Today's Scripture Reading (July 9, 2026): 2 Chronicles 36
All of us
carry baggage from our growing-up years. And we all react to that baggage very
differently. For some, that baggage is devastating. And it doesn't necessarily
mean that we had terrible upbringings. Two siblings can react to the same home
and the same situations in very different ways. As parents, all we can do is do
our best and lift our children up in prayer daily.
Three of Josiah's
sons would reign as kings over the land of Judah. But they did not ascend the
throne in order of their ages. Eliakim, who reigned as Jehoiakim, was the
oldest. Yet Eliakim was passed over after his father's death in favor of his
younger brother, Jehoahaz. The proposed reasons for this vary. Some believe
that Jehoahaz was simply the more popular of the brothers among the leaders in
Judah. Others point out that Eliakim or Jehoiakim was simply unfit to lead the
nation, and that his father and the leaders of Judah understood this when they
made Jehoahaz king in 609 B.C.E.
Jehoiakim
was an angry man. But when Egypt took his younger brother, the now King of
Judah, Jehoahaz, into captivity only three months into his reign, the nation
was forced to turn to the violent Eliakim as their king. There was another
brother, but Zedekiah was still just a young boy when Jehoahaz was removed. Zedekiah
would ascend to the throne and serve as the last king of Judah after the death
of Jehoiakim and the Babylonians' removal of Jehoiakim's son, Jehoiachin.
After he
became king, Jehoiakim wasted little time displaying that he was not his father's
son. He overturned all of his father Josiah's reforms. Jehoiakim was a godless
man who feared little other than the Babylonians, and even his respect for them
was likely all show. He ruled Judah as a tyrant. He murdered everyone he didn't
like, and Jerusalem was filled with the blood of the innocents (2 Kings 24:4).
He maintained incestuous relationships with his mother and other women in the
family. He seemed to regularly burn scrolls of scripture that he disagreed with
or that he thought might hold him in an unflattering light. He even tried to
reverse his Jewishness by restoring the foreskin stolen from him by his
circumcision as a child.
And then,
Jehoiakim died. That he died in 598 B.C.E. is really the only thing that we can
say for certain. The book of Kings just says that he rested with his ancestors,
and Chronicles says even less, indicating simply that his son, Jehoiachin,
succeeded him. But the death of Jehoiakim was not likely peaceful. History and
tradition differ on how the king died, but one common denominator is the gruesomeness
of the King's demise. Some historians argue that Jehoiakim died in Jerusalem
while the Sanhedrin deliberated on whether to hand the King over to the
Babylonians. After his death, the leaders of Jerusalem unceremoniously threw
his body over the wall to the waiting Babylonians to do as they saw fit with
the former King of Judah.
Another
version of the death of Jehoiakim argues that he died after being lowered over
the wall to the waiting Babylonians, possibly at the hands of the Babylonians
themselves. Probably the most gruesome of the possible fates of Jehoiakim is
that he was handed over to the Babylonians, where he was paraded in dishonor
throughout the nation. When the tour had finished, the King was executed, and
his body was either fed piece by piece to the dogs, or it was placed inside a
dead donkey and left for the animals to devour.
At some
point, it seems someone recovered the King's body and brought it back to
Jerusalem. However, even there Jehoiakim found no rest. According to the
ancient rabbinic writing, the Aggadah, Jehoiakim is still undergoing punishment
for the great sin he committed against Jerusalem and Judah during his lifetime.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 13
See
Also 2 Kings 24:6
No comments:
Post a Comment