Lives of Scripture

Jehoahaz, also called Shallum, was Josiah's son, made king by popular acclaim in Jerusalem after his father died fighting Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:30). He was twenty-three when he began to reign, and Scripture states plainly that "he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done" (23:31-32) -- unlike the reforming father he succeeded. His reign lasted only three months. Pharaoh Necho, now the dominant power over Judah, summoned him to Riblah, bound him, and deposed him before he could establish himself, imposing a heavy tribute of silver and gold on the land and installing Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim as a puppet king under the new name Jehoiakim (23:33-34; 2 Chronicles 36:1-4). Necho then carried Jehoahaz off to Egypt, where he died, never seeing Judah again (2 Kings 23:34). Jeremiah had already pronounced this fate: "he will not return again, but in the place where they have led him captive, there he will die" (Jeremiah 22:11-12), weeping for him as one to be mourned more than for Josiah, since exile was worse than death. Jehoahaz's brief, evil reign was the first of Judah's kings forcibly deposed by a foreign power -- a preview of the exile soon to come.