Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him; [but] weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Jeremiah tells a grieving nation to move its tears from the dead king to the living one. The dead king is Josiah; the one led away alive is his son — so why does the living king deserve the louder grief?
The nation had already spent its tears once, and Jeremiah himself had led the mourning.
The land never heard a louder wail than when all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Scripture tells us plainly that Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and that "all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel." But here, long after, the same Jeremiah speaks of Josiah's son. A people who lost so godly a king, cut off before his time, had every right to mourn him. But the lot of his son was far sadder: Pharaoh Necho deposed him and carried him away into Egypt.
Josiah's early death was not the loss it seemed. God took him away before the disaster arrived.
The time had come when God would take the righteous and the merciful away from among them. It might look as though these people were under His judgment. In fact it was better for them to die than to live and share the judgment that would fall. A striking example came later. God took God-fearing Josiah away so that his eyes would not see the disasters coming. Of him it could then be said: "he enters into peace."
The one to weep for is Josiah's son Jehoahaz, whom Jeremiah calls Shallum. Egypt's king removed him, and he died abroad. His sentence was heavier than the exile other kings faced.
The verse suggests that something worse than mere deportation was in store for Josiah's worthless successor. Another king, a few years later, went into easy captivity, but no such portion awaited Shallum. Perhaps Necho did to him what he would have liked to do to the man who blocked his march to Carchemish. Shallum's short reign was cruel, according to Ezekiel 19:1-4.
Josiah's last military move came back on his son.
Pharaoh Necho takes revenge on him for what Josiah had done. Josiah had foolishly supported the Assyrian, trying to block the march of the Egyptian army. Bound with chains, Jehoahaz is led to Egypt and dies there. Pharaoh takes no account of this kingship set up by the people.
The next verse names him, but not with the name he was given at birth. The switch carries a message.
Jeremiah spoke of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin under changed names. Why was this? Jehoahaz meant "The Lord shall hold." But he calls him Shallum, meaning "Recompensed": judgment was to fall upon him.
He also came to the throne by the wrong route.
Jehoahaz was not the eldest son of the late king… The people made him king: it was the choice of the crowd, not the appointment of God… He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
Jeremiah says this to the king then on the throne, Jehoiakim.
It is too late to mourn his predecessors. Good King Josiah was dead (v.10). Jehoahaz had been captured and would never see his native land again (vv.10-12). As for Jehoiakim himself, he will die violently, and no one will mourn him… The king hears this frightening prophecy and still refuses to listen.
- Redirect. The verse does not forbid grief; it moves it. The buried king is beyond harm, the exiled one is not.
- Rest. God took Josiah away before the disaster came, so his eyes would not see it. His death was mercy, not judgment.
- Recompense. Jeremiah renames Jehoahaz "Shallum," which means recompensed. Judgment was going to fall on him.
- Removal. He went out and never came back. Egypt deposed him, bound him, and he died there — a fate worse than plain deportation.
- Refusal. The people wept over yesterday and missed the warning about tomorrow. The king on the throne refused to listen.
For thus saith Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place He shall not return thither any more;
Jeremiah names the king the people should weep for. Shallum was a son of Josiah. He held the throne for only a few months, and then a foreign ruler took him out of the land. The verse asks us to weigh two griefs against each other — the death of a good father, and the living exile of his son.
The king in this verse also goes by another name, which is why he is easy to miss.
Son and successor of Josiah king of Judah: he reigned only three months, B.C. 610. He did what 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 cubs in Ezekiel 19:1-9, this king is the one carried in chains to Egypt.
Jeremiah swaps the king's name for a different one. The new name tells you what is coming.
Jeremiah spoke of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin under changed names. Why was this? Jehoahaz meant "The Lord shall hold"; but he calls him Shallum (Jer. 22:11), meaning "Recompensed"; judgment was to fall upon him.
The verse says he reigned in his father's place. But the crowd, not God, put him there, and Christ's family line leaves his name out.
The normal line of succession to Judah's throne ended with Josiah, the king the nation mourned. 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. It was the crowd's choice, not God's appointment… In Jeremiah 22:11 he has a telling name, Shallum, which means "the one who is paid back". The royal family list of Judah records him under that name (1 Chron. 3:15). His name is left out of the list of our Lord's ancestors in Matthew 1.
The nation had wept hard for Josiah. Long after, Jeremiah tells them to save their tears for someone else.
