JEHOIAKIBI (je-hoi'a-larn), (Heb. =7,17, yeh ho-yaw-keene Jehovah established).
1. Name and Family. Jehoiakim was the second son of Josiah and eighteenth king of Judah. His name was originally Eliakim but its equiva lent, Jehoiakim, was bestowed upon him by Pha raoh-necho, the Egyptian king. He was the second son of Josiah by Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah (2 Kings xviii-36), born B. C. 633.
2. Personal History.
(1) /trade King. On the death of his father the people raised to the throne his younger brother Jehoahaz or Shallum (Jer. xxii :it) but three months after, when the Egyptian king re turned from the Euphrates, he removed Jehoahaz, and gave the crown to the rightful heir, Eltakim, whose name he changed to Jehoiakim. This change of name often took place in similar circumstances; and the altered name was in fact the badge of a tributary prince. Jehoiakim began to reign in B. C. 6o8, and reigned eleven years. He of course occupied the position of a subordinate ruler of the Egyptian empire. However heavy may have been the Egyptian yoke, Jehoiakim was destined to pass under one heavier still.
(2) Vassal to Nebuchadnezzar. In the third year of his reign Jehoiakim, being besieged in Jerusalem, was forced to submit to Nebuchad nezzar, and was by his order laden with chains, with the intention of sending him captive to Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi :6) ; but eventually the conqueror changed his mind and restored the crown to him. Many persons, however, of high family, and some even of the royal blood, were sent away to Babylon. Among these was Daniel, then a mere youth. A large proportion of the treasures and sacred vessels of the temple were also taken away and deposited in the idol-temple at Babylon (Dan. i 2). The year following the Egyptians were defeated upon the Euphrates (Jer. xlvi :2), and Jehoiakim, when he saw the remains of the defeated army pass by his territory, could not but perceive how vain had been that reliance upon Egypt against which he had been constantly cautioned by Jeremiah (Jer. xliv :24-3o). In the same year the prophet caused a collection of his prophecies to be written out by his faithful Baruch, and to be read publicly by him in the court of the temple.
(3) Destroys the Roll. This coming t'o the knowledge of the king, he sent for it and had it read before him. But he heard not much of the bitter denunciations with which it %vas charged, before he took the roll from the reader, and after cutting it in pieces threw it into the brasier which, it being winter, was burning before him in the hall. The counsel of God against hint, 110W ever, stood sure; a fresh roll was written, with the addition of a further and most awful de nunciation against the king, occasioned by this foolish and sacrilegious act. `He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David ; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost' (Jer. xxxvi :3o). All this, however, appears to have made little impression upon Jehoiakim, who still walked in his old paths.
(4) Rebellion and Death. After three years of subjection, Jehoiakim, finding the king of Babylon fully engaged elsewhere, and deluded by the Egyptian party in his court, ventured to with hold his tribute, and thereby to throw off the Chaldwan yoke (2 Kings xxiv :I). This step, taken .contrary to the earnest' remonstrances of Jeremiah, was the ruin of Jehoiakim. It might seem successful for a little, from the Chaldxans not then having leisure to attend to the affairs of this quarter. In due time, however, the land was invaded by their armies, accompanied by a vast number of auxiliaries from the neighbor ing countries, the Eaomites, Moabites, and others, who were for the most part actuated by a fierce hatred against the Jewish name and nation. The events of the war arc not related. Jerusalem was taken. or rather surrendered on tcrms, which Josephus alleges were little heeded by Nebuchad nezzar. It is certain that Jehoiakim was slain, but whether in one of the actions, or, as Josephus says, after the surrender, we cannot determine His body remained exposed and unlamented with out the city, under the circumstances foretold by the prophet—'They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother ! or, Ah, sister I They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, lord! or, Ah, his glory ! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem' (Jer. xxii ig; Chron. : 15; 2 Kings xxiii :34-37; xxiv :17; 2 Chron.xxxvi : 4-8).
It was not the object of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy altogether a power which, as tributary to him, formed a serviceable outpost towards Egypt, which seems to have been the great final object of all his designs in this quarter. He therefore still maintained the throne of Judah, and placed on it Jehoiachin, the son of the late king. He, however, sent away another body, a second corps of the nobles and chief persons of the nation, three thousand in number, among whom was Ezekiel, afterwards called to prophesy in the land of his exile.
5. Character. Jehoiakim was from all ac counts a vicious and irreligious person (see 2 Kings xxiii :37; xxiv :9; 2 Chron. xxxvi :5, 8). The vindictive pursuit and murder of URIJAH ( which see) indicate his cruelty and irreligion (Jer. xxvi :2o-z3). His daring impiety is evi denced by his treatment of the roll which con tained Jeremiah's prophecy. His selfishness is shown by the large sums he squandered in build ing luxurious palaces for himself when his coun try was impoverished by the heavy tributes laid upon it both by Egypt and Babylon (Jer. xxii : 17-ig). So bitter was the hatred against him that, according to the Rabbins, men whispered that on the dried skin of the corpse, as it lay naked before all, the name of the demon, Co donazer, to whom he had sold himself, ap peared stamped in clear Hebrew letters. (See Mc. & Strong's Cyc.; Stanley's His. of the Jew ish Church; Geike's Hours with the Bible.)