II Chronicles 36:5: “Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.”
Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah, king of Judah. Josiah was the last of the good kings. He came to power at the age of eight and, through the influence of a Godly mother, he destroyed all the idols, discovered the Holy Scriptures that had been hidden away and led the people back to the Word of God and brought a great revival to the land. However, at the end of his life, he feared the Assyrians. The Assyrian empire was in decline and sought to re-establish itself as a world power by forming an alliance with Egypt. Despite the warnings by the prophets against leaning on the arm of the flesh Josiah marched against the Egyptians who were on their way to aid the Assyrians. They met in a battle in the valley of Megiddo. Because Josiah did not trust God and took an army to stop the Egyptians he was killed in the ensuing battle.
Jehoahaz, his 23 year old son took over the throne and ruled for three months. After the death of Josiah, the battle with the Egyptians continued to go bad and the Egyptians soon demanded heavy tribute from Judah. After three months the Egyptians demanded that he step down and let his older brother take over the throne. This was Jehoiakim.who at 25 (which is the number for repentance) was also rightfully the king as he was the eldest son of Josiah. He ruled for 11 years which is the number for chaos and judgment. Jehoiakim in Hebrew means “he whom Jehovah has set up.” Actually his birth name was Eliakim which means “he whom God sets up.” This is very strange for a man who did evil in the sight of Jehovah to change his change his name from “he whom God sets up” to “he whom Jehovah sets up.”
He wanted his name to declare that it was Jehovah who set him up as king, not God or Elohim. Jehovah carried the thought of a merciful loving God where Elohim carried the thought of a God of judgment. He wanted to preach a smooth loving message when he should have been preaching a message of repentance for judgment was coming.
Perhaps it was just a public relations thing as he really did not display any passion for Jehovah. We are told he did evil in the sight of the Lord. The word evil is Hara.
Note there is an article in front of the word. He did the evil in the sight of the Lord. What is the evil? This particular evil is raja’ which has a double Ayin. This evil is an abuse of power and leadership coming from a heart filled with greed. It is using your leadership or power to satisfy your selfish needs rather than the needs of those who have been entrusted to you. The evil here is using God’s power and privileges for selfish gain.
Jeremiah was King Jehoiakim’s advisor, but King Jehoiakim would not listen to him. In Jeremiah 36:1-32 we learn he burned the manuscript of one of the prophecies of Jeremiah. Jeremiah criticized King Jehoiakim’s policies insisting on repentance and strict adherence to the law of God. Another prophet, Uriah Ben Shemaiah was put to death by King Jehoiakim for the same message.
King Jehoiakim paid tribute to Egypt until it appeared Egypt would be defeated by the Babylonians and then he began to pay tribute to the Babylonians. After three years with the Egyptians and Babylonians still at war it appeared the Egyptians had the edge so King Jehoiakim started to pay tribute to the Egyptians. This guy not only leaned on the arm of the flesh, he embraced it. This led the Babylonians to lay siege on Jerusalem resulting in the eventual fall of Jerusalem in 597 BC and the deportation of the royal family and other Jewish nobility (including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego) to Babylon. Jehoiakim died at this time, we don’t know how, but he was taken by the Babylonians in chains.
So what was this great evil that he did in the sight of the Lord? We often picture this great evil as the King sitting in an orgy with a prostitute on his lap, a glass of wine in one hand and a roast leg of lamb in the other while worshipping some idol. Actually, it was worse than that. He had been given a position of authority by God to protect the people of Israel. Rather than trust God to protect them from the Egyptians and the Babylonians, he taxed the people into poverty to bribe his enemies to leave them alone. He depended upon the natural, on the arm of the flesh, on that which seemed right and logical to protect the nation rather than depend on that which seemed quite irrational, just trusting God as his ancestor David had done. Rather than follow the advice of Jeremiah and call the nation to repentance and submission to the Word of God, he tried to pay his way out of a crisis.
Many a ministry has gone down in flames because its leader in a moment of panic over an Egyptian or Assyrian threat runs to the arm of the flesh and pays tribute to the Egyptians or Assyrians rather than running in prayer and repentance to God. They commit hara, the evil.
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