Jehoahaz (of Judah)
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Jehoahaz was a son of Josiah whom 'the people of the land' anointed king of Judah after his father was killed at Megiddo. He was twenty-three years old, reigned only three months in Jerusalem, and did evil in the sight of the LORD. Pharaoh Neco put him in bands at Riblah, imposed a heavy tribute on Judah, and replaced him with his brother Eliakim, renamed Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt and died there, just as Jeremiah had foretold under his other name, Shallum: 'he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive.'
Biography
- Occupation
- King of Judah
- Tribe
- Judah
- Father
- Josiah
- Mother
- Hamutal
- Era
- Divided Kingdom
- Nationality
- Israelite (Judah)
- Also Known As
- Shallum (Jeremiah 22:11)
Family
Did You Know?
Jehoahaz was not Josiah's eldest son: his brother Jehoiakim was twenty-five when he began to reign a few months later (2 Kings 23:31, 36), so the people passed over an older brother to crown him.
Jeremiah calls him Shallum (Jeremiah 22:11), and 1 Chronicles 3:15 lists Shallum among the sons of Josiah, so Jehoahaz may have been a throne name.
He and Zedekiah were full brothers, both sons of Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18).
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Made King by the People
2 Kings 23:30-32
In grief over Josiah, the people crown his son, but the new king does not walk in his father's ways.
30nd his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.
Deposed by Pharaoh
2 Kings 23:33-34
Within three months Judah's independence is gone, and its king is a prisoner of Egypt.
33nd Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
The Chronicler's Account
2 Chronicles 36:1-4
Chronicles tells the same swift fall, the beginning of the end for the kingdom of Judah.
1hen the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.
Weep for Him That Goeth Away
Jeremiah 22:10-12
Jeremiah tells the people to mourn not for Josiah, who died in peace with God, but for Shallum, who would never come home.
10eep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
