Jehoahaz

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. Jehu's son and successor; king over northern Israel nearly 17 years, 856-840 B.C. ( 2 Kings 13:1-9). His reign began in the 22nd or even the 21st year (Josephus) of Joash of Judah, rather than the 23rd year. His persevering in his father's sin, namely, the worship of Jeroboam's calves, and his leaving the Asherah still standing in Samaria from the time of Ahab ( 1 Kings 16:33), brought on Israel Jehovah's anger more than in Jehu's time; for the longer sin is persevered in, the heavier the final reckoning, an accumulated entail of guilt descends ( Exodus 20:5). (See Grove .)

Hazael of Syria and his son Benhadad, as his commander in chief, scourged the people all Jehoahaz' (not as KJV "their") days ( Exodus 20:3;  Exodus 20:22), leaving him only 50 horsemen, 10 chariots, and 10,000 footmen, "making the people like the dust by threshing": ( Amos 1:3) "they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron," i.e. sledges on wheels with iron teeth, cutting the straw as well as threshing out the grain ( 2 Samuel 12:31;  Isaiah 28:27). In his affliction Jehoahaz besought the Lord ( Hosea 5:15;  Psalms 78:34). "Jehovah hearkened unto him," Israel's oppression moving God's pity, irrespective of Israel's merits ( 2 Kings 14:25-26). So "He gave Israel a saviour," not in Jehoahaz' reign, but in that of Joash and Jeroboam II his successors, who were each in turn "a saviour"; for the answer to prayer often comes when the petitioner is dead and gone ( 2 Kings 14:22-25). Notwithstanding his misfortunes, Jehoahaz had shown "might" in the conflict with Syria.

2. The name given to Jehoram's youngest son during his father's lifetime. Ahaziah was his name as king ( 2 Chronicles 21:17).

3. Son of Josiah; at his father's death the people took and made him king, 610 B.C., in preference to his two elder brothers, Johanan and Jehoiakim ( 1 Chronicles 3:15;  Jeremiah 22:11;  2 Kings 23:30-31;  2 Kings 23:36;  2 Chronicles 36:2). Zedekiah, though put before Jehoahaz or Shallum in  1 Chronicles 3:15, was younger;  2 Chronicles 36:11 he is given precedence because of his longer reign, namely, eleven years, whereas Jehoahaz reigned but three months, then was carried by Pharaoh Necho to Egypt, never to return. Jehoahaz, or Shallum, was born of the same mother as Zedekiah, namely, Hamutal; so they are put together, whereas Jehoiakim was son of Zebudah. With Josiah the regular succession of David's house ceased. The people set up Jehoahaz out of order; Johanan is never after mentioned; the pagan Pharaoh set up Jehoiakim; Nebuchadnezzar Zedekiah.

Jeremiah gave Jehoahaz the significant name Shallum, i.e. "to whom it is requited"; a second "Shallum," son of Jabesh, who reigned only one mouth in Samaria ( 2 Kings 15:13), instead of Shalom, "peaceful," like Solomon: bitter irony! The popular party set great hopes upon him ( Jeremiah 22:10-12), as though he would deliver the kingdom from Pharaoh Necho, and "anointed" him with extraordinary ceremony to compensate for his defective title to the throne.  Ezekiel 19:3-4 compares him to "a young lion" which "learned to catch the prey and devoured men."

His mother, "Jerusalem," is called "a lioness," referring to her heathenish practices in sad contrast to Jerusalem's name ( Isaiah 29:1) Ariel, "the lion of God," and Judah, "a lion's whelp ... an old lion" in a good sense ( Genesis 49:9). Meditating revenge for his father's death at Megiddo ( 2 Kings 23:29-30), Jehoahaz was carried captive from "Riblah" in Hamath to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho; "they brought him with chains (or hooks or rings, fastened in wild beasts' noses, appropriate figure as he was compared to a 'lion'; the Assyrian king literally put a hook through the nose of captives, as appears in the Ninevite remains) unto ... Egypt." "He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his fathers had done." Josephus says "he was godless and tyrannical (literally, polluted) in disposition." In  2 Chronicles 36:3 "Jerusalem" is stated to be the place where the king of Egypt deposed him.

