intentional opposition to the humiliation with which the royal house of David was threatened by Jeremiah and other prophets. - “But Jehoahaz he had taken (לקח, like יקּח in 2Ki 24:12), and he came to Egypt and died there” - when, we are not told. - In 2Ki 23:35, even before the account of Jehoiakim’s reign, we have fuller particulars respecting the payment of the tribute which Necho imposed upon the land (2Ki 23:33), because it was the condition on which he was appointed king. - “The gold and silver Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh; yet (אך = but in order to raise it) he valued (העריך as in Lev 27:8) the land, to give the money according to Pharaoh’s command; of every one according to his valuation, he exacted the silver and gold of the population of the land, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.” נגשׂ, to exact tribute, is construed with a double accusative, and בּערכּו אישׁ placed first for the sake of emphasis, as an explanatory apposition to הערץ את־עם.
Verses 36-37
2Ki 23:36-37Reign of Jehoiakim (cf. 2Ch 36:5-8). - Jehoiakim reigned eleven years in the spirit of his ungodly forefathers (compare 2Ki 23:37 with 2Ki 23:32). Jeremiah represents him (2Ki 22:13.) as a bad prince, who enriched himself by the unjust oppression of his people, “whose eyes and heart were directed upon nothing but upon gain, and upon innocent blood to shed it, and upon oppression and violence to do them” (compare 2Ki 24:4 and Jer 26:22-23). Josephus therefore describes him as τὴν φύσιν ἄδικος καὶ κακοῦργος, καὶ μήτε πρὸς Θεὸν ὅσιος, μήτε πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιεικής (Ant. x. 5, 2). The town of Rumah, from which his mother sprang, is not mentioned anywhere else, but it has been supposed to be identical with Aruma in the neighbourhood of Shechem (Jdg 9:41).
Chap. 24
Verse 1
2Ki 24:1 “In his days Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babel, came up; and Jehoiakim became subject to him three years, then he revolted from him again.” נבכדנאצּר, Nebuchadnezzar, or נבוּכדראצּר, Nebuchadrezzar (Jer 21:2, Jer 21:7; Jer 22:25, etc.), Ναβουχοδονόσορ (lxx), Ναβουχοδονόσορος (Beros. in Jos. c. Ap. i. 20, 21), Ναβοκοδρόσορος (Strabo, xv. 1, 6), upon the Persian arrow-headed inscriptions at Bisutun Nabhukudracara (according to Oppert, composed of the name of God, Nabhu (Nebo), the Arabic kadr, power, and zar or sar, prince), and in still other forms (for the different forms of the name see M. v.
