Tag Archives: Jehoiakim

Day 153: It’s Usually Better the Second Time

Jeremiah 36:27-32

Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, “Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Yahweh says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written therein, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal?’ ” ’ Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.” ’ ”

Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.

I believe that there is a very real possibility that Satan thought that he had won at this point. It appeared that he actually got God to curse the line of the Messiah. God had promised that there would always be a king on David’s throne, but here, God actually declares that Jehoiakim will never have a descendent on the throne. This actually became a very serious issue. How was God going to save Israel now?

There’s another issue that causes difficulties in the New Testament. Have you ever noticed that the genealogies for Jesus are different in Matthew and in Luke? It has been determined that the one in Matthew follows the genealogy of Joseph and the one in Luke follows Mary’s genealogy. Did you also notice that one of Joseph’s ancestors is none other than Jeconiah which was Jehoiakim’s son? Well, God walked around the problem with ease. He caused Mary, who was also a blood relative of David, to conceive without the help of Joseph and then had Joseph adopt Jesus. God left the genealogies in His word for us to figure out later. So Jesus was a blood relative of David and a rightful heir to the throne of Israel through Joseph! As you can see, God is in the details.

God also walked around the problem that Jehoiakim produced by burning God’s word. He simply had Jeremiah do it again, only this time, Jehoiakim was cursed and “many similar words were added” to the new book. The new edition was an expanded edition! As a side note, I discovered this principle as a software engineer. There were times when we had to re-make a software system and I don’t remember a time when the second system wasn’t an improvement on the first. God has a way of doing that through us. We don’t need to worry when it seems that all hope is lost. When God is in charge, it just means that something better is about to happen.

Day 99: God Makes His Word Clear

Jeremiah 22:10-19

Don’t weep for the dead.
Don’t bemoan him;
but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he will return no more,
and not see his native country.
For Yahweh says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: “He won’t return there any more. But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.”
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
and his rooms by injustice;
who uses his neighbor’s service without wages,
and doesn’t give him his hire;
who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’
and cuts out windows for himself;
with a cedar ceiling,
and painted with red.

“Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar?
Didn’t your father eat and drink,
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
so it was well, then.
Wasn’t this to know me?”
says Yahweh.
But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness,
for shedding innocent blood,
for oppression, and for doing violence.”
Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
“They won’t lament for him,
saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’
They won’t lament for him,
saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,
drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

Back when we were reading Israel’s history in 2 Kings 23, we didn’t know that some of the events there were actually known before they happened. Jeremiah predicted what was going to happen to two wicked kings of Judah. Both of these kings were sons of the good king Josiah. The first one was to be exiled to a foreign country and die there. Jeremiah called his name “Shallum” here. In 2 Kings, he is known as Jehoahaz. He ended up being taken away by Pharaoh Neco, the same Pharaoh that killed his father. He did die in exile, just as Jeremiah predicted.

The second king mentioned here is the one that Neco put in charge after he removed Jehoahaz. His original name was Eliakim, but Neco renamed him Jehoiakim. That’s the name that Jeremiah used in his prophesy about him. We aren’t told in 2 Kings 24 exactly how Jehoiakim was buried. We actually have to rely on the prophesy we have here to know that. We do know that he was forced to be Nebuchadnezzar’s servant in the end. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar so it’s clear that He wasn’t respected at the time of his death based on circumstances. In 2 Chronicles 36:6 we learn that he was taken in shackles to Babylon.

What should have been clear to all of Israel is that Jeremiah was a true prophet of God. The way to determine if a prophet is really from God is to make sure that what he says about the future comes true. If he accurately tells the future, then the people were to pay close attention to what God was saying. God had given the people a chance to not die in Jerusalem by surrendering to Babylon. Those who took Jeremiah’s words to heart would be saved from death and starvation. It’s good to know that when God tells us to believe in something, He makes sure that we can separate the words of those who lie from those who tell the truth. God allowed the people to see the truth as Jeremiah’s words came true with Pharaoh Neco before Nebuchadnezzar showed up and ended up defeating both Pharaoh Neco and Jerusalem.

Day 98
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