Jehoiakim

Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was originally named Eliakim. Pharaoh Necho, after deposing his younger brother Jehoahaz, set him on the throne and changed his name (2 Kings 23:34). He was twenty-five and reigned eleven years; 'he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done' (23:37). To pay the tribute Necho exacted, Jehoiakim taxed the land of Judah heavily. Jeremiah denounced him for building a lavish cedar palace by forced labour: 'Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him' (Jeremiah 22:15). After Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon crushed Necho at Carchemish in 605 BC, Jehoiakim became a Babylonian vassal and the first deportation of Judah occurred, including Daniel and his friends. He served three years, then rebelled (2 Kings 24:1). In Jeremiah 36, in his fourth year, Jeremiah dictated to Baruch a scroll containing all the prophecies the LORD had given him against Judah; when it was read to the king in his winter house, Jehoiakim cut off each column with his knife as it was finished and threw it into the fire-pot until the whole scroll was burned. He ordered Jeremiah and Baruch seized, but the LORD hid them, and Jeremiah dictated a second longer scroll. Nebuchadnezzar sent Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Judah; Jehoiakim died as Nebuchadnezzar advanced on Jerusalem and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin, who reigned only three months before being carried into exile (2 Kings 24:6, 8-12).