. During this religious reformation, while the temple was being repaired, a scroll of the Torah, “book of the law”, was found hidden in the walls of the treasury of the temple. Was this a Torah that was hidden during the desecration during the years of the reigns of the Kings Manasseh and Amon? It was the opinion of many rabbinic sages that with the elimination of every book of Torah from the land of Israel, the only one left was the Torah that was deposited by Moses in the Ark of the Covenant.

It was brought to the king to read. With the words of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before his eyes, it so inspired this young tzaddik, now the king of Judah, that with righteous indignation, began a spiritual revolution. Josiah was alarmed at the potential of the judgments of the Lord and the catastrophes invoked by the God of Israel for the non-observance of God’s commands that would come upon His Jewish people.

The finding of the Torah, and its affect upon the life King Josiah, with the knowledge that this was the last remaining Torah in the land of Israel, must have made a profound impact on the life of this young king, now 23 years of age. He told Levites:

II Chronicles 35:3 – “Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the Lord” “Put the holy ark in the house of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders.”

King Josiah first consulted with the Prophetess Huldah, who did confirm to King Josiah that such judgments would come to the Nation of Judah, but not under his reign. As the prophetess proclaimed:

II Kings 22:13 – “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Concerning the words which you have heard – because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord. Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.”

All evidence suggests that the Torah scroll found in the temple wall of the treasuries was a scroll of the Book of Deuteronomy. Yet, according to the Midrashic writings, it may have been the entire 1000 year old Torah scrolls that were taken from the Ark of the Covenant. The king ordered all the population of his realm to assemble at Jerusalem where the priests read the “Torah” to this vast assembly. When they heard the word of the Most High, the people were moved and took a solemn oath to YHVH their God, renewing the covenant their forefathers made at the mount called Sinai.

Once the temple precincts were restored, the temple services that had been halted due to the desecration of neglect and were transformed to overt Baal worship, a Jewish revolt against this godless desecration now allowed for its restoration. The “sacrifice of a pig” on the altar of the courtyard of the temple by the Syrian prince Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BCE was not the first desecration of “abomination of desolation” of the temple of the Lord. The Temple of Solomon had first been desecrated hundreds of years prior by their very own Jewish kings, Manasseh and Amon. Afterwards, King Josiah ordered the priests to spread out over his kingdom and destroy the high places or sanctuaries from Beer-Sheba, southwards to Beth-el, and to the cities of Samaria in the north. The king then opened the treasuries of the kingdom and supported the priests until the revenues of the temple became self supporting. (II Kings 23:8-9). Those priests who were resistant to reform were killed.

The desecration of their high-altars with their bones laying upon the altars gave an ominous warning that the religious crusade for reforms of this king was real. (II Kings 23:19-20) The ashes of the red heifer completed the purification and cleansing of the temple. A renewed cycle of worship began once again at Jerusalem. The festivals were once again held, and the sacrifices according to the instructions given to the Israelites by Moses from his forty day mission with God on the mount called Sinai were renewed. The finality of the reformation came with a great Passover celebration in the holy city of Jerusalem. As the testimony of the chroniclers wrote:

excavations next to date palm trees II Kings 23:21-23 – “Then the king commanded all the people saying, ‘Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.’ Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.”

The Palm groves of Ein Gedi (“Spring of the Kid”) where the mysterious persimmon grew in vast groves whose resin produced rich perfumes and the anointing oil that King Josiah installed in anointing new kings

This statement is profound because, at least, the Passover, and possibly the other festivals, had not been observed properly since the days of the Judges, not even in the days of Kings David and Solomon. This reformation was critical because it would imprint the festival of the Passover upon the minds of the priests and the Jewish people that chose to remain in covenant with their Lord all the way through the exile. This included the future Prime Minister of Babylon, the Prophet Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, that served in the ministry of the Babylonian imperial government and carried their dedication to the Torah to the fiery furnace. The culmination of this reformation was that the worship of the Most High God was finally centralized at the Temple in Jerusalem and a sacred scroll came to be regarded as canonical and authoritative for the spiritual and ethical education of all the king’s subjects.

Sometime after the premature death of King Josiah, the combination of the vulnerability of the Ark of the Covenant, the prophetic evidence from Huldah the Prophet that the judgments of the Lord will come upon Judah, and that if the Ark of the Covenant were to be desecrated, the evidence of the Torah might be eliminated from the face of the earth. It was the prophetic insight by the Prophet Jeremiah that it was time not only to hide the Ark of the Covenant, but to begin a systematic secretive operation to hide the rest of the treasures of Moses, and Kings David and Solomon that were archived in the museum vaults of the Temple of Solomon. The rest of the evidence has been documented in the “The Emeq HaMelekh (Valley of the Kings) – The Hebrew Account of hiding the Ark, the Sanctuary, and the Treasures of Solomon’s Temple”.

