A son who learns nothing from his father

 Jeremiah 22:11-17

It makes no sense to observe a man who walks with integrity and has a son or sons that do not pray that they also will be men of integrity before God and man.  King Josiah was a man of integrity, but both his grandfather and father were evil and sinful kings.  Josiah was only eight years of age when he became the king of Judah, and he reigned for thirty-one years.  The account of Josiah as a boy/man king: “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all of the ways of David, his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.” (2 Kings 22:2)  Also in 2 Kings 23:25, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.” 

That gives us a hint that his son Jehoiakim did not do as his father at the time of his father's death in battle, Jehoiakim was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months.  His epitaph: “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all his fathers had done.” (2 Kings 23:32)

Now when it refers to fathers it is going back to the line of his father Josiah, it is not referring to King Josiah.  But now the rest of the story about Jehoiakim or your Bible may refer to him as Shallum.  Returning to 2 Kings 23:33, “And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.”  And just like he did to Jehoiakim he put the other son of Josiah whose name was Eliakim and changed his name to Jehoahaz.

This is what God told Jeremiah to proclaim in the hearing of all. “For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”  (Jeremiah 22:11-12)  You may be wondering how a leader can get in that much trouble with God in just three months, and you will find the answer in verses 13-16.  He began a building campaign that was typical of Eastern kings, and he violated Mosaic Law by forcing Judean laborers to build and remodel his palace without pay.  We see in verse 15 Jeremiah making fun of him by asking; “Are you a king because you excel in cedar?”

But somehow Shallum/Jehoiakim learned nothing from his father King Josiah as one can see in verses 15b-17, “Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.  Is not this to know me? Declares the Lord.  But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.”  He listened to the wrong voices, and his kingship was short-lived.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice