For the source text click/tap here: Shekalim 17
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The Beis HaMikdash stood for four hundred years before Yechonya ruled—did this gate have a different name all that time? If so, what was it? And if not, what could it have meant that it was called by his name even before his time? In heaven, it was decreed that Yechonya would die childless, but through sincere repentance, the decree was rescinded.
The Mishnah (Middot 2:6) says that the gate on the northern side of the Azarah (courtyard of the Beit HaMikdash), towards the western side, was called the Gate of Yechonya. This is because King Yechonya (son of Yehoyakim) departed to exile through that gate.
Who was this Yechonya, and why did he go to exile via this particular gate? In addition, why was this even so significant as to name the gate after it? We examine a midrashic story, which appears in Vayikra Rabba 19:6. The story deals with the reigns of two of the last Jewish kings in Jerusalem preceding the Babylonian Exile.