Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 23:36
Jehoiakim [was] twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
36. His mother’s name was Zebudah ] R.V. Zebidah. The R.V. follows the spelling of the Kethib. The name Rumah, the native place of Zebidah, is not mentioned elsewhere. It has been conjectured that it is the same as Dumah ( and being in Hebrew writing most easily interchanged). Dumah (Jos 15:52) was in the hill country of Judah, near Hebron, from which neighbourhood ( viz. Libnah) another of Josiah’s wives came. The R at the beginning is however represented by the LXX., which has .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Twenty and five years old – Jehoiakim was therefore two years older than his half-brother, Jehoahaz 2Ki 23:31. See his character in 2Ki 23:37; 2Ch 36:8; Eze 19:5-7; Jer 22:13-17; Jer 26:20-23, 36:
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
When he began to reign; either,
1. When he began to reign alone, and with full power, or after Jehoahazs death; till which the people would not disown him whom they had anointed king, which was esteemed a great tie, 2Sa 19:10; nor own or accept Jehoiakim as their king, but only as his brothers viceroy, though Pharaoh had by violence forced him upon them. And so Jehoahaz might be his elder brother, and the same who is called Johanan, and is first mentioned, as the eldest son, 1Ch 3:15, though he may be placed first not in regard of his birth, but of his dignity, the crown being first put upon his head. Or,
2. When he was first set up by Pharaoh; and so this was the elder brother, though by popular violence put by his right: See Poole “2Ki 23:30“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign,…. And therefore must be two years older than his brother Jehoahaz, who was deposed:
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and therefore must die at the age of thirty and six:
and his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah; which Josephus l calls Abuma; but he speaks of a village in Galilee called Ruma m; but whether the same with this is not certain.
l Antiqu. l. 10. c. 5. sect. 2. m De Bello Jud l. 3. c. 6. sect. 21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Reign of Jehoiakim (cf. 2Ch 36:5-8). – Jehoiakim reigned eleven years in the spirit of his ungodly forefathers (compare 2Ki 23:37 with 2Ki 23:32). Jeremiah represents him (2Ki 22:13.) as a bad prince, who enriched himself by the unjust oppression of his people, “whose eyes and heart were directed upon nothing but upon gain, and upon innocent blood to shed it, and upon oppression and violence to do them” (compare 2Ki 24:4 and Jer 26:22-23). Josephus therefore describes him as , , ( Ant. x. 5, 2). The town of Rumah, from which his mother sprang, is not mentioned anywhere else, but it has been supposed to be identical with Aruma in the neighbourhood of Shechem (Jdg 9:41).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
III. THE REIGN AND REBELLION OF JEHOIAKIM 23:36-24:7
TRANSLATION
(36) Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. (37) And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD according to all which his fathers had done. (1) In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal three years; then he turned away and rebelled against him. (2) And the LORD sent against him bands of Chaldeans and bands of Arameans and bands of Moabites and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by the hand of His servants the prophets. (3) Surely on account of the word of the LORD it came on Judah to remove them from before His face for the sins of Manasseh, according to all he had done. (4) And also for the blood of the innocent which he shed when he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not pardon this. (5) Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (6) And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers and Jehoiachin his son ruled in his place. (7) And the king of Egypt did not again go out from his land because the king of Babylon had taken the land from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all which had belonged to the king of Egypt.
Seventeenth King of Judah
JEHOIAKIM BENJOSIAH
609597 B.C.
(Yabweb will set up)
Contemporary Prophets
Jeremiah; Uriah; Daniel
Mother: Zebudah
Appraisal: Bad
He will be buried with a donkey’s burial, dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Jer. 22:19
COMMENTS
Since Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, he was therefore older than his deposed half-brother.[667] He reigned eleven years over Judah, from 609597 B.C.(2Ki. 23:36) Under Jehoiakim, all the idolatrous practices of the Manasseh era were reintroduced (2Ki. 23:37). In spite of the national poverty, this petty little king spent huge sums of money on himself. In one of Jeremiahs blistering sermons he condemned Jehoiakim for building for himself a fancy new palace (Jer. 22:13-14). Jehoiakim was the villain of the closing years of Judahs history. He was everything that is despicable in a national leader. He was a spendthrift, a bigot, an arrogant and irreverent tyrant who brooked no criticism, not even when that criticism came from a man of God. A prophet named Uriah was too bold in his denunciation of the king, and paid for his boldness with his life (Jer. 26:21). Jeremiah was in danger on more than one occasion during the reign of this king.
[667] The mother of Jehoahaz was Hamutal (2Ki. 23:31); the mother of Jehoiakim was Zebudah (2Ki. 23:36). Rumah, the hometown of Zebudah, was in the vicinity of Shechem.
Jehoiakim carefully watched the political developments on the Euphrates River to the north. From July 609 to June 605 B.C. the armies of the Babylonians and the Assyro-Egyptian coalition sparred. For the most part during those years the Babylonians were on the defensive. Finally, the Babylonian army under the brilliant young crown prince Nebuchadnezzar was able to launch a mighty offensive which was to have worldwide significance. The focus of the attack was the fortress of Carchemish on the Euphrates. Nebuchadnezzar won a crushing victory. The tattered Egyptian armies fled southward from Carchemish in disarray. Nebuchadnezzar was able to roam at will through Syria-Palestine, the Hatti-land as he calls it in his annals.
