GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 36:5-8
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5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years as king. He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him in bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of the House of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and the charges that were found against him, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned as king after him.
We learn quite a bit more about King Jehoiakim in 2 Kings than we do here, and still more in Jeremiah. Since those things are not the message of our prophet in Chronicles, I will mention them briefly. The more important things, I think, are these:
1, The Babylonians defeated the Assyrians (and Egyptians) in the Battle of Carchemish in 605. This is why throughout Kings and Chronicles and some of the earlier prophets we read so much about Assyria, but in prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel everything is about Babylon.
2, Speaking of Daniel, the Babylonians began deporting Jews into exile beginning in 605. Daniel is among the first to go (Daniel 1:1-6).
3, The following year, 604, the Lord called the people to repentance with the threat of more people to be taken into exile (Jeremiah 25:1-10) and that the time of the exile would be seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12).
4, Jehoiakim went to arrest the prophet Uriah, who fled to Egypt. But Jehoiakim’s men caught him and brought him back to Jehoiakim who killed him with a sword (Jeremiah 26:20-23).
5, Also in 604 BC, the Lord commanded Jeremiah (and his scribe) to write down his prophecies in a book. This took until the ninth month of the following year (603). Jeremiah was commanded to read it before King Jehoiakim, who cut it into strips as the prophet read it, and then the King burned the pieces in his firepot (Jeremiah 36:1-27). Then the Lord had Jeremiah write it all down all over again (Jeremiah 36:28).
6, We learn from our text here in Chronicles that Jehoiakim was heavily taxed by the Babylonians, and some of the temple’s vessels were confiscated and carried off to Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar put them on display in his own palace as if they were museum pieces.
7, Later, Jehoiakim rebelled against the Babylonians and refused to pay the heavy tax, or whatever it was that Nebuchadnezzar called it. The Babylonian king was not much more than a thug using extortion to grab more wealth. Jehoiakim’s refusal brought on attacks from several of Babylon’s puppet states: Aram, Moab and Ammon all raided Judah and Israel at this time (2 Kings 24:2).
8, Jehoiakim ordered a new and lavish palace to be built for himself, with such things as “spacious upper rooms,” “large windows,” cedar paneling, and gaudy red decorations. But then he refused to pay the builders. He made them finish the work without being paid (Jeremiah 22:13-14).
9, Jehoiakim died when he was thirty-six, and the only reference to his burial anywhere in the Scriptures is that he had “the burial of a donkey” (Jeremiah 22:19), which is no burial at all. He was captured and bound in bronze chains and taken to Babylon, and all we know about his death is that he must have died there, and since he had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, he did not receive a royal burial. His son Jehoiachin was made king after him.
The two things that come forward in our text in Chronicles are that he committed “abominations” and that there were charges against him. In the Bible, “abominations” and abominable things always have to do with spiritual matters, idolatry that desecrates or takes the place of true worship. Did he do something to the temple? Or to the courtyard? Or, like so many kings before him, did he restore what his father Josiah had destroyed, such as the Baals, the Asherah poles, the high places, and other things? The account in 2 Kings 24 says that he shed innocent blood, which must be more than the killing of the prophet Uriah, since we’re also told that he “filled Jerusalem with innocent blood” (24:4), so much so that “the Lord was not willing to forgive.” The charges against him must have been associated with those murders, whether they were done openly or in secret. People knew that it was ordered by the wicked king.
Those words, “the Lord was not willing to forgive,” ring like a terrible bell in this king’s record. Jehoiakim stands as an enemy of God, an enemy of God’s prophets, and an enemy of God’s people. He was able to do great evil because he was in a position to do great things, good or evil. Whatever position we find ourselves in, great or humble, we have the chance to show our faith and our love for Christ, and a life of repentance. Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us” (Luke 11:4). Treasure your forgiveness, and let your whole life be a response, a thank-you, for that forgiveness. Let this be the lesson we learn from Jehoiakim’s mistakes.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 36:5-8 Jehoiakim’s charges