Jehoiakim

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

JEHOIAKIM or Eliakim ("whom El, God, established") at first; 25 years old at his accession. Second son of Josiah and Zebudah, daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah (Arumah in Manasseh, near Shechem?  Judges 9:41); Johanan was the oldest son. Raised to the throne by Pharaoh Necho, who named him Jehoiakim (whom Jehovah establishes), having deposed Jehoahaz, the people's nominee, his younger brother. (See Jehoahaz .) Pharaoh bound Jehoiakim to exact tribute from Judah, for Josiah's having taken part with Babylon against him: one talent of gold and 100 talents of silver (40,000 British pounds). So "Jehoiakim valued ('taxed') the land to give the money to Pharaoh ... he exacted the silver and gold of every one according to his valuation" ("taxation"):  2 Kings 23:33-34;  Jeremiah 22:10-12;  Ezekiel 19:4. In Jehoiakim's fourth year Necho suffered his great defeat from Babylon at Carehemish, wherein he lost his possessions between Euphrates and the Nile, and returned no more to Judaea; so that Josiah's death was not unavenged ( 2 Kings 24:7;  Jeremiah 46:2).

The change of Jehoiakim's name marked his vassalage ( Genesis 41:45;  Ezra 5:14;  Daniel 1:7). The names were often from the pagan gods of the conqueror. In this case not so; the pagan kings Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakim and Zedekiah ("Jehovah's righteousness") confirm their covenant of subjection with the seal of Jehovah's name, the Jews' own God, by whom they had sworn fealty. Jehoiakim reigned 11 years, doing evil throughout, as his forefathers before him. "His eyes and heart were only for covetousness, shedding innocent blood, oppression, and violence" ( Jeremiah 22:13-17). "He built his house by unrighteousness and wrong, using his neighbour's service without wages," using his people's forced labour to build himself a splendid palace, in violation of  Leviticus 19:13;  Deuteronomy 24:14-15; compare  Micah 3:10;  Habakkuk 2:9;  James 5:4.

God will repay those who repay not their neighbour's work. His "abominations which he did, and that which was found in him," are alluded to  2 Chronicles 36:6. God finds all that is in the sinner ( Jeremiah 17:11;  Jeremiah 23:24). Sad contrast to his father Josiah, who "did justice, and it was well with him." Nebuchadnezzar from Carchemish marched to Jerusalem, and fettered him as Pharaoh Necho's tributary, in the third (Dan 1) or fourth year of his reign (the diversity being caused by reckoning Jehoahaz' reign as a year, or not), intending to take him to Babylon; bat afterward for the sake of his former ally Josiah, his father, restored him as a vassal. At this time Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were taken to Babylon. Three years subsequently Jehoiakim rebelled with characteristic perfidy, sacrificing honour and truth in order to spend the tribute on his own costly luxuries ( Jeremiah 22:13-17). Nebuchadnezzar, not able in person to chastise him, sent marauding "bands" of Chaldaeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites ( 2 Kings 24:1-7).

Ammon had seized on Gad's territory, upon Israel's exile, and acted as Nebuchadnezzar's agent to scourge Judah ( Jeremiah 49:1-2;  Ezekiel 25:3). Jehovah was the primary sender of these scourges (rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, after promising fealty, was rebellion against God:  Jeremiah 27:6-8;  Ezekiel 17:16-19), not only for Jehoiakim's sins but for those of his forefather Manasseh, in whose steps he trod, and the "innocent blood which Jehovah would not pardon." Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 22:18-19) foretold "concerning Jehoiakim, they shall not lament for him, Ah, my brother! or Ah, my sister!" (his queen, the lamentation of blood relatives for a private individual) nor, "Ah, lord; ah, his glory (the public lamentations of subjects for a king; alas, his majesty), he shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem"; again,  Jeremiah 36:30, "he shall have none to sit (i.e. firmly established and continuing) upon the throne of David (for his son Jeconiah's reign of three months is counted as nothing, and Zedekiah was not his son but uncle); his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost." (See Jeconiah .)

Jehoiakim was probably slain in a battle with Nebuchadnezzar's Chaldean and other "bands," and had no burial; possibly his own oppressed subjects slew him, and "cast out" his body to conciliate his invaders. Nor is this inconsistent with "Jehoiakim slept with his fathers" ( 2 Kings 24:6); it simply expresses his death, not his burial with his royal ancestors ( Psalms 49:16); "slept with his fathers" and "buried with his fathers" are found distinct ( 2 Kings 15:38;  2 Kings 16:20). He reigned 11 years. Early in his reign ( Jeremiah 26:1-20, etc.) Jehoiakim showed his vindictive malice against Jehovah's prophets. Urijah, son of Shemaiah, of Kirjath Jearim, prophesied against Jerusalem and Judah in the name of Jehovah thereupon Jehoiakim sought to kill him; he fled to Egypt, but Jehoiakim sent Elnathan of Achbor, and men with him, who brought Urijah back from Egypt, the Egyptian king allowing his vassal Jehoiakim to do so. Jehoiakim "slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people," instead of burial in the cemetery of the prophets ( Matthew 23:29).

Jehoiakim gained by it only adding sin to sift, as the argument of the elders in Jeremiah's behalf implies, the notorious prostration of the state at the time intimating that heavier vengeance would ensue if Jeremiah too, as was threatened, should be slain. By God's retribution in kind Jehoiakim's own body fared as he had treated Urijah's body. 1 Esdras 1:42 speaks of "his uncleanness and impiety." His intense selfishness and indifference to the people's sufferings appear in his lavish expenditure upon building palaces for himself at the very time the people were overwhelmed with paying heavy tribute to Pharaoh ( Jeremiah 22:13-18). His crowning impiety, which had no parallel in Jewish history, was his cutting up, and burning in the fire before him, the written roll of Jeremiah's inspired prophecies (Jeremiah 36). Jeremiah being "shut up," i.e. prevented by fear of the king, sent Baruch to read them to the people assembled out of Judah to the Lord's house on the fasting day.