In the most Jewish of ways, there are dissenting opinions documented in the Tosephta Sota 13.2, Babylonian Talmud Yoma 52b, Jerusalem Talmud (Shequalim 6:1, Sota 6:3) except in the Jerusalem Sota, that Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrkanos) dissented in the fact that the Ark of the Covenant was transported to Babylonia. This opinion appears to have been held by Josephus and the author of the Seder ‘Olam Rabbah, as documented in the “Seder Olam, The Rabbinic View of Biblical Chronology” the commentary by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer. (Heinrich W. Guggenheimer, Seder Olam, Jason Aronson, Inc. Northvale, New Jersey, Jerusalem, pg 211)

The Seal of Baruch ben Neriah, the Scribe of the Prophet Jeremiah and Torah Law Mentor of Ezra the Scribe– The Israeli Museum in Jerusalem

The influence of the Prophet Jeremiah during King Josiah’s reign was profound. Credited with the authorship of the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet also is credited with the compilation of I Kings and 2 Kings, possibly the ninth to the fourteenth chapters of the Book of Zechariah, and the Book of Lamentations with the assistance of his scribal editor and disciple, Baruch ben Neriah. This brings us to an interesting observation.

The Royal Family of King Josiah – the Last Kings of Judah

During the life of King Josiah, he married two different wives. The 1^st wife of King Josiah was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. From their marriage were born two sons that we have records; Yohanan (Yohannan) the eldest and the crown prince and later Eliakim, who upon the accession to the throne of David, changed his name to King Jehoiakim.

Yet, King Josiah married a 2^nd wife. Her name was Hamutal who was the daughter of Jeremias of Libnah. From this marriage, King Josiah had two more sons; Prince Shallum, who changed his name upon his accession as king to King Jehoahaz and his younger full brother, Prince Mattaniah, who upon becoming King of Judah was called King Zedekiah. He would be destined to be the last king of the Kingdom of Judah.

King Josiah marries:

(1) Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah and had two sons:

Prince Johanan (Yohannan) the oldest and crown prince married first (1) “name not known”. Out of this marriage union were no sons, but one daughter;

Princess Tamar, the dynastic heiress of the Solomonic Lineage à Dynastic transfer of royal title to the adopted children of Queen Tamar by King Jeconiah.

Prince Eliachim became King Jehoiachim upon the death of King Josiah and Prince Yohannan. His son, upon his death was;

Prince Jehoiachin became King Jeconiah when he ascended to the throne of David upon the assassination of his father, King Jehoiakim. He had no heirs and lineage became Extinct.

(2) Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremias of Libnah. They had two sons:

King Jehoahaz, the 19^th King of Judah) (aka Prince Shallum), who died with no known descendants à Lineage became Extinct

King Zedekiah, the 22^nd King of Judah (aka Prince Mattaniah), who was the last king of Israel. All of his sons were killed by King Nebuchadnezzar but two known daughters remained as potential dynastic heiress. The male lineages became Extinct.

The female lineage of one daughter of King Zedekiah, Princess Tamar Tephi, potentially was transferred to the Irish Royal Dynasty and eventually the Royal House in Great Britain. If these legends are true that she married a descendant of the House of Zarah, the twin brother to Pharez, who were the twin sons of their Patriarch Judah by his son’s wife, Princess Tamar, became the progenitor ancestors of the Jewish people, then the royal House of Solomon was preserved also within the House of Judah within the Irish Royal Dynasty.

Who was Jeremias of Libnah?

Unassigned Who was this Jermias of Libnah? The most influential person in the kingdom of Judah in the life of King Josiah was the Prophet Jeremiah. It was recorded in his own prophetic book:

The Grotto of the Prophet Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:1-3 – “The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.”

The home of King Josiah’s wife, Hamutal was in the royal fortified city of Libnah. Archeologists suggest that this ancient city can today be seen at the Tell of Arak-el-Menshiyeh. It was recognized as one of the royal cities of the Canaanites that were captured by Joshua and the Israelites.

Joshua 10:29-32 – “Then Joshua passed from Maddedah, and all Israel with him, to Libnah; and they fought against Libnah. And the Lord also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel; he struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Libnah and all Israel with him to Lachish; and they encamped against it and fought against it.”

