2 Chronicles 36:5-8 - Homilies By T. Whitelaw

The fortunes of Jehoiakim.

I. A NEW KING UPON THE THRONE OF JUDAH . ( 2 Chronicles 36:5 .)

1 . His designation. Eliakim, "Whom God establishes," changed into Jehoiakim, "Jehovah has set up;" not by himself, though it would almost seem as if Uzziah had adopted that name instead of Azariah on acceding to the crown ( 2 Chronicles 26:1 ), and Pal had assumed the title Tiglath-Pileser, "Adar is my confidence," on succeeding Shalmaneser of Assyria; but by Necho II . (verse 4; 2 Kings 23:34 ), as Mattaniah's name was changed into Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar ( 2 Kings 24:17 ); which statements may be harmonized by supposing that "Necho and Nebuchadnezzar treated the vassal kings appointed by them not altogether as slaves, but permitted them to choose themselves the new names, which they only confirmed in token of their supremacy" (Keil).

2 . His lineage. The son of Josiah and of Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, supposed to be identical with Arumah, near Shechem (2 Kings 32:36). Jehoahaz; whom he succeeded, was his younger brother by a different mother, Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah ( 2 Kings 23:31 ).

3 . His accession .

4 . His character. Bad; modelled upon that of Ahab rather than of Josiah.

5 . His reign. Eleven years. Too long for any good it wrought. Judah could hardly have fared worse, had he been uncrowned after three months, as his brother had been.

6 . His death. Accounts vary.

If. A NEW ENEMY AT THE GATE OF JERUSALEM . (Verse 6.)

1 . His person. Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar ( Jeremiah 21:2 ), Nabuchodonosor ( LXX .), in the inscriptions Nabu-kudurri-usur, meaning "Nebo protect the crown."

2 . His descent. A son of Nabopolassar, a general of Sarak, the last King of Nineveh (Ewald), perhaps the viceroy of Babylon (Cheyne). On the fall of Nineveh he founded the new Babylonian empire.

3 . His title. King of Babylon. Hitherto the enemies of Jerusalem and Judah had been kings of Egypt ( 2 Chronicles 12:2 ; 2 Chronicles 36:3 ) or of Assyria ( 2 Chronicles 28:20 ; 2 Chronicles 32:1 , 2 Chronicles 32:2 ); now it is a King of Babylon. According to the canon of Ptolemy, Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne in B.C. 604; according to Berosus, while crown prince he was, in B.C. 605, despatched by his father "to crush a revolt of the western provinces," in which he was entirely successful, having conquered Syria and Phoenicia as well as Egypt.

4 . His invasion. According to Daniel, this occurred in Jehoiakim's third year ( Daniel 1:1 ), the year before Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish ( Jeremiah 25:1 ; Jeremiah 46:2 ), i.e. B.C. 606. The probability is that, either before or immediately after defeating Necho, he proceeded to Jerusalem and received the submission of Jehoiakim, who had up till that time been Necho's vassal. In order to secure this transference of Jehoialdm's allegiance, he appears to have both taken the city and put its sovereign in chains, as if, should he prove refractory, to deport him to Babylon, but to have departed from this design on obtaining promise of Jehoiakim's fealty. This, however, Jehoiakim only kept for three years ( 2 Kings 24:1 ), at the end of which he rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar, being occupied with affairs in Babylon, having acceded to the throne only two years prior to Jehoiakim's revolt, despatched against the rebel several detachments of troops, "bands of Chaldeans," at the same time stirring up the Ammonites, Syrians, and Moabites to harass Judah ( 2 Kings 24:2 ), but not himself returning to Jerusalem till five years later, in the reign of Jehoiachin.

III. A NEW SPOLIATION OF JEHOVAH 'S TEMPLE . (Verse 7.)

1 . The first plundering of the sacred edifice.

2 . The second plundering of the sacred edifice.

3 . The third plundering of the sacred edifice.

4 . The fourth plundering of the sacred edifice.

LESSONS .

1 . The native corruption of the human heart, attested by the wicked characters of Josiah's sons.

2 . The impossibility of going on in sin with impunity.—W.