"In the fifth year of Jehoiakim they (the princes) proclaimed a fast to all the people," or (Michaelis) "all the people proclaimed a fast"; in either reading Jehoiakim had no share in appointing it, but chose this season of all seasons to perpetrate such an audacious act. On hearing of the roll, Jehoiakim sent Jehudi his ready tool to fetch it from Elishama the scribe's chamber; for sinners fleeing from God yet, by an involuntary instinct, seek to hear His words against them. Then, as often as Jehudi read three or four columns of the long roll, Jehoiakim cut the parts read consecutively, until all was destroyed. Yet he and his servants "were not afraid," a contrast even to the princes who "were afraid both one and other when they had heard all the words"; a still sadder contrast to his father Josiah whose "heart was tender," and who "rent his clothes" on hearing the words of the law just found ( 2 Kings 22:11;  2 Kings 22:13;  2 Kings 22:19-20).

Even Elnathan, who had been his tool against Urijah, recoiled from this, and interceded with Jehoiakim not to burn the roll; but he would not hear, nay even commanded his minions to apprehend Baruch and Jeremiah: but the Lord hid them ( Psalms 31:20;  Psalms 83:3;  Isaiah 26:20). Judicial blindness and reprobation! The roll was rewritten, not one word omitted, and with awful additions ( Matthew 5:18;  Acts 9:5;  Acts 5:39;  Revelation 22:19); his body should be exposed to the sun's "heat," even as he had exposed the roll to be burnt by the heat of the fire. Sinners only gain additional punishment by fighting with God's word, which is a sharp sword; they cut themselves, when trying to cut it. Compare the rewriting of the law's two tables ( Exodus 34:15-16;  Exodus 31:18;  Exodus 34:1-23;  Deuteronomy 31:9). The two-edged sword of God's Spirit converts the humble and tender as Josiah, draws out the latent hatred of the ungodly as J. ( 2 Corinthians 2:15-16;  Hebrews 4:12-13). Jehoiakim reigned from 609 B.C. to 598 B.C.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Undoubtedly Jehoiakim was one of Judah’s worst kings. When his father Josiah was killed in battle with Pharaoh Necho (609 BC), the people of Judah made one of Josiah’s younger sons king in preference to the older Jehoiakim ( 2 Chronicles 35:20-25;  2 Chronicles 36:1-2). Pharaoh Necho, considering himself the master of Judah, replaced the people’s choice with his own. His choice was Jehoiakim (also known as Eliakim) ( 2 Chronicles 36:3-5).

In order to raise the large amount of money that Pharaoh Necho demanded each year from Judah, Jehoiakim taxed his people heavily ( 2 Kings 23:35). At the same time he built himself luxurious royal buildings, forcing people to work in his selfish projects without payment ( Jeremiah 22:13-19).

Conflict with Jeremiah

The chief opponent of Jehoiakim was the prophet Jeremiah, who had begun his preaching earlier, in the reign of Josiah ( Jeremiah 1:1-3). At the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign, Jeremiah announced God’s judgment on the sinful kingdom ( Jeremiah 26:1-6). This brought opposition from the palace ( Jeremiah 26:10-11), but Jeremiah escaped unharmed. Another prophet, however, did not. Jehoiakim was angry at his preaching and executed him ( Jeremiah 26:20-24).

Jeremiah warned that because of the idolatry of the king and his people, God would send the Babylonians against Jerusalem in judgment ( Jeremiah 25:1-9). This judgment began in 605 BC, the year in which Babylon conquered Egypt at Carchemish and so replaced it as Judah’s overlord. In returning to Babylon, the conquerors took with them selected captives from the leading families of Jerusalem ( 2 Kings 24:7;  Jeremiah 46:2;  Daniel 1:1-4).

At God’s direction, Jeremiah wrote down all the prophecies of the previous twenty-three years. After his secretary Baruch read them in the temple, the city leaders became so disturbed that they read them to Jehoiakim. The king defiantly burnt the scroll, and tried unsuccessfully to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch ( Jeremiah 36:1-26). Jeremiah then rewrote the scroll, with additions, and gave some encouragement to the frightened Baruch ( Jeremiah 36:27-32; Jeremiah 45).

Conflict with Babylon

After submitting to Babylon’s overlordship for three years, Jehoiakim rebelled by refusing to pay further tribute ( 2 Kings 24:1). In depending upon foreign nations to support his rebellion, he met further opposition from Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 2:18;  Jeremiah 2:36). Babylon did not attack Jerusalem immediately, but encouraged other countries within its empire to raid Judah and so gradually weaken it ( 2 Kings 24:2-4).

In due course Babylon attacked Jerusalem (597 BC). Jehoiakim was taken captive and chained ready to be sent to Babylon, but he died before the journey began. No one mourned his death, and his body was thrown on the garbage dump outside Jerusalem, as if it were the carcass of an unclean animal ( 2 Chronicles 36:6;  Jeremiah 22:18-19;  Jeremiah 36:30).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

On the death of his father his younger brother Jehoahaz (=Shallum,  Jeremiah 22:11 ), who favoured the Chaldeans against the Egyptians, was made king by the people; but the king of Egypt, Pharaoh-necho, invaded the land and deposed Jehoahaz ( 2 Kings 23:33,34;  Jeremiah 22:10-12 ), setting Eliakim on the throne in his stead, and changing his name to Jehoiakim.

After this the king of Egypt took no part in Jewish politics, having been defeated by the Chaldeans at Carchemish ( 2 Kings 24:7;  Jeremiah 46:2 ). Palestine was now invaded and conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiakim was taken prisoner and carried captive to Babylon ( 2 Chronicles 36:6,7 ). It was at this time that Daniel also and his three companions were taken captive to Babylon ( Daniel 1:1,2 ).

Nebuchadnezzar reinstated Jehoiakim on his throne, but treated him as a vassal king. In the year after this, Jeremiah caused his prophecies to be read by Baruch in the court of the temple. Jehoiakim, hearing of this, had them also read in the royal palace before himself. The words displeased him, and taking the roll from the hands of Baruch he cut it in pieces and threw it into the fire ( Jeremiah 36:23 ). During his disastrous reign there was a return to the old idolatry and corruption of the days of Manasseh.

After three years of subjection to Babylon, Jehoiakim withheld his tribute and threw off the yoke ( 2 Kings 24:1 ), hoping to make himself independent. Nebuchadnezzar sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, and Ammonites ( 2 Kings 24:2 ) to chastise his rebellious vassal. They cruelly harassed the whole country (Compare  Jeremiah 49:1-6 ). The king came to a violent death, and his body having been thrown over the wall of Jerusalem, to convince the beseieging army that he was dead, after having been dragged away, was buried beyond the gates of Jerusalem "with the burial of an ass," B.C. 599 ( Jeremiah 22:18,19;  36:30 ). Nebuchadnezzar placed his son Jehoiachin on the throne, wishing still to retain the kingdom of Judah as tributary to him.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

JEHOIAKIM , whose original name was Eliakim , was placed upon the throne of Judah by Pharaoh-necho, who deposed the more popular Jehoabaz. His reign of eleven years is not well spoken of by Jeremiah. The religious abuses which had been abolished by Josiah seem to have returned with greater strength than ever. At a time when the kingdom was impoverished by war and by the exactions of Egypt, Jehoiakim occupied himself in extravagant schemes of building to be carried out by forced labour (  2 Kings 23:24 to   2 Kings 24:7 ). Things were so had that in the fourth year of his reign Jeremiah dictated to Baruch a summary of all his earlier discourses, and bade him read it in public as though to indicate that there was no longer any hope. The king showed his contempt for the prophetic word by burning the roll. Active persecution of the prophetic party followed, in which one man at least was put to death. Jeremiah’s escape was due to powerful friends at court (  Jeremiah 22:13-19;   Jeremiah 36:1-26;   Jeremiah 26:20-24 ). It was about the time of the burning of the Book of Jeremiah that the Egyptian supremacy was ended by the decisive battle of Carchemish. The evacuation of Palestine followed, and Jehoiakim was obliged to submit to the Babylonians. His heart, however, was with the Pharaoh, to whom he owed his elevation. After three years he revolted from the Babylonian rule. Nebuchadrezzar thought to bring him into subjection by sending guerilla bands to harry the country, but as this did not succeed, he invaded Judah with an army of regulars. Before he reached Jerusalem, Jehoiakim died, and the surrender which was inevitable, was made by his son. Whether Jeremiah’s prediction that the corpse of the king should be denied decent burial was fulfilled is not certain.

H. P. Smith.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Jeho-i'akim. (Whom Jehovah Sets Up). Jehoiakim , called Eliakim , son of Josiah and king of Judah. After deposing Jehoahaz, Pharaoh-necho set Eliakim, his elder brother, upon the throne, and changed his name to Jehoiakim, B.C. 608-597. For four years, Jehoiakim was subject to Egypt, when Nebuchadnezzar, after a short siege, entered Jerusalem, took the king prisoner, bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon, and took also some of the precious vessels of the Temple, and carried them to the land of Shinar.

Jehoiakim became tributary to Nebuchadnezzar, after his invasion of Judah, and continued so for three years, but at the end of that time, he broke his oath of allegiance and rebelled against him.  2 Kings 24:1. Nebuchadnezzar sent against him, numerous bands of Chaldeans, with Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites,  2 Kings 24:7, and who cruelly harassed the whole country.

Either in an engagement with some of these forces, or else, by the hand of his own oppressed subjects, Jehoiakim came to a violent end, in the eleventh year of his reign. His body was cast out ignominiously on the ground, and then was dragged away and buried "with the burial of an ass," without pomp or lamentation, "beyond the gates of Jerusalem."  Jeremiah 22:18-19;  Jeremiah 36:30. All the accounts we have of Jehoiakim, concur in ascribing to him a vicious and irreligious character.  2 Kings 23:37;  2 Kings 24:9;  2 Chronicles 36:5. The reign of Jehoiakim extends from B.C. 609 to B.C. 598, or, as some reckon, 599.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Name given by Pharaoh-Necho, to ELIAKIM son of Josiah king of Judah, whom he made king in the room of Jehoahaz his brother. He reigned from B.C. 610 to 599.  2 Kings 23:34-36 . He was at first tributary to Egypt; but Egypt being defeated by Assyria at Carchemish, B.C. 606, he became tributary to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar visited Jerusalem, bound Jehoiakim in chains to carry him to Babylon, but apparently altered his plans and left him at Jerusalem as a vassal; or, if he carried him to Babylon, allowed him to return.  2 Chronicles 36:5-8;  Daniel 1:2 . After three years Jehoiakim revolted and God sent against him bands of the Chaldees, the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites to destroy Judah on account of their wickedness.  2 Kings 24:1-5 .