The town of Libnah later became a fortified Levitical town in the Tribe of Judah.

Joshua 21:8, 13 – “And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses…Thus to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its common-land, (a city of refuge for the slayer), Libnah with its common-land, …”

Find Ancient Sites Map of Israel In the 7^th century, the Assyrian king Sennacherib laid siege to this town of Libnah (2 Kings 19:8; Isaiah 37:8) as it was nearby and to the north of the fortified city of Lachish.

Isaiah 37:8 – “The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.

The fortified city of Libnah to the north of Lachish, southwest of Jerusalem.

Here was a royal fortified city that was to be a Levitical city of Refuge in the Tribe of Judah, halfway between Jerusalem and Gaza. It lay just to the north of the more heavily fortified city of Lachish that Sennacherib laid siege about a hundred years prior in the days of Good King Hezekiah.

Yet from the chronologers of the Nation of Judah, we also find another interesting hint as to the identification of this Jeremias of Libnah. The name actually in Hebrew is derived from the root word for “light, shining, or white”. It is also associated with the Hebrew root ibn, such as lebonah or olibanum which is the fragrant spice called Frankincense used in the Jewish temple rituals. (Leviticus 2:1)

The name of Libnah recently was discovered on Egyptian records. Egyptian archeologists have identified Libnah as the jackal headed god called Anubis that was the “Lord of the White Land” or the “Lord of the Shining, Sanctified Land” in the West. According to Egyptologist Brusch, of the four canonical colors of Egypt, the color White represented the lands to the West of Egypt.

According to the extra-biblical legends of the Prophet Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple of Solomon, we find him first in the Nation of Egypt, and then with the daughter of King Zedekiah, traveling across the Mediterranean, around the Spanish peninsula, up the Atlantic coastline to Saragossa, Spain and then northward to the Isle of Ireland. Was Libnah, a code name for the prophet of God who went to the “shining, sanctified land in the far west represented by the Egyptian canonical color of white?

We find it amazing that two Jeremiahs or Jeremias were intimately associated with the Good King Josiah; one as his father-in-law to his second wife, and the second as his principle seer or prophet who gave him the guiding direction for his kingdom. Then we find that the city of Libnah was a royal city in Judah especially fortified for the protection of the Levites, a City of Refuge, and a Levite now turned prophet whose only claim to Anathoth, was the family of priests in which he was associated at the end of his prophetic career in Judah. It was at the end of his prophetic career, that the Prophet Jeremiah bought land in Anathoth while the enemies of Judah, the Babylonians were camped on top of the property he was purchasing.

Anata ( Anathoth ), Hill Country, Judea

Then we will find this same prophet heading first to Egypt, and then in the legends of the royal dynasties of the Isles in the far west, where the “white man” with red hair lived, we find the dynastic heiress of the House of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, taken with the prophet and his scribe, Baruk, to these lands in the isles of the far west beyond White Cliffs of Dover to be wed to a prince, of the House of Zarah, the twin brother to Pharez, the twin sons of the Patriarch Judah, the ancestral forefather of the Jewish people.

Anata ( Anathoth ), Hill Country, Judea - Holy Land. Original steel engravings drawn by W. H. Bartlett, engraved by E. Brandard. ca 1850

It will be the informed opinion within this series that Jeremiah the Prophet, the seer that influenced the reformation of King Josiah was also Jeremias of Libnah. He became the father-in-law of the king when King Josiah married the Prophet Jeremiah’s daughter, Hamutal, and became the grandfather of this godly king’s, two sons, Prince Shallum, who later became King Jehoahaz, the 19^th King of Judah and Prince Mattaniah, who became King Zedekiah, the 22nd and last King of Judah.

King Jeconiah, the First of the Jewish Exilarchs in Babylon

Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, King of Judah, was made king of Judah in the most precarious moment of Jewish history. The year was 598/597 BCE and the city of Jerusalem was already encircled by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeconiah’s father had just been assassinated by the citizens of Jerusalem, and now Jeconiah was being placed on the throne at the age of eighteen. (Age 8 according to 2 Chronicles 36:9) King Jeconiah was only on the throne of Judah for three months. He was already married and had at least one child. His son, the crown prince, Prince Zedekiah, died a premature death and with his heart broken, young King Jeconiah surrendered to King Nebuchadnezzar.

