TEXT [Commentary]

2. Jehoiakim rules in Judah (23:34–24:7)

34 Pharaoh Neco then installed Eliakim, another of Josiah’s sons, to reign in place of his father, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt as a prisoner, where he died.

35 In order to get the silver and gold demanded as tribute by Pharaoh Neco, Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people of Judah, requiring them to pay in proportion to their wealth.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. 37 He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestors had done.

CHAPTER 24

1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land of Judah. Jehoiakim surrendered and paid him tribute for three years but then rebelled. 2 Then the LORD sent bands of Babylonian,[*] Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Judah to destroy it, just as the LORD had promised through his prophets. 3 These disasters happened to Judah because of the LORD’s command. He had decided to banish Judah from his presence because of the many sins of Manasseh, 4 who had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. The LORD would not forgive this.

5 The rest of the events in Jehoiakim’s reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 6 When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin became the next king.

7 The king of Egypt did not venture out of his country after that, for the king of Babylon captured the entire area formerly claimed by Egypt—from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

NOTES

23:34 Eliakim. With Jehoahaz removed, a half brother of his, Eliakim, is put on the throne by Pharaoh Neco (see the first note on 23:29). “Eliakim” probably means “may El [God] raise up”; the name change to “Jehoiakim” merely changes the theophoric element (the reference to the deity) so it means “may Yahweh raise up” or the like. Cogan and Tadmor (1988:304) suggest that this name change may represent the result of an oath of loyalty sworn to the new overlord, similar to Assyrian practice.

Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt as a prisoner. We now move into a series of similarly dramatic removals from the throne, which will culminate in Jehoiachin’s release from prison, which is described at the very end of 2 Kings (25:27) as the note of modest hope that appropriately, if anticlimactically, brings the Deuteronomistic History to its end.

23:35 collected a tax. This is perhaps ironic support for the idea of “progressive taxation,” or perhaps only blunt realism (only the rich could have any possibility of paying). In any case, once again the “people of the land” were on the hook, this time financially. Here at least there is a sense of bitter poetic justice, for those stalwarts seemed to have a consistently anti-Egyptian bias in their political actions (cf. Sweeney 2007:452). Other ironies include the Menahem-like tenor of Jehoiakim’s actions (cf. 15:19-20 for Menahem paying off Tiglath-pileser) and the parallel with good king Hezekiah emptying out Temple and palace treasuries, and even stripping the Temple doorposts, to pay off Sennacherib (18:14-16).

23:37 did what was evil. Again, this is the stereotypical Deuteronomistic evaluation (see endnote 2 of the Introduction); this time the condemnation was certainly well earned (see the note on 23:31). The book of Jeremiah also attests that Jehoiakim ended up making a very poor king (cf. Jer 22:13-23; 36:1-32).

24:1 King Nebuchadnezzar. This is the second king of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty founded by his father Nabopolassar (620–606 BC); Nebuchadnezzar (sometimes spelled Nebuchadrezzar) reigned for 43 years (605–562 BC)! We first hear of him as crown prince in his victory at the battle of Carchemish (see the first note on 23:29). Soon he would need to return home to assume his father’s throne in Babylon, but before that, this energetic king marched west to take tribute from the kings of Syria and Palestine and vanquish the Philistines and destroy Ashkelon. It was about this time that Jehoiakim submitted to Babylon for some three years, as noted in this verse. By the year 600 BC, however, Nebuchadnezzar had suffered severe reverses on the Egyptian border, seemingly prompting Jehoiakim’s rebellion (cf. Roberts 2009:246), as well as Nebuchadnezzar’s eventual march against Jerusalem in 598 BC, and its capitulation to him in 597 BC (cf. 24:10-17). Jehoiakim had died by this time, with the circumstances of his death remaining most obscure (see Kim 2008b:209; cf. the note on 24:6). Eventually, King Nebuchadnezzar gained the dubious distinction of becoming the one who destroyed the first Temple (see 24:20b–25:21). Jeremiah had termed Nebuchadnezzar “Yahweh’s servant” in Jer 27:6. No wonder many in Judah considered this prophet a traitor, or worse!

Jehoiakim surrendered . . . but then rebelled. Here are two more of the six changes of loyalty (the first one, with little choice involved, to be sure) for this final 20-year period of Judahite history.

24:2 the LORD sent. Various nations are listed, all sent under the sovereignty of the true God, Yahweh, though one imagines each marched in the name of its national god. For the term “Chaldean” being translated as “Babylonian” (cf. NLT mg), see Cogan and Tadmor 1988:306. Some commentators read the reference to Aram here as a misspelling of Edom (cf. the first note on 16:6 concerning their similarity in Hebrew), but Cogan and Tadmor vehemently disagree. In fact, they suggest that Edom itself may also have been in a state of rebellion (cf. Jer 27).

24:3 because of the many sins of Manasseh. Yet again, a major theme of the exilic Deuteronomist (see “The ‘Sins of Manasseh’” under “Major Themes” in the Introduction for details; also see the commentary on 21:1-18).

24:4 innocent blood. Obviously the major focus here is on Manasseh, not the king ostensibly discussed. In 21:16, the shedding of “innocent blood” (see the note on that verse for possible meanings of that expression) is added to the many other sins of Manasseh discussed throughout the chapter; it seems that both there and here this sin is seen as the “last straw,” causing Yahweh’s implacable wrath to remain on Judah.

24:5 are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. For the final time (note that there was no such reference for the reign of Jehoahaz in 23:31-34; nor will there be for the last two kings of Judah, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah), we find this reference to The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. On the nature of this source, as well as its significance in the writing of 1–2 Kings, see “Literary Style” in the Introduction). Wiseman (1993:308) suggests that these annals ended here, with the siege of the capital city their final entry.

24:6 When Jehoiakim died. This is a customary burial formula and offers little about the circumstances of the death; Jer 22:18-19; 36:30-31 (cf. 2 Chr 36:6) imply that Jehoiakim’s death was hardly peaceful and without incident. Kim (2008b:209) speculates that perhaps the “people of the land,” who would in any case be most pleased to see him gone, commissioned his assassination when they saw Nebuchadnezzar at the very gates of Jerusalem.

24:7 The king of Egypt did not venture out of his country after that. See the first note on 23:29 for details.

Brook of Egypt. This is the traditional border between Egypt and Syria-Palestine (see the first note on 1 Kgs 8:65 for its location and significance).

COMMENTARY [Text]

So here are our second and third (of six) policy shifts (see the previous commentary section for Malamat’s depiction of the last days of preexilic Judah); as one might expect, the results of these shifts proved to be deadly (cf. the notes on 24:1, 6). The Deuteronomistic presentation concerning Jehoiakim, a crude bully of a king (see Jer 36 for an unforgettable portrayal of this harsh man) is largely formulaic, fixating on the “sins of Manasseh” as the main cause of the Exile. All we know about Jehoiakim from these verses is that he was “evil,” that he paid the tribute to Pharaoh Neco largely at the expense of the “people of the land,” that his “loyalty” was directed to Egypt and then to Babylon (to whom he also paid more tribute!), then back to Egypt, that all this inconsistency evidently caught up with him after 11 years of tumultuous reign, and that we seem to be spared the details of his death (see note on 24:6). He was another “placeholder,” and also another miserable example of what a Davidic king (or any leader) should not be like. Thus, the end of Judah inevitably approaches, ever nearer.