seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done. 33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents[c] of silver and a talent[d] of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died. 35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.
c. 2 Kings 23:33 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons
d. 2 Kings 23:33 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms
So now.... Pharaoh Necho is controlling Judah. He's demanding gold and silver. He's installing the king that will give him what he wants. Did you see that.... Judah's king paid Pharaoh Necho tons of gold and pounds of silver. And things went right back to the way they were before good king Josiah was on the scene.
Here's the easy English commentary.
The people chose Jehoahaz, Josiah’s youngest son, as king. (Jehoahaz’s grandfather was not Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah the prophet was from Anathoth. He was not from Libnah. And he was not married – Jeremiah 16:2.) The people thought that Jehoahaz would oppose the king of Egypt. His older brother would not do that. But the Pharaoh (Egypt’s king) Neco captured Jehoahaz. Neco demanded that the people in Judah should pay large amounts of tax. Jehoahaz died in Egypt. Ezekiel wrote a sad song about him (Ezekiel 19:1-4)
Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim king of Judah. Eliakim was Josiah’s older son. Pharaoh Neco changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Perhaps Neco did that to show that he had power over Judah’s king. So Jehoiakim had to make the people pay those large amounts of tax. He ruled for 11 years and he sinned against the Lord.
Jehoiakim was among the worst kings of Judah. Jeremiah 22:13-14 seems to describe a large, expensive palace that he built. But he dealt with his builders as if they were slaves. He forced them to work without pay. He also killed the prophet Uriah, who had prophesied against him (Jeremiah 26:20-23).
Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim king of Judah. Eliakim was Josiah’s older son. Pharaoh Neco changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Perhaps Neco did that to show that he had power over Judah’s king. So Jehoiakim had to make the people pay those large amounts of tax. He ruled for 11 years and he sinned against the Lord.
Jehoiakim was among the worst kings of Judah. Jeremiah 22:13-14 seems to describe a large, expensive palace that he built. But he dealt with his builders as if they were slaves. He forced them to work without pay. He also killed the prophet Uriah, who had prophesied against him (Jeremiah 26:20-23).
So it looks like Judah is a puppet government of Egypt now. Look... in verse 23 it says that the people chose the first guy.... why didn't they go to the Temple... grab a priest... and ask God what to do????? Well now they have to pay a tax.... and work for free....
Bible-studys.org has a history lesson for me this morning.
The Egyptian “Pharaoh-nechoh” was on the way to assist his Assyrian allies at Haran. When the Assyrian capital at Nineveh fell (in 612 B.C.), to an allied force that included the Chaldeans (or Neo-Babylonians), and Medes, the Assyrians fell back westward to Haran. Pharaoh-nechoh had just come to the throne of Egypt’s Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. This kingdom had emerged from a previous Assyrian vassalage and would become Egypt’s last important dynasty (663-525 B.C.). Because of Egypt’s long-standing allegiance to “Assyria”, and a fear of the new Medo-Babylonian alliance, Pharaoh-nechoh was leading his forces to Haran to link up with the Assyrian army there. Josiah’s attempt to prevent the Egyptians from reaching Haran cost him his life (2 Chron. 35:20-25), but did delay them long enough so that Haran fell before Pharaoh-nechoh could arrive (609 B.C.). The Assyrian forces subsequently moved still further westward to Carchemish, where Nebuchadnezzar finally defeated them (in 605 B.C.).
“Pharaoh-nechoh”: Pharaoh-nechoh II (609-594 B.C.), was an ally of Assyria against the growing power of Babylon. For some unstated reason, Josiah was determined to stop Pharaoh-nechoh and his army from joining the Assyrian army at the Euphrates River to fight Babylon.
“Megiddo”: The well-fortified stronghold overlooking the Jezreel Valley about 65 miles north of Jerusalem. Megiddo guarded a strategic pass on the route between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Josiah’s death is explained in more detail (in 2 Chron. 35:20-27).
It appears that Josiah disguised himself and went out to this battle. While he was there, a random shot of an arrow hit him and killed him. This happened at Megiddo. In a sense, the king killed him, but he did not kill him himself.
“Pharaoh-nechoh”: Pharaoh-nechoh II (609-594 B.C.), was an ally of Assyria against the growing power of Babylon. For some unstated reason, Josiah was determined to stop Pharaoh-nechoh and his army from joining the Assyrian army at the Euphrates River to fight Babylon.
“Megiddo”: The well-fortified stronghold overlooking the Jezreel Valley about 65 miles north of Jerusalem. Megiddo guarded a strategic pass on the route between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Josiah’s death is explained in more detail (in 2 Chron. 35:20-27).
It appears that Josiah disguised himself and went out to this battle. While he was there, a random shot of an arrow hit him and killed him. This happened at Megiddo. In a sense, the king killed him, but he did not kill him himself.
Taxes... death and taxes.... and they say the Bible is all about the past.... "Nothing new here", they say..... but it's death and taxes.... and still we're all dealing with death and taxes.... the lesson here isn't that a tax was levied.... the lesson here is the stupid humans wouldn't listen so God let them go down the path they were on.... He had warned them and warned them.... and yet the stupid humans, living in a theocracy, think they have the ability to pick the right guy to be king.... I bet there was an excellent candidate right there among them but because they didn't bother to ask God about it.... we'll never know.
Another fine example of stupid humans thinking they know as much as God.