Sixteen years earlier, in 614 BCE, Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria was sacked. As the fading years of Assyria dawned, a war of rebellion began in the provinces and neighboring nations that were seeking power and control. King Josiah sought to advance his authority over the province of the former Kingdom of Israel (II Kings 23:15-20). With the fate of Assyria imperiled, the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II Wehemibre also sought to enlarge his kingdom. As Necho headed north along the Mediterranean route to battle the Assyrians, King Josiah sought to prevent his passage through Samaria.

II Chronicles 35:20-22 – “After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. But he sent messengers to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; for God commanded me to make haste, Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.”

At this fateful battle, King Josiah and probably the Crown-Prince Johanan were killed in the Battle of Megiddo, in the valley of Esdraelon.

II Chronicles 35:23-25 – “And the archer shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, ‘Take me away, for I am severely wounded.’ His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem. So he died, and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers”.

The Site of King David’s Palace above the Background of the Wall of Nehemiah, fronted by the Stepped Wall –

Photo by Robert Mock

Upon the death of King Josiah, his father-in-law, Jeremiah the Prophet, wrote this lamentation to his best friend, his son-in-law the king of Judah:

Jeremiah 22:10 – “Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him; Weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.”

King Josiah was praised for his zealous work in purifying the Hebrew religion and cleansing the temple. He was also praised for his impartial administration of justice.

Jeremiah 22:15-16 – “Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar” Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this knowing Me?’ says the Lord?”

The question still begs an answer, What happened at Megiddo? This has been the age old puzzle that has stayed upon the lips of sages and scholars alike for centuries. While there are Midrashic accounts of a great battle, the evidence does not support this opinion.

The chronicles in the Book of Kings has a more poignant account:

II Kings 23:28-29 – “In his days, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him.”

The simplicity of the account suggests that the anti-Assyrian King Josiah went personally to confront the pro-Assyrian Pharaoh Necho III of Egypt. King Josiah was warned away but he insisted on confronting the Pharaoh personally and was killed by the archer defense unit surrounding the Pharaoh. A military confrontation would have been better fought in defense of the mountain pass south of Megiddo, where the Judean forces would have had a strategic advantage. Were Josiah and his son, the crown prince Yohanan, standing together at the time of this confrontation?

With two opposing geo-political visions, were the Egyptians trying to prop up the ailing Assyrians who were one of two opposing imperial forces? The father of Pharaoh Necho, Psammetichus was once an Assyrian vassal yet became independent when it appeared that Assyria might collapse, yet the testimony of the Kings suggests that Pharaoh Necho III already had possession of the western portions of the provinces of Assyria when it states, “The king of Babylonia took everything that had belonged to the king of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates. (II Kings 24:7)”

At the same time, King Josiah appeared to be on the verge of enlarging his kingdom from his earlier expedition to Bethel and it appeared that he desired to expand the kingdom of Judea to include the Assyrian dominated provinces that were formerly a part of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon.

King Necho II Wehemibre went on to confront, in the year of 609 BCE, Prince Nebuchadnezzar who crossed over the Fertile Crescent. There Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt was defeated by the Babylonian forces at Battle of Haran. (2 Kings 24:7). As Necho II was returning to Egypt, he went into Jerusalem, for the Kingdom of Judah was still under his suzerainty. Was it fate or divine providence but Pharaoh Necho II suddenly chose to remove the unstable and wicked prince, Jehoahaz, whose mother, King Josiah’s second wife, schemed to put him in as king three months prior. Jehoiachim, the second oldest son of King Josiah, was placed on the throne by King Necho II, as king of Judah.

Married to a Davidic princess, Nehushta, Jehoiakim soon had a son, Jeconiah, or “Coniah” for short. His father, Jehoiachim, turned out to be as wicked and ruthless as his brother. He sought repeatedly to kill the Prophet Jeremiah who, as his famed grandfather, became a verbal critic of his governance and international relations.

King Josiah à King Jehoiakim became king when his older brother,

Prince Johanan was killed with his father King Josiah in battle à

King Jeconiah became king when his father, King Jehoiakim, was murdered by the Jerusalemites

Upon the death of King Josiah, a great mourning swept over the Land of Judah. During these days of mourning, the scheming mother of Prince Jehoahaz placed her son on the throne of David in Jerusalem. Immediately he exiled his pious grandfather, the Prophet Jeremiah, from the royal court. Was it not amazing that the “prophet” was not heard from during these ninety days?