Jehoiakim was warned many times, but he resented the admonitions, and put Urijah the prophet to death. In the fourth year of his reign, Jeremiah wrote in a book his prophecies against Judah and Israel, which were read in the Lord's house; but when tidings of this reached the king he sent for the book, heard it read, and then cut it in pieces and burnt it. He ordered the arrest of Jeremiah and of Baruch who had written the book; but the Lord hid them. God declared he would punish him, and said, "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem:" his end is not recorded.  Jeremiah 22:18,24;  Jeremiah 26:21-23;  Jeremiah 36:9-32 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Jehoiakim ( Je-Hoi-A-Kĭm ), Whom Jehovah Sets Up. Called Eliakim, son of Josiah and king of Judah. After deposing Jehoahaz, Pharaoh-necho set Eliakim, his elder brother, upon the throne, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. For four years Jehoiakim was subject to Egypt, when Nebuchadnezzar, after a short siege, entered Jerusalem, took the king prisoner, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. Jehoiakim became tributary to Nebuchadnezzar, but after three years broke his oath of allegiance and rebelled against him.  2 Kings 24:1. Nebuchadnezzar sent against him numerous bands of Chaldeans, with Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites,  2 Kings 24:2, and who cruelly harassed the whole country. Either in an engagement with some of these forces, or else by the hand of his own oppressed subjects, Jehoiakim came to a violent end in the eleventh year of his reign. His body was cast out ignominiously on the ground, and then was dragged away and buried "with the burial of an ass," without pomp or lamentation, "beyond the gates of Jerusalem."  Jeremiah 22:18-19;  Jeremiah 36:30. All the accounts we have of Jehoiakim concur in ascribing to him a vicious and irreligious character.  2 Kings 23:37;  2 Kings 24:9;  2 Chronicles 36:5. The reign of Jehoiakim extends from b.c. 609 to b.c. 698, or, as some reckon, 599.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Or ELIAKIM, second son of Josiah, brother and successor of Jehoahaz or Shallum, king of Judah, for whom he was substituted by the king of Egypt. He was king during eleven years of luxury, extortion, and idolatry. In the third year, Nebuchadnezzar carried to Babylon a part of his princes and treasures. A year after, his allied the Egyptians were defeated on the Euphrates; yet he despised the warnings of Jeremiah, and cast his book into the fire. At length he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, but was defeated and ingloriously slain, B. C. 599, 2 Kings 23:34   24:6   2 Chronicles 36:4-8   Jeremiah 22:1-30   26:1-24   36:1-32 .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

or ELIAKIM, the brother and successor of Jehoahaz, king of Judah, was advanced to the throne by Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, A.M. 3395,  2 Kings 23:34 . He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and did evil in the sight of the Lord. When Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, this prince was also taken and put to death, and his body thrown into the common sewer, according to the prediction of Jeremiah,  Jeremiah 22:18-19 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 23:34Israel

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Yeh Ô yakinm', יְהוֹיָקַים , Jehovah Established; Sept. Ι᾿Ωαλόμ , oftener Ι᾿Ωακείμ , Josephus Ι᾿Ωάκιμος ; compare Joiakim, Jokim ) the second son of Josiah by Zebudah, daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah (probably the Dumah of  Joshua 15:52); born B.C. 634, and eighteenth king of the separate throne of Judah for a period of eleven years, B.C. 609-598. He is mentioned in  2 Kings 23:34-36;  2 Kings 24:1;  2 Kings 24:5-6;  2 Kings 24:19;  1 Chronicles 3:15-16;  2 Chronicles 36:4-5;  2 Chronicles 36:8;  Jeremiah 1:3;  Jeremiah 22:18;  Jeremiah 22:24;  Jeremiah 24:1;  Jeremiah 25:1;  Jeremiah 26:1;  Jeremiah 26:21-23;  Jeremiah 27:1;  Jeremiah 27:20;  Jeremiah 28:4;  Jeremiah 35:1;  Jeremiah 36:1;  Jeremiah 36:9;  Jeremiah 36:28-30;  Jeremiah 36:32;  Jeremiah 37:1;  Jeremiah 45:1;  Jeremiah 46:2;  Jeremiah 52:2;  Daniel 1:1-2. His original name was ELIAKIM (See Eliakim) (q.v.), but the equivalent name of Jehoiakim was given him by the Egyptian king who set him on his father's throne ( 2 Kings 23:34). This change is significant of his dependence and loss of liberty, as heathen kings were accustomed to give new names to those who entered their service ( Genesis 41:45;  Ezra 5:14;  Daniel 1:7), usually after their gods. In this case, as the new name is Israelitish, it is probable that Pharaoh-necho gave it at the request of Eliakim himself, whom Hengstenberg supposes to have been influenced by a desire to place his name in closer connection with the promise ( 2 Samuel 7:12); where not El , but Jehovah is the promiser; and to have done this out of opposition to the sentence of the prophets respecting the impending fall of the house of David ( Christol . 2:401, Eng. trans.). There exists the most striking contrast between his beautiful name and his miserable fate ( Jeremiah 22:19). ( (See Eckhird), Vom Esels-Begr Ä Bniss , Lpz. 1716.) (See Name).

Jehoiakim's younger brother Jehoahaz, or Shallum, as he is called  Jeremiah 22:11, had been in the first instance made king by the people of the land on the death of his father Josiah, probably with the intention of following up Josiah's policy, which was to side with Nebuchadnezzar against Egypt, being, as Prideaux thinks, bound by oath to the kings of Babylon (Jeremiah 1:50). (See Jehoahaz).

