- 152-
After a not uncommon practice (Comp. Genesis 41:45; Ezra 5:14; Daniel 1:7), and to
show how entirely the new king was his subject, Necho changed his name, Eliakim, into
Jehoiakim - "Jehovah setteth up" - the selection of the name being probably determined
by a regard for its effect upon the people. A tribute of 100 talents of silver and one talent
of gold was imposed upon the land. This sum, so small as compared with the tribute
formerly imposed by Tiglath-pileser on Menahem of Samaria (2 Kings 15:19), and that
given to Sennacherib by Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:14), and amounting to only about 37,500
pounds in silver and 6,750 pounds in gold, affords evidence of the impoverishment of the
country. After the example of Menahem of Samaria (2 Kings 15:20), Jehoiakim raised
the tribute by a general tax upon the land. It was an ominous precedent to follow. But, to
use the language of a great writer,* the twenty-three years which elapsed between the
decease of Josiah and the final deportation to Babylon, were only "the dying time" of the
kingdom of Judah.
- Ewald, as quoted by Bahr, ad loc.
(^)