1
It was during his reign that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the country. Jehoiakim became his puppet. But after three years he had had enough and revolted.
2
God dispatched a succession of raiding bands against him: Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite. The strategy was to destroy Judah. Through the preaching of his servants and prophets, God had said he would do this, and now he was doing it.
3
None of this was by chance - it was God's judgment as he turned his back on Judah because of the enormity of the sins of Manasseh - Manasseh, the killer-king,
4
who made the Jerusalem streets flow with the innocent blood of his victims. God wasn't about to overlook such crimes.
5
The rest of the life and times of Jehoiakim is written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
6
Jehoiakim died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became the next king.
7
The threat from Egypt was now over - no more invasions by the king of Egypt - for by this time the king of Babylon had captured all the land between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River, land formerly controlled by the king of Egypt.
8
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. His rule in Jerusalem lasted only three months. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.
9
In God's opinion he also was an evil king, no different from his father.