Doubtless Pharaoh, having there dethroned him, took him thence to "Riblah." After his victory at Megiddo, Necho intended to march forward to the Euphrates, but hearing that Jehoahaz had ascended the throne as the people's favorite, whose leanings would be on the side of Babylon against Egypt, like Josiah's, he sent a division of his army, which took Jerusalem and dethroned Jehoahaz, and laid a heavy tribute on the land. Eliakim would readily act as his vassal, as owing his elevation to the throne, under the name Jehoiakim to Necho.

Indeed Pharaoh did not recognize the reign of Jehoahaz because elevated without his consent; therefore the words are "Pharaoh made Eliakim king in the room of Josiah his father" ( 2 Kings 23:34). The main army marched slowly to Riblab, his head quarters, and thither he had Jehoahaz brought, then chained and taken to Egypt. The people, feeling Jehoiakim's heavy taxation for the tribute to Egypt ( 2 Kings 23:35), lamented for their favorite in spite of his faults.  Jeremiah 22:10; "weep ye not for the dead (Josiah;  2 Chronicles 35:24-25), (so much as) for him that goeth away; for he shall return no more," namely, Jehoahaz. Dying saints are to be envied, living sinners to be pitied. Jeremiah's undesigned coincidence with the facts recorded in the history confirms the truth of both.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Jehoahaz (Je-Hô'A-H Ăz ), Whom Jehovah Holds. 1. Son and successor of Jehu, king of Israel for 17 years, b.c. 856-840. See  2 Kings 13:1-9. His reign was disastrous to the Kingdom. The kings of Syria, Hazael and Benhadad, oppressed and spoiled the country. When his troubles multiplied he sought the Lord, whom he had forsaken, and God ultimately raised up a deliverer in the person of Jehoash, his son.  2 Kings 5:25. 2. Son and successor of Josiah, king of Judah,  2 Kings 23:30; called Shallum,  1 Chronicles 3:15;  Jeremiah 22:11. Though he was the fourth son, yet the People chose him king. He was an evil-doer,  2 Kings 23:32, and referred to as a young lion by  Ezekiel 19:3. He reigned only three months, b.c. 610. Pharaoh-necho sent him a prisoner loaded with chains into Egypt, and there he died,  Jeremiah 22:11-12, and his brother Jehoiakim became king in his stead.  2 Kings 23:30;  2 Kings 23:35. 3. The same with Ahaziah and Azariah. Compare  2 Chronicles 21:17;  2 Chronicles 22:1;  2 Chronicles 22:6;  2 Chronicles 22:8-9.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

JEHOAHAZ

1. Jehoahaz of Israel (in   2 Kings 14:1 and   2 Chronicles 34:8;   2 Chronicles 36:2;   2 Chronicles 36:4 Joahaz ) succeeded his father Jehu. Our records tell us nothing of him except the length of his reign, which is given as seventeen years (  2 Kings 13:1 ), and the low estate of his kingdom, owing to the aggressions of Syria. A turn for the better seems to have come before his death, because the forces of Assyria pressing on the north of Damascus turned the attention of that country away from Israel (  2 Kings 13:3-5 ).

2. Jehoahaz of Judah (in 1Es 1:34 Joachaz or Jeconias  ; in 1Es 1:38 Zarakes ) was the popular choice for the throne after the death of Josiah (  2 Kings 23:30 ). But Pharaoh-necho, who had obtained possession of all Syria, regarded his coronation as an act of assumption, deposed him in favour of his brother Jehoiakim, and carried him away to Egypt, where he died (  2 Kings 23:34 ). Jeremiah, who calls him Shallum , finds his fate sadder than that of his father who fell in battle (  Jeremiah 22:10-12 ).

3. 2Ch 21:17;   2 Chronicles 25:23 = Ahaziah , No. 2 .

