Jeremiah 22:10 - Meaning and Application

Kings may seem like gods to us, but they are only men before God, and they die like other men. That truth is shown here in the sentence of death spoken over two kings who ruled one after the other in Jerusalem. They were brothers, and both were unworthy sons of a very godly father.

First comes the judgment on Shallum, who is almost certainly the same man as Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who ruled after Josiah died (Jeremiah 22:11). The people made him king even though he was not the oldest son (2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1). In the list of Josiah’s sons in 1 Chronicles 3:15, the name Shallum appears, but Jehoahaz does not. The people may have chosen him because they thought he was more energetic and bold, and therefore better fitted to rule.

God quickly showed the folly of their unjust choice. Within three months, the king of Egypt came against Jehoahaz, removed him from the throne, and took him as a prisoner to Egypt, just as God had warned would happen (Deuteronomy 28:68). It does not seem that anyone else from the land was taken with him. The story is told in 2 Kings 23:34 and 2 Chronicles 36:4.

The people are told to mourn him more than his father Josiah. “Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him,” that is, do not keep weeping for Josiah. Jeremiah had truly grieved for Josiah and had even stirred the people to mourn for him (2 Chronicles 35:25). But now he tells them to end that mourning, even though Josiah died only three months earlier, and turn their tears in another direction. They must weep bitterly for Jehoahaz, who has been carried off to Egypt.

This was not because Jehoahaz was more useful to the nation than Josiah. In fact, Josiah’s loss was far greater. But Josiah died in peace and honor. He was spared from seeing the coming trouble in this world, and he was taken to the good that was waiting in the next world. So there was no need to weep for him. Instead, they should grieve for his unhappy son, who would likely live and die in shame and misery as a captive. Dying believers may rightly be envied, while living sinners deserve pity. And sometimes the times are so dark that tears for even a Josiah, even a Jesus, must be held back, so they can be kept for ourselves and our children (Luke 23:28).

The reason for this mourning is simple, he will never come back from captivity, as he and the people hoped. They did not want to believe it, so it is repeated again and again: “He shall return no more” (Jeremiah 22:10). He will never again see his homeland. Instead, he will spend his days hearing about its ruin. He has gone out from that place, and he will never return (Jeremiah 22:11). He will die in the place where they have taken him as a prisoner (Jeremiah 22:12). This was the result of leaving his father’s good example and taking the place that belonged to his older brother.

In Ezekiel’s lament for the princes of Israel, this same Jehoahaz is pictured as a young lion that quickly learned how to seize prey, but was captured and carried in chains to Egypt. People kept hoping he would return, but they waited in vain (Ezekiel 19:3-5).

Now comes the judgment on Jehoiakim, who succeeded him. We do not know whether he had a better claim to the crown than Shallum did, since although he was older than his predecessor, there seems to have been another older brother named Johanan (1 Chronicles 3:15). But this much is clear, he ruled no better, and in the end he suffered no better fate.

His sins are first rebuked plainly. It is not fitting for a private person to say to a king, “You are wicked.” But a prophet, who carries a message from God, fails in his duty if he does not speak that message, even to kings, no matter how unpleasant it is. Jehoiakim is not charged here with idolatry, and probably he had not yet killed the prophet Urijah, which he later did (Jeremiah 26:22-23). If he had, that sin would likely have been named here. The sins named are pride and a love of luxury and show.

He wanted to build himself a grand palace, a wide house with large rooms (Jeremiah 22:14). He wanted windows cut in the newest style, perhaps like the sash windows known today. The rooms were to be paneled with cedar, a very costly wood. His house had to be as well finished as the temple itself, or it would not satisfy him (1 Kings 6:15-16). In fact, he wanted it to surpass the temple, with paint of vermilion, a red dye, or, as some read it, indigo, which is blue.

It is lawful for princes and great men to build and furnish their homes in a way that matches their rank. But God knew what was in Jehoiakim’s heart, and he did this in pride. That made something lawful into something sinful, and deeply sinful. So those who are enlarging their houses and making them more splendid must watch their hearts carefully and guard against vain glory.

What was especially wrong in Jehoiakim’s case was that he did all this while the judgments of God were already closing in on him. He ruled his first three years under the king of Egypt’s permission, and the rest under the king of Babylon’s permission. Yet this man, who was little more than a governor, wanted to rival the greatest kings in building and furniture. His attitude was stubborn: “I will build myself a wide house. I have decided I will, no matter who speaks against it.”

This is a common foolishness among people whose wealth is already failing, they still want to put on a fine show. Many keep proud hearts even while God is humbling them. They act haughtily just when God is bringing them low. That is really fighting against our Maker.

Some also think Jehoiakim is here accused of sacrilege, that is, stealing from God’s house to decorate his own.

He cut openings in the walls, and some understand this to mean that he took windows from the temple and used them in his own palace. Then he covered them with red paint, so no one would notice, and they would seem to match the rest of the building. This shows how people try to enrich themselves by robbing God and his house, but they ruin themselves in the end. No matter how much they try to hide it, God sees through it.

Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, is also charged with extortion, oppression, violence, and injustice. He built his house with dishonest money and with materials that he had no right to use. He may even have taken land the way Ahab, king of Israel, took Naboth's vineyard. Because he wanted more than he could afford, he cheated his workers out of their pay, and that sin cries out to the Lord of hosts (James 5:4). God notices the harm done by the great to their poor servants and laborers, and he will repay those who refuse to pay what they owe.

The highest people must see the lowest as their neighbors and treat them justly. Jehoiakim was oppressive not only in his building projects, but also in how he ran his kingdom. He did not care about justice and made no effort to avoid shedding innocent blood when it served his ambition, greed, or revenge. His whole heart was set on covetousness, the love of money that leads to every kind of evil.

The prophet says, “Your eyes and your heart are only for covetousness.” His desires were fixed on wealth, and nothing else. In covetousness, the heart follows the eyes, which is why it is called the lust of the eyes (1 John 2:16; Job 31:7). It means setting your eyes on what is not truly yours (Proverbs 23:5). When a person’s aims and affections are fixed on worldly riches, that temptation can lead to murder, oppression, and all kinds of violence and wickedness.

What made Jehoiakim's sin worse was that he was the son of a good father, who had left him a good example to follow (Jeremiah 22:15-16). Jehoiakim probably mocked his father, Josiah, king of Judah, for living in a plain and inconvenient house, not fit in his mind for a great king. He may have thought his father had low tastes and lacked spirit for grand building. But God says Josiah was a far better man than Jehoiakim, and he did more for himself and his family.

Josiah did justice and righteousness. He never wronged his subjects, never oppressed them, and never put unfair burdens on them. Instead, he protected their rights and property. He did not use his power to support evil, but to defend what was right. He also judged the cause of the poor and needy, ready to hear even the smallest of his subjects and give them justice. Rulers should not live for their own honor and comfort, but for good, especially by defending those who are oppressed.

Josiah was also encouraged to do his duty by the blessing he received from God. The Lord accepted him, saying, “Was this not to know me?” This means Josiah truly knew God and showed it by obeying him. True knowledge of God is shown in doing our duty, especially the duty of our place in life. Josiah also had the comfort of a good life. He ate and drank in moderation and cheerfulness, enough to strengthen him for his work, not to make him drunk (Ecclesiastes 10:17). He did not eat and drink and then forget the law or twist justice for the poor (Proverbs 31:5).

He enjoyed God’s blessing of plenty, and he used it well. He could entertain his friends generously and help the poor freely. Jehoiakim took pride in his fine house, but Josiah’s true honor was that he kept a good house. Those who love display and grandeur often have the least real generosity, because their costly lifestyle squeezes out hospitality, charity, and even justice itself. It is better to live with Josiah in an older house and do good than to live with Jehoiakim in a splendid palace and leave debts unpaid.

Josiah did justice and judgment, and it went well with him, and that is said again for emphasis. He lived comfortably, was respected by his people and neighbors, and whatever he did prospered. While we do what is right, we may expect it to go well with us. Jehoiakim knew that his father found the path of duty to be the path of comfort, yet he refused to walk in it. We should be stirred to keep religion alive in our own day because our godly parents kept it in theirs and proved its goodness to us by experience. They told us that the promises of godliness in this life are true, and that faith and obedience are friends to outward prosperity. So we have no excuse if we turn away from that good way.

Jeremiah then reads Jehoiakim’s doom, and he does it faithfully (Jeremiah 22:18-19). We may think the prophet spoke this at great risk to his own life, yet he says only what the Lord has said, and so he must speak. Jehoiakim will die unlamented. By his oppression and cruelty he had made himself so hateful that people would be glad to be rid of him, and no one would honor him with even one tear. His father, who did justice and righteousness, was deeply mourned, and Zedekiah is promised mourning at his death because he behaved better than Jehoiakim had done (Jeremiah 34:5).

His relatives will not mourn for him, not even with the common words of grief used at the funeral of the poorest person, when people cried, “Ah, my brother,” or “Ah, sister.” His subjects will not mourn for him either, or cry out as they did at the graves of their kings, “Ah, lord,” or “Ah, his glory.” It is a sad thing when a person lives so badly that no one is sorry to lose him when he dies.

Worse still, he will not even be buried. Even people who leave no tears at a funeral still want the dead buried out of sight. But Jehoiakim will have the burial of a donkey, which means no burial at all. His dead body will be thrown into a ditch or onto a dung heap. It will be dragged away in shame and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

The history of Jehoiakim says that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, bound him in chains to take him to Babylon, and Ezekiel says he was brought in fetters to the king of Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:6; Ezekiel 19:9). It is likely that he died as a prisoner before he ever reached Babylon, as had been planned. Perhaps he died of grief, or, in his pride, brought his own end on sooner. For that reason, he was denied a decent burial, as self-murderers often are among us.

Josephus says that Nebuchadnezzar killed him at Jerusalem and left his body exposed some distance from the city gates. Yet it is also said that he “slept with his fathers” (2 Kings 24:6). When he built himself a grand house, he likely planned a grand tomb for himself as well. But see how he was disappointed. Those who are lifted up with great pride are often kept for some great shame, in life or in death.