Who was King Jehoiakim in the Bible?

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 Chr. 36:5-8; Dan. 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. Jer. 22:18, 24; Jer. 26:21-23; Jer. 36:9-32.

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 raiseth up"; this name was probably selected to impress the people. He reigned eleven years. It was a most disastrous time and the beginning of the end. God's mighty prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and also Urijah were then warning and delivering their great messages.

After the death of Josiah, three of his sons and one of his grandsons ascended to the throne. First Jehoahaz, his third son, reigned for three months. Afterwards Jehoiakim, Josiah’s eldest son, occupied the throne for eleven years. Jehoiakim’s eighteen year-old son, Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah) reigned for three months and ten days. Zedekiah, the last son of Josiah, at the age of 21 replaced his nephew on the throne and reigned eleven years. Among the descendants of Jehoiachin, the grandson of Josiah, we find a Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2; Hag. 2:2) or Salathiel (Matt. 1:12). This man was the father or grandfather of Zerubbabel, governor of Israel at the time of the return from captivity in accordance with the edict of Cyrus (Ezra 1 & 2).

"JEHOIAKIM was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried [some] of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon."

Jehoiakim was of most unlovely character — treacherous, revengeful, and bloodthirsty. He was several years Jehoahaz' senior, and was not born of the same mother. "And his mother's name was Zebudah (gainfulness), the daughter of Pedaiah of Ramah." The mother's name boded no good for her son; and so it came to be. He taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: "he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give unto Pharaoh-Necho." Having been slighted by the people in their choice of his younger half-brother, he would make no effort to ease the people's burdens, but rather increase them. He was in no way under obligations to them; and having behind him the power of Egypt, he had little to fear from them. (See 2 Kings 23:34-35.) His wickedness is depicted figuratively in Ezek. 19:5-7. He too, like his deposed predecessor, "became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring." His violence and rapacity are graphically represented here.

In the fifth year of his reign a fast was proclaimed among his subjects (the king seems to have had no part in it), and Baruch, Jeremiah's assistant, read in the ears of all the people the message of God to them from a book. Ready tools informed the king of what was being done, and he ordered the book brought and read before him. "Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife [Heb., scribe's knife], and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words." It was an act of daring impiety, especially for a Jew, who was taught to look upon all sacred writing with greatest reverence. But Jehoiakim was fast hardening himself past all feeling, and no qualms of conscience are perceptible over his sacrilegious act. Jeremiah sent him a personal and verbal message, than which king never heard more awful. "And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah, 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. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity." See Jer. 36.

He also attempted to put Urijah the prophet to death because he prophesied against Jerusalem and the land. The prophet fled to Egypt, whence Jehoiakim sent and fetched him, and "slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people" — his bitter hatred of God and His truth venting itself even on the body of His slaughtered servant, denying it the right of burial among the sepulchres of the prophets. See Jer. 26:20-24. In just retribution God repaid him in kind for his murder and insult. "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah: 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.) "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (Jer. 22:18-19). And so it happened unto him: Nebuchadnezzar defeated and drove out of Asia Jehoiakim's master, Necho. (See 2 Kings 24:7.) "In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him." And though Nebuchadnezzar could not immediately punish him, his punishment came from another quarter. "The Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He spake by His servants the prophets."

Having been appointed by Pharaoh as king over Judah, Jehoiakim was evidently fully subservient to Pharaoh, taxing the people of the land to pay the tribute of gold and silver that Pharaoh required (v.35). But he was not at all subservient to the Lord, rather he engaged in the same evil his fathers had done, Amon, Manasseh, etc., which involved the worship of idols and the oppression of the people.

Jehoiakim was evidently older than Jehoahaz, for he was 25 when he began to reign (ch. v. 2). He reigned 11 years in Judah, but he also dishonored the memory of his father, Josiah by his ungodly actions. It was not Necho who came against him, however, but Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He took Jehoiakim captive to Babylon. At the same time he took some of the articles from the temple and put them in his own temple at Babylon. The Lord allowed this as a warning to Judah, for Nebuchadnezzar might have taken all the treasures of the house, but did not. If Judah had turned back to the Lord, this might have preserved them from the later damage of verses 10 and 18.

During the following reign of Jehoiakim (609 - 598 BC) Jeremiah prophesied Jerusalem's doom. This is why the priests wanted to kill him (Jer. 26). In Jehoiakim's fourth year Jeremiah prophesied amidst other things the 70 years captivity of Judah in Babylon (Jer. 25:11-12; 36:1; 45:1). During this time the Babylonians under Nebuchadrezzar defeated the Egyptian Empire in the battle of Carchemish (606 BC). Following this Jerusalem was besieged and a part of the inhabitants were brought to Babylon (which was the first deportation to Babylon in 605 BC). Jeremiah now got the task of God to write down all his hitherto existing prophecies into a book. He did this with the help of his secretary Baruch (Jer. 36:1-4). When Baruch had read out these words in the temple king Jehoiakim in fury cut the roll and burnt it (Jer. 36:20-26). Then God had Jeremiah rewrite it all again and Jeremiah added "besides unto them many like words" (chap. 36:27-32).

Pharaoh was not able to maintain his dominance over Judah, however, not that Judah was able to break it, but because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon displaced Pharaoh and took his place in making Jehoiakim his servant (v.24). For three years Jehoiakim remained subject to Nebuchadnezzar, then rebelled (v.1), not because of faith in the living God, but because he would not bow to the governmental results of his sin.

Since Jehoiakim decided that he would not bow to the governmental results of his evil ways, the Lord sent against him bands of marauders from four different nations (v.2). This concentration of troubles for Jehoiakim should certainly have humbled his heart before God, but we read of no change in the character of the man.

Judah was gradually being reduced to nothing in the days of Jehoiakim. In 2 Chronicles 36:5-6 we read that he was taken in fetters to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Evidently he died there after his 11 year reign (v.6). Yet Judah remained for a time still having its own government, for Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, reigned for a brief three months (vv.6-8). But the king of Egypt did not come back to Judah, for Nebuchadnezzar had proven himself superior to Egypt's power, having taken control of the land Egypt had formerly subdued.

Jehoiakim became a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar. Three years later he rebelled. Punishment followed swiftly. It was "at the commandment of the LORD."

After the death of Jehoiakim, buried with the burial of an ass (Jer. 22:1-19), his son Jehoiachin reigned in his stead. He was eighteen years old when he ascended the throne and reigned only three months and ten days (2 Chron. 36:9). (2 Chronicles 36:9 gives his age as eight years, evidently the error of a scribe.) He is also known by the names of Joiachin (Ezek. 1:2) and Coniah (Jer. 22:24, 28, 37:1). Then Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. The city surrendered and the long predicted punishment was executed. At the first invasion under the reign of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, a part of the vessels of the house of God were transported to Babylon, as well as the noble children, among whom were Daniel and his companions (Dan. 1:1-6). With the second siege and conquest of Jerusalem all was taken and the people were taken away captives, among them was the prophet Ezekiel (Jer. 52:28; Ezek. 1:1-2; Jer. 29:1).

In two references, Jeremiah mentions the looming destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the people into captivity in Babylon and that the captivity should come to an end after 70 years by the remnant's return (Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10). The threatening punishment of God found a fulfilment during Nebuchadrezzar's reign. During Jehoiakim's reign Nebuchadrezzar, in 605 BC for the first time, marched up to Jerusalem and brought a number of Jews to Babylon, amongst whom was Daniel (Dan. 1:1).