Jehoiakim

Biblical Account

Jehoiakim was a son of Josiah, king of Judah. His name is understood to mean "the LORD raises up." After Josiah died at Megiddo, the people made Jehoahaz king. Three months later, however, Pharaoh Necho of Egypt deposed him and made Eliakim king in his place, changing his name to Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:31-34). Jehoiakim came to the throne at the age of twenty-five and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 2 Kings judges that "he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 23:36-37). He taxed the people to raise the silver and gold he owed Necho (2 Kings 23:35).

When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon later came up against Judah, Jehoiakim served him for three years and then rebelled. Bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites then attacked Judah (2 Kings 24:1-2). After his death, his son Jehoiachin succeeded him (2 Kings 24:6). 2 Chronicles records that Nebuchadnezzar bound him in bronze fetters to carry him to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:5-8). The Book of Daniel relates that in the third year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and carried off some of the vessels of the temple (Daniel 1:1-2).

The Book of Jeremiah contains extensive material on his reign.

• It rebukes him for building his palace by unrighteousness and withholding wages from his workers, and it prophesies that "he shall be buried with the burial of an ass" (Jeremiah 22:13-19).
• He pursued the prophet Urijah, who had prophesied the same message as Jeremiah, all the way to Egypt, had him brought back, and put him to death (Jeremiah 26:20-23).
• In the fourth year of his reign, while sitting in his winter house, he listened to the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies that Baruch had written down, cutting it with a knife as it was read and burning it in the fire. Jeremiah had the words written again (Jeremiah 36).
• The account of the Rechabites is also set in his time (Jeremiah 35).

Significance Within Scripture

Jeremiah explicitly contrasts Jehoiakim with his father Josiah, who did judgment and justice (Jeremiah 22:15-17). 2 Kings attributes the calamities of his time to judgment for the sins of Manasseh (2 Kings 24:3-4). Jehoiakim's reign marks the beginning of Judah's fall to Babylon, a process that culminated in the capture of Jerusalem under his brother Zedekiah.

The New Testament does not mention Jehoiakim by name. The genealogy in Matthew reads, "Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren" (Matthew 1:11), thus passing over Jehoiakim, who stood between Josiah and his grandson Jeconiah (Jehoiachin).

Interpretation and Debated Points

• Accounts of his death: 2 Kings says only that he "slept with his fathers." Jeremiah, by contrast, prophesies that his dead body would be cast out (Jeremiah 22:19; 36:30), and 2 Chronicles records that he was bound in fetters. Interpreters reconcile these accounts in different ways. Some hold that the prophecy was actually fulfilled, while others hold that the wording in 2 Kings does not address the manner of burial. Still other scholars regard the matter as an unresolved tension between the two accounts.
• Dating: Daniel 1:1 links Nebuchadnezzar's campaign to the "third year" of Jehoiakim's reign, while Jeremiah 25:1 links Nebuchadnezzar to the "fourth year." Some explain the discrepancy as a difference between Babylonian and Judahite methods of reckoning accession years; others treat it as a question concerning the nature of the account in Daniel.
• The omission in Matthew's genealogy: The usual explanation is that the omission was intentional, made in order to arrange the genealogy into three groups of fourteen generations. Some manuscripts are reported to include Jehoiakim.
• Extrabiblical tradition: The Jewish historian Josephus is reported to have written that Nebuchadnezzar killed Jehoiakim and threw his body outside the city walls. This detail does not appear in the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

The scroll incident in Jeremiah 36 is frequently cited in sermons on how one should receive the Word of God. Preachers often contrast Jehoiakim's response with that of his father Josiah, who tore his clothes upon hearing the words of the book of the law (2 Kings 22:11). Because the names Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin are similar in the Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) and easily confused, Bible studies sometimes review the succession of Judah's last kings as a whole.