H. P. Smith.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Jeho'ahaz. (Whom The Lord Sustains).

1. The son and successor of Jehu, reigned 17 years, B.C. 856-840, over Israel in Samaria. His inglorious history is given in  2 Kings 13:1-9. Throughout his reign,  2 Kings 13:22, he was kept in subjection by Hazael, king of Damascus. Jehoahaz maintained the idolatry of Jeroboam; but in the extremity of his humiliation, he besought Jehovah , and Jehovah gave Israel a deliverer - probably either Jehoash,  2 Kings 13:23 and  2 Kings 13:25, or Jeroboam II,  2 Kings 14:24-25.

2. Jehoahaz, otherwise called Shallum , son of Josiah, whom he succeeded as king of Judah. He was chosen by the people, in preference to his elder brother, compare  2 Kings 23:31 and  2 Kings 23:36, B.C. 610, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Pharaoh-necho sent to Jerusalem to depose him, and to fetch him to Riblah. There he was cast into chains, and from thence, he was taken into Egypt, where he died.

3. The name given,  2 Chronicles 21:17, to Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king of Judah.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Son and successor of Jehu king of Israel: he reigned from B.C. 856 to 841. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and was oppressed by Hazael king of Syria, who compelled him to reduce his army to fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers. His submission to Syria continued under Benhadad. But when he prayed to the Lord a 'saviour' was raised up who delivered him out of the hand of the Syrians.  2 Kings 13:1-25;  2 Kings 14:1,8,17;  2 Chronicles 25:17,25 .

2. Son and successor of Josiah king of Judah: he reigned only three months, B.C. 610. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and was deposed by Pharaoh-Necho, who sent him in chains to Egypt, where he died.  2 Kings 23:30-34;  2 Chronicles 36:1-4 . He is called SHALLUM in  1 Chronicles 3:15;  Jeremiah 22:11 . In the parable of the Lion's whelps in  Ezekiel 19:1-9 this king is referred to as being carried in chains to Egypt.

3. Name given to AHAZIAH in  2 Chronicles 21:17 . See AHAZIAH, No. 2.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Three kings in Israel and Judah had the name Jehoahaz. The first was the Judean king Ahaziah, for whom Jehoahaz was an alternative name. He reigned for only one year (842 BC;  2 Chronicles 21:16-17;  2 Chronicles 22:1; see Ahaziah ). The second was the son of Jehu who succeeded his father as king of Israel. He came to the throne in 814 BC and reigned for seventeen years. He was a worthless ruler, during whose reign attacks from Syria brought Israel almost to total collapse. If God had not mercifully intervened, the people would have been left homeless and the entire army destroyed ( 2 Kings 13:1-9).

The third king named Jehoahaz was a son of Josiah. He had a brief three-month reign over Judah (609 BC) in the kingdom’s closing years. Pharaoh Necho, having just defeated and killed Josiah, considered himself the overlord of Judah and would not accept Jehoahaz as king. Necho threw Jehoahaz into prison and later took him to Egypt, where he eventually died ( 2 Kings 23:29-34). He was also known as Shallum ( Jeremiah 22:11-12).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Josiah's third son, usually called Shallum ( 1 Chronicles 3:15 ). He succeeded his father on the throne, and reigned over Judah for three months ( 2 Kings 23:31,34 ). He fell into the idolatrous ways of his predecessors (23:32), was deposed by Pharaoh-Necho from the throne, and carried away prisoner into Egypt, where he died in captivity (23:33,34;  Jeremiah 22:10-12;  2 Chronicles 36:1-4 ).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Jehoahaz'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/j/jehoahaz.html. 1897.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