The land had never heard a louder cry of grief than when all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah… But here, long after, the same Jeremiah says of Josiah's son, "Weep not for the dead, neither mourn for him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country."… The people had good reason to mourn Josiah, a godly king cut off early. But his son's lot was far worse. Pharaoh-Necho removed him from the throne and carried him away into Egypt.
The words "he shall return here no more" point to more than being sent away.
This suggests that something worse than being sent away was in store for Josiah's worthless successor. A later king of Judah went into an easy captivity a few years afterwards, but Shallum had no such share. Perhaps Necho did to him what he would have liked to do to the man who blocked his march to Carchemish. Shallum's short reign was cruel according to Ezekiel 19:1-4.
Notice where he ends up. Egypt is not just any country in Israel's story.
The people of the land placed his son Jehoahaz on the throne. But the king of Egypt would not let him rule. He carried him off to Egypt, where he died a prisoner. Long ago the Lord had rescued His people Israel out of that same land and power, with a mighty arm and wonderful signs.
Josiah's influence reached the whole nation. It did not reach his own home.
For a time Josiah's godly influence shaped the priests, the Levites and the people. But his own sons do not seem to have been moved by their father's life and deeds… The evil ways of the sons of Aaron, of Eli, of Samuel and 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 show up in his own family.
- Named — Jeremiah calls him Shallum, "Recompensed", not Jehoahaz, "The Lord shall hold". The name gives the verdict before the story is told.
- Chosen — The crowd put him on the throne, not God. He was not the eldest son, and Matthew 1 leaves his name out of Christ's line.
- Deposed — Three months of evil ended when Pharaoh-Necho removed him. He died in Egypt, the land the Lord once rescued Israel from.
- Mourned — The nation wept for Josiah, who was dead. Jeremiah says the sadder case is the living son who will never see home again.
- Warning — Josiah's godliness did not pass to his sons. Every godly father must watch his own house.
for he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Verse 11 names the king in view: Shallum, the son of Josiah, already carried out of his own land. This verse closes his case — he dies where his captors took him, and he never comes home.
Jeremiah does not call this king by his throne name. He calls him Shallum, and the name itself matches the verdict.
Ezekiel 19:1-4 compares him to "a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men." That is the only hint we get about the character of his sin... Jeremiah 22:11 pointedly calls him Shallum, which means "to whom it is requited," and the royal genealogy of Judah records him under that name (1 Chronicles 3:15). Matthew 1 leaves his name out of the list of our Lord's ancestors.
His birth name had carried a promise. The new one carries a judgment:
Jehoahaz meant "The Lord shall hold"; but Jeremiah calls him Shallum (Jeremiah 22:11), meaning "Recompensed"; judgment was to fall on him.
The verse completes a startling instruction: stop mourning the king who died, and weep hard for the one going away.
The land never heard a louder wail than when all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah... The people mourned Josiah justly, for they had lost so godly a king, cut off early. But the lot of his son was far more to be pitied: Pharaoh-Necho removed him from the throne and carried him away into Egypt.
The sentence fits the man. He had taken a throne that was not his, and God stood behind the king who took it from him.
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, to find a grave far from the tombs of his fathers.
One writer weighs Shallum's exile against a later king's:
The call to weep for him suggests that something worse than mere deportation was in store for Josiah's worthless successor. Jehoiachin, a few years later, went into an easy captivity, but no such portion awaited Shallum. Possibly Necho inflicted on him what he would have liked to inflict on the man who opposed his march to Carchemish.
Shallum was the son of Josiah, a godly king. Writers draw a warning for every father from what became of Josiah's sons:
For a time Josiah's godly influence shaped the priests, the Levites and the people. But his own sons do not seem to have taken in the life and deeds of their father... 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 spring up in his own family.
Jeremiah's words here were not vague. Writers trace the same precision through what he said about the kings after Shallum:
The word about Jehoahaz, or rather "Shallum" (Jeremiah 22:11-12), came to pass with solemn precision, and so did the word about Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:17-19). His son, whom his father called Jehoiachin and the prophet called Coniah, became another witness to the truth of God's holy word.
Shallum is the first in a group of kings this chapter puts together.
The kings named here are out of date order. The purpose is to gather the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah into one cluster, to show, as a moral lesson, that there was almost no difference between them. Some might be more open in their violence and gross wickedness, but they were all faithless and godless.
If this line gave Judah no fit ruler, one writer points to where the true King is found:
Where, then, is this deeply desired King, this One on whom so much depends? Is He living today? What is His Name? The answer to these questions is given in 2 Timothy 2:8, "Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from among the dead."
- Named — Jeremiah calls him Shallum, "Recompensed." His birth name had promised that the Lord would hold him.
