took Joahaz ... to Egypt] He died in Egypt; 2 Kings xxiii. 34; Jeremiah xxii. 12.
5–8 (= 1 Esdras i. 39–42; 2 Kings xxiii. 36–xxiv. 6).
The Reign of Jehoiakim.
⁵Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.
5. and he reigned eleven years] So also in Kings. The statement, however, is lacking in 1 Esdras i. 39, so that it is a highly probable inference that the text of Chronicles has here been harmonised with Kings; compare verse 15, and Introduction § 3, p. [xxii].
in Jerusalem] The Chronicler omits his mother’s name (compare verse 2, note) and also the statement that he raised the indemnity imposed by Neco by means of a poll-tax (2 Kings xxiii. 35).
he did that which was evil] Compare 2 Kings xxiii. 37; Jeremiah xxii. 13–18, xxvi. 20–23, xxxvi. 1–32.
⁶Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
6. Nebuchadnezzar] The correct form of his name is “Nebuchadrezzar” (so generally in Jeremiah and Ezekiel); in the inscriptions Nabu-kudurri-uṣur. The name is Assyrian and means “O Nebo, defend the crown” (or “the boundary”), Nebo being a god who was regarded as the son of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon (compare Isaiah xlvi. 1). Nebuchadrezzar reigned from 604–561 B.C., and was succeeded by Evil-Merodach (Amil-Marduk). The only purely historical inscription relating to his reign deals with a campaign in Egypt in 568 B.C.; compare Jeremiah xliii. 11.
came up] It seems probable that Nebuchadrezzar did not in person come up against Jerusalem at the end of Jehoiakim’s reign, nor in person carry off any of the sacred vessels; it is likely moreover that Jehoiakim was not carried to Babylon. The result of Jehoiakim’s rebellion against Nebuchadrezzar was according to 2 Kings simply that “bands” of Chaldeans and their allies invaded Judah. Probably Jehoiakim’s life and reign came to an end (how we do not know; compare Jeremiah xxii. 18, 19) during this petty warfare, and then three months later, the main Chaldean army under Nebuchadrezzar having arrived, Jerusalem was taken, and Jehoiakim’s son and successor Jehoiachin was carried off with the golden vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon. The Chronicler seems to foreshorten the history at this point.
⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple[¹] at Babylon.