And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead, in Jerusalem.
Josiah is dead, and the crowd moves first. They pick his successor themselves. The verse reads like a routine note of succession. Commentators see more in it: the line of David slipping out of God's hands into the hands of men, and then into the hands of foreign powers.
No one hands this throne over. A crowd takes it. And the man they take is not even next in line.
Chronicles tells us that right after the death of Josiah, the people of the land took Jehoahaz (which means "Jehovah holds up") and made him king. He was not the LORD's choice, but the people's choice. He was not the eldest son, and so the people's action was unlawful and lawless.
The choice also exposes the people who made it. One writer turns the question back on them.
Jehoahaz was not the eldest son of Josiah. Eliakim was older. But Jehoahaz was the popular choice. He reigned only three months, and that short time was enough to show what was in the king's heart... Did not the people's choice of king show what was in the hearts of the people?
Until now, son had followed father on David's throne without a break. One writer treats that unbroken chain as God's own order.
It was God's order, and it held even when conspirators killed the father. So a break in this succession would be strong evidence that God had cast off the nation. And in fact that order was broken after the death of Josiah... As soon as God stops appointing kings, Satan steps in. Through his agents, the kings of Egypt and of Babylon, he sets up men whom God rejected and gave up to judgment. God did not confirm Jehoahaz on the throne, so his reign lasted only three months. The king of Egypt puts him down, carries him to Egypt, and sets Eliakim (Jehoiakim) on the throne.
A reign this short might seem too brief to judge. The record says otherwise. Jehoahaz did not take after his father at all.
God showed favour all through the reign of Josiah. The Lord filled the hearts of the people with blessing and joy. Yet none of this bears fruit in the kings who follow him. The people chose Jehoahaz and proclaimed him king in his father's place, and he "did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done." He is linked not to Josiah, but to his unbelieving and idolatrous fathers. He is not counted in the line of faith. It is not possible to have Josiah or Abraham as father without producing fruits fit for repentance.
His name, Jehovah-seized, turned out to describe what happened to him. Writers note the grim symmetry between what he grasped and what befell him.
Jehoahaz (Jehovah-seized) had seized the throne that was not his by right, and in turn was seized by Necho, God's instrument, and carried to a land of exile, there to find a grave far from the tombs of his fathers.
(cite: C Knapp)
The prophets weighed his fate against his father's and found it heavier. Josiah was mourned; his son was to be mourned more.
About Shallum we read in Jeremiah 22:10-12: "Weep not for him who is dead (that is, Josiah), nor grieve for him, but weep bitterly for him who goes away (that is, Shallum), for he shall return no more to see his native land." This suggests that something worse than being deported was in store for Josiah's worthless successor.
Behind the politics lies a change in God's dealings. Chastening had been the pattern; now judgment itself arrives.
With the death of Josiah the forbearance of God ceased and judgment soon came upon the city. It had been held back until now, for the troubles that fell on the kingdom of Judah had the character of chastening. The reformation carried out by Josiah was the last act of mercy from God while Judah remained a nation... And the first drops of the storm of judgment proved to be the removal of the last support of David's house.
The kings who follow hold no real power. But the commentators do not stop there.
Josiah was the last king worthy of the title. Three sons and a grandson succeeded him, mere puppets of their Gentile masters... but the working out of God's purposes of love awaits the coming of Christ. "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill" (Ps. 2:6).
- Chosen — The people took a king instead of receiving one. He was not the eldest son and not God's choice. Their pick exposed their own hearts.
- Broken — Here the father-to-son line of David snapped. One writer calls that break strong evidence that God had cast off the nation.
- Exposed — Three months showed whose son he really was. He took after his idolatrous ancestors, not his godly father. A good father guarantees nothing.
- Removed — Egypt carried him off after three months, and he never saw his land again. Jeremiah said that loss deserved more weeping than his father's death.
- Awaited — God's patience had run out. The last support of David's house was gone. No true king sits on that throne until Christ comes to take it.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
Josiah's death ends the last good reign in Judah, and the throne passes to a son of twenty-three who keeps it for only three months. Two questions follow: why was the reign so short, and who put him on the throne?
This short reign was no accident of politics. It came as the first drops of a judgment long held back.
With the death of Josiah the forbearance of God ceased and judgment soon came upon the city. Up to that point God had held it back, because the disasters that fell on the kingdom of Judah had the character of chastisement. Josiah's reformation was God's last act of mercy while Judah remained a nation… But now the sky was black with coming judgment. And the first drops of the storm of judgment proved to be the removal of the last support of David's house.
The people of the land took him and made him king. One commentator notes who had no part in that act.
"Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz" — for indeed no one could say it was God now in any sense.
Another writer follows that choice through to how Scripture later records his name.
The regular succession to the throne of Judah ceased with the much-mourned Josiah. Jehoahaz was not the eldest son of the late king. Johanan and Jehoiakim were both older than he (1 Chron. 3:15). The people made him king by their own choice. It was the preference of the crowd, not the appointment of God… Ezekiel 19:1-4 compares him to "a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men." This is the only hint we are given about the character of his sin. He was probably guilty of deeds of violence… Jeremiah 22:11 calls him Shallum, which means "to whom it is repaid"… Matthew 1 leaves his name out of the list of our Lord's ancestors.
