Jehoiakim

Also known as: Jehoiakim the king of Judah / the king · Family: Judah · Role: king · First appears: Jeremiah 1

Jehoiakim was king of Judah and the son of Josiah. In Jeremiah 22, God declared that he would receive no lament and be buried like an ass beyond Jerusalem: “He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” His son was Coniah, also named Jeconiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar made king in Judah after Zedekiah reigned instead.

When Urijah fled to Egypt after Jehoiakim sought his death, Jehoiakim sent Elnathan and others to bring him back, then killed him with the sword and cast his body among the common graves. In Jeremiah 36, at the winterhouse in the ninth month, he sent Jehudi for Jeremiah’s scroll, cut it apart as it was read, and burned it completely despite the intercession of Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah. He commanded Jerahmeel, Seraiah, and Shelemiah to seize Baruch and Jeremiah, but God hid them.

God further declared that Jehoiakim would lose the Davidic throne and suffer an exposed death. In his third year, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, and in his fourth year defeated Pharaohnecho’s army at Carchemish. Daniel records that God gave Jehoiakim and part of the vessels of the house of God into Nebuchadnezzar’s power.