And Pharaoh-Nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king instead of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And he took Jehoahaz; and he came to Egypt, and died there.
Egypt's Pharaoh reaches into Jerusalem and reorders the royal house. He sets one son of Josiah on the throne, renames him, and drags another away to die abroad. David's throne is now a gift in a foreign king's hand. How did the line of the godly Josiah fall this far, this fast?
Judah still had a king after Josiah's death. But the choice of that king had passed out of Judah's hands. One commentator compares the two brothers and their fates.
Yet Judah was allowed to have a king, but a king of Pharaoh's choice. Eliakim was also a son of Josiah, but evidently one easier for Pharaoh to handle. Pharaoh changed his name to Jehoiakim. When Pharaoh returned to Egypt he took Jehoahaz with him, and Jehoahaz died there. He had become king at age 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.
Changing a man's name was not a detail of court etiquette. It was how a master marked out someone as his.
Eliakim means "God will raise up"; Jehoiakim means "Jehovah will raise up." Why he changed the name is not clear, but it was at least an act of authority. Giving names is a mark of lordship. So Nebuchadnezzar gave new names to Daniel and his three friends when he took them into his service (Dan. 1:7). He also changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah when he set him on Judah's shaky throne. What humiliating details! How low God's chosen people had fallen after centuries of persistent sin against Jehovah! The land was meant to be the centre of God's rule. Now it lay at the mercy of rival Gentile powers.
Another writer offers a reason for the new name, and measures the reign that followed.
Then the king of Egypt took the oldest son of Josiah, Eliakim, changed his name to Jehoiakim and made him King over Judah. Jehoiakim means "Jehovah raises up." He probably chose this name to impress the people. He reigned eleven years. It was a most disastrous time and the beginning of the end.
One commentator reads the deposed king's own name against him.
He never returned from Egypt. Jehoahaz — the name means "Jehovah-seized" — had seized the throne that was not his by right. In turn Necho, God's instrument, seized him and carried him off to a land of exile. There he found a grave, far from the tombs of his fathers.
Egypt did not appear out of nowhere. One writer traces the road from Josiah's last campaign to the tribute the new king paid.
Pharaoh Necho takes revenge on Jehoahaz for the opposition of Josiah. Josiah had unwisely backed the Assyrian king by trying to block the march of the Egyptian army. Bound with chains, Jehoahaz is led to Egypt and dies there. Pharaoh pays no attention to this kingship set up by the people… Necho takes Eliakim, the son of Josiah, and makes him king "in the place of Josiah his father," changing his name to Jehoiakim. Eliakim becomes the servant of the king of Egypt and pays him tribute. He gives Pharaoh the gold and silver he collects through taxes.
Writers differ on Josiah's part in this. One calls his move folly. Another sees God using that same failure as a rod:
Josiah's last act in opposing Pharaoh Necho gave that ruler the chance to interfere in Israel's affairs. But the Lord used it to discipline the king and His wayward people.
The man who handed out David's throne did not keep his own prize for long.
Pharaoh Necho held the Holy Land for a short time; then Nebuchadnezzar took it from him. Necho was not to be the head of the Gentiles, however much he may have wanted it. He Who sits on the throne above does as He pleases in the affairs of men.
From here on, David's line never stands on its own feet again.
Josiah was the last independent king of David's family. Jechoniah was the one actually carried away, and he marks the turning point. Josiah is named as the last king who had any free place in Israel. Jehoahaz reigned three months and was then carried into Egypt, and Judah never raised its head again.
- Choice — The people crowned Jehoahaz. Pharaoh overruled them and installed the brother he found easier to handle.
- Name — Giving a name is a mark of lordship. Eliakim became Jehoiakim at a foreign king's word, and the new name said who owned the throne.
- Irony — "Jehovah-seized" had seized a throne that was not his. Necho seized him in turn, and he was buried far from his fathers' graves.
- Rod — Josiah's own last campaign opened the door to Egypt. God used that opening to discipline a wayward king and people.
- End — Josiah was the last king of David's line with any free place in Israel. Judah never raised its head again. Yet Necho's own hold was brief: God does as He pleases with thrones.
And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he laid a proportional tax on the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his estimation, to give it to Pharaoh-Nechoh.
Josiah's reforms had barely ended when his son handed Judah's silver and gold to Egypt. He raised the money by taxing the people of the land, each man for his own share. The verse is a receipt, and it tells us who now owned Judah, what a crown from a foreign king costs, and who ends up paying for it.
Jehoiakim did not win the throne; Pharaoh Necho handed it to him. The tax shows where his loyalty ran:
Pharaoh appointed Jehoiakim king over Judah. Jehoiakim was clearly subservient to Pharaoh in everything. He taxed the people of the land to pay the tribute of gold and silver that Pharaoh required. But he was not at all subservient to the Lord. Instead he did the same evil his fathers had done, men like Amon and Manasseh. That evil involved the worship of idols and the oppression of the people.
Egypt did more than collect the money. It set aside the people's own choice of king, and renamed the man it put in his place:
Pharaoh takes no account of this royalty established by the people... Necho takes Eliakim, the son of Josiah, and makes him king "instead of Josiah his father." He changes his name to Jehoiakim. This man becomes a servant of the king of Egypt and pays him tribute. He gives Pharaoh the gold and silver that he gathers up through taxes.
