On the domestic political level, this period saw the last four kings of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, (1) rise and fall from power in quick progression (II Kgs.
Jehoahaz lasted only three months as monarch before he was deposed by the Egyptians (Jer.
After the death of Josiah, his successor
Jehoahaz was arrested at the headquarters of Necho II at Riblah in northern Syria and deported to Egypt.
He dates the inscription to the beginning of the eighth century and concludes that it records a coalition of
Jehoahaz of Israel and Joash of BaytDawid against Bar Hadad II of Damascus, the son of Hazael.
Parallels with Jeremiah's attacks on Jehoakim suggest that he must have been the wicked king with whom the Egyptians replaced the pro-Babylonian
Jehoahaz, and that is whv Habakkuk sees the coming of the Babylonians as Yahweh's answer to the wicked reign of Jehoiakim.
1) Jehoiakim became king in succession to
Jehoahaz, Josiah's second son, who was deported to Egypt after reigning in Jerusalem for three months.
A few verses later Neco deposes Josiah's son
Jehoahaz and replaces him with his brother Eliakim, whose name he changes to Jehoiakim (2 Chr 36:3-4).
When describing the events following the death of King
Jehoahaz, both Chronicles and Kings give similar accounts about how the late king's mother, Athaliah, had all of his other sons killed in order to seize power for herself and that only the baby brother, Jehoash, was saved.
His son
Jehoahaz, crowned king by the people of the land (II Chron.
Josiah, who was pro-Babylonian, tried to stop Necho and was killed at Megiddo and Necho quickly deposed Josiah's son and successor King
Jehoahaz, apparently because he was also pro-Babylonian, and crowned his brother Jehoiakim as King of Judah.
JEHOAHAZ (608 BCE) (crowned by the am-ha'aretz in 608 and deposed by Egypt the same year)
The Judean am-haaretz--the landed gentry (1)--put Josiah's son Jehoahaz on the throne, but Necho, the Egyptian pharaoh, hurried to depose him and carry him off into captivity.
