After three years of subjection, Jehoiakim, deluded by the Egyptian party in his court (compare Josephus, Ant. X, 6, 2), ventured to withhold his tribute, and thereby to throw oif the Chaldrean yoke (2 Kings xxiv, 1). This step, taken contrary to the earnest remon- strances of Jeremiah, and in violation of his oath of al- legiance, was the ruin of Jehoiakim. What moved or encouraged Jehoiakim to this rebellion it is difficidt to say, unless it were the restless turbulence of his own bad disjiosition and the dislike of paying the tribute to the king of Babylon, which he would have rather lav- ished ujion his own luxury and pride (Jer. xxii, 13-17), for tliere was really nothing in the attitude of Egj'pt at this time to account for such a step. It seems more probable that, seeing Egypt entirely severed from the affairs of Syria since the battle of Carchemish, and the king of Babylon wholly occupied with distant wars, he hoped to make himself independent. Though Nebu- chadnezzar was not able at that time to come in person to chastise his rebellious vassal, he sent against him nu- merous bands of Chaldseans, with Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, who were all now subject to Babylon (2 Kings xxiv, 7), and who cruelly harassed the whole country, being for the most part actuated by a fierce hatred against the Jewish name and nation. It was perhaps at this time that the great drought occurred described in Jer. xiv (compare Jer. xv, 4 with 2 Kings xxiv, 2, 3). The closing years of this reign must have been a time of extreme misery. The Ammonites ap- pear to have overrun the land of Gad (Jer. xlix, 1), and the other neighboring nations to have taken advantage of the helplessness of Israel to ravage their land to the utmost (Kzek. xxv). There was no rest or safety out of the walled cities. "We are not acquainted with the details of the close of the reign. Probably, as the time approached f(jr Nebuchadnezzar himself to come against Judasa, the desultory attacks and invasions of his troops became more concentrated. Either in an engagement with some of these forces, or else by the hand of his own oppressed subjects, who thought to conciliate the Baby- lonians by the murder of their king, Jehoiakim seems to have come to a violent end in the eleventh year of his reign. His body, as predicted, ajjpears to liave been cast out ignominiously on the ground; perhajis thrown over the walls to convince the enemy that he was dead; and then, after being left exposed for some time,
to have been dragged away and buried " with the burial of an ass," without pomp or lamentation, " beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (Jer. xxii, 18, 19 ; xxxvi, 30 ; see 1 Chron. iii, 15; 2 Kings xxiii, 3rU37 ; xxiv, 1-7 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi, 4-8). Yet it was not the object of Nebuchad- nezzar 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 main- tained tlie throne of Judah, and placed on it Jehoiachin, the son of the late king. Nor does he appear to have removed any considerable number of the inhabitants luitil provoked by the speedy revolt of this last ap- pointee. See Jehoiachin.
The expression in Jer. xxxvi, 30, " He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David," is not to be taken strictly ; and yet, as the reign of Jehoiachin Avas for only thirteen weeks, Jehoiakim may be said to have been comparatively without a successor, since his son scarcely sat down upon his throne before he was de- posed. The same explanation applies to 2 Kings xxiii, 34, where Eliakim or Jehoiakim is said to have suc- ceeded his father Josiah, whereas the reign of Jehoahaz intervened. This was also so short, however, as not to be reckoned in the succession. In Matt, i, 11, in the re- ceived text, the name of Jehoiakim ('IwaKfi/u, " Jakim") is omitted, making Jehoiachin appear as the son of Jo- siah ; but in some good MSS. it is supplied, as in the margin (see Strong's Greek Harmony oj'the Gospels, note on § 9). See Genealogy.
Josephus's history of Jehoiakim's reign is consistent neither with Scripture nor with itself. His accoimt of Jehoiakim's death and Jehoiachin's succession appears to be only his own inference from the Scripture narra- tive. According to Josephus (Anf. x, 6), Nebuchad- nezzar came against Judsea in the 8th year of Jehoia- kim's reign, and compelled him to pay tribute, which he did for three years, and then revolted, in tlie 11th year, on hearing that the king of Babylon had gone to invade Egypt. Such a campaign at this time is extremely improbable, as Nebuchadnezzar was fully occupied else- where ; it is possible, however, that such a rumor may have been set afloat bj' interested parties. Josephus then inserts the account of Jehoiakim's burning Jeremi- ah's prophecj' in his fifth year, and concludes by saying that a little time afterwards the king of Babylon made an expedition against Jehoiakim, who admitted Nebu- chadnezzar into the city upon certain conditions, which Nebuchadnezzar immediately broke ; that he slew Je- hoiakim and the flower of the citizens, and sent 3000 captives to Babylon, and set up Jehoiachin for king, but almost immediately afterwards was seized with fear lest the young king should avenge his father's death, and so sent back his anny to besiege Jerusalem ; that Jehoia- chin, being a man of just and gentle disposition, did not like to expose the city to danger on his own accoutit, and therefore surrendered himself, his mother, and kin- dred to the king of Babylon's officers on condition of the city suffering no harm, but that Nebuchadnezzar, in direct violation of the conditions, took 10,832 prisoners, and made Zedekiah king in the room of Jehoiachin, whom he kept in custody. See Judah, kingdom of.