Pharaoh's demand was a war payment, and Jehoiakim raised it from the people. Then he went further:
Pharaoh Necho laid upon Judah a heavy war indemnity, which Jehoiakim was obliged to raise... That was not enough for the suffering people to bear. Jehoiakim also forced them to build palaces for himself without wages. Evil as the people were, the Lord resented this tyrannical cruelty. "Woe to him," said He in His indignation. The Lord loves to see a shepherd leading the flock, but Jehoiakim was a wolf, ravaging the sheep... The moral grandeur of Israel and of David's royal house was gone. But Jehoiakim still wanted to put on a show of wealth. God's people today should beware. Do not keep up outward appearances when spiritual power has gone. God wants reality at all times.
Why squeeze each person for his share instead of shielding the nation from the blow? One commentator finds the motive in how Jehoiakim came to the throne. The people had passed him over for his younger half-brother:
Jehoiakim was of most unlovely character — treacherous, revengeful and bloodthirsty. He was several years older than Jehoahaz, and was not born of the same mother. "And his mother's name was Zebudah (gainfulness), the daughter of Pedaiah of Ramah." That name promised no good for her son. And so it turned out... The people had slighted him by choosing his younger half-brother. So he would make no effort to ease the people's burdens; he would increase them instead. He was in no way under obligation to them; and having behind him the power of Egypt, he had little to fear from them.
Egypt's backing made him fearless toward his own people. He answered upward to Pharaoh and downward to no one.
Egypt gave Jehoiakim his crown; Babylon ended his reign. One writer weighs both his life and his death:
The king of Egypt set up another son of Josiah and changed his name from Eliakim to Jehoiakim. But Nebuchadnezzar bound the guilty king in chains and carried him to Babylon... Who of the kings had lived with less conscience? Who had died with more shame? No lamentation for him, but a donkey's burial — that is, base exposure — beyond the gates of Jerusalem. For the innocent blood he shed, the Lord would not pardon.
The tax to Egypt was not the end of the account. Jehoiakim began by paying Pharaoh and ended in Nebuchadnezzar's chains.
- Who pays. Pharaoh set the price, Jehoiakim signed for it, and the people of the land handed over the silver and gold. Cost always travels downward when a leader is not answerable to God.
- Who owns. Jehoiakim was fully subservient to Pharaoh and not at all subservient to the Lord. Whoever gives you your position tends to own your obedience.
- Who decides. The people had chosen a different son of Josiah, but Egypt took no account of their choice. A nation that has drifted from God loses the freedom to govern itself.
- Who suffers. Unpaid labour on royal palaces followed the tax. God called this cruelty and said "Woe to him" — He wanted a shepherd, and got a wolf among the sheep.
- Who answers. Jehoiakim shed innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon it. No king lived with less conscience or died with more shame.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zebuddah, daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
Josiah's reforms are over, and the record turns to his son: eleven years on the throne, one line of verdict. The verse reads like a bare register entry, yet behind it sits a hard question — why did Judah's best king raise one of its worst?
The name in this verse was not the one his parents gave him. He was Eliakim until Egypt's king renamed him.
When Pharaoh removed Jehoahaz from the throne, he put his elder brother Eliakim there instead, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. The first name means "God is setting up," the second "Jah sets up." 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, and Jehoiakim was under him.
Naming a man showed who was master.
The reason for this change of name is not clear, but it was at any rate an exercise of authority. The giving of names is a mark of lordship... How humiliating these details are! How low the chosen people had now fallen as the fruit of centuries of persistent transgression against Jehovah!
The verse names his mother, and one commentator finds meaning in the name itself, which older translations spell Zebudah.
Jehoiakim had a thoroughly unpleasant character — treacherous, vengeful, and bloodthirsty. He was several years older than Jehoahaz, and he had a different mother. Her name was Zebudah, which means "gainfulness." That name promised nothing good for her son, and so it turned out. He taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh... The people had passed him over and chosen his younger half-brother. So he would make no effort to ease their burdens; he would rather increase them.
God filled those eleven years with prophets while the nation slid.
He reigned eleven years. It was a most disastrous time and the beginning of the end. At that time God's mighty prophets were warning the people and delivering their great messages: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and also Urijah.
Other books record how his rule treated his own people.
As if the taxes were not enough for the suffering people to bear, Jehoiakim forced them to build palaces for himself without wages. Evil as the people were, Jehovah resented this tyrannical cruelty... Jehovah loves to see a shepherd leading the flock, but Jehoiakim was a wolf, ravaging the sheep. God Himself points out the contrast between this monster and his father in Jer. 22:13-17. "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD." ... The moral greatness of Israel and of David's royal house was gone. Jehoiakim still made a show of wealth and splendour. Let God's people today beware of trying to keep up outward appearances when spiritual power has gone. God wants reality at all times.
He was old enough to remember his father's reign.
