Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah They shall not lament for him, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister! They shall not lament for him, Ah, lord! or Ah, his glory!
God has already named Jehoiakim's crimes. Now He passes sentence on the king's death. No one will raise the cries that ring out at a royal funeral. Two questions follow. What are these four cries? And why does a son of godly Josiah lose every one of them?
Jehoiakim is not condemned alone. Chapter 22 gathers several kings of Judah together, and one writer explains why they are not in date order.
The kings named are out of their chronological order. The purpose is to bring the separate prophecies against the separate kings of Judah all into one cluster. The moral object is to show that there was almost no difference between them. Some might be a little more pronounced in their violence and gross wickedness, but they were all faithless and godless.
The two pairs of cries are not repetition. One writer labels each pair, and reads the whole sentence as payment in kind for what Jehoiakim had done to a dead body himself.
"They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah my sister!" (as in family mourning): "they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!" (public mourning.)
That same writer traces the sentence back to something Jehoiakim had done to a corpse himself. He hunted down the prophet Urijah, killed him, and dumped his body among the common graves — refusing him burial among the prophets.
His bitter hatred of God and His truth vented itself even on the body of His slaughtered servant, denying it the right of burial among the tombs of the prophets. See Jer. 26:20-24. In just retribution God repaid him in kind for his murder and insult.
The refusal of mourning answers the way Jehoiakim lived. One writer sets his life and his death side by side.
Which of the kings had lived with less conscience? Which had died with more shame? No mourning for him, but the burial of a donkey — that is, shameful exposure beyond the gates of Jerusalem. For the innocent blood he shed, the Lord would not pardon.
Another writer shows what that reign cost ordinary people, and turns it into a warning for readers today.
As if the heavy war tax 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 grandeur of Israel and of David's royal house had gone. But Jehoiakim still wanted to put on a show of 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.
Commentators draw one more link. Jehoiakim is the king who destroyed the scroll of Jeremiah's words.
Next comes his shameful burial, the burial of a donkey. 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... Most likely God announced this special shameful end because he had done that wicked work of cutting the Word of God to pieces and throwing it into the fire. Beware, you cutters of the Bible, you mutilators of the Word of God — your end, too, will be a shameful end!
One writer sets him against his own father.
When we remember Josiah's great reverence for the Word of God, the behaviour of his son appears the more terrible. The whole nation mourned when Josiah died; but the Lord decreed that there should be no mourning for Jehoiakim.
God did not treat every guilty king alike. Zedekiah was judged too, yet God promised him a king's funeral with mourners at it.
Zedekiah would have a funeral suited to his dignity as a king, in the usual Jewish way — a bed of spices prepared to burn the king's body, and mourning over him. The reason for this is that God, even in His judgment, is careful to remember whatever good there may have been... Zedekiah had acted wickedly. Still, his heart was towards the prophet, and he would have been glad to spare him. But others more wicked than himself pushed him on. So when the final moment came, God shows mercy to him. He stands in full contrast with Jehoiakim, who had only the burial of a donkey.
None of this stayed as words on a page. Writers point to this chapter as a case study in a prophecy landing exactly where it was aimed.
Of individuals: what was said about Jehoahaz, or rather "Shallum" (Jer. 22:11-12), came to pass with solemn precision, as did the word concerning Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:17-19).
- Cluster. Jehoiakim is judged with the other kings of Judah, grouped to show that none of them was faithful to God.
- Cause. The sentence answers a life: unpaid workers, grand palaces, innocent blood — and the prophet Urijah killed and thrown into a common grave.
- Measure. What he refused another, God refused him. The four cries cover family grief and public grief, and God cancels both.
- Warning. He cut up God's word and burned it, and he is the one king of Judah whose burial is never recorded.
- Mercy. Zedekiah was guilty too, yet God gave him mourners. God remembers any good there is, which makes the silence over Jehoiakim louder still.
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged along and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
This sentence falls on Jehoiakim, a son of good king Josiah. How does a king of David's line end up denied even the dignity of a funeral?
One writer weighs this king's life against his end, and says plainly what the phrase pictures:
Who of the kings had lived with less conscience? Who had died with more shame? No mourning for him, only a donkey's burial (that is, base exposure) beyond the gates of Jerusalem. For the innocent blood he shed, the Lord would not pardon.
Another writer sets him beside his father, and follows the change of his name:
His wicked life was a sad contrast to that of his righteous father. "Did not your father eat and drink" (lived plainly), "and do justice and judgment, and then it was well with him?" asked Jeremiah… Necho changed his name, but could not change his nature.
The picture works by what is missing. One writer makes the point from ordinary life:
Why was this king buried without any ceremony, just like a dead donkey? I have never seen the funeral of a donkey, and never expect to see one. No one thinks of mourning over a dead donkey. Why, then, was no one to grieve for this king or give him a royal burial? Because he was so wicked.
The sentence matches what he had already done. He had killed one of God's prophets and refused the body an honourable grave:
His bitter hatred of God and His truth showed itself even on the body of His slaughtered servant. He denied it the right of burial among the graves of the prophets… As just repayment, God paid him back in kind for his murder and insult. "They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah my sister!" (as in family mourning); "they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!" (public mourning).
Scripture records the prediction, but not the death scene. Elsewhere it even says Jehoiakim "slept with his fathers." Commentators differ on how the two fit together. One reads those words to mean he was laid at first in the royal tombs:
As Jeremiah prophesied, Jehoiakim died a violent death. His body was dragged and thrown out beyond the walls of Jerusalem. There it lay exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night, "buried with the burial of a donkey." Still, it is said that he "slept with his fathers" — words that seem to imply he was placed at first in the tombs of the kings.
Another writer says the missing record changes nothing, and reads those words as a statement of death only:
We do not need the history of it, for prophecy in Scripture is only history written ahead of time — its advance pages, we might say. It is enough to know what God had foretold; the fulfilment is certain… "So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers" simply expresses his death. In Scripture that is a distinct expression from "buried with his fathers."
Judgment here is measured, not blanket. One writer compares Jehoiakim with another guilty king, Zedekiah:
He would have a funeral suited to his dignity as a king… The reason is that God, even in His judgment, carefully remembers whatever good there may have been… Zedekiah had acted wickedly. Still, his heart was towards the prophet, and he would gladly have spared him… He stands in full contrast with Jehoiakim, who had only the burial of a donkey.
The loss reaches past the grave. His name is missing from the family record of the Messiah:
We simply need to refer to Jeremiah 22:13-19 as furnishing ample reasons why the name of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah and father of Jeconiah, is left out of Matthew 1:11. "Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed."
Where the body ends up carries the point, and one writer turns it toward the reader:
He was cast out of God's dwelling place as unclean. Of the new Jerusalem it is written: "nothing unclean will ever enter it" (Revelation 21:27). Far happier to take the donkey's place here and accept redemption by the blood of the Lamb than to be thrust into the donkey's outside place for ever.
- Conscience — No king lived with less conscience, and none died with more shame. A donkey's burial means base exposure, not a grave.
- Contrast — his father lived plainly and did justice. A new name could not give the son a new nature.
- Repayment — he denied a murdered prophet an honourable grave. God repaid him in kind: no family mourning, no public mourning.
- Measure — Zedekiah was wicked too, yet God promised him a king's funeral. Even in judgment God remembers whatever good there was.
- Reach — the sentence outlived the man. His name is missing from the Messiah's family record, and being cast outside the gates points to the city where nothing unclean enters.