King Jehoiakim, his step-brother, was brought to power, when his brother, King Jehoahaz was exiled to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho III, where he died in the land of Egypt. Then the most dramatic confrontation came between the king and his grandfather, the “Prophet”, when Jeremiah warned his grandson:

Jeremiah 22:19 – “He (King Jehoiakim) shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged, and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

The Fall of Jerusalem – 586 BCE

It was the year 605 BCE and once again the opposing forces of the East and the West, Egypt and Babylon met. Once again, Pharaoh Necho II’s forces met defeat, this time at the Battle of Karchemiš (Carchemish). With this victory, Prince Nebuchadnezzar turned his eyes towards Jerusalem. After occupying the city, Prince Nebuchadnezzar bound King Jehoiachim (2 Chronicles 36:6) and was prepared to take him with hostages back to Babylon. Once again the providence of God intervened. The “appointed time” had not come.

Suddenly news arrived by courier to Prince Nebuchadnezzar, his father, the Babylonian King Nabopolasser had died on August 605 BCE. There was no time to set up an orderly, transitional government. Nebuchadnezzar quickly restored King Jehoiachim back to the throne, now as his vassal and then he made a hasty return straight across the desert to claim possession of Babylon before an imperial revolt started. At this time, the forces of Babylon carried many of the princes of Judah, including the young Prince Daniel and his three friends. Here began the first of what would become three deportations.

In 601 BCE, the Egyptians defeated the forces of Babylon and the political Egyptian faction in Jerusalem became restless. That year, King Jehoiakin (Jeconiah) refused to send the yearly tribute. After securing the kingdom of Babylon, the now King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) returned to his western campaign. Once again the capital of Jerusalem was surrounded in siege.

The times were harsh. The citizens of Jerusalem revolted against their king, Jehoiakim. They murdered him, and threw his body over the walls, hoping to save their city. The corpse of King Jehoiakim was thrust into an unmarked grave in the garbage pits of the Valley of Hinnon, with the same respect as a dead ass.

The Prophet Jeremiah would later prophetically place a curse, “The Curse of Jeconiah” upon the family of King Jehoiakim through his son, Jehoiakin, King Jeconiah.

Jeremiah 36:30 – “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.”’”

This prophecy was soon fulfilled, when his son, the Crown Prince Zedekiah died a premature death. At that moment of time, the Davidian lineage of the House of Solomon would soon become Extinct.

After securing the kingdom of Babylon, the now King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) returned to the headquarters of his western campaign. Jerusalem fell to the forces of King Nebuchadnezzar in the year of 597 BCE. King Jeconiah, who had reigned only three months, was replaced by his uncle, Mattaniah, who was named, King Zedekiah. Nebuchadnezzar went on to campaign against Elam in 596 BCE, and then returned to campaign in the west in 595 BCE.

The Jewish Encyclopedia brings deeper insight into the rabbinic literature on the reign of King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) and his diplomatic relationship with King Nebuchadnezzar. As written:

Jewish Encyclopedia – “Jehoiachin was made king in place of his father by Nebuchadnezzar; but the latter had hardly returned to Babylon when some one said to him, "A dog brings forth no good progeny," whereupon he recognized that it was poor policy to have Jehoiachin for king (Lev. R. xix. 6; Seder 'Olam R. xxv.). In Daphne, near Antiochia, Nebuchadnezzar received the Great Sanhedrin, to whom he announced that he would not destroy the Temple if the king were delivered up to him. When the king heard this resolution of Nebuchadnezzar he went upon the roof of the Temple, and, turning to heaven, held up the Temple keys, saying: "As you no longer consider us worthy to be your ministers, take the keys that you have entrusted to us until now."

Then a miracle happened; for a fiery hand appeared and took the keys, or, as others say, the keys remained suspended in the air where the king had thrown them (Lev. R. l.c.; Yer. Sheḳ. vi. 50a; other versions of the legend of the keys are given in Ta'an. 29a; Pesiḳ. R. 26 [ed. Friedmann, p. 131a], and Syriac Apoc. Baruch, x. 18). The king as well as all the scholars and nobles of Judah were then carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar (Seder 'Olam R. l.c.; compare Ratner's remark ad loc.). According to Josephus, Jehoiachin gave up the city and his relatives to Nebuchadnezzar, who took an oath that neither they nor the city should be harmed. But the Babylonian king broke his word; for scarcely a year had elapsed when he led the king and many others into captivity.”

The political allegiance of King Jeconiah’s kingdom was switched from the sphere of influence of Egypt and placed under the sovereignty of the Babylonians. As King Jeconiah left the city, he took with him his wife, Queen Tamar (whom David Hughes believes to be Tamar Tephi), the queen mother, Nehushta, along with his personal attendants, ministers, and private servants and rode to the awaiting war room of King Nebuchadnezzar where the royal entourage was placed under political arrest. The palace treasures and the sacred vessels of Solomon’s Temple were also carried away with the king’s household.