Pharaoh-necho, therefore, having borne down all resistance with his victorious army, immediately deposed Jehoahaz and had him brought in chains to Riblah, where, it seems, he was on his way to Carchemish ( 2 Kings 23:33-34;  Jeremiah 22:10-12). (See Necho).

He then set Eliakim, his elder brother, upon the throne — changed his name to Jehoiakim (see above) — and, having charged him with the task of collecting a tribute of 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold = nearly $200,000, in which he muleted the land for the part Josiah had taken in the war with Babylon, he eventually returned to Egypt, taking Jehoahaz with him, who died there in captivity ( 2 Kings 23:34;  Jeremiah 22:10-12;  Ezekiel 19:4). Pharaoh- necho also himself returned no more to Jerusalem; for, after his great defeat at Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, he lost all his Syrian possessions ( 2 Kings 24:7;  Jeremiah 46:2), and his successor Psammis (Herod. 2, 141) made no attempt to recover them. Egypt, therefore, played no part in Jewish politics during the seven or eight years of Jehoiakim's reign. After the battle of Carchemish Nebuchadnezzar came into Palestine as one of the Egyptian tributary kingdoms, the capture of which was the natural fruit of his victory over Necho. He found Jehoiakim quite powerless. After a short siege he entered Jerusalem, took the king prisoner, bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon ( 2 Chronicles 36:6-7), and took also some of the precious vessels of the Temple and carried them to the land of Shinar, to the temple of Bel his god. It was at this time, in the fourth, or, as Daniel reckons, in the third year of his reign, (See Nebuchadnezzar), that Daniel and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, were taken captives to Babylon ( Daniel 1:1-2); but Nebuchadnezzar seems to have changed his purpose as regarded Jehoiakim, and to have accepted his submission, and reinstated him on the throne, perhaps in remembrance of the fidelity of his father Josiah (q.v.). The year following the Egyptians were defeated upon the Euphrates ( Jeremiah 46:2), and Jehoiakim, when he saw the remains of the defeated army pass by his territory, could not but perceive how vain had been that reliance upon Egypt against which he had been constantly cautioned by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 31:1;  Jeremiah 45:1). In the same year the prophet caused a collection of his prophecies to be written out by his faithful Baruch and to be read publicly by him in the court of the Temple. This coming to the knowledge of the king, he sent for it and had it read before him. But he heard not much of the bitter denunciations with which it was charged before he took the roll from the reader, and, after cutting it in pieces, threw it into the brazier which, it being winter, was burning before him in the hall. The counsel of God against him, however, stood sure; a fresh roll was written, with the addition of a further and most awful denunciation against the king, occasioned by this foolish and sacrilegious act. "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" (Jeremiah 36). All this, however, appears to have made little impression upon Jehoiakim, who still walked in his old paths. (See Jeremiah).

After three years of subjection, Jehoiakim, deluded by the Egyptian party in his court (compare Josephus, Ant. 10:6, 2), ventured to withhold his tribute and thereby to throw off the Chaldaean yoke ( 2 Kings 24:1). This step, taken contrary to the earnest remonstrances of Jeremiah, and in violation of his oath of allegiance, was the ruin of Jehoiakim. What moved or encouraged Jehoiakim to this rebellion it is difficult to say, unless it were the restless turbulence of his own bad disposition and the dislike of paying the tribute to the king of Babylon, which he would have rather lavished upon his own luxury and pride ( Jeremiah 22:13-17), for there was really nothing in the attitude of Egypt at this time to account for such a step. It seems more probable that, seeing Egypt entirely severed from the affairs of Syria since the battle of Carchemish, and the king of Babylon wholly occupied with distant wars, he hoped to make himself independent. Though Nebuchadnezzar was not able at that time to come in person to chastise his rebellious vassal, he sent against him numerous bands of Chaldaean, with Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, who were all now subject to Babylon ( 2 Kings 24:7), and who cruelly harassed the whole country, being for the most part actuated by a fierce hatred against the Jewish name and nation. It was perhaps at this time that the great drought occurred described in Jeremiah 14 (compare  Jeremiah 15:4 with  2 Kings 24:2-3). The closing years of this reign must have been a time of extreme misery. The Ammonites appear to have overrun the land of Gad ( Jeremiah 49:1), and the other neighboring nations to have taken advantage of the helplessness of Israel to ravage their land to the utmost (Ezekiel 25). There was no rest or safety out of the walled cities. We are not acquainted with the details of the close of the reign. Probably, as the time approached for Nebuchadnezzar himself to come against Judaea, the desultory attacks and invasions of his troops became more concentrated. Either in an engagement with some of these forces, or else by the hand of his own oppressed subjects, who thought to conciliate the Babylonians by the murder of their king, Jehoiakim seems to have come to a violent end in the eleventh year of his reign. His body, as predicted, appears to have been cast out ignominiously on the ground; perhaps thrown over the walls to convince the enemy that he was dead; and then, after being left exposed for some time, to have been dragged away and buried "with the burial of an ass," without pomp or lamentation, "beyond the gates of Jerusalem" ( Jeremiah 22:18-19;  Jeremiah 36:30; see  1 Chronicles 3:15;  2 Kings 23:34-37;  2 Kings 24:1-7;  2 Chronicles 36:4-8). Yet it was not the object of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy altogether a power which, as tributary to him, formed a serviceable outpost towards Egypt, which seems to have been the great final object of all his designs in this quarter. He therefore still maintained the throne of Judah and placed on it Jehoiachin, the son of the late king. Nor does he appear to have removed any considerable number of the inhabitants until provoked by the speedy revolt of this last appointee. (See Jehoiachin).