Shortly after Carchemish Nebuchadnezzar went up and besieged Jerusalem. According to one system of counting regnal years, this siege fell in the third year of King Jehoiakim (Dan. 1:1-3).[668] It is not entirely clear whether or not Jehoiakim actually swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar at this time. It may be that Jehoiakim merely tried to bribe the Chaldean prince by sending to him some of the valuable Temple vessels and some prize youth of the land, viz., Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.
[668] Using a different system, Jer. 46:2 dates the battle of Carchemish to the fourth year of Jehoiakim. For a discussion of the two dating systems, see Thiele, MNHK, p. 162ff.
Nebuchadnezzars campaign in the Hatti-land was cut short by the death of his father, King Nabopolassar, on August 16, 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar hastened immediately back to Babylon where he was crowned on September 6, 605 B.C. Upon assuming the throne, Nebuchadnezzar returned to the Hatti-land (Syria-Palestine) to continue his conquests. The Babylonian records do not indicate precisely what cities he conquered at this time. A third campaign to the Hatti-land took place in the late spring and early summer of 604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzars official scribe declares that on this occasion all the kings of the Hatti-land came before him and he received their heavy tribute.[669] It was probably at this time that Nebuchadnezzar bound King Jehoiakim to take him to Babylon (2Ch. 36:6). No evidence exists that Jehoiakim was actually taken to Babylon, and so one must conclude that for some reason Nebuchadnezzar changed his mind about the matter. Perhaps Jehoiakim took a solemn and sacred oath of allegiance to the Great King, and so Nebuchadnezzar decided to leave him on the throne of Jerusalem as his vassal.[670]
[669] DOTT, p. 79.
[670] It cannot be known for certain on which of the three campaigns of 605604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem and bound Jehoiakim. However in both Chronicles and Kings he is called king at the time he came against Jerusalem. This would suggest that he had already been crowned king and would thus eliminate the first campaign to the Hatti-land when he was only crown-prince.
Jehoiakim had no intention of remaining permanently the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar. He did serve the Babylonian for three years.[671] But since Pharaoh Necho was regaining strength down in Egypt, Jehoiakim was encouraged to rebel against his overlord. In 601 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar brought his armies down the coastal plain of Palestine apparently intent on invading Egypt and destroying Necho once and for all. However, it appears from a Babylonian text that Nebuchadnezzar met with a stinging defeat on the borders of Egypt.[672] This meant that for the last years of his reign Jehoiakim was an independent ruler.
[671] It is not certain at exactly what time Jehoiakim took his vassal oath to Nebuchadnezzar. What little evidence there is points to the summer of 604 B.C. Gray (OTL, pp. 756f.), however, thinks Jehoiakim was left independent from 604601 B.C. Only in 601 B.C. when Jehoiakim showed signs of sympathy with Necho did Nebuchadnezzar impose tribute on him. Thus in Grays view, the three years of vassalage were 601599 B.C. In the opinion of the present writer, 604601 B.C. is more likely.
[672] See ANET, p. 564.
That Nebuchadnezzar had received a rather severe blow in his battle with the Egyptians in 601 B.C. is indicated by the fact that for some eighteen months he was unable to personally attend to his rebellious vassal in Jerusalem. In the meanwhile, he sent bands of Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites and local contingents of Chaldean soldiers to harass the Judaeans. Though these small units were probably unable to do much damage to the fortified cities of Judah, they did force the rural people to seek refuge in Jerusalem (Jer. 35:11). By authorizing these raids of reprisal, Nebuchadnezzar was unconsciously beginning to fulfill the threats which the Lord had made against Judah through his great prophets. In reality it was the Lord through His permissive will who sent these raiders against Judah (2Ki. 23:2).
The final destruction of Judah had been decreed by the mouth of the Lord. Judah was to be removed from His sightcarried off to a foreign landbecause of the sins of Manasseh (2Ki. 23:3). This should not be interpreted to mean that the nation was being punished for the sins of a man long since dead. Rather the meaning is that the class of sins introduced by Manasseh still persisted in the nation. The sins of Manasseh included: (1) idolatry, accompanied by licentious rites; (2) child sacrifice to Moloch; (3) sodomy; (4) occult practices; and (5) the shedding of innocent blood. This shedding of innocent blood would include child sacrifice, but would also embrace the persecution of righteous saints. This kind of bloodshed continued under Jehoiakim. Reference has already been made to the execution of Uriah the prophet (Jer. 26:23). The blood of innocent saints cried out to God for vengeance. God could no longer overlook or pardon those crimes (2Ki. 23:4).
The author of Kings closes out his brief treatment of the reign of Jehoiakim by referring his readers to the prophetic chronicles of his reign (2Ki. 23:5). The Book of Jeremiah relates several other facts about Jehoiakim: (1) that he executed Uriah the prophet (Jer. 26:23); (2) that he destroyed the scroll of Jeremiahs sermons (Jer. 36:20-23); and (3) that he ordered Jeremiah and Baruch to be arrested (Jer. 36:26).
