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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Chronicles 36:1 - 36:10
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The End of the Southern Kingdom.
The Reign of Jehoahaz, Johoiakim, and Jehoiachin.
v. l Then the people of the land, as before, in the case of Josiah and Uzziah, took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. His name before his accession to the throne was Shallum, and the people chose him in preference to his older brother Eliakim, probably because they believed he would show an aggressive spirit over against the encroachments of Egypt.
v. 2. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem, but even in this short space of time managed to reintroduce idolatry, 2Ki_23:32.
v. 3. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, removed him from office, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold (over two hundred thousand dollars), this being laid upon the country as a punishment. The sequence of events is probably this: After the defeat and the death of Josiah, while Necho was still at Megiddo, the Jews made Jehoahaz king. His brother Eliakim may have complained to Necho, causing him to come to Jerusalem as soon as he could and depose the choice of the people, while the bulk of his army continued the campaign against Carchemish.
v. 4. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim, his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name, evidently at his own suggestion, to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoabaz, his brother, and carried him to Egypt, where he died, Jer_22:10-12. Jehoiakim may have seemed to Necho a more willing tool and a fine sovereign for a tributary buffer state against Babylon, which was rapidly becoming a world empire.
v. 5. 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. Cf 2Ki_23:36 to 2Ki_24:7. He freely gave the people all the license they wanted in serving false gods. His boastfulness and vanity is excellently portrayed by the prophet Jeremiah, Jer_22:13-19.
v. 6. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after having conquered the greater part of Western Asia and broken the power of Necho east of the Mediterranean Sea, and bound him in fetters, after he had rebelled against him, to carry him to Babylon. So the idolatrous and proud Jewish king languished in chains. This was about in the year 603 before Christ, some three years after Nebuchadnezzar had made the first campaign to the southwest.
v. 7. Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, perhaps to make up for the tribute which Jehoiakim had refused to pay, and put them in his temple at Babylon, in the temple of Belus, Dan_1:2; Dan_5:2.
v. 8. Now, the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations which he did, his idolatry and other wickedness, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his stead. Cf 2Ki_24:8-17.
v. 9. Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah or Coniah) was eight years old (rather, eighteen) when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, continuing in all the idolatrous abominations of his predecessors, Eze_19:5-7.
v. 10. And when the year was expired, at the time of the year when campaigns usually began, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, the precious vessels remaining, which might well arouse the king's desire, and made Zedekiah, his brother, more exactly, his father's brother, his uncle, whose name before his accession had been Mattaniah, king over Judah and Jerusalem. If people deliberately sell themselves to do evil, the patience of the Lord is at length exhausted and He delivers them to destruction.