2 Kings 24:6-9 – For goodness’ sake live for God

Though 2 Kings 24:6 unceremoniously said that Jehoiakim died, it did not record how he died. But the Prophet Jeremiah had this to say about his death. In Jeremiah 22:19, the prophet said that “He (Jehoiakim) will be buried with a donkey’s burial, dragged off and thrown beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” Then again in Jeremiah 36:30, “Thus said the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah…his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.” His son Jehoiachin also referred to as Coniah in Jeremiah 22:24 and 28 and as Jeconiah in Jeremiah 29:2, became king in his place.

Unfortunately, Jehoiachin only had a very brief spell on the throne. During his reign, Babylon was the dominant nation. Egypt which his father relied upon was defeated by Babylon at the battle of Carchemish. Here in 2 Kings 24:7, the Bible declared that all Egypt’s belongings were taken over by Babylon and that Egypt did not come to Judah again. But Jehoiachin was not better than his father. Second Kings 24:9 woefully declares that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.” He was 18 years old when he became king and warmed the throne in Jerusalem only for three months.

Second Chronicles 36:10 said that King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin with all the valuable articles of the house of the LORD to Babylon. In Jeremiah 22:28-30, God through the prophet indicted him saying:

“Is this man Coniah (Jehoiachin) a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his descendants been hurled out
And cast into a land that they had not known?
“O land, land, land,
Hear the word of the Lord!

 

“Thus says the Lord,

 

‘Write this man down childless,
A man who will not prosper in his days;
For no man of his descendants will prosper
Sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling again in Judah.’”

Jehoiachin was no better than any of the evil kings of Judah. In his place, the Babylonians installed his uncle Zedekiah as a puppet king to rule Judah and Jerusalem. His ending was no different from all the other kings of Judah who had been described as evil in the sight of God. In his life, again the lesson that none who chooses the path of evil can escape divine retribution is reinforced. Let his life be an example for us not to choose an evil path and go against God. Instead let us heed the call of Jesus in Matthew 5:16 to “let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven.”