Verse 34
34. Made Eliakim… king Some suppose that Eliakim had appealed to Necho to interfere, and had urged that he himself, being the elder son of the deceased Josiah, was the only proper heir to the kingdom. It is possible, also, that Necho took offence at the popular election of Jehoahaz immediately after his father’s fall, and without consulting him as his sovereign.
Turned his name to Jehoiakim This changing the name of a captive or vassal king was to show the conqueror’s absolute authority over him. “The alteration of the name was a sign of dependence. In ancient times princes were accustomed to give new names to the persons whom they took into their service, and masters to give new names to their slaves.
Genesis 41:45; Ezra 5:14; Daniel 1:7. But while these names were generally borrowed from heathen deities, Eliakim, and at a later period Mattaniah, (2 Kings 24:17,) received genuine Israelitish names, Jehoiakim, ‘Jehovah will set up,’ and Zedekiah, ‘Righteousness of Jehovah;’ from which we may infer that Necho and Nebuchadnezzar did not treat their vassal kings, installed by them, exactly as their slaves, but allowed them to choose the new names for themselves, and simply confirmed them as a sign of their supremacy.” Keil.
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