A reign this short might seem too brief to show anything. It was not.
All God's favour under the reign of Josiah bears no fruit in the successors of this king. The blessing and the joy with which the Lord had filled the hearts of the people bear no fruit either. Jehoahaz, chosen and proclaimed king by the people in his father's place, "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done" (2 Kings 23:32). He is linked not to Josiah, but to his unbelieving and idolatrous fathers, and he is not counted in the line of faith. No one can have Josiah or Abraham as father without producing fruits fit for repentance. Here the axe was already at the root of the tree. Judah's royal line was about to go through its last convulsions before being cut off… Josiah's son reigns only three months. Yet he still finds time to do evil, and by his conduct towards God to contradict what Josiah had established.
Those same three months were also a chance thrown away.
Even though his reign was short, what an opportunity he missed. Had he been faithful like his father, his name would have come down to us in the divine record with something of the true fame of Josiah.
One commentator finds the king's own name working against him.
Jehoahaz means "Jehovah-seized." He had seized the throne that was not his by right. In turn Necho, God's instrument, seized him and carried him to a land of exile, to find a grave far from the tombs of his fathers.
The place of his exile carries its own sting.
The people of the land placed Josiah's son Jehoahaz on the throne. But the Egyptian ruler would not allow him to be king. He carried him into Egypt, where he died a captive. Long ago the Lord had delivered His people Israel from that same land and power, with a mighty arm and wonderful signs.
Commentators differ on where he was first held. One places him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, under tribute, on his way to Egypt. He draws out the reversal:
Though Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, Egypt came after them to Canaan to put them in slavery again.
- Chosen — the crowd took him, not God. He was not the eldest son, so Judah's shortest reign began with a choice God never made.
- Short — three months was still long enough to do evil. Having Josiah for a father guarantees no one a place in the line of faith.
- Squandered — had he followed his father, even three months could have won his name honour. Instead he contradicted all Josiah had built.
- Seized — his name meant "Jehovah-seized." He seized a throne that was not his, and Necho seized him and carried him off to die in exile.
- Signalled — his removal was the first drop of a storm long held back. The road out led to Egypt, the land God had once redeemed His people from.
And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
Josiah, Judah's last godly king, died in battle against Pharaoh Necho, and the people made his son Jehoahaz king. Three months later Egypt removed him and fined the land — so who really ruled Jerusalem?
Jehoahaz did not come to the throne by right of birth or by God's word. Popular feeling put him there after his father's death.
Chronicles tells us that right after Josiah's death, the people of the land took Jehoahaz (which means "Jehovah holds up") and made him king. He was not the LORD's choice, but the people's choice. He was not the eldest son, and so the people's action was unlawful and lawless. He did evil, and Josephus describes him as vile.
One writer finds a quiet confirmation of this in how Scripture describes Necho's next move:
Necho, it is said, made his half-brother Eliakim "king in the place of Josiah his father." This may imply that God did not recognize Jehoahaz, the people's choice, as the true successor.
Commentators read his name in two ways. One takes Jehoahaz to mean "Jehovah holds up." Another reads it as "Jehovah-seized" and sees that meaning answered in what happened to him.
Jehoahaz (Jehovah-seized) had seized the throne that was not his by right. Necho, God's instrument, then seized him and carried him off to a land of exile, where he found a grave far from the tombs of his fathers.
Scripture gives him a second name as well.
In Jeremiah 22:11 he is called, tellingly, Shallum (to whom it is repaid), and by this name he is recorded in the royal family line of Judah. His name is left out from among those of our Lord's ancestors in Matthew 1.
Other passages say Necho put Jehoahaz in chains at Riblah, while this verse places the deposing in Jerusalem. Tracing the movements of the Egyptian army shows how both can be true.
Elsewhere we are told that he was taken to Riblah in the land of Hamath and bound. That in no way contradicts what is quoted above. History tells us that after his victory at Megiddo, Necho meant to march on to the Euphrates. But he heard that the people had raised Jehoahaz to the throne by popular acclaim. So he sent part of his army to Jerusalem. It deposed Jehoahaz and brought him captive to Riblah, where Necho and his main forces were. He did this, it is said, because he believed Jehoahaz leaned toward an alliance with Assyria against him.
The fine of silver and gold was more than a money loss. It turned back the deliverance God had once given from Egypt.
It seems that Josiah's attack on Pharaoh Necho had only drawn Pharaoh's anger against Judah. Pharaoh found Judah so weak that he took Jehoahaz captive... and imposed a tribute on the land of 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold. So, though God had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, Egypt came after them to Canaan to put them in slavery again!
Egypt acted for its own reasons. Yet Josiah's own last act had opened the door, and the Lord used it for a purpose Pharaoh never planned.
