hide text
Jehoiakim reigned as a puppet king for 11 years (609-598 B.C.). He was a weak ruler who did not stand up for Judah's interests against her hostile enemies.
In 605 B.C. Prince Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonian army of his father Nabopolassar against the allied forces of Assyria and Egypt and defeated them at Carchemish. This victory, as previously explained, gave Babylon supremacy in the ancient Near East. With Babylon's victory Egypt's vassals, including Judah, came under Babylon's control. Shortly after that same year Nabopolassar died, and Nebuchadnezzar succeeded him. Nebuchadnezzar then moved south and invaded Judah (605 B.C.). He took some captives to Babylon including Daniel (Dan. 1:1-3). This was the first of Judah's three deportations in which the Babylonians took groups of Judahites to Babylon.
Jehoiakim submitted to Nebuchadnezzar for three years but then rebelled. He appealed to Egypt for help unsuccessfully (24:1, 7). Foreign raiders who sought to take advantage of her weakened condition besieged Judah (24:2). The Babylonians then took Jehoiakim to Babylon (2 Chron. 36:6). Later they allowed him to return to Jerusalem where he died (Jer. 22:19).
Jehoiakim did little to postpone God's judgment on Judah for her previous sins. The prophet Jeremiah despised him for his wickedness (Jer. 22:18-19; 26:20-23; 36).