Jehoiakim died on December 9, 598 B.C. The circumstances of his death are not entirely clear. Jeremiah had predicted that he would be buried with the burial of a donkey. His death, said the prophet, would be unlamented (Jer. 22:18-19). These words suggest that Jehoiakim was assassinated, or at least that his body was dishonored after death by his own countrymen. It is also possible that when the Chaldeans arrived in force at Jerusalem to punish the rebellious city they disinterred the corpse and exposed it to the indignities here described.
Whether by violence or natural death, Jehoiakim was dead when the Chaldeans arrived. His young son Jehoiachin[673] was left to face the wrath of the mighty Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki. 23:6). No further aid from Egypt was forthcoming. Even though Necho had successfully defended his land in the face of the Babylonian campaign of 601 B.C., the Egyptians did not have sufficient power to challenge Nebuchadnezzars hegemony over Syria-Palestine. All the territories between the River of Egypt and the Euphrates to which Pharaoh had laid claim after his campaign of 609 B.C. the Babylonians now controlled (2Ki. 23:7).
[673] Jehoiachin has two other names: Jeconiah (1Ch. 3:16-17; Jer. 27:20 etc.) and Coniah (Jer. 22:24; Jer. 22:28 etc.). The two longer forms both mean Yahweh will establish; the shorter form means Yahweh establishes.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM, 2Ki 23:36 to 2Ki 24:7.
36. Twenty and five years old About two years older than Jehoahaz. Compare 2Ki 23:31. All accounts of the reign of this prince agree in representing him as excessively given over to wickedness and cruelty. Especially do the prophecies of Jeremiah (compare Jeremiah 22-26) depict the fearful corruptions of his times.
His mother’s name was Zebudah So he was a half brother to Jehoahaz. The locality of Rumah is unknown.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Reign Of Jehoiakim, King of Judah – 609-597 BC ( 2Ki 23:36 to 2Ki 24:6 ).
Nothing good is said about Jehoiakim in either Kings or Chronicles, whilst Jeremiah portrays him as an oppressive and covetous ruler (Jer 22:17) who presided over a period of religious decay during which the syncretistic high places were restored (e.g. Jer 25:5-7; Jer 26:5-6; Jer 35:14-15). He also introduced hideous Egyptian rites and filled the land with violence (Eze 8:5-17; compare Jer 22:17), capping it by murdering Uriah the prophet for opposing him (Jer 26:20-23). Unlike his father, who had ruled justly and wisely, his thoughts were only for himself, and he built himself a palace without adequately paying his workforce (Jer 22:13-16), thinking to aggrandise himself, but only thereby revealing his folly and that he had little regard for others. But none of this is described here in Kings in detail. Rather it is brought out by the prophetic author in his usual indirect way by referring to the fact that he ‘did evil in the eyes of YHWH’ (always an indication of a restoration of idolatry) and then describing the judgments that came on him as a result of YHWH’s hand at work. This was then followed by bringing out that this was because he was following in the footsteps of Manasseh. But he was not to be seen as being alone in being judged, for YHWH’s judgment was to fall on Judah as a whole, in fulfilment of the words of the prophets which portrayed the depths of sin into which they had fallen (2Ki 24:2). This time they had gone too far. Manasseh had not been alone in his sinfulness. His people had shared in his sin with him. And that was why YHWH would not pardon, and why they would therefore share in the consequent judgment.
We note especially that the author avoids mentioning the arrival of the main Babylonian army to besiege Jerusalem because he wants us to see that the build up of YHWH’s judgment is occurring stage by stage (2Ki 24:2). But he makes crystal clear that the end of it will be the destruction of Judah, because YHWH’s hand is against them, and that meanwhile there is no help to be had from Egypt. Judah will be left isolated, to stand, and fall, alone. It is in fact only when we get to the reign of his son Jehoiachin that we learn that calamity is awaiting Jerusalem, and had already been threatening in the final days of Jehoiakim.
Analysis.
a
b And he did what as evil in the sight of YHWH, according to all that his fathers had done (2Ki 23:37).
c In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him (2Ki 24:1).
d And YHWH sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Aramaeans, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of YHWH, which he spoke by his servants the prophets (2Ki 24:2).
c Surely at the commandment of YHWH this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and YHWH would not pardon (2Ki 24:3-4).
b Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (2Ki 24:5).
a So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned instead of him. And the king of Egypt did not come again any more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt (2Ki 24:6-7).
Note that in ‘a’ Jehoiakim began his reign and in the parallel his reign ended. In ‘b’ he did (religiously) what was evil in the sight of YHWH and in the parallel the remainder of what he did can be found in the official annals of the kings of Judah. In ‘c’ Nebuchadnezzar came on the scene (Jeremiah tells us that he came as the servant of YHWH) and in the parallel it was because YHWH had planned to remove Judah out of His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, which were being repeated by both Jehoiakim and Judah. Centrally in ‘d’ YHWH has Himself sent destroyers against Judah in accordance with His own word which He had spoken by the prophets. The word of YHWH has gone out against Judah and will not be called back.
2Ki 23:36
‘Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.’
