2 Kings 23:35-37 – We are personally accountable to God

Jehoahaz who succeeded Josiah was deposed by Pharoah Neco and taken to Egypt where he was imprisoned. It was there that he eventually died. Neco made his brother Eliakim, whose name was changed to Jehoiakim as a puppet king in his place. Jehoiakim became the king when he was 25 years old and reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. He was to pay the demands of 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold by taxing the people of Judah. What’s gloomier was the refrain that was attached to Jehoiakim. Verse 37 said, “he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.”   

Jehoiakim was the brother of Jehoahaz. He was made king while his brother was languishing hopelessly in a prison in Egypt. If he was sensible, he should have sought God and lived a life aligned with Him. But he did not. To say that he did evil in the sight of the Lord like his fathers was to say that he persisted in defying God like his fathers. Though nothing much had been said about him here, the Prophet Jeremiah in his Jeremiah 22:13-17 denounced his evil. Simply put, he was not only an oppressive king but one whose interest was only for himself.  Here's how Jeremiah 22:18-19 said of his death, “Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah...‘He will be buried with a donkey's burial, dragged off and thrown beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’”

Everyone is individually responsible for his or her own life. N0 one can rely on the deeds of someone else to gain God’s acceptance. Though Jehoiakim was the son of the good king, Josiah, he could not rely on the merit of his father to escape God’s judgment for his misdeeds. God evaluates his life based on what he had done. In the same way, God will evaluate our lives individually. He will assess each of us based on our own personal relationship with God. The Bible is clear that God has no grandson or granddaughter, He only has sons and daughters. In other words, all of us are individually responsible and accountable for our own lives and conduct.