JOAKIM (ELIACIM). - King of Judah (608-597 BC), eldest son of King Josiah, was placed on the throne after the deposition of his brother Jehoahaz (v.), by Pharaoh Necho, who changed his name from Eliacim to J., perhaps intending by this gesture to pay homage to the religion of Jahweh (Jehôjâqim = "Jahweh establishes") and even more to emphasize his high sovereignty over Judah. In a few years he brought the country to complete subjugation and ruin. Presumptuous, superstitious, and cruel, he committed grave sins, shedding much innocent blood and persecuting the prophets: one of these, Uriah, was put to death for having foretold the end of the city and the kingdom (Jer. 26:20 ff.).
The first three years passed fairly quietly under the high control of the Pharaoh of Egypt, to whom J. had to immediately render homage and pay tribute (2 Kings 23:35). But with the defeat at Carchemish (605 BC), Egypt lost its predominance, and Syria and Palestine fell under the supremacy of Babylon, which, however, for some time remained merely nominal, as Nebuchadnezzar was detained in his own land. In those years (605-607 BC) the kingdom of Judah was also able to benefit and enjoy greater autonomy. But the situation had changed, and J. erred in persisting in his pro-Egyptian policy, which was bound to provoke the reprisals of the Babylonian king. The most fervent Yahwists, such as the prophet Jeremiah (v.), were opposed to this political course, seeing in it a grave danger not only to the security of the nation but also to religion. Indeed, under King J. the various idolatrous cults, which had been suppressed by his father Josiah (v.), immediately regained strength and spread. Jeremiah himself, accused of defeatism, was continually persecuted by this king: he suffered imprisonment, insults, beatings, and death threats. One day, in the fifth year of his reign, J. had all the prophecies of the prophet read to him, and as the scroll was unrolled, the impious king cut to pieces the portions read and burned them. But Jeremiah dictated the prophecies anew to Baruch and added new ones, foretelling also the ignoble end of the unworthy monarch (Jer. 36). Indeed, after settling matters in Mesopotamia, Nebuchadnezzar soon made his sovereignty felt in Syria and Palestine (c. 601 BC). Some princes of those lands hastened to render homage and pay tribute (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, X, 6, 1-2). As for the king of Judah, it seems that the hand of the new master was felt more harshly, if the news transmitted only by 2 Chron. 36:6 ff. is to be referred to here, that Nebuchadnezzar put King J. in chains and plundered the Temple. It seems that Nebuchadnezzar, aware of J.’s pro-Egyptian policy, at first treated him harshly, but later, having received a promise of loyalty, released him and restored him to the throne (in this sense the notice in Dan. 1:1, that in the third year of J.’s reign Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, took the king himself, and carried off the Temple vessels, would also agree: but the chronological indication, as seems likely, is to be attributed to a copyist’s error, and perhaps the original text read “eighth year” rather than “third year”: cf. G. Ricciotti, p. 482).
But the forced vassalage to Babylon lasted only a short time. J., scorning Jeremiah’s repeated warnings, continued in his heart to side with Egypt, secretly maturing plans for a revolt that, after three years, became open rebellion against the Chaldean empire. Nebuchadnezzar at first limited himself to sending against the rebellious king of Judah armed bands of Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites, together with some Chaldean detachments (2 Kings 24:2); a few months later he himself came to besiege Jerusalem. But he found that King J. had died shortly before (at the age of 36), perhaps by violent death (either in battle or as the result of a conspiracy). After a three-month siege Jerusalem fell (597 BC), and the new king Jehoiachin (v.) and Jeconiah surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar.