Jeremiah 22:10-12

The Inadequacy of Jehoahaz (Jeremiah 22:10).

When Josiah was killed seeking to prevent the Egyptians from going to the aid of the Assyrians, the Egyptians were for a while rampant, controlling the whole area as far as Carchemish, and from there Pharaoh Necoh sent for Jehoahaz, whose other name was Shallum (1 Chronicles 3:15), in order that he might submit to Egypt and pay tribute. But as far as Pharaoh was concerned Judah had proved themselves to be hostile and thus Jehoahaz was then despatched to Egypt as a hostage, while Jehoiakim, a far less able man, was appointed king. Jehoahaz was the youngest son of Josiah, and the initial choice of him as king by the elders of Judah suggests that he was seen as the most capable of the brothers to cope with a difficult time. We may understand then that there may have been those who, while he was in Egypt, began to give him the equivalent of Messiahship status, and to look for his return, possibly at the head of an Egyptian army.

Jeremiah puts the shutters down on such an idea straight away. This would appear to have been not too long after Josiah's death, for he calls on his compatriots not to weep for ‘the dead' (Josiah), but to weep for the one who has gone away and will never return (Jehoahaz).

Jeremiah 22:10

“Weep you not for the dead, nor bemoan him,

But weep bitterly for him who goes away,

For he will return no more,

Nor see his native country.”

Jeremiah's message is straightforward. Josiah is dead and the weeping for him must now be seen as over. For what they should now be weeping bitterly for is the missing Jehoahaz. And the reason why they should weep bitterly for him is because he has gone away and will never return to his native country, leaving the country in the unworthy hands of Jehoiakim..

Jeremiah 22:11

‘For thus says YHWH touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place,

“He shall not return there any more,

But in the place where they have led him captive,

There will he die,

And he will see this land no more.”

For this was what YHWH had told him ‘concerning Shallum'. Shallum was apparently his given name at birth (1 Chronicles 3:15) while Jehoahaz was probably his throne name. But Shallum had ‘gone forth out of this place' to parley with Pharaoh at Carchemish (he would have had little choice in the matter). And there he was made a captive and carried off to Egypt as a hostage. And it is confirmed again, this time by YHWH, that he would die in Egypt and see his native land no more. Thus any hopes that people had in him should be forgotten.