all the nation of Israel.

{332}

JEHOAHAZ.

(Jehoahaz was the third son of Josiah, but was made king after the
death of his father over the heads of his brothers. His reign lasted
only three months. Neco the Egyptian, conqueror of Josiah at Megiddo,
sent a detachment to Jerusalem which deposed the king and took him
away captive to Egypt.)

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made
him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty and
three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in
Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and took
tribute from the land, an hundred talents of silver and a talent of
gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah
and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took
Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

{333}{334}

[Illustration]
AN OLD STREET OF JERUSALEM
[End illustration]

{335}

JEHOIAKIM.

(The Egyptians who deposed Jehoahaz put Eliakim, whose name they
changed to Jehoiakim, on the throne and he became during his reign of
eleven years one of the worst and most idolatrous kings who ever sat
upon the throne. He persecuted the prophets of his time, and
especially Jeremiah. His hatred of this great prophet, and how he put
him in the foulest dungeon of Jerusalem, is told elsewhere. [Footnote:
In Volume V. of this series.] The following is one of the prophet's
fierce denunciations of this wicked king:)--

"Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and
speak there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, O king of
Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants,
and thy people that enter in by these gates. Thus saith the Lord:
Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of
the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the
stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood
in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter
in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David,
riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his
people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith
the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.' For thus saith
the Lord concerning the house of {336} the king of Judah: 'Thou art
Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will