Jehoiakim was two years older than Jehoahaz, so he would have known more about his father's reign. Yet his father's godly life left no mark on this wilful son. Could he really not have known what his father did when they read the book of the law to him? Josiah heard the words of the book found in the house of the Lord, and he tore his clothes...
One writer states the principle:
There is no such thing as succession in grace. The son of the most faithful father needs to be born again as well as the most degraded of mankind.
One act sums up his reign, and it settled nothing.
Josiah tore his garments, but Jehoiakim did the opposite. He heard three or four columns read out, then cut them off with a knife and threw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the whole scroll had burned. The foolish, irreverent king could cut the scroll, but he could not set aside the divine judgments written on it. He never imagined that millions of people around the world would read those very words, and his wicked act, thousands of years after his death.
- Set up by man. His name said God raises up, but Egypt's king put him there and renamed him — a throne held from man, not from God.
- Named for gain. One writer reads the mother's name as "gainfulness," and the son lived it out, taxing the land and adding to the people's burdens.
- Eleven years wasted. The reign was the beginning of the end, yet God filled those years with prophets, not silence.
- Wolf, not shepherd. He kept up the splendour of David's house while ravaging the flock; God wants reality, not appearances.
- No inherited grace. Josiah's faith did not transfer to his son. Every child of a faithful parent must be born again for himself — and the word a man burns outlives him.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.
Egypt put Jehoiakim on Judah's throne, and this one verse is his whole spiritual record. Two questions come out of it. How did the son of a godly king turn out like this? And why are his fathers named as the pattern of his evil?
A foreign ruler gave the new king a name that pointed to God. One writer shows how little the name fitted the man:
When Pharaoh deposed Jehoahaz, he put his elder brother Eliakim on the throne, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Eliakim means "God is setting up," and Jehoiakim means "Jah sets up." 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, and Jehoiakim was subject to him.
The verse before this one has Jehoiakim squeezing taxes out of the people to pay Egypt. Set beside his record before God, that obedience to Pharaoh exposes him:
Pharaoh had appointed him king over Judah, and Jehoiakim clearly obeyed Pharaoh in full. He taxed the people of the land to pay the tribute of gold and silver that Pharaoh required. But he was not obedient to the Lord at all. Instead he took up the same evil his fathers had done — Amon, Manasseh and others — which involved the worship of idols and the oppression of the people.
Another writer describes the reign in more detail. The rot reached every level of the nation:
Josiah's reforming work gave way to a return of the old idolatry. As in earlier reigns, it came with the complete moral collapse of the people. And this was true not only of the people, high and low, but of the priests and prophets just as much. The voices of the prophets Jeremiah, Urijah and Habakkuk rose all the louder. But their warnings were either ignored and scorned, or brought persecution and martyrdom on them. The land grew poor while the king lived in luxury and built splendid palaces.
Josiah had cleansed the land and kept a Passover unmatched for centuries. Yet the collapse came within months of his death, and one commentator explains why it came exactly then:
The great crisis in the nation's history comes in the days of Jehoiakim. It could not have come sooner. Under Josiah, there was an outward restraint of evil. The piety of the king affected the nation and brought God's blessing on it. But when his son Jehoiakim was on the throne, there was no moral ground among the people for the favour of God.
Words of judgment once reached Josiah, and he tore his garments. The same kind of words reached his son. The contrast measures the evil this verse records:
How different Jehoiakim's attitude was to the words of Jeremiah's scroll, which announced again the judgment coming on His unfaithful people. Josiah had torn his garments. Jehoiakim, once three or four pages had been read, cut the scroll with a knife and threw it into the fire on the hearth, until the whole scroll was burned up. The foolish and profane king could cut the scroll, but he could not set aside the divine judgments written on it. Little did he think that the very words of the scroll, and his wicked action, would be read by millions of people around the world thousands of years after he was dead.
The sting of this verse is family. One writer turns it into a question for anyone whose service takes them away from home:
Josiah's sons were all wicked men, and we wonder why. He had only three sons, and all of them wicked! Yet the father was an unusually godly man, and had deep reverence for the Word of God! Is it possible that Josiah's public work, with its journeys into every corner of the land to remove evil, led to neglect of the family? Everyone who feels called to a travelling ministry today should weigh that question carefully. Children are a great responsibility that God entrusts to us.
The record in this verse had a price, and Jehoiakim did not pay it alone:
The king of Babylon was not the only one who carried out God's judgment on the profane Jehoiakim, for the Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites against him. This divine judgment was not only for the sins of Jehoiakim, but for the sins of earlier generations. The piety of Josiah had delayed the divine judgment, but the impiety of his sons brought it on swiftly.
- Name. His name said God raises up. Egypt raised him up, and he lived up to neither meaning.
- Master. He obeyed Pharaoh in full and the Lord not at all. Idolatry and the oppression of his own people followed.
- Heart. Josiah's reforms held evil back from the outside only. Under his son the people had no moral ground left for God's favour, so the crisis broke.
- Book. Josiah tore his garments at the words of judgment. Jehoiakim cut the scroll up and burned it, yet he could not cancel one judgment written on it.
- Judgment. One father's piety delayed the ruin. His sons' impiety brought it quickly. And three wicked sons leave a question about home that public service cannot answer.