Verse 11
11. Shallum Attention is at once arrested by this name, which is applied to Josiah’s son and successor, Jehoiakim. In one other place (2 Chronicles 3:15,) he is so called: in other passages his name is Jehoahaz. Why is he here called Shallum? Some say,
1) Because, from the brevity of his reign, he so much resembles Shallum of Israel. See 2 Kings 15:12, (Graf, Hitzig, et al.) This is fanciful in the extreme. Jeremiah does not write in this way.
2) To mark him as the man whom the Lord had requited for his evil doings. (SHALLUM: the requited Hengstenberg.) But this explanation is untenable, inasmuch as the name Shallum appears in the genealogical table, 1 Chronicles 3:15.
3) We are forced to conclude that Shallum was probably the original name of this man, and that he took the name Jehoahaz ( Jehovah holds) on ascending the throne. Here, however, as the meaning of the old name is specially appropriate, Jeremiah employs it.
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