The expression in  Jeremiah 36:30, "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David," is not to be taken strictly; and yet, as the reign of Jehoiachin was for only thirteen weeks, Jehoiakim may be said to have been comparatively without a successor, since his son scarcely sat down upon his throne before he was deposed. The same explanation applies to  2 Kings 23:34, where Eliakim or Jehoiakim is said to have succeeded his father Josiah, whereas the reign of Jehoahaz intervened. This was also so short, however, as not to be reckoned in the succession. In  Matthew 1:11, in the received text, the name of Jehoiakim ( Ι᾿Ωακείμ , "Jakim") is omitted, making Jehoiachin appear as the son of Josiah; but in some good MSS. it is supplied, as in the margin (see Strong's Greek Harmony Of The Gospels , note on § 9). (See Genealogy).

Josephus's history of Jehoiakim's reign is consistent neither with Scripture nor with itself. His account of Jehoiakim's death and Jehoiachin's succession appears to be only his own inference from the Scripture narrative. According to Josephus (Ant. 10, 6), Nebuchadnezzar came against Judaea in the 8th year of Jehoiakim's reign, and compelled him to pay tribute, which he did for three years, and then revolted, in the 11th year, on hearing that the king of Babylon had gone to invade Egypt. Such a campaign at this time is extremely improbable, as Nebuchadnezzar was fully occupied elsewhere; it is possible, however, that such a rumor may have been set afloat by interested parties. Josephus then inserts the account of Jehoiakim's burning Jeremiah's prophecy in his fifth year, and concludes by saying that a little time afterwards the king of Babylon made an expedition against Jehoiakim, who admitted Nebuchadnezzar into the city upon certain conditions, which Nebuchadnezzar immediately broke; that he slew Jehoiakim and the flower of the citizens, and sent 3000 captives to Babylon, and set up Jehoiachin for king, but almost immediately afterwards was seized with fear lest the young king should avenge his father's death, and so sent back his army to besiege Jerusalem; that Jehoiachin, being a man of just and gentle disposition, did not like to expose the city to danger on his own account, and therefore surrendered himself, his mother, and kindred to the king of Babylon's officers on condition of the city suffering no harm, but that Nebuchadnezzar, in direct violation of the conditions, took 10,832 prisoners, and made Zedekiah king in the room of Jehoiachin, whom he kept in custody. (See Kingdom Of Judah).

All the accounts we have of Jehoiakim concur in ascribing to him a vicious and irreligious character. The writer of  2 Kings 23:37 tells us that "he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah," a statement which is repeated in  2 Kings 24:9, and  2 Chronicles 36:5 The latter writer uses the yet stronger expression "the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations which he did" (2 Chronicles 8). But it is in the writings of Jeremiah that we have the fullest portraiture of him. If, as is probable, the 19th chapter of Jeremiah belongs to this reign, we have a detail of the abominations of idolatry practiced at Jerusalem under the king's sanction, with which Ezekiel's vision of what was going on six years later, within the very precincts of the Temple, exactly agrees: incense offered up to "abominable beasts," "women weeping for Thammuz," and men in the inner court of the Temple, "with their backs towards the temple of the Lord," worshipping "the sun towards the east" (Ezekiel 8). The vindictive pursuit and murder of Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, and the indignities offered to his corpse by the king's command, in revenge for his faithful prophesying of evil against Jerusalem and Judah, are samples of his irreligion and tyranny combined. Jeremiah but narrowly escaped the same fate ( Jeremiah 26:20-24). The curious notice of him in  1 Esdras 1:38 — that he put his nobles in chains, and caught Zaraces, his brother, in Egypt, and brought him up thence to Jerusalem — also points to his cruelty. His daring impiety in cutting up and burning the roll containing Jeremiah's prophecy, at the very moment when the national fast was being celebrated, has been noticed above (see also Stanley, Jewish Church , 2, 597 sq.). His oppression, injustice, covetousness, luxury, and tyranny are most severely rebuked ( Jeremiah 22:13-17); and it has frequently been observed, as indicating his thorough selfishness and indifference to the sufferings of his people, that, at a time when the land was so impoverished by the heavy tributes laid upon it by Egypt and Babylon in turn he should have squandered large sums in building luxurious palaces for himself ( Jeremiah 22:14-15). (See Chambers Of Imagery).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jē̇ - hoi´a - kim ( יהויקים , yehōyāḳı̄m , "Yahweh will establish"; Ἰωακείμ , Iōakeı́m ): The name given him by Pharaoh-necoh, who raised him to the throne as vassal king in place of his brother Jehoahaz, is changed from Eliakim ( אליקים , 'elyāḳı̄m , "God will establish"). The change compounds the name, after the royal Judean custom, with that of Yahweh; it may also imply that Necoh claims Yahweh's authorization for his act, as in a similar way Sennacherib had claimed it for his invasion of Judah (  2 Kings 18:25 ). He has represented the campaign with which Josiah interfered as undertaken by Divine command ( 'Ēl ,  2 Chronicles 35:21 ); this episode of it merely translates the authorization, rather arrogantly, into the conquered nation's dialect.

A king of Judah, elder (half-) brother and successor of Jehoahaz; reigned 11 years from 608 bc.