Jehoiakim, who was a year or two older than his half-brother Jehoahaz, began to reign when he was twenty five years old, and reigned for eleven years. The queen mother, Zebidah, came from Rumah. If this was Khirbet al-Rumah, thirty five kilometres (twenty one miles) inland from Mount Carmel, it may indicate how far Josiah had extended his rule, the marriage being in order to establish his hold in the area. It would be a reign full of turmoil because of his sinfulness.
2Ki 23:37
‘And he did what as evil in the sight of YHWH, according to all that his fathers had done.’
Jehoiakim continued to allow, and even approved of, the outbreak of Baalism that had begun during the short reign of Jehoahaz, on the death of Josiah. Once again the syncretistic high places for the worship of both Baal and YHWH were being re-established (turning YHWH into simply another nature God. See e.g. Eze 6:3-4; Eze 6:13; Eze 16:16-39), and altars to Baal and Asherah and even probably to the Sun, were being introduced into the Temple (see Eze 8:16).
2Ki 24:1
‘In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years.
The arrival of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabu-kudurri-usur) of Babylon in 605/4 BC put an end to Egyptian supremacy, with the result that, on Egypt’s withdrawal behind its borders, Jehoiakim had to submit to him as his vassal. This took place in the third year of his reign (Dan 1:1), when Jerusalem was invested and prominent men were taken as hostages to Babylon, including among them Daniel and his three compatriots. It may have been at this time that Jehoiakim was himself taken in chains to Babylon (2Ch 36:6) where he would be forced to make an oath of allegiance. We can compare how similar ignominious treatment, followed by restoration, had been meted out to Manasseh without being mentioned by the author, whilst a similar thing had happened to Pharaoh Tirhakah under Assyrian rule.
This arrival of Nebuchadn(r)ezzar in force, followed subsequently by two further raids, is described in the Babylonian Chronicle as follows:
“In the twenty first year the king of Babylon (Nabopolassar) stayed in his own country while the crown-prince Nebuchadrezzar, his eldest son, took personal command of his troops and marched to Carchemish which lay on the bank of the River Euphrates. He crossed the river against the Egyptian army — they fought with each other and the Egyptian army retreated before him. He defeated them, annihilating them. As for the remains of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat so that no weapon touched them, the Babylonian army overtook and defeated them in the district of Hamath, so that not a single man got away to his own country. At that time Nebuchadrezzar captured the whole land of Hatti (which included Aram, Samaria and Judah). — In his accession year Nebuchadrezzar went back again to the Hatti-land and marched victoriously through it until the month of Sebat. In the month of Sebat he took the heavy tribute of the Hatti-land back to Babylon. — In the first year of Nebuchadrezzar (the year after the accession year) he mustered his army in the month of Sivan and went to the Hatti-land. He marched about victoriously in the Hatti-land until the month of Kislev. All the kings of the Hatti-land (including Damascus, Tyre and Sidon, and Judah) came before him and he received their heavy tribute. He marched to the city of Ashkelon and captured it in the month of Kislev.”
2Ki 24:1
‘Then he turned and rebelled against him.’
Nebuchadnezzar’s attempt to invade Egypt three of four years after his succession (i.e. in c 601 BC) resulted in a set back for his army and he had to return to Babylon to recoup. This may well have been what caused Jehoiakim to rebel, probably with promises of support from Egypt. To him things were beginning to look promising.
2Ki 24:2
‘And YHWH sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Aramaeans, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of YHWH, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.’
Being in no position to return immediately to Judah himself, Nebuchadrezzar nevertheless arranged for Judah to be attacked by marauders (who would be tributaries of Babylon) from all sides. The Chaldeans (Babylonians) were possibly occupying troops stationed in Aram and were effective enough to make people take refuge in Jerusalem (see Jer 35:11). They were supported by bands of Aramaeans. The Moabites and Ammonites would harry the land east of Jordan, and possibly also cross the Jordan looking for spoils as they had done in the days of the Judges (Judges 3).
But in the eyes of the author the main cause for this activity was not Nebuchadnezzar, but the word of YHWH (after all, unknown to Nebuchadnezzar, he was YHWH’s servant – Jer 25:9). Thus in the author’s view it was primarily because of Judah’s sins that these attacks were being carried out, in accordance with the words of YHWH’s servants the prophets. History was being seen as subject to His will.
2Ki 24:3-4
‘Surely at the commandment of YHWH this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and YHWH would not pardon.’
The author then again stressed that all that was happening was ‘at the commandment of YHWH’. And this was because He had determined to remove Judah out of His sight as He had warned as long ago as Lev 18:28. He was sick of them. And this situation had come about because of the sins of Manasseh and what he had done, and because of the innocent blood which he had shed, and the fact that he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. It had been so bad that it was something that YHWH could not overlook because, although the reign of Josiah had at first altered the picture, Judah had turned back to the same behaviour as before, something evidenced by the slaying of Uriah the prophet by Jehoiakim (Jer 26:20-23). Josiah’s death had resulted in YHWH’s covenant being openly slighted on a continual basis and it revealed Judah’s permanent hardness of heart, something which even Josiah had been unable to remedy. That was why Judah was doomed. Compare Deu 29:20.
2Ki 24:5
‘Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?’
As usual the author was not interested in political activities which were not relevant to his case and in respect of them refers his readers to the official annals of the kings of Judah (for the last time).
