2 Kings 23:31

THE THREE MONTHS' REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ

"Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done. And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he put the land to a tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt and died there. And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of everyone according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-necoh."

"Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign" (2 Kings 23:31). "Only three months later when Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim (Jehoiakim) succeeded him, Eliakim was twenty-five years old; so Jehoahaz (Shallum) was the younger brother. The reason why he was made king before his brother might have been due to the fact, as supposed by Hammond, that, "Eliakim had been captured upon the occasion of Josiah's death, and that he was still in the possession of Pharaoh-necoh."[32] The fact of Pharaoh's being able to depose Shallum and put his brother Eliakim on the throne supports that assumption.

"His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah" (2 Kings 23:31). The Jeremiah here was not the prophet, because the prophet Jeremiah was from Anathoth (Jeremiah 1:1).

Ezekiel wrote an elegy concerning both of these kings (Ezekiel 10:1-8). The wickedness of both of them is recorded here in terminology that means they were gross idolaters contrary to all that their father had believed.

"Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim king in the room of Josiah his father" (2 Kings 23:34). This shows that Pharaoh-necoh did not recognize the three month rule of Jehoahaz at all. Keil's opinion is doubtless correct that, "When Pharaoh heard that they had made Jehoahaz king, he at once sent a detachment of soldiers to Jerusalem and deposed him and placed Eliakim on the throne as his puppet."[33] This would appear to be verified by the declaration in 2 Chronicles 36:3 that "Pharaoh deposed him at Jerusalem."