I. Sources for His Life and Time

1. Annalistic

The circumstances of his accession and raising of the indemnity to Pharaoh-necoh, followed by a brief résumé of his reign, are narrated in  2 Kings 23:34 through 24:6. The naming of the source for "the rest of his acts" (  2 Kings 24:5 ) is the last reference we have to "the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah." The account in  2 Chronicles 36:5-8 , though briefer still, mentions Nebuchadnezzar's looting of the temple at some uncertain date in his reign. Neither account has any good to say of Jehoiakim; to the writer of 2 Kings, however, his ill fortunes are due to Yahweh's retributive justice for the sins of Manasseh; while to the Chronicler the sum of his acts, apparently connected with the desecration of the sanctuary, is characterized as "the abominations which he did." For "the rest of his acts" we are referred, also for the last time, to the "book of the kings of Israel and Judah."

2. Prophetic

For the moral and spiritual chaos of the time, and for prophecies and incidents throwing much light on the king's character, Jeremiah has a number of extended passages, not, however, in consecutive order.

The main ones clearly identifiable with this reign are:  2 Kings 22:13-19 , inveighing against the king's tyrannies and predicting his ignominious death; 2 Kings 26, dated in the beginning of his reign and again predicting (as had been predicted before in  2 Kings 7:2-15 ) the destruction of the temple; 2 Kings 25, dated in his 4th year and predicting the conquest of Judah and surrounding nations by Nebuchadnezzar; 2 Kings 36, dated in the 4th and 5th years, and telling the story of the roll of prophecy which the king destroyed; 2 Kings 45, an appendix from the 4th year, reassuring Baruch the scribe, in terms of the larger prophetic scale, for his dismay at what he had to write; 2 Kings 46, also an appendix, a reminiscence of the year of Carchemish, containing the oracle then pronounced against Egypt, and giving words of the larger comfort to Judah. The Book of the prophet Habakkuk, written in this reign, gives expression to the prophetic feeling of doubt and dismay at the unrequited ravages of the Chaldeans against a people more righteous than they, with a sense of the value of steadfast faith and of Yahweh's world-movement and purpose which explains the seeming enormity.

II. Character and Events of His Reign

1. The Epoch

The reign of Jehoiakim is not so significant for any personal impress of his upon his time as for the fact that it fell in one of the most momentous epochs of ancient history. By the fall of Nineveh in 606 to the assault of Nebuchadnezzar, then crown prince of the rising Babylonian empire, Assyria, "the rod of (Yahweh's) anger" ( Isaiah 10:5 ), ended its arrogant and inveterate sway over the nations. Nebuehadnezzar, coming soon after to the Chaldean throne, followed up his victory by a vigorous campaign against Pharaoh-necoh, whom we have seen at the end of Josiah's reign (see under Josiah ) advancing toward the Euphrates in his attempt to secure Egyptian dominion over Syria and Mesopotamia. The encounter took place in 605 at Carehemish on the northern Euphrates, where Necoh was defeated and driven back to the borders of his own land, never more to renew his aggressions ( 2 Kings 24:7 ). The dominating world-empire was now in the hands of the Chaldeans, "that bitter and hasty nation" ( Habakkuk 1:6 ); the first stage of the movement by which the world's civilization was passing from Semitic to Aryan control. With this world-movement Israel's destiny was henceforth to be intimately involved; the prophets were already dimly aware of it, and were shaping their warnings and promises, as by a Divine instinct, to that end. It was on this larger scale of things that they worked; it had all along been their endeavor, and continued with increasing clearness and fervor, to develop in Israel a conscience and stamina which should be a leavening power for good in the coming great era (compare  Isaiah 2:2-4;  Micah 4:1-3 ).

2. The King's Perverse Character

Of all these prophetic meanings, however, neither the king nor the ruling classes had the faintest realization; they saw only the political exigencies of the moment. Nor did the king himself, in any patriotic way, rise even to the immediate occasion. As to policy, he was an unprincipled opportunist: vassal to Necoh to whom he owed his throne, until Necoh himself was defeated; enforced vassal to Nebuchadnezzar for 3 years along with the other petty kings of Western Asia; then rebelling against the latt er as soon as he thought he could make anything by it. As to responsibility of administration, he had simply the temper of a despotic self-indulgent Oriental. He raised the immense fine that Necoh imposed upon him by a direct taxation, which he farmed out to unscrupulous officials. He indulged himself with erecting costly royal buildings, employing for the purpose enforced and unpaid labor ( Jeremiah 22:13-17 ); while all just interests of his oppressed subjects went wholly unregarded. As to religion, he let matters go on as they had been under Manasseh, probably introducing also the still more strange and heathenish rites from Egypt and the East of which we see the effects in  Ezekiel 8:5-17 . And meanwhile the reformed temple-worship which Josiah had introduced seems to have become a mere formal and perfunctory matter, to which, if we may judge by his conspicuous absence from fast and festal occasions (e.g. Jer 26; 36), the king paid no attention. His impious act of cutting up and burning Jeremiah's roll ( Jeremiah 36:23 ), as also his vindictive pursuit and murder of Uriah for prophesying in the spirit of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 26:20-23 ), reveal his antipathy to any word that does not prophesy "smooth things" (compare  Isaiah 30:10 ), and in fact a downright perversity to the name and w ill of Yahweh.