otherwise SHALLUM, the son of Josiah, king of Judah,  Jeremiah 22:11 . Josiah having been wounded mortally by Necho, king of Egypt, and dying of his wounds at Megiddo, Jehoahaz was made king in his room, though he was not Josiah's eldest son,  2 Kings 23:30-32 . He was in all probability thought fitter than any of his brethren to make head against the king of Egypt. He was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned about three months only in Jerusalem, in the year of the world 3395. King Necho, at his return from the expedition against Carchemish, provoked at the people of Judah for having placed this prince upon the throne without his consent, sent for him to Riblah, in Syria, divested him of the kingdom, loaded him with chains, and sent him into Egypt, where he died,  Jeremiah 22:11-12 . Jehoiakim, or Eliakim his brother, was made king in his room.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1. Son and successor of Jehu king of Israel, B. C. 856, reigned seventeen years. In punishment for his sins and those of his people, Israel was invaded and reduced to great extremities by the Syrians under Hazael and Benhadad. The king humbled himself before God, and deliverance came by the hand of Joash his son,  2 Kings 13:19,25

2. Also called Shallum,  1 Chronicles 3:15 , the third son and the successor of Josiah king of Judah, B. C. 609, reigned about three months in Jerusalem. He was deposed by the king of Egypt,  2 Kings 23:30-34   2 Chronicles 36:1-4 . See also  Jeremiah 22:10-13   Ezekiel 19:3 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Chronicles 21:17 2 Kings 10:35 2 Kings 13:1 2 Kings 13:1  2 Kings 13:1  2 Kings 13:10  2 Kings 23:30IsraelChronology Of The Biblical Period

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

There are two sons of kings of this name in Scripture—Jehoahaz, son of Jehu. ( 2 Kings 13:1) and Jehoahaz, or Shallum; son of Josiah, king of Judah, ( Jeremiah 22:11) The name is a compound, signifying, from Achaz, a possession of the Lord.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jē̇ - hō´a - haz , jē - hō̇ - ā´haz ( יהואחז , yehō'āḥāz , "Yah has grasped"; Ἰωαχάς , Iōachás  ;   2 Kings 13:1-9 ):

(1) Son of Jehu, and 11th king of Israel. He is stated to have reigned 17 years.

1. Chronology of Reign

Josephus was already aware ( Ant. , IX, viii, 5) of the chronological difficulty involved in the cross-references in   2 Kings 13:1 and   2 Kings 13:10 , the former of which states that Jehoahaz began to reign in the 23rd year of Jehoash of Jerusalem, and reigned 17 years; while the latter gives him a successor in Jehoash's 37th year, or 14 years later. Josephus alters the figure of  2 Kings 13:1 to 21; and, to meet the same difficulty, the Septuagint (Aldine edition) changes 37 to 39 in   2 Kings 13:10 . The difficulty may be met by supposing that Jehoahaz was associated with his father Jehu for several years in the government of the country before the death of the latter, and that these years were counted as a part of his reign. This view has in its favor the fact that Jehu was an old man when he died, and may have been incapacitated for the full discharge of administrative duties before the end came. The accession of Jehoahaz as sole ruler may be dated about 825 bc.

2. Low Condition of the Kingdom

When Jehoahaz came to the throne, he found a discouraged and humiliated people. The territory beyond Jordan, embracing 2 1/2 tribes, or one-fourth of the whole kingdom, had been lost in warfare with the Syrian king, Hazael ( 2 Kings 10:32 ,  2 Kings 10:33 ). A heavy annual subsidy was still payable to Assyria, as by his father Jehu. The neighboring kingdom of Judah was still unfriendly to any member of the house of Jehu. Elisha the prophet, though then in the zenith of his influence, does not seem to have done anything toward the stability of Jehu's throne.

3. Israel and Syria

Specially did Israel suffer during this reign from the continuance of the hostility of Damascus ( 2 Kings 13:3 ,  2 Kings 13:4 ,  2 Kings 13:22 ). Hazael had been selected, together with Jehu, as the instrument by which the idolatry of Israel was to be punished ( 1 Kings 19:16 ). Later the instruments of vengeance fell out. On Jehu's death, the pressure from the east on Hazael was greatly relieved. The great conqueror, Shalmaneser II, had died, and his son Samsi-Ramman Iv had to meet a revolt within the empire, and was busy with expeditions against Babylon and Media during the 12 years of his reign (824-812 bc). During these years, the kingdoms of the seaboard of the Mediterranean were unmolested. They coincide with the years of Jehoahaz, and explain the freedom which Hazael had to harass the dominions of that king.