1 Kings 24:1213 – “Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, in the eight year of his reign, took him prisoner. And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said.”

A Clay Tablet of the Babylonian Chronicle that records events of King Nebuchadnezzar from 605-594 BCE. This included the fall of the Assyrian Empire, the opposing threat of King Necho II of Egypt and the Battle of Carchemish where Necho II was defeated. This clay tablet also the ascension of Nebuchadnezzar's rise to power, the removing of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, replacing him with Zedekiah as king in his place. It also records the capture of Jerusalem on the 16th of March, 598 BC.

As recorded in the Jerusalem Chronicle in the Nebuchadnezzar Tablet, we read

Jerusalem Chronicle – ‘Line 11 – In the seventh year (598/597 BCE), the month of Kislimu, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, -12 – and besieged the city of Judah and on the second day of the month of Addaru he seized the city and captured the king (Jehoiachin/Jeconiah); -13- He appointed there a king of his own choice (Zedekiah), received its heavy tribute and sent to Babylon.”

King Jeconiah in Exile

Upon the royal throne of Judah in Jerusalem, King Nebuchadnezzar placed Jeconiah’s uncle, Mattaniah, who upon the ascension to the throne of Judah, changed his name to King Zedekiah, in memory of his grand nephew, the late Prince Zedekiah. The Kingdom of Judah was now a client state of the Empire of Babylon. With the son, Prince Zedekiah, of exiled King Jeconiah dead, and his uncle, Mattaniah, reigned in his son’s place as King Zedekiah. We now take note of the archeological record in the Babylonian cuneiform tablets. Here we find the names of the exiled King Jeconiah, as well as the names of his sons (“step-sons”). They were archived in the Babylonian records with receipts for the food provisions they were given to eat.

In exile, King Jeconiah was taken along with his wife, Queen Tamar, the widow to Prince Neriah along with their children, the step-children of exiled King Jeconiah. Using the difference between the Hebrew and the Babylonian calendars, the date of King Jeconiah’s exile was recorded as the 8^th year of King Nebuchadnezzar in 2 Kings 24.12, or in the 7^th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign according to Jeremiah 52:28. In what would be the second of three deportations of Jewish captives to Babylon, we find the city of Babylon already prepared for the court of the royal family under the wise counsellorship of the future Prime Minister Daniel.

There behind the massive walls of the city of Babylon, the exiled King Jeconiah had his own royal residence, and his personal royal staff and retinue of retainers. He even held his own court, receiving dignitaries from around the world, plus the audience of his former subjects, the captive Jewish people. Here the royal Jewish court in Babylon was recognized as being transferred from Jerusalem to Babylon demoting the rule of King Zedekiah in Jerusalem as reigning as the “regent” and not actually the king of Judah in the absentia of the real ruler, King Jeconiah in Babylon.

Yet, the now exiled King Jeconiah began to consider ideas of rebellion while living within the capital city of Babylon. Soon a rebellion of Jewish zealots arose against Nebuchadnezzar within the city. This was quickly heard about back in Jerusalem where the Egyptian faction in the royal court in Jerusalem was putting considerable pressure on King Zedekiah to revolt in support of the Babylonian Jews. Back in Jerusalem, the Prophet Jeremiah was thrust into the mix of the Egyptian faction and the Babylonian faction of whom they the Jerusalem authorities would submit their rule. Jeremiah was hated by the Egyptian faction that was seeking revolt. The prophet’s life was threatened, and for a period of time he was isolated almost to death in the pits of a dungeon, until in the secret of the night he was released by King Zedekiah. The Babylonian rebellion was quelled and the exiled king was taken to prison, where he lived in isolation for thirty seven years until King Nebuchadnezzar died.

Government Seal called a Bulla (Stamp) with Name of Judean official Jehucal (Jucal), son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi, who threw the Prophet Jeremiah into the Cistern - Discovered at the Palace of King David by archeologist Ms. Eilat Mazar in Ir David (City of David)

The Jewish Encyclopedia continues into the Affect the Babylonian captivity had upon the exiled Jewish king.