3. The Prophetic Attitude

With the onset of the Chaldean power, prophecy, as represented in the great seers whose words remain to us, reached a crisis which only time and the consistent sense of its Iarger issues could enable it to weather. Isaiah, in his time, had stood for the inviolability of Zion, and a miraculous deliverance had vindicated his sublime faith. But with Jeremiah, conditions had changed. The idea thus engendered, that the temple was bound to stand and with it Jerusalem, an idea confirmed by Josiah's centralizing reforms, had become a superstition and a presumption (compare  Jeremiah 7:4 ); and Jeremiah had reached the conviction that it, with its wooden rites and glaring abuses, must go: that nothing short of a clean sweep of the old religious fetishes could cure the inveterate unspirituality of the nation. This conviction of his must needs seem to many like an inconsistency - to set prophecy against itself. And when the Chaldean appeared on the scene, his counsel of submission and prediction of captivity would seem a double inconsistency; not only a traversing of a tested prophecy, but treason to the state. This was the situation that he had to encounter; and for it he gave his tender feelings, his liberty, his life. It is in this reign of Jehoiakim that, for the sake of Yahweh's word and purpose, he is engulfed in the deep tragedy of his career. And in this he must be virtually alone. Habakkuk is indeed with him in sympathy; but his vision is not so clear; he must weather disheartening doubts, and" cherish the faith of the righteous ( Habakkuk 2:4 ), and wait until the vision of Yahweh's secret purpose clears ( Habakkuk 2:1-3 ). If the prophets themselves are thus having such an equivocal crisis, we can imagine how forlorn is the plight of Yahweh's "remnant," who are dependent on prophetic faith and courage to guide them through the depths. The humble nucleus of the true Israel, which is some day to be the nation's redeeming element, is undergoing a stern seasoning.

4. Harassing and Death

After Syria fell into Nebuchadnezzar's power, he seems to have established his headquarters for some years at Riblah; and after Jehoiada attempted to revolt from his authority, he sent against him guerrilla bands from the neighboring nations, and detachments from his Chaldean garrisons, who harassed him with raids and depredations. In  2 Chronicles 36:6 ,  2 Chronicles 36:7 , it is related that Nebuchadnezzar carried some of the vessels of the temple to Babylon and bound the king in fetters to carry him also to Babylon - the latter purpose apparently not carried out. This was in Jehoiada's 4th year. In  Daniel 1:1 ,  Daniel 1:2 , though ascribed to Jehoiakim's 3rd year, this same event is related as the result of a siege of Jerusalem. It is ambiguously intimated also that the king was deported; and among "the seed royal and of the nobles" who were of the company were Daniel and his three companions ( Daniel 1:3 ,  Daniel 1:6 ). The manner of Jehoiakim's death is obscure. It is merely said ( 2 Kings 24:6 ) that he "slept with his fathers"; but Josephus ( Ant. , X, vi, 3) perhaps assuming that Jeremiah's prediction ( Jeremiah 22:19 ) was fulfilled, states that Nebuchadnezzar slew him and cast his body outside the walls unburied.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Jehoi´akim (God-established), originally Eliakim, second son of Josiah, and eighteenth king of Judah. On the death of his father the people raised to the throne his younger brother Jehoahaz; but three months after, when the Egyptian king returned from the Euphrates, he removed Jehoahaz, and gave the crown to the rightful heir, Eliakim, whose name he changed to Jehoiakim. This change of name often took place in similar circumstances; and the altered name was in fact the badge of a tributary prince. Jehoiakim began to reign in B.C. 608, and reigned eleven years. He, of course, occupied the position of a vassal of the Egyptian empire, but however heavy may have been the Egyptian yoke, Jehoiakim was destined to pass under one heavier still.

In the third year of his reign, being besieged in Jerusalem, he was forced to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and was by his order laden with chains, with the intention of sending him captive to Babylon but eventually the conqueror changed his mind and restored the crown to him. Many persons, however, of high family, and some even of the royal blood, were sent away to Babylon. Among these was Daniel, then a mere youth. A large proportion of the treasures and sacred vessels of the temple were also taken away and deposited in the idol-temple at Babylon . The year following the Egyptians were defeated upon the Euphrates , and Jehoiakim, when he saw the remains of the defeated army pass by his territory, could not but perceive how vain had been that reliance upon Egypt against which he had been constantly cautioned by Jeremiah ( sq.; 45:1 sq.). In the same year the prophet caused a collection of his prophecies to be written out by his faithful Baruch, and to be read publicly by him in the court of the temple. This coming to the knowledge of the king, he sent for it and had it read before him. But he heard not much of the bitter denunciations with which it was charged, before he took the roll from the reader, and after cutting it in pieces threw it into the brasier, which, it being winter, was burning before him in the hall. The counsel of God against him, however, stood sure; a fresh roll was written, with the addition of a further and most awful denunciation against the king, occasioned by this foolish and sacrilegious act: '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' (Jeremiah 36). All this, however, appears to have made little impression upon Jehoiakim, who still walked in his old paths.

After three years of subjection, Jehoiakim, finding the king of Babylon fully engaged elsewhere, and deluded by the Egyptian party in his court, ventured to withhold his tribute, and thereby to throw off the Chaldean yoke. This step, taken contrary to the earnest remonstrances of Jeremiah, was the ruin of Jehoiakim. The land was before long invaded by the armies of the Chaldeans, accompanied by a vast number of auxiliaries from the neighboring countries, the Edomites, Moabites, and others, who were for the most part actuated by a fierce hatred against the Jewish name and nation. The events of the war are not related. Jerusalem was taken, or rather surrendered on terms, which Josephus alleges were little heeded by Nebuchadnezzar. It is certain that Jehoiakim was slain, but whether in one of the actions, or, as Josephus says, after the surrender, we cannot determine. His body remained exposed and unlamented without the city, under the circumstances foretold by the prophet—'He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem' (;;;; ).

It was not the object of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy altogether a power which, as tributary to him, formed a serviceable outpost towards Egypt, which seems to have been the great final object of all his designs in this quarter. He therefore still maintained the throne of Judah, and placed on it Jehoiachin, the son of the late king. He, however, sent away another body, a second corps of the nobles and chief persons of the nation, three thousand in number, among whom was Ezekiel, afterwards called to prophesy in the land of his exile.