In our last study session we learned that King Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, as did several other vassal states, when Nebuchadnezzar had to leave off his campaign to conquer the territories of the Levant in order to rush home to secure his right to the crown upon his father's death. Perhaps because Nebuchadnezzar's attentions were divided now between being both the king and the leader of the army, his role as general of the army wasn't as successful for the first third of his reign as it had been while he was concentrating only on the army while his father was still alive. His attempted invasion of Egypt was a disaster and this led Jehoiakim and several other leaders to think Egypt was going to end up back on top. Jehoakim transferred his allegiance back to Pharaoh, believing this would be the winning side, but this was an error in judgment. Nebuchadnezzar came back and laid siege to Jerusalem.
The authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles don't provide us with many details of Jehoiakim's downfall except to say: "The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by His servants the prophets." (2 Kings 24:2) And: "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon." (2 Chronicles 36:6)
Nebuchadnezzar's army was made up of a mixture of nations. His soldiers weren't just men of Babylon but were also from Syria, Moab, and Ammon. These people believed Babylon was the nation with which to ally themselves at this time, plus it was common for ancient kings to hire mercenaries to go out with their armies. The people of Syria, Moab, and Ammon wanted to be on the winning side and some of them may have been paid to join up with Babylon. Not only that, but these nations certainly felt no love for the nation of Judah and were probably eager to attack it.
The Lord is going to allow Judah to be conquered because idolatry has grown so rampant, which is an issue we will study in more detail when we arrive at the books of the prophets. We will study Nebuchadnezzar's attacks on Judah in more detail then too.
Jehoiakim himself is an idolatrous man, for we were told he did evil in the eyes of the Lord after the manner of his predecessors. His father Josiah was a godly man but his grandfather Amon and his great-grandfather Manasseh were two of the most wicked kings of Judah where idolatry and crimes against humanity were concerned. Manasseh did repent near the end of his life but the damage done by his state-sponsored idolatrous religious system had already been done; countless individuals had wholeheartedly followed him into idolatry. His son and successor, Amon, was not interested in his father's conversion and religious reforms and he undid those reforms when he came to the throne. This revived the people's interest in pagan practices. Although Amon's son Josiah outlawed public idolatry during his reign and removed the pagan altars and images from the land, a great deal of the individuals clung to idolatry in their hearts. As soon as Josiah died his first successor, Jehoahaz, openly practiced idolatry. Pharaoh Necho II deposed him and replaced him with his brother Eliakim who he renamed Jehoiakim but Jehoiakim wasn't any better of a man than Jehoahaz. Everyone is doing whatever they please at this time. Those who love the Lord are still being faithful to the Lord but they are in the minority.
The downward spiral the nation is experiencing at this time was begun on a very large scale by Manasseh and that's why, even though he repented, he's credited with playing a big part in the coming disaster. "Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord's command, in order to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive." (2 Kings 24:3-4)
I don't think the author is saying that Manasseh's conversion wasn't real or that the Lord didn't hear and accept his prayer of repentance. But the crimes that were committed in Judah must be avenged by a holy God. Manasseh sacrificed some of his children to the heathen deity Molek and his actions encouraged an untold number of people to do the same. This innocent blood cries out to the Lord from the ground, as did the blood of Abel who was murdered by his brother. (Genesis 4:10) Manasseh indeed appears to have genuinely repented but the same cannot be said for everyone. His son Amon rejected the Lord and clung to the heathen idols Manasseh formerly worshiped. Many of the people throughout the land did the same. Josiah did everything he could to turn the nation back to the Lord and I think his efforts must have borne some fruit but there were those who could not be persuaded to avoid idolatry---not even his own sons! Immediately upon his death, his sons openly engaged in and encouraged the worship of heathen gods. No doubt sacrifices to Molek resumed. The Lord's judgment is about to fall on the nation for this and I think that what the author means when he says "the Lord was not willing to forgive" is that the Lord was not going to withhold judgment any longer. He gave the people a wonderful opportunity to repent and prevent their nation from falling when He raised up Josiah to be king over them for thirty-one years. Had the majority of the citizens given their hearts to the Lord and remained faithful to Him, the calamity we are now studying would not have had to happen. But they did not and now the time is up. There won't be any more reprieves. Judgment is going to be poured out. The Lord is not going to forget all the innocent blood that has been shed. There is no forgiveness where there is no repentance.
The Bible doesn't describe for us all the wicked things Jehoiakim himself did but simply says this: "The other events of Jehoiakim's reign, the detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in the books of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king." (2 Chronicles 36:8) Rabbinic tradition has it that he engaged in a number of incestuous relationships with women of his family, including his own mother! It is said he also had an affair with his step-mother and with a daughter-in-law as well. Although he was not related to those two women by blood, such relationships were forbidden by the law the Lord gave to the people through Moses. We do not know whether any of these women consented to sleeping with him or whether he forced them. Another tradition about him is that, if he saw and fancied any particular woman, he would order her husband killed so he could take the woman into his harem. Aside from these sexual sins, I would not be surprised to know that he (like some of his forefathers) made human sacrifices to Molek. And in the book of Jeremiah we will find out about some other things Jehoiakim did, including burning a scroll containing the word of God in the fireplace at the palace, which was done to show his utter disdain for the Lord---much like if a person today publicly renounced the Lord and threw the Holy Bible onto a bonfire.
Things are not going to get any better after Jehoiakim is removed from the throne of Judah because his son will also do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
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