2Ki 24:6
‘So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned instead of him.’
The closing formula is also used for the last time, for the author is now moving into a description of ‘current affairs’ concerning which he was fully informed. It is significant that we are not told how or where Jehoiakim was buried, leaving us to infer that there was something unusual about it, and indeed his end as a whole is shrouded in mystery. Jer 22:18-19 tells us that he would be buried ‘with the burial of an ass’ and that his body would be thrown unmourned outside Jerusalem. (Josephus tells us that he sought to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, but was put to death and his body tossed ignominiously outside the walls of Jerusalem, although that may simply be an inference from the words of Jeremiah). However, 2Ch 36:6 ff. tells us that he was bound in fetters in order to be carried off to Babylon, although it is not said that that actually happened. Perhaps he died while in custody outside the walls of Jerusalem and never actually commenced the journey to Babylon. Dan 1:1-2 is also equally ambiguous.
2Ki 24:7
‘And the king of Egypt did not come again any more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.’
In typical fashion the author added to the closing formula an appropriate comment concerning events. Compare 2Ki 15:12; 2Ki 15:16; 2Ki 15:37 ; 1Ki 15:23; 1Ki 15:32. In this case it was a summary as to the situation with regard to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar’s control of the land south of the Euphrates, down almost to the borders of Egypt (to the Wadi of Egypt, just north of the border), had become such that the king of Egypt did not venture beyond his borders. All that he had previously gained had been lost and any assistance that he may have promised to Judah would thus come to nothing. He was no match for the forces of Nebuchadnezzar.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ki 23:36 Jehoiakim [was] twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
Ver. 36. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old. ] See on 2Ki 23:31 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
am 3394-3405, bc 610-599
Jehoiakim: 1Ch 3:15, 2Ch 36:5, Jer 1:3
Rumah: Josephus here reads Abuma; but he also speaks of Ruma, a village of Galilee.
Reciprocal: Eze 14:20 – Daniel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 23:36 to 2Ki 24:7. Jehoiakim.A fuller account of the reign is given by Jeremiah, who consistently opposed the king (see Jeremiah 25-27, 35 f., and especially 2Ki 22:13-19).
The external events of the time are as follows (p. 60). The Assyrian empire came to an end with the fall of Nineveh, about 606 B.C. In 605 B.C. the Egyptians were utterly defeated and driven out of Syria after the battle of Carchemish (Jer 46:2; see 2Ki 24:7). Nebuchadrezzar succeeded his father in that year, when Jehoiakim transferred his allegiance from Egypt to Babylon (2Ki 24:1). After three years he rebelled, and was harried by raids (2Ki 24:2). His end is obscure; Jeremiah (Jer 22:19) foretold a disgraceful burial. 2Ch 36:6 says that he was taken captive to Babylon. Here (2Ki 24:6) it is simply said that he slept with his fathers.
2Ki 24:4. The innocent blood (Jer 27:16-22). The king tried to kill Jeremiah, but the elders remonstrated. He actually put to death a prophet named Urijah.
2Ki 24:7. The king of Egypt had been at first the suzerain of Jehoiakim. The Jews to the last, as they had done in the time of Isaiah (Isaiah 31), hoped for help from Egypt (Jer 37:7).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
F. Jehoiakim’s Evil Reign 23:36-24:7
Jehoiakim, formerly named Eliakim, reigned as a puppet king for 11 years (609-598 B.C.). He was a weak ruler who did not stand up for Judah’s interests against her hostile enemies.
In 605 B.C. Prince Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonian army of his father Nabopolassar against the allied forces of Assyria and Egypt and defeated them at Carchemish. This victory, as previously explained, gave Babylon supremacy in the ancient Near East. With Babylon’s victory Egypt’s vassals, including Judah, came under Babylon’s control. Shortly after that event, in the same year that Nabopolassar died, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded him. Nebuchadnezzar then moved south and invaded Judah (605 B.C.). He took some captives to Babylon including Daniel (Dan 1:1-3). This was the first of Judah’s three deportations in which the Babylonians took groups of Judahites to Babylon.
Jehoiakim submitted to Nebuchadnezzar for three years but then rebelled. He appealed to Egypt for help unsuccessfully (2Ki 24:1; 2Ki 24:7). Foreign raiders who sought to take advantage of her weakened condition besieged Judah (2Ki 24:2). The Babylonians then took Jehoiakim to Babylon (2Ch 36:6). Later they allowed him to return to Jerusalem where he died (Jer 22:19).
Jehoiakim did little to postpone God’s judgment on Judah for her previous sins. The prophet Jeremiah despised him for his wickedness (Jer 22:18-19; Jer 26:20-23; Jeremiah 36).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
JEHOIAKIM
B.C. 608-597
2Ki 23:36-37; 2Ki 24:1-7
“But those things that are recorded of him, and of his uncleanness and impiety, are written in the Chronicles of the Kings,”
– RAPC 1Es 1:42
“When Jehoiakim succeeded to the throne, he said,”
“My predecessors knew not how to provoke God.”
– Sanhedrin, f. 103, 2
“There is no strange handwriting on the wall, Through all the midnight hum no threatening call, Nor on the marble floor the stealthy fall Of fatal footsteps. All is safe.-Thou fool, The avenging deities are shod with wool!”