Josiah's last act in opposing Pharaoh Necho gave that ruler the chance to interfere in the affairs of Israel. But the Lord used it to chasten the king and His wayward people. God often uses the very failures of His people to bring about their final blessing. He can also use their failures in discipline to rebuke their waywardness.
The silver and gold taken here did not stay safe in Egypt's treasury. God later counted it as wages owed for a different king's service.
Egypt pictures the world — the place from which God has delivered His people in grace. To seek its help in anything is a grievous offence in His sight... Judgement fell first upon Judah; then, a few years later, upon Egypt also. Jehovah counted that wages were due to Nebuchadnezzar for his service in destroying Tyre... The wealth of Egypt was Jehovah's repayment to the instrument of His righteous judgements. That wealth included the silver and gold Necho had carried there from Jerusalem (Ezek. 29:18).
- Chosen — Popular acclaim made Jehoahaz king, not birthright and not God; a lawless start to a three-month reign.
- Seized — He seized a throne that was not his, and Necho seized him in turn. He died in exile, far from his fathers' graves.
- Fined — The hundred talents of silver and one of gold put Judah back under the power God had once freed them from.
- Chastened — Josiah's last act against Necho gave Egypt its opening, and God used that failure to rebuke a wayward people.
- Repaid — Scripture even names him Shallum, "to whom it is repaid." The tribute carried off to Egypt later became Nebuchadnezzar's wages. Nothing taken from God's people escapes His reckoning.
And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
Judah's throne is no longer in Judah's hands. The king of Egypt crowns one brother, renames him, and carries the other off as a prisoner — so who rules in Jerusalem now?
Foreign rule over Jerusalem begins here, and one writer sees it running on to the end. The king of Egypt treated Judah as his own property, and even the place he sent the deposed king had a sting in it.
The dominion of the Gentiles soon began, and will only end when the Lord appears... The people of the land placed Josiah's son Jehoahaz on the throne. But the king of Egypt would not let him reign. He carried him off to Egypt, where he died a prisoner. Long ago the Lord had delivered His people Israel out of that same land and power, with a mighty arm and wonderful signs.
Jehoahaz was not the natural heir. The nation had passed over the elder son, and Pharaoh cancelled what they had done.
Eliakim was also a son of Josiah, but evidently one easier for Pharaoh to handle... Jehoahaz had become king at 23 and reigned only three months. So he was a younger brother of Eliakim, who was 25 when he took the throne. It was the people who made Jehoahaz king, no doubt because they preferred him to his older brother. But Pharaoh reversed the people's decision.
There is a fitting justice in how he lost the crown, and a hand behind Necho's. One writer finds both in the king's own name.
He never returned from Egypt. Jehoahaz — the name means "Jehovah-seized" — had seized a throne that was not his by right. In turn Necho, God's instrument, seized him and carried him to a land of exile. There he found a grave, far from the tombs of his fathers.
Why bother changing Eliakim's name at all? Both names mean much the same thing, so the point lies not in the meaning but in who does the naming.
Eliakim means "God will raise up"; Jehoiakim means "Jehovah will raise up." Why the name was changed is not clear, but it was at least an act of authority. Giving names is a mark of lordship. Nebuchadnezzar did the same. He gave new names to Daniel and his three friends when he took them into his service (Dan. 1:7). He also changed Mattaniah into Zedekiah when he set him on Judah's shaky throne. What humiliating details! How low the chosen people had now fallen! This was the fruit of centuries of persistent sin against Jehovah.
The new name announced that God raises kings up. Everything about how this king got his crown, and how he used it, said otherwise.
The king did not live up to either name. It was not the Lord who had set him on his throne. It was the king of Egypt who set him up, and he was subject to him. Like his brother, "he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done."
Necho looked like the master of Judah. Soon the man he had crowned was serving somebody else.
Egypt's own subjection shows in this: Eliakim, the man Pharaoh-necho appointed, becomes the servant of the king of Babylon (2 Chron. 36:6). See how fully Judah lies under the power of Nebuchadnezzar! He binds this king in chains. He puts a child of eight years on the throne. After three months he puts the child's uncle Mattaniah (Zedekiah) there instead.
Both kings in this verse were sons of Josiah, a godly father. Neither of them carried his father's faith forward.
For a time Josiah's godly influence had reached the priests, the Levites and the people. But his own sons show no sign of being moved by their father's life and deeds... The evil ways of the sons of Aaron, the sons of Eli, the sons of Samuel, and the sons of Josiah give a solemn warning to every godly father. He must give special attention to his own house, in case the evils he hates and condemns in others arise in his own family.
- Named — giving a name is a mark of lordship. Necho renamed Eliakim; Nebuchadnezzar later renamed Daniel and his friends.
- Owned — the new name said God raises kings up, yet the Lord had not set this king up. Egypt had, and he honoured neither name.
- Reversed — the people crowned the younger brother. Pharaoh crowned the elder and carried the younger off.
- Returned — Jehoahaz died in Egypt, the land the Lord once rescued Israel from. Necho was only God's instrument in taking him there.
- Replaced — Necho's own man soon served Babylon. The king who handed out crowns lost his grip.