Jeremiah 22:13-23

2. The folly of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:13-23)

TRANSLATION

(13) Woe to him that builds his house with unrighteousness and his upper chambers with injustice; who makes his neighbor serve for nothing and does not give his wages to him; (14) who says, I will build for myself a roomy house, with spacious upper rooms, and cuts windows for it, paneling it with cedar, and painting it red. (15) Shall you continue to reign because you are striving earnestly to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and establish justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. (16) He judged the cause of the poor and needy. Then it was well. Is not this what it means to know Me (oracle of the LORD)? (17) But your eyes and your heart are fixed solely upon your ill-gotten gain, and upon shedding innocent blood and upon practicing oppression and violence. (18) Therefore, thus says the LORD to Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him: Ah my brother! or Ah sister! They shall not lament for him: As lord! or Ah his glory! (19) With the burial of an ass shall he be buried, dragged and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. (20) Go up to Lebanon and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan, cry out from Abarim! for all of your lovers are destroyed! (21) I spoke unto you in your prosperity. But you said, I will not harken. This has been your way from your youth, that you have not hearkened to My voice. (22) The wind shall shepherd all of your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity; surely then you will be ashamed and perplexed because of all of your evil. (23) O inhabitant of Lebanon, You who make your nest among the cedars, how you are to be pitied when pangs come on you, travail like a woman in childbirth.

COMMENTS

Jehoiakim was placed on the throne of Judah by Pharaoh Necho when Jehoahaz was deported to Egypt in 609 B.C. The stupidity of this monarch was only equaled by his pride, cruelty and covetousness. Jehoiakim was not satisfied to occupy the palace which his father Josiah had occupied before him. He wanted a bigger and more luxurious home like the rulers of Egypt or Babylon. With Solomon-like zeal this puny prince set about to build a magnificent palace. Contrary to the teaching of the law and the prophets he forced his countrymen to labor on this ill-conceived project without remuneration. The Hebrew prophets denounced this practice which was common in the ancient Near East. Not even a king could demand unpaid services from his subjects! Thus Jehoiakim was building his house with unrighteousness and injustice (Jeremiah 22:13). And what a house that was to bea roomy house with upper chambers and windows, the interior paneled with cedar and painted red (Jeremiah 22:14).

In Jeremiah 22:15 Jeremiah drives home the point that there is more to being a king than surrounding oneself with luxury. Jehoiakim need not think that he is entitled to reign merely because he can rival others in the building of cedar houses. By way of contrast to the pompous plans of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah points to the way that good king Josiah had conducted the affairs of the kingdom. Josiah ate and drank, i.e., he enjoyed the comforts of his regal status. But at the same time he established justice and righteousness in the land. He understood the responsibilities of kingship and performed those duties. He recognized the rights of other men and respected them. As a result Josiah prospered and was blessed of God because he put first things first (Jeremiah 22:15). He judged the cause of the poor and needy, i.e., he was cognizant of the rights and needs of the less fortunate. A man who really knows the Lord will see and seek to alleviate human suffering (Jeremiah 22:16).

Jehoiakim was the exact opposite of his godly father. He was determined to restore the glory of the throne and the splendor of the court. Any little people who stood in his way were ruthlessly eliminated. His covetous eye and wicked heart were fixed on ill-gotten gain. He would stop at nothing, even murder, to enlarge his holdings (Jeremiah 22:17).

Because of his flagrant wickedness Jehoiakim would meet with an exceedingly shameful end. It was customary in Judah as in all other countries of the ancient Near East for kings and nobles to be interred with regal pomp and to have special dirges recited over their graves. Because he was universally loved, the whole nation lamented the death of godly king Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:25). But no one will shed a tear when Jehoiakim passes from the scene. The word Ah is part of the vocabulary of lamentation and signifies extreme distress and sorrow. Ah my brother! or Ah sister! was no doubt a lament commonly uttered by relatives and friends of the deceased (1 Kings 13:30) while the cry Ah lord! or Ah his majesty! was presumably an expression of grief reserved for the death of a king (cf. Jeremiah 34:5). No mourners will assemble at the tomb of Jehoiakim to express sympathy for one another upon the loss of a great king. Still less would any lamentation be heard at his death that mentioned the lordship of Jehoiakim or his glory (Jeremiah 22:18). On the contrary Jehoiakim who loved to live in pomp and splendor would be buried with the burial of an ass, The burial of an ass would be no burial. The carcass of the animal would simply be left to rot in the open field. No specific passage states that this prophecy was fulfilled. But 2 Kings 24:6 does state Jehoiakim slept with his fathers[219] without mentioning the Place of his burial. In most cases the Book of Kings mentions where the kings of Judah were buried. The fact that in the case of Jehoiakim this detail was omitted suggests that he did not receive the customary burial. If this last indignity was heaped upon Jehoiakim after his death (and there is no good reason to think otherwise), then it was perpetrated by the people of Judah, not by the Chaldeans. Jehoiakim died just before the armies of Nebuchadnezzar arrived at the walls of Jerusalem in 597 B.C. Another, though less likely, possibility is that the Babylonians dug up the body of the recently buried Jehoiakim as a final act of vengeance against him for violating the terms of his vassal treaty with Nebuchadnezzar.

[219] The same terminology is used of Ahab who died a violent death at the hands of the Syrians (1 Kings 22:40).

Divine punishment awaits the nation as well as the king. Under the figure of a woman, Israel is called upon to ascend the heights and bewail the fate of the country. The places namedLebanon, Bashan, Abarimwere locations through which the Chaldeans would shortly pass on their sweep southward toward Judah. The Lebanon mountains were the northern entrance to Palestine. The Chaldeans would then pass through the hills of Bashan in the northeast. The Abarim is the mountain range southeast of the Dead Sea in which Mt. Nebo was one of the prominent peaks. Everywhere the cry of lamentation is taken Up as the enemy moves toward Jerusalem. No help arises from any quarter for all the lovers have been destroyed (Jeremiah 22:20). These lovers are nations which had foolishly banded together in some sort of political pact to withstand Nebuchadnezzar.

God had spoken to Israel in times of prosperity but the nation had stubbornly refused to hearken to His words. From the time when Israel became a nation she had refused to give heed to the word of God (Jeremiah 22:21). Judah's shepherds, her political and religious leaders, will be driven by the wind as they are swept away into exile. Normally shepherds drive the flock before them. But God will shepherd the shepherds of Israel by means of the wind of divine judgment. The political lovers, allied nations in whom Israel trusted, will also go into captivity. The men of Judah will be ashamed and perplexed as they come to realize the terrible evil which they have committed against their God (Jeremiah 22:22). Hitherto Jerusalem had enjoyed security like a bird nestled among the cedars in the high mountains of the Lebanon range. For this reason Jeremiah addresses the residents of Jerusalem as inhabitant of Lebanon. The use of the figure Lebanon for Jerusalem is also appropriate in view of the fact that so many of the palaces and official buildings of that city were built of cedar wood from the Lebanon mountains (1 Kings 7:2; 1 Kings 1 Kings 10-17, 1 Kings 10:21). Jeremiah has nothing but pity for the proud city as he contemplates the terrible agony which she must shortly endure, an agony comparable only to that suffered by a woman in travail (Jeremiah 22:23).