– W. ALLEN BUTLER
ELIAKIM succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-five under very unenviable circumstances-as a nominal king, a helpless nominee and tributary of the Pharaoh. He seems to have been thoroughly distasteful to the people; and if we may judge from the fact that Ezekiel frankly ignores him and passes from Jehoabaz to Jehoachin, he was regarded as a tax-gathering usurper nominated by an alien tyrant. For after speaking of Jehoahaz, Ezekiel says, –
“Now when she [Judah] saw that she had waited [for the restoration of Jehoahaz], and her hope was lost, Then she took another of her whelps; A young lion she made him. He went up and down among the lions; He became a young lion.”
The historian says that Necho turned the name of Eliakim (“God will establish”) to Jehoiakim (“Jehovah will establish”); but by this can hardly be meant more than that he sanctioned the change of El into Jehovah on Eliakims installation upon the throne.
Jehoiakim is condemned in the same terms as all the other sons of Josiah. His misdoings are far more definitely recorded in the Prophets, who furnish us with details which are passed over by the historians. Some of his sins may have been due to the influence of his wife Nehushta, who was a daughter of Elnathan of Achbor, one of the princes of the heathen party. It was this Elnathan whom the king chose as a fitting ambassador to demand the extradition of the prophet Urijah from Egypt. One of the crimes with which Jehoiakim is charged is the building for himself of a sumptuous palace, and thus vainly trying to emulate the splendors of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian kings. In itself the act would not have been more wicked than it was in Solomon, whose architectural parade is dwelt upon with enthusiasm. But the circumstances were now wholly different. Solomon was at that time in all his glory, the possessor of boundless wealth, the ruler of an immense and united territory, the head of a powerful and prosperous people, the successor of an unconquered hero who had gone to his grave in peace; Jehoiakim, on the other hand, had succeeded a father who had died in defeat on the field of battle, and a brother who was hopelessly pining in an Egyptian prison. The Tribes had been carried into captivity by Assyria; the nation was beaten, oppressed, and poor; the king himself possessed but a shadow of royalty. In such a condition of things it would have been his glory to maintain a watchful and strenuous activity, and to devote himself in simplicity and self-denial to the good of his people. It showed a perverted and sensuous mind to insult the misery of his subjects at such a time by feeble attempts to rival heathen potentates in costly aestheticism. But this was not all; he carried out his ignoble selfishness at the cost of oppression and wrong.
It is possible that the prophet Habakkuk alludes to him in the words:
“Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.” {Hab 2:9-11}
The thought of the Jewish kings selfish expensiveness may have crossed the mind of Habakkuk, though the taunt is addressed directly to the Chaldaeans. and especially to Nebuchadrezzar, who was at that time reveling in the beautifying of Babylon, and especially of his own royal palace. On the other hand, the rebuke, or rather the denunciation, uttered by Jeremiah against the king for this line of conduct, and for the forced labor which it required, is terribly direct.
“Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness,
And his chambers by wrong;
That useth his neighbors service without wages,
And giveth him not his hire;
That saith, “I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers,”
And cutteth out windows;
And it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
Shalt thou reign because thou viest with the cedar?
Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice?
Then it was well with him! Was not this to know Me? saith the Lord.
But thine heart is not but for thy dishonest gain,
And for to shed innocent blood,
And for oppression and for violence to do it.” {Jer 22:13-17}
Then follows the stern message of doom which we shall quote hereafter. The kings bad example stimulated or perhaps emulated similar folly and want of patriotism on the part of his nobles. They were shepherds who destroyed and scattered the sheep of Jehovahs pastures. But vain was their imagined security, and their ostentation. The judgment was imminent. {Jer 23:1}
“O inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars,” exclaims the prophet in bitter mockery, “how greatly wilt thou groan when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!” {Jer 22:23}
But Jehoiakims offences were deadlier than this. The Chronicler speaks of “the abominations which he did”; and some have therefore supposed that the evil state of things described by Jeremiah (Jer 19:1-15) refers to this reign. If so, he plunged into the idolatry which caused Judah to be shivered like a potters vessel. Certainly he sinned grievously against God in the person of His prophets.
Jeremiah was not the only prophet who disdained the easy and traitorous popularity which was to be won by prophesying “peace, peace,” when there was no peace. He had for his contemporary another messenger of God, no less boldly explicit than himself-Urijah, the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-Jearim. Jeremiah had as yet only prophesied in his humble native village of Anathoth; he had not been called upon to face “the swellings” or “the pride of Jordan.” {Jer 12:5} Urijah had been in the fuller glare of publicity in the capital, and his bold declaration that Jerusalem should fall before Nebuchadrezzar and the Chaldaeans had excited such a fury of indignation that he escaped into Egypt for his life. Surely this should have appeased the rulers, even if they chose to pay no attention to the Divine menace. For the prophets were recognized deliverers of the messages of Jehovah; and with scarcely an exception, even in the most wicked reigns, their persons had been regarded as sacrosanct. But Jehoiakim would not let Urijah escape. He sent an embassy to Necho, headed by his father-in-law Elnathan, son of Achbor, requesting his extradition. Urijah had been dragged back from Egypt, and, to the horror of the people, the king had slain him with the sword, and flung his body into the graves of the common people. What made this conduct more monstrous was the precedent of Micah the Morasthite. He, in the days of Hezekiah, had prophesied, –
“Zion shall be ploughed as a field,
And Jerusalem shall become heaps,
And the Mountain of the House as the wooded heights.” {Jer 26:18}
Yet so far from putting him to death, or even stirring a finger against him, the pious king had only been moved to repentance by the Divine threatenings. Thus the blood of the first martyr-prophet, if we except the case of Zechariah, had been shed by the son of Judahs most pious king. Jeremiah himself only narrowly escaped martyrdom. The precedent of Micah helped to save him, though it had not saved Urijah. He was far more powerfully protected by the patronage of the princes and the people. Standing in the Temple court, he had declared that, unless the nation repented, that house should be like Shiloh, and the city a curse to all the nations of the earth. Maddened by such words of bold rebuke, the priests and the prophets and the people had threatened him with death. But the princes took his part, and some of the people came over to them. His most powerful protector was Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, a member of a family of the utmost distinction.
Meanwhile, we must follow for a time the outward fortunes of the king and of the world.
Necho, after his successful advance, had retired to Egypt, and Jehoiakim continued to be for three years his obsequious servant. An event of tremendous importance for the world changed the entire fortunes of Egypt and of Judah. Nineveh fell with a crash which terrified the nations. We might apply to her the language which Isaiah applies to her successor, Babylon.
“Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the shades for thee, even the Rephaim of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulcher like an abominable branch, as the raiment of those that are slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit.. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and say, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble? that did shake kingdoms? that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof? that let not loose his prisoners to their home?”
Yes, Assyria had fallen like some mighty cedar in Libanus, and the nations gazed without pity and with exultation on his torn and scattered branches.
And coincident with the fate of Nineveh had been the rise of the Chaldaean power.
Nabupalussur had been a general of one of the last Assyrian kings, and had been sent by him with an army to quell a Babylonian revolt. Instead of this, he seized the city and made himself king. When the final overthrow and obliteration of Nineveh had secured his power, he sent his brave and brilliant son Nebuchadrezzar (B.C. 605) to secure the provinces which he had wrested from Assyria, and especially to regain possession of Carchemish, which commanded the river.
Necho marched to protect his conquests, and at Carchemish the hostile forces encountered each other in a tremendous battle, -immemorial Egypt under the representative of its age-long Pharaohs; Babylon, with her independence of yesterday, under a prince hitherto unknown, whose name was to become one of the most famous in the world. The result is described by Jeremiah. {Jer 46:1-12} Egypt was hopelessly defeated. Her splendidly arrayed warriors were panic-stricken and routed; her chief heroes were dashed to pieces by the heavy maces of the Babylonians, or fled without so much as looking back. The scene was one of “Magor-missabib”-terror on every side (Jer 46:5 ). Pharoahs host came up like the Nile in flood with its Ethiopian hoplites and Asiatic archers; but they were driven back. The daughter of Egypt received a wound which no balm of Gilead could cure. The nations heard of her shame, and the prophet pronounced her further chastisement by the hands of Nebuchadrezzar.
Then, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the young Babylonian conqueror swept down upon Syria and Palestine like a bounding leopard, like an avenging eagle. {Hab 1:7-8} Jehoiakim had no choice but to change his vassalhood to Necho for a vassalage to Nebuchadrezzar. He might have suffered severe consequences, but tidings came to the young Chaldaean that his father had ended his reign of twenty-one years and was dead. For fear lest disturbances might arise in his capital, he at once dashed home across the desert with some light troops by way of Tadmor, while he told his general to follow him home through Syria by the longer route. He seems, however, to have carried away with him some captives, among whom were Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, {Dan 1:6} destined hereafter for such memorable fortunes. Jehoiakim himself was thrown into fetters to be carried into Babylon: but the conqueror changed his mind, and probably thought that it would be safer for the present to accept his pledges and assurances, and leave him as his viceroy. “He took an oath of him,” says Ezekiel; {Eze 17:13} “he took also the Mighty of the land.”
For three years this frivolous egotist who occupied the throne of Judah remained faithful to his covenant with the King of Babylon, but at the end of that time he rebelled. In this rebellion he was again deluded by the glamour of Egypt, and reliance on the empty promise of “horses and much people.” Ezekiel openly disapproved of this policy, {Eze 17:15} and reproached the king for his faithlessness to his oath. Jeremiah went further, and declared in the plainest language that “Nebuchadrezzar would certainly come up and destroy this land, and cause to cease from thence both man and beast.” {Jer 36:29; Jer 25:9; Jer 26:6}
Nearer and nearer the danger came. At first the King of Babylon was too busy to do more than send against the Jewish rebel marauding bands of Chaldaeans, who acted in concert with the hereditary depredators of Judah-Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites. But the prophet knew that the danger would not end there, believing that God would yet “remove Judah out of His sight” for the unforgiven sins of Manasseh and the innocent blood with which he had filled Jerusalem. {2Ki 24:2-4} At last Nebuchadrezzar had time to turn closer attention to the affairs of Judah, and this became necessary because of the revolt of Tyre under its King Ithobalus. In the stress of the peril Jehoiakim proclaimed a fast and a day of humiliation in the Temple. Jeremiah was at this time “shut up”-either in hiding, or in some sort of custody. As he could not go and preach in person, he dictated his prophecy to Barnch, who wrote it on a scroll, and went in the prophets place to read it in the Lords House to the people there assembled from Jerusalem and all Judah in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, in the inner court, by the new gate. Gemariah was the brother of Ahikam, the protector of the prophet.
