Eliakim / Jehoiakim / Jokim / Joiakim

Commentary

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according toall that his father had done. 10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiegeit. 12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 2 Ki 24:8–12. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; *They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19  He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, Drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 20  Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, And cry from the passages: For all thy lovers are destroyed. 21  I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; But thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, That thou obeyedst not my voice. 22  The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, And thy lovers shall go into captivity: Surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. 23  O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, How gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, The pain as of a woman in travail! The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Je 22:18–23. The canonical text of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) does not directly state that King Jehoiakim slept with his father's wife. However, this claim is recorded in the Aggadah (rabbinic tradition and commentary) detailing his particularly wicked reign.According to the Talmud and rabbinic midrash, Jehoiakim—the son of the pious King Josiah—was considered one of the most corrupt and godless kings of Judah. These ancient Jewish texts explicitly portray him as living in incestuous relations with his mother, his daughter-in-law, and his father's wife (his stepmother).While these accounts are not found in the historical narratives of 1 and 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles, they were preserved in extrabiblical traditions to emphasize the depth of his moral and spiritual depravity.