- Requited — he had seized a throne that was not his; he was seized in turn and buried far from his fathers' tombs.
- Wept — mourning is redirected from Josiah's grave to his living son, whose exile was the sadder loss of the two.
- Warned — Josiah's godly influence never reached his own sons. Every father who hates evil in others should watch his own house.
- Replaced — not one king in this line was better than the rest. The throne belongs to Jesus Christ, of David's line, raised from the dead.
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his upper chambers by injustice; that taketh his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not his earning;
A woe falls here on a king who built a fine palace with labour he refused to pay for. That king is Jehoiakim, son of the godly Josiah, and his crime is wages held back from working men.
These verses sit in a series of verdicts on the kings who watched Judah fall:
The Spirit of God has gathered the testimonies given about all the members of David's family. They presided, so to speak, over the ruin of Jerusalem — Jehoahaz (Jer. 22:10), Jehoiakim (vv. 13-19), Jeconiah (vv. 20-30).
One commentator weighs 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, shameful exposure — beyond the gates of Jerusalem. For the innocent blood he shed, the Lord would not pardon.
One writer traces the burdens Jehoiakim piled on his people:
Pharaoh Neco laid a heavy war payment on Judah, and Jehoiakim had to raise it from the people. As if this was not enough for the suffering people to bear, Jehoiakim forced them to build palaces for himself without wages. Evil as the people were, the Lord resented this tyrannical cruelty. "Woe to him," He said in His indignation. The Lord loves to see a shepherd leading the flock, but Jehoiakim was a wolf, ravaging the sheep… The moral greatness of Israel and of David's royal house had gone. Yet Jehoiakim would still put on material splendour. Let God's people today beware. Do not try to keep up outward appearances when spiritual power has gone. God wants reality at all times.
One writer shows how far God's word on wages reaches into ordinary business:
He forbids dishonesty and untruthfulness, above all when His name is profaned. He also condemns oppressing your neighbour — even holding back for one night the pay owed to a poor labourer. The employment of labour is often carried on in a hard spirit, grinding the faces of the poor. Some masters give freely to so-called Christian or charitable causes what is wrung out of tears and curses. That is no compensation. In God's eyes it makes the wrong worse.
The debt does not stay silent:
Their very wealth tempts the rich to withhold wages from the poor. Only their own affairs matter to them. They put off to a convenient time the claims of those who live from hand to mouth. But the debt cries aloud to Him who always feels for the poor… The cries of the reapers may not have reached the rich. They did reach the ears of the Lord of hosts, and His blow would fall when least expected.
Jeremiah answers the son by pointing to his father Josiah, whose care for the poor pictured the coming King:
It is foretold of Him in that day: "He shall judge the poor of the people… He shall deliver the needy" (Ps. 72:4, 12). Josiah in his early days was a beautiful picture of Him in this. Jeremiah touchingly refers to it: "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him" (Jer. 22:16). The prophet adds a word of great practical importance for those who understand how much the true knowledge of God matters: "Was not this to KNOW ME? says the Lord."
One writer links his shameful end to his contempt for God's word:
He was a cruel despot, who built his palaces by forced labour; covetousness, shedding of innocent blood, oppression and violence marked his reign. Then his shameful burial, the burial of a donkey, is predicted. It means that a donkey has no burial, and so Jehoiakim would have no burial. He is the only king of Judah whose burial is not recorded… This specially shameful end was most likely announced because he had cut the Word of God to pieces and thrown it into the fire.
The same charge falls on anyone who builds his safety on unrighteous gain, and the same "woe" answers it. One writer sets the believer's ambition against it:
Here the enemy is accused of making unrighteous gain, so as to build himself a safe house with nothing to fear… It was in vain. The disaster, the "woe," would fall on him anyway… In contrast, the believer who wants to serve God never thinks of enlarging his own house. His joy and his honour consist in this, that he, like David, gathers the building materials for the house of his God.
- Build — Jehoiakim built a splendid palace with labour he refused to pay for, on top of taxes he had already squeezed out of the people.
- Wages — God calls a wage held back even one night oppression. Giving freely to good causes does not cancel money wrung from other people's tears.
- Cries — the unpaid worker cannot force payment. His cry still reaches the Lord of hosts, and the blow falls when least expected.
- Know — Josiah judged the cause of the poor and needy, and God calls that knowing Him. The test of knowing God is how you treat the weakest person near you.
- End — the man who built himself a house got no burial of his own. The believer's aim is not to enlarge his own house but to gather materials for God's.