King Jehoiakim (Eliakim)

How He Became King: Pharaoh put him in power
When He Began Reigning: 25 years old
Reign Length: 11 years
Ruled Over: Judah
Type of King: Evil
Prophet: Jeremiah
Death: Uncertain; carried off to Babylon
Burial: Unknown

After Pharaoh removed Jehoahaz from power, he put Josiah’s son Jehoiakim on the throne. Jehoiakim began reigning when he was 25 years old, and he ruled over Judah for 11 years. He was a wicked king:

2 Kings 23:36: “Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.”

When Pharaoh demanded tribute from the country, Jehoiakim taxed the land in order to raise the funds:

2 Kings 23:33: “And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. . .
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.”

During his reign, God sent Jeremiah to prophesy to the king in order to get him to repent and change his ways. Instead of repenting, however, the king took Jeremiah’s words and burned them:

Jeremiah 36:21: “So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.
22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
23 And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.”

Because he despised the words of the Lord, God promised to curse him:

Jeremiah 36:30: “Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.”

When Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, Jehoiakim served him for three years, but then rebelled. The Lord was against Jehoiakim and sent armies against Judah to destroy it:

2 Kings 24:1: “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;
4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.”

Jehoiakim’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar did not go well. Nebuchadnezzar defeated him and carried him away in chains to Babylon:

2 Chronicles 36:6: “Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.”

His son Jehoiachin then reigned in his stead.