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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

JEHOIAKIM

Second son of Josiah by Zebidah (2 Kgs 23:36; 1 Chr 3:15; 2 Chr 36:4) who became king of Judah in 609 BC. He replaced his younger brother Jehoahaz as king when he was deposed and exiled by Pharaoh Neco after a three-month reign (2 Kgs 23:31-35). Jehoiakim was installed as king at age 25, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. His given name, Eliakim, means “God will establish.” Upon enthroning him, Neco changed his name to Jehoiakim, meaning “Yahweh will establish” (2 Kgs 23:34), perhaps seeking to claim Yahweh’s support for his action.

Neco laid a heavy tribute on Judah, which Jehoiakim raised by levying a tax on the whole land (2 Kgs 23:35; cf. Jer 22:13-17, where the woe oracle against Jehoiakim implies that he appropriated some of these funds for personal use). Jehoiakim remained subservient to the Egyptians until the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar and the Neo-Babylonians routed Neco. Judah then became a vassal state of Babylon for three years (2 Kgs 24:1-2). After Nebuchadnezzar’s failure to completely subdue Neco in a second fierce battle in 601 BC, Jehoiakim seized the opportunity to throw off the Babylonian yoke when the Babylonian king returned home to reorganize his army. This ill-advised decision proved costly, as Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah in 598 BC to punish the rebellious vassal king (2 Kgs 24:3-7). The expected help from Egypt never came, and the Babylonians destroyed the important Judahite cities of Debir and Lachish, seized control of the Negev, and deported several thousand of Judah’s ablest citizens. This no doubt crippled the economy and left Judah virtually leaderless. Jehoiakim died during the Babylonian siege (probably late in 598 BC). His son Jehoiachin was placed on the throne.

Although the details of Jehoiakim’s death are not reported, the biblical historian does pass judgment on this reign as one that perpetuated the evils of his fathers (see 2 Kgs 23:37; 2 Chr 36:5, 8; cf. Jer 22:18-19 and 36:27-32, which predicted that Jehoiakim’s dead body would be cast on the ground outside of Jerusalem without proper burial and he would have no descendants upon the throne). Presumably the reference to “fathers” is to his predecessors Manasseh, Amon, and Jehoahaz. Jeremiah specifies the evils that characterized Jehoiakim’s rule, including idolatry, social injustice, robbery of the wage earner, greed, murder, oppression, extortion, and forsaking of the covenant of the Lord (Jer 22:1-17). Despite Jeremiah’s extensive activity during his reign (chs 25–26, 36), Jehoiakim remained disobedient, unrepentant, smug, and self-sufficient in his ill-gotten prosperity (22:18-23).