4. The Elisha Episodes

Particulars of the several campaigns in which the troops of Damascus harassed Israel are not given. The life of Elisha extended through the 3 reigns of Jehoram (12 years), Jehu (28 years) and Jehoahaz (12 or 13 years), into the reign of Joash ( 2 Kings 13:1 ). It is therefore probable that in the memorabilia of his life in 2 Ki 4 through 8, now one and now another king of Israel should figure, and that some of the episodes there recorded belong to the reign of Jehoahaz. There are evidences that strict chronological order is not observed in the narrative of Elisha, e.g. Gehazi appears in waiting on the king of Israel in   2 Kings 8:5 , after the account of his leprosy in   2 Kings 5:27 . The terrible siege of Samaria in 2 Ki 7 is generally referred to the reign of Jehoram; but no atmosphere is so suitable to it as that of the reign of Jehoahaz, in one of the later years of whom it may have occurred. The statement in  2 Kings 13:7 that "the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing," and the statistics there given of the depleted army of Jehoahaz, would correspond with the state of things that siege implies. In this case the Ben-hadad of   2 Kings 6:24 would be the son of Hazael (  2 Kings 13:3 ).

5. His Idolatry

Jehoahaz, like his father, maintained the calf-worship in Bethel and Dan, and revived also the cult of the Asherah, a form of Canaanitish idolatry introduced by Ahab ( 1 Kings 16:33 ). It centered round a sacred tree or pole, and was probably connected with phallic worship (compare 1 K  2 Kings 15:13 , where Maacah, mother of Asa, is said to have "made an abominable image for an Asherah" in Jerusalem).

6. Partial Reform

The close of this dark reign, however, is brightened by a partial reform. In his distress, we are told, "Jehoahaz besought Yahweh, and Yahweh hearkened unto him" ( 2 Kings 13:4 ). If the siege of Samaria in 2 Ki 6 belongs to his reign, we might connect this with his wearing "sackcloth within upon his flesh" ( 2 Kings 6:30 ) - an act of humiliation only accidentally discovered by the rending of his garments.  2 Kings 6:5 goes on to say that "Yahweh gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians." The "saviour" may refer to Joash, under whom the deliverance began (  2 Kings 13:25 ), or to Jeroboam II, of whom it is declared that by him God "saved" Israel ( 2 Kings 14:27 ). Others take it to refer to Ramman-nirari III, king of Assyria, whose conquest of Damascus made possible the victories of these kings. See Jehoash .

(2) A king of Judah, son and successor of Josiah; reigned three months and was deposed, 608 bc. Called "Shallum" in  Jeremiah 22:11; compare  1 Chronicles 3:15 . The story of his reign is told in  2 Kings 23:30-35 , and in a briefer account in  2 Chronicles 36:1-3 . The historian o 2 Kings characterizes his reign as evil; 2 Ch passes no verdict upon him. On the death of his father in battle, which threw the realm into confusion, he, though a younger son (compare  2 Kings 23:31 with   2 Kings 23:36;  1 Chronicles 3:15 makes him the fourth son of Josiah), was raised to the throne by "the people of the land," the same who had secured the accession to his father; see under Josiah . Perhaps, as upholders of the sterling old Davidic idea, which his father had carried out so well, they saw in him a better hope for its integrity than in his elder brother Jehoiakim (Eliakim), whose tyrannical tendencies may already have been too apparent. The prophets also seem to have set store by him, if we may judge by the sympathetic mentions of him in  Jeremiah 22:11 and   Ezekiel 1:3 ,  Ezekiel 1:4 . His career was too short, however, to make any marked impression on the history of Judah.

