Jer 22:10-30 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Jer 22:10-30: 22:10-30 This section contains a series of severe indictments against the descendants of Josiah. Summary for Jer 22:10-12: 22:10-12 The dead king was Josiah, who was killed by the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo in 609 BC . The people of Judah were not to weep or mourn his death. Their sorrow should center on Josiah’s son, whom they had chosen as the new king. After three months, King Jehoahaz was taken into exile in Egypt, where he spent the rest of his life (2 Kgs 23:1-33 ; 2 Chr 36:1-8 ).

Summary for Jer 22:10-30: 22:10-30 ^a This section contains a series of severe indictments against the descendants of Josiah.
Summary for Jer 22:10-12: 22:10-12 ^b The dead king was Josiah, who was killed by the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo in 609 BC. The people of Judah were not to weep or mourn his death. Their sorrow should center on Josiah’s son, whom they had chosen as the new king. After three months, King Jehoahaz was taken into exile in Egypt, where he spent the rest of his life (2 Kgs 23:1-33 ^c; 2 Chr 36:1-8 ^d).
Summary for Jer 22:13-23: 22:13-23 ^e Egypt placed another of Josiah’s sons, Eliakim, on the throne in Jerusalem. His name was changed to Jehoiakim. Most of the material in chs 7–20 ^f was probably written during Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598 BC). The Lord indicted him because of his faithlessness and greed, brought him to trial, declared him guilty, and pronounced the death penalty against him. 22:13 ^g Because Jehoiakim forced poor men to work as slaves with no pay, his building projects had injustice built into their walls.
22:14 ^h a magnificent palace: Archaeologists have unearthed the foundations of what is believed to be this palace three miles south of Jerusalem. The foundations indicate that the building had huge rooms.
Summary for Jer 22:15-16: 22:15-16 ⁱ If Jehoiakim wanted plenty to eat and drink, he did not have to resort to corruption and oppression. Compared with his prosperous father, Josiah, Jehoiakim was not a great king. Josiah, by contrast, had been just and right in all his dealings, a servant of God and his people. Because he had lived up to the requirements of the ancient covenant, God blessed him.
22:17 ^j Unlike his father, Josiah, Jehoiakim practiced greed and dishonesty and ignored the requirements of the covenant.
Summary for Jer 22:18-23: 22:18-23 ^k God delivered his verdict against Jehoiakim’s terrible sins. Neither his family nor his subjects would mourn for him.
22:19 ^l Jehoiakim died in disgrace (see study note on 2 Kgs 24:6).
22:20 ^m Jehoiakim might have believed that the nation’s close neighbors, including Lebanon and Bashan, would support him in a time of crisis. They could not, because the Babylonians had already destroyed them.

• Bashan was in the regions east of the Jordan river.
22:22 ⁿ The days of prosperity were gone, and chaos enveloped Judah. Like a wind sweeping through the land, the Babylonians would defeat Judah’s allies and take many captives.

• Surely then you will see: Royal self-delusions would be swept aside and the consequences of wickedness would cause the king to be ashamed.
Summary for Jer 22:24-30: 22:24-30 ^o Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim, came to the throne at the age of eighteen in 597 BC. The Babylonians attacked Jerusalem because of his father’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. After only three months on the throne, Jehoiachin had sense enough to surrender, and he was taken captive to Babylon (2 Kgs 24:8-14 ^p), along with most of the royal family.
Summary for Jer 22:25-27: 22:25-27 ^q Young king Jehoiachin was desperately afraid that the Babylonians would kill him, but instead they took him into exile.
Summary for Jer 22:28-30: 22:28-30 ^r This poem, a taunt directed at Jehoiachin, included two rhetorical questions with the expected answer, “I don’t know.” However, Jehoiachin’s sins and those of his forefathers were the reasons for his fate. Still, the people of Jerusalem seemed unwilling to accept the justice of his exile.
22:29 ^s O earth: Faithful nature is called as a witness in God’s case against his faithless people (see also 6:19 ^t; Deut 30:19 ^u; Isa 1:2 ^v).
22:30 ^w Although Jehoiachin had seven sons (see 1 Chr 3:17 ^x), he was called childless because none of them ever sat on the throne of Judah. His uncle Zedekiah later reigned as king of Judah, but many Israelites regarded Jehoiachin as the last legitimate king of David’s dynasty (see study note on Ezek 1:2).