Week 23 2 Chronicles 36
In 2023 I looked at the kings of Judah and ranked them according to their character qualities: Top-to-Bottom. Best-to-Worst. I posted my final list – one-to-fifteen – on May 31 2023.
I admitted last year that I was cheating on my King List by making Josiah the last king. The fact is that there were four more kings after Josiah but I didn’t count them was because they were basically puppets controlled by foreign countries.
The four kings not on my 2023 list were: Jehoahaz Jehoiakim Jehoiachin & Zedekiah. I decided to take a look at them this year.
The stories of all four are in 2 Chronicles 36. Short accounts – averaging about 5.5 verses each. Luckily I remember from last year to double-check the Kings versions of the stories. They’re in 2 Kings 23-25.
Key facts about the Jehoahaz the fourth last king:
He was 23 years old when he became king
He reigned for three months
He was deposed & exiled by the king of Egypt (he died in an Egyptian prison)
He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.
One thing I’d completely forgotten about was that Jeremiah prophesied during the exact time of these last four kings. In fact Jeremiah’s long career went from the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign in Judah…until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.
I figured Jeremiah might add some details. But in the end he didn’t have much to say about Jehoahaz.
Note: quotes from 2 Kings 23:32 & Jeremiah 1:2-3 (NLT)