Lives of Scripture

Jehoiakim, originally named Eliakim, was Josiah's son placed on Judah's throne by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt after Necho deposed his younger brother Jehoahaz, changing his name and imposing a heavy tribute on Judah (2 Kings 23:34-35). Unlike his reforming father, Jehoiakim 'did evil in the sight of the LORD' (23:37), and Jeremiah confronted him directly for building his palace through forced, unpaid labor: 'woe to him who builds his house without righteousness... who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages' (Jeremiah 22:13). Jehoiakim's most vivid recorded act of defiance came when Jeremiah's scribe Baruch read aloud a scroll of the LORD's warnings against Judah in the king's hearing; as each section was read, Jehoiakim cut it off with a scribe's knife and threw it into the fire burning in his winter chamber, showing no fear despite officials urging him not to, and Jeremiah simply dictated the scroll again with additional words of judgment added (Jeremiah 36:20-32). Jehoiakim became a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon for three years before rebelling, prompting Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders to harass Judah in fulfillment of earlier prophetic warnings (2 Kings 24:1-2). He died as Nebuchadnezzar's forces advanced against Jerusalem, and his son Jehoiachin inherited a kingdom already collapsing (24:6; 2 Chronicles 36:5-8).