No one was more painfully alarmed by Jeremiahs prophecy than Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, and he thought it his duty to go and tell his father and the other princes what he had heard. They were assembled in the scribes chamber, and sent a courtier of Ethiopian race-Jehudi, the son of Cushi – bidding him to bring the scroll with him, and to come to them.
Baruch was a person of distinction. He was the brother of Seraiah, who is called in our A.V “a quiet prince,” and in the margin “prince of Menucha” or “chief chamberlain,” literally “master of the resting-place”; and he was the grandson of Maaseiah, “the governor” of the city. The office imposed on him by Jeremiah was so perilous and painful that it nearly broke his heart. He exclaimed to Jeremiah, “Woe is me now! the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I am weary with my sighing, and I find no rest.” The answer which the prophet was commissioned to give him was very remarkable. It confirmed the terrible doom on his native land, but added, “And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” {Jer 45:1-5}
Baruch obeyed the summons of the princes, and at their request sat down with them and read the scroll in their ears. When they had heard the portentous prophecy, they turned shuddering to one another, and said, “We must tell the king of all these words.” They asked Baruch how he had written them, and he said he had taken them down at the prophets dictation. Then, knowing the storm which would burst over the bold offenders, they said, “Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be.”
Not daring to imperil the awful document, they laid it up in the chamber of Elishama, the scribe, but went to the king and told him its contents. He sent Jehudi to fetch it, and to read it in their hearing. Jehoiakim and the illustrious company were seated in the winter chamber; for it was October, and a fire was burning in the brazier, where Jehoiakim sat warming himself in the chilly weather.
As he listened, he was filled not only with fury, but with contempt. Such a message might well have caused him and his worst counselors to rend their clothes; but instead of this they adopted a tone of defiance. By the time that Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim snatched the scribes knife which hung at his girdle, and began to cut up the scroll, with the intention of burning it. Seeing his purpose, Gemariah, Elnathan, and Seraiah entreated him not to destroy it. But he would not listen. He flung the fragments into the brazier, and they were consumed. He ordered his son Jerahmeel, with Seraiah and Shelemiah, to seize both Baruch and Jeremiah, and bring them before him for punishment. Doubtless they would have suffered the fate of Urijah, but “the Lord hid them.” There were enough persons of power on their side to render their hiding-place secure.
But the kings impious indifference, so far from making any difference in the things that were, only brought down upon his guilt a fearful doom. Truth cannot be cut to pieces, or burnt, or mechanically suppressed.
“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again.
The eternal years of God are hers:
But error vanquished, writhes in pain,
And dies amid her worshippers.”
All the former denunciations, and new ones added to them, were rewritten by Jeremiah and his faithful friend in their hiding-place, and among them these words:-
“Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.” A frightful drought added to the misery of this reign, but failed to bring the wretched king to his senses. Jeremiah describes it:-
“Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they bow down mourning unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And the nobles send their menials to the waters: they come to the pits, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads because of the ground which is chapped, for that no rain hath been in the land. Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no grass. And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.”
Even this affliction, so vividly and pathetically described, failed to waken any repentance. And then the doom fell. Nebuchadrezzar advanced in person against Jerusalem. Even the hardy nomad Rechabites had to fly before the Chaldaeans, and to take refuge in the cities which they hated. The sacred historian tells us nothing as to the manner of the death of Jehoiakim, only saying that he “slept with his fathers”: his narrative of this period is exceedingly meager. Josephus says that Nebuchadrezzar slew him and the flower of the citizens, and sent three thousand captives to Babylon. Some imagine that he was killed by the Babylonians in a raid outside the walls of Jerusalem, or “murdered by his own people, and his body thrown for a time outside the walls.” If so, the Babylonians did not war with the dead. His remains, after this “burial of an ass,” {Jer 36:30; Jer 22:19} may have been finally suffered to rest in a tomb. The Septuagint says {2Ch 36:8} that he was buried “in Ganosan,” by which may be meant the sepulcher of Manasseh in the garden of Uzza. Not for him was the wailing cry “Hoi, adon! Hoi, hodo!” (“Ah, Lord! Ah, his glory!”).
“The memory of the wicked shall rot.” Certainly this was the ease with Jehoiakim. The Chronicler mysteriously alludes to “his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him.” {2Ch 36:8} The Rabbis, interpreting this after their manner, say that “the thing found” was the name of the demon Codonazor, to whom he had sold himself, which after his death was discovered legibly written in Hebrew letters on his skin. “Rabbi Johanan and Rabbi Eleazar debated what was meant by that which was found on him.” One said that “he tattooed the name of an idol upon his body (wtma), and the other said that he had tattooed the name of the god Recreon.”