Jewish Encyclopedia – “Jehoiachin's sad experiences changed his nature entirely, and as he repented of the sins which he had committed as king he was pardoned by God, who revoked the decree to the effect that none of his descendants should ever become king (Jer. xxii. 30; Pesiḳ., ed. Buber, xxv. 163a, b); he even became the ancestor of the Messiah (Tan., Toledot, 20 [ed. Buber, i. 140]). It was especially his firmness in fulfilling the Law that restored him to God's favor. He was kept by Nebuchadnezzar in solitary confinement, and as he was therefore separated from his wife, the Sanhedrin, which had been expelled with him to Babylon, feared that at the death of this queen the house of David would become extinct.

They managed to gain the favor of Queen Semiramis, who induced Nebuchadnezzar to ameliorate the lot of the captive king by permitting his wife to share his prison. As he then manifested great self-control and obedience to the Law, God forgave him his sins (Lev. R. xix., end). Jehoiachin lived to see the death of his conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar, which brought him liberty; for within two days of his father's death Evil-Merodach opened the prison in which Jehoiachin had languished for so many years.

Jehoiachin's life is the best illustration of the maxim, "During prosperity a man must never forget the possibility of misfortune; and in adversity must not despair of prosperity's return" (Seder 'Olam R. xxv.). On the advice of Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar's son cut his father's body into 300 pieces, which he gave to 300 vultures, so that he could be sure that Nebuchadnezzar would never return to worry him ("Chronicles of Jerahmeel," lxvi. 6). Evil-Merodach treated Jehoiachin as a king, clothed him in purple and ermine, and for his sake liberated all the Jews that had been imprisoned by Nebuchadnezzar (Targ. Sheni, near the beginning). It was Jehoiachin, also, who erected the magnificent mausoleum on the grave of the prophet Ezekiel (Benjamin of Tudela, "Itinerary," ed. Asher, i. 66). In the Second Temple there was a gate called "Jeconiah's Gate," because, according to tradition, Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) left the Temple through that gate when he went into exile (Mid. ii. 6).S. S. L. G).

Within the two days of the death of Nebuchadnezzar (560 BCE in the Jewish calendar, 562 BCE in the conventional historical calendar), and the ascension of his son, the Babylonian emperor, Evil-Merodach (Amel-Marduk), the exiled king, Jeconiah was released from prison and taken into the hospitality of the imperial Babylonian court. There he lived and even ate at the imperial table as a member of the royal family. The new emperor, Evil-Merodach, reigned, according to the conventional historical calendar for only two years, the years of 562 – 560 BCE, yet, according to the Jewish calendar, he ruled twenty two years, until the year of 538 BCE.

2 Kings 25:27-30 – “Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventy year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon , in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat that those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. And as for his provision, there was a regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.” (see Jeremiah 52:31-34)

The Nabonidus Cylinder

The Babylonian crown prince, Nabû-šuma-ukîn (aka Evil-Merodach or Amel-Marduk) was the eldest of six sons, Eanna-arra-usur, Marduk-šuma-usur, Marduk-nâdin-ahi, Mušêzib-Marduk, Marduk-nâdin-šumi, and one known daughter of King Nebuchadnezzar, Kasšaya. Kasšaya later went on to marry the future Emperor Neriglissar. Amel-Marduk’s mother was Nitocris, a Princess from Egypt, the wife of King Nebuchadnezzar, whose father was Necho II Wehemibre and mother was Shapenuapit, the High Priestess of Amon in Egypt. This is an important clue, for we have earlier identified that the ancestral mother of the Davidian Dynastic Abiudite Line was the Babylonian Princess Amytis who was the daughter of the Babylonian King Evil-Merodach. Since this would become the ancestral lineage of Jesus the son of Joseph (Yahshua ben Yosef), we begin to fill in the ancestral lineages of his foster father, the Prince of Israel Joseph.

The Ancestral Lineage of the Babylonian Princess Amytis

King Nebuchadnezzar m. Amytis, Median Princess à Babylonian King Evil-Merodach|

|à

Pharaoh Necho II m. Shapenuapit, high priestess Amon à Princess Nitocris ======= |

è Amytis, Babylonian Princess |
| à Abiudite Line à à Jesus son of Joseph

Jewish Persian Governor Zerubabbel |

Amel-Marduk’s father was an epic figure in human history. Nebuchadnezzar (Nbuwkadnetstsar) was the son of Babylonian King Nabopolasser, who became king of Babylon on November 23, 626 BCE. As ruler of Babylon and under the suzerainty of the Empire of Assyria, King Nabopolasser with the assistance of his son, the crown prince Nebuchadnezzar, eventually sacked the capital of Aššur with a coalition between the Babylonian king Nabopolassar, and the Median king Cyaxares. It was near this time that the Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar married the Median princess, Amytis.