Josiah's ill-advised meddling with the designs of Pharaoh-necoh (see under Josiah ) had had, in fact, the ill effect of plunging Judah again into the vortex of oriental politics, from which it had long been comparatively free. The Egyptian king immediately concluded that so presumptuous a state must not be left in his rear unpunished. Arrived at Riblah on his Mesopotamian expedition, he put Jehoahaz in bonds, and later carried him prisoner to Egypt, where he died; raised his brother Jehoiakim to the throne as a vassal king; and imposed on the realm a fine of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. So the fortunes of the Judean state, so soon after Josiah's good reign, began their melancholy change for the worse.

(3) In  2 Chronicles 21:17;  2 Chronicles 25:23 = Ahaziah , king of Judah (which see) ( 2 Kings 8:25;  2 Chronicles 22:1 ).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Jehoahaz, 1

Jeho´ahaz (God-sustained), son of Jehu, king of Israel, who succeeded his father in B.C. 856, and reigned seventeen years. As he followed the evil courses of the house of Jeroboam, the Syrians under Hazael and Benhadad were suffered to prevail, over him; so that, at length, he had only left of all his forces fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot. Overwhelmed by his calamities, Jehoahaz at length acknowledged the authority of Jehovah over Israel, and humbled himself before him; in consideration of which a deliverer was raised up for Israel in the person of Joash, this king's son, who was enabled to expel the Syrians and re-establish the affairs of the kingdom .

Jehoahaz, 2

Jehoahaz, otherwise called Shallum, seventeenth king of Judah, son of Josiah, whose reign began and ended in the year B.C. 608. After his father had been slain in resisting the progress of Pharaoh Necho, Jehoahaz, who was then twenty-three years of age, was raised to the throne by the people, and received at Jerusalem the regal anointing, which seems to have been usually omitted in times of order and of regular succession. He found the land full of trouble, but free from idolatry. Instead, however, of following the excellent example of his father, Jehoahaz fell into the accustomed crimes of his predecessors; and under the encouragements which his example or indifference offered, the idols soon reappeared. It seems strange that in a time so short, and which must have been much occupied in arranging plans for resisting or pacifying the Egyptian king, he should have been able to deserve the stigma which the sacred record has left upon his name. But there is no limit except in the greatness of the divine power to the activity of evil dispositions. The sway of Jehoahaz was terminated in three months, when Pharaoh Necho, on his victorious return from the Euphrates, thinking it politic to reject a king not nominated by himself, removed him from the throne, and set thereon his brother Jehoiakim. This reign was the shortest in the kingdom of Judah, although in that of Israel there were several shorter. The deposed king was at first taken as a prisoner to Riblah in Syria; but was eventually carried to Egypt, where he died .

The anointing of this king has drawn attention to the defect of his title as the reason for the addition of that solemn ceremony. It appears from that Josiah had four sons, of whom Johanan is expressly said to have been 'the first-born.' But he seems to have died before his father, as we nowhere find his name historically mentioned, while those of the other brothers are familiar to us. If, therefore, he died childless and Jehoahaz were the next son, his claim would have been good. But he was not the next son. His name, as Shallum, occurs last of the four in; and from the historical notices in 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 36, we ascertain that when Josiah died the ages of the three surviving sons were, Eliakim (Jehoiakim) twenty-five years, Jehoahaz (Shallum) twenty-three years, Mattaniah (Zedekiah) ten years; consequently Jehoahaz was preferred by the popular favor above his elder brother Jehoiakim, and the anointing, therefore, was doubtless intended to give to his imperfect claim the weight of that solemn ceremony. It was also probably suspected that, as actually took place, the Egyptian king would seek to annul a popular election unsanctioned by himself; but as the Egyptians anointed their own kings, and attached much importance to the ceremony, the possibility that he would hesitate more to remove an anointed than an unanointed king might afford a further reason for the anointing of Jehoahaz [ANOINTING].

Jehoahaz is supposed to be the person who is designated under the emblem of a young lion carried in chains to Egypt .