Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned only three months in Jerusalem. He was the son of Josiah, made king by the people after Josiah was slain in battle for meddling in the war between Egypt and Assyria. After three months Pharaoh-Necho of Egypt deposed him in retaliation, bound him at Riblah, and set his brother Eliakim over Judah and Jerusalem, changing his name to Jehoiakim. His brief reign stands at the opening of Judah's swift decline after Josiah, among the last vacillating kings whose wickedness and disobedience brought conquest, the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and removal to Babylon. In that overthrow, turning from Jehovah into Sabbath-breaking and idolatry is set forth as the primary cause of the captivity and exile.
Historical Setting and Succession
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. He was the son of Josiah, made king in Jerusalem by the people after Josiah's death. Josiah had been killed in battle for interfering in a war between Egypt and Assyria.
After three months the king of Egypt deposed Jehoahaz in retaliation for Josiah's interference. Pharaoh-Necho put him in bonds at Riblah and made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem in his place, changing Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. This Egyptian subjection and change of kings occurred about 610 B.C., before Babylon's first attack on Jerusalem and before Nebuchadnezzar's campaign against Jerusalem.
The verse places Jehoahaz at the start of Judah's swift decline after Josiah, among the final kings whose vacillating reigns marked the kingdom's decline before its end in 586 B.C. and Jerusalem's destruction. His brief reign stands within the sequence of rulers who rebelled against Babylon and were replaced or taken away as Nebuchadnezzar tightened control over Jerusalem. That tightening led to the reign of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem and took it and carried away some of the chief men of the city to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his three companions.
Disobedience, Exile, and Prophecy
The verse belongs to the last chapter's account of Judah's later kings and their wickedness and disobedience, whose punishment and consequences culminated in Jerusalem's conquest and the people's removal to Babylon and exile. In that history the three-month reign at age twenty-three falls within the unbroken course of disobedience that brought punishment and exile upon the kingdom. In that overthrow and captivity, Sabbath transgression is identified as a primary cause, for keeping the Sabbath recognized Jehovah as the living Creator and Sanctifier. Turning from Him was accompanied by forgetting the Sabbath and falling into idolatry.
Within the account of Judah's kings, Jehoiakim is identified as Josiah's son who did evil in the sight of the Lord. By contrast Josiah acted promptly to obey God's law when the book was found in the temple. The history supports that Israel's scattering began with the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem, though it may not have been complete until the later Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The verse marks the final period of Judah's kingdom before Jerusalem's destruction and the Babylonian captivity that preceded the return from captivity under Cyrus.
The chapter shows Josiah's reign was followed by the end of the kingship that kept the Lord's commandments and statutes, dated to 607 B.C. That was when the people ceased observing the release years and Jubilees, and thereafter their kings, people, and land could not be redeemed. The land lay desolate while the people were in enemy territory. Counting 2,450 years from that point, the proposed span of a Jubilee of Jubilees, leads to A.D. 1843.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned only three months in Jerusalem. He was the son of Josiah, made king by the people after Josiah was slain in battle for meddling in the war between Egypt and Assyria. After three months Pharaoh-Necho of Egypt deposed him in retaliation, bound him at Riblah, and set his brother Eliakim over Judah and Jerusalem, changing his name to Jehoiakim. His brief reign stands at the opening of Judah's swift decline after Josiah, among the last vacillating kings whose wickedness and disobedience brought conquest, the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and removal to Babylon. In that overthrow, turning from Jehovah into Sabbath-breaking and idolatry is set forth as the primary cause of the captivity and exile.
Historical Setting and Succession
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. He was the son of Josiah, made king in Jerusalem by the people after Josiah's death. Josiah had been killed in battle for interfering in a war between Egypt and Assyria.
After three months the king of Egypt deposed Jehoahaz in retaliation for Josiah's interference. Pharaoh-Necho put him in bonds at Riblah and made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem in his place, changing Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. This Egyptian subjection and change of kings occurred about 610 B.C., before Babylon's first attack on Jerusalem and before Nebuchadnezzar's campaign against Jerusalem.
The verse places Jehoahaz at the start of Judah's swift decline after Josiah, among the final kings whose vacillating reigns marked the kingdom's decline before its end in 586 B.C. and Jerusalem's destruction. His brief reign stands within the sequence of rulers who rebelled against Babylon and were replaced or taken away as Nebuchadnezzar tightened control over Jerusalem. That tightening led to the reign of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem and took it and carried away some of the chief men of the city to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his three companions.
Disobedience, Exile, and Prophecy
The verse belongs to the last chapter's account of Judah's later kings and their wickedness and disobedience, whose punishment and consequences culminated in Jerusalem's conquest and the people's removal to Babylon and exile. In that history the three-month reign at age twenty-three falls within the unbroken course of disobedience that brought punishment and exile upon the kingdom. In that overthrow and captivity, Sabbath transgression is identified as a primary cause, for keeping the Sabbath recognized Jehovah as the living Creator and Sanctifier. Turning from Him was accompanied by forgetting the Sabbath and falling into idolatry.
Within the account of Judah's kings, Jehoiakim is identified as Josiah's son who did evil in the sight of the Lord. By contrast Josiah acted promptly to obey God's law when the book was found in the temple. The history supports that Israel's scattering began with the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem, though it may not have been complete until the later Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The verse marks the final period of Judah's kingdom before Jerusalem's destruction and the Babylonian captivity that preceded the return from captivity under Cyrus.
The chapter shows Josiah's reign was followed by the end of the kingship that kept the Lord's commandments and statutes, dated to 607 B.C. That was when the people ceased observing the release years and Jubilees, and thereafter their kings, people, and land could not be redeemed. The land lay desolate while the people were in enemy territory. Counting 2,450 years from that point, the proposed span of a Jubilee of Jubilees, leads to A.D. 1843.