After the first deportation of the Jewish princes and elite children of the Jewish aristocracy, King Nebuchadnezzar, began the imperial repairs of the Ebabbar Temple in Sippar during an interim period of peace. We know these facts for they were discovered in the royal archives left by Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, King Nabonidus, the last Emperor of Babylon, who in his semi-retirement years became a royal archeologist, while his son, King Belshazzar, ruled in his stead within the city of Babylon. As we read this account of Nabonidus’ archeological expeditions, we begin to suspect that the impending mental depression and clinical anxiety of the king were reminiscent of the earlier mental breakdown of his grandfather, King Nebuchadnezzar.

Scytho-Iranian Arrowhead found in the Islamic excavation debris on the Temple Mount used by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army in the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 586 BCE – The Temple Mount Institute

These archeological repairs by King Nabonidus were recorded in the Nabonidus Cylinder (ii.47ff).

Nabonidus Cylinder – “(ii.47-iii.7) For Šamaš, the judge of heaven and the netherworld, concerning Ebabbar ('shining house'), his temple which is in Sippar, which Nebuchadnezzar, a former king had rebuilt and whose old foundation deposit he had looked for, but not found -yet he rebuilt that temple and after forty-five years the walls of that temple had sagged- I became troubled, I became fearful, I was worried and my face showed signs of anxiety.

While I led Šamaš out of its midst and caused him to dwell in another sanctuary, I removed the debris of that temple, looked for its old foundation deposit, dug to a depth of eighteen cubits into the ground and then Šamaš, the great lord, revealed to me the original foundations of Ebabbar, the temple which is his favorite dwelling, by disclosing the foundation deposit of Naram-Sin, son of Sargon, which no king among my predecessors had found in three thousand and two hundred years.

Three years later, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem, because of the new rebellion of the Jews under King Zedekiah. This time the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon were destroyed in the year of 587-586 BCE. There he completed the third and final deportation of the Judean elite of the city. By 582 BCE, the regions of Moab and Ammon were annexed (Joseph, Antiquities, 10.9.7) and in 575 BCE, he went on to complete the destruction of the city of Tyre after a thirteen year siege.

It was the family of King Josiah and the Prophet Jeremiah that did fulfill the promises in the Covenant of God with Kings David and Solomon, but the fulfillment came with the destruction of the Temple of Solomon and the capital city of Jerusalem. The lingering question we ask, what happened that all the lineages and descendants of the House of Solomon came to extinction and how did the prophetic promise still come to fulfillment, within the laws of Torah that the messiah of the Jews would still come from the royal House of Kings David and Solomon?

*****

Note – The genealogies and historical overlays of the family of Jesus are a project of continuing research. For any researchers with additional historical insight and genealogical information are welcome to contact any of the following researchers.

David Hughes – RdavidH218@AOL.com – Davidian Genealogy

Robert Mock – robertmock@biblesearchers.com – Biblical History

Robert Killian - rkillian@libello.com – Biblical Chronology

Go to Book Two –

Chapter Two

“Princess Tamar – the Dynastic Merging of the Lineages of Solomon and Nathan”

Topics

The Amazing Cross-Over Dynastic Merge between the Houses of Solomon and Nathan

The Senior Descent Lineage from King Solomon to Queen Tamar, the wife of King Jeconiah

The Royal Kings of Judah in Order from King David to King Jeconiah

The Blotted Out Ancestors in the Genealogy of Yehoshua (Jesus)

Expanded Lineage of the Royal Family from King Uzziah to King Zedekiah

The Gospel of Luke Lineage of the non-Royal House of Nathan to Zerubabbel

The Solomonic Senior Descent Lineage from Queen Tamar, the wife of King Jeconiah, to the Twin Princes, Tobit and Onaid

Prince Johanan – Heir to the Parallel Davidian Lineage in the British Isles

The Non-Inclusion of Princess’ Names in the Royal “Chronicles” of Judah

Influence of Queen Tamar on the Genealogy of Mary’s Ancestors

The Cross-Over Dynastic Heiress Transfer from Nathan’s Non-Royal Lineage to Solomon’s Royal Lineage

The Davidian Lineage of the Nasi and Prince of Israel, Hillel the Great

The “Last Days” of the Kingdom of Judah

The Primary Lineage of Prince Gedaliah

The Secondary Lineage of Prince Gedaliah

The Primary Lineage of Prince Ishmael