2 Kings Chapter 23

The Reforms of Josiah

A. The covenant and the reforms of King Josiah.

1. (2 Kings 23:1-3) The covenant is renewed.

2 Kings 23:1-3, KJV:
“And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book, and all the people stood to the covenant.”

King Josiah responded rightly to the prophetic warning that judgment was coming, and though the disaster would not fall in his own lifetime, he refused to become apathetic. Instead, he moved into decisive leadership. He summoned the elders of Judah and Jerusalem because national repentance could not rest on his shoulders alone. True reform requires leadership at every level. Josiah understood that the spiritual state of the kingdom demanded corporate humility, and he gathered the elders so that the entire covenant community could confront the seriousness of their condition before God.

Josiah personally read the Book of the Covenant in the hearing of the people. This reveals the depth of his conviction. He did not delegate this task to priests or scribes. He considered the word of God so essential that he himself took responsibility to proclaim it to the nation. A king who honors Scripture will act on it, and Josiah modeled what it means for a leader to bring his people under the authority of the written word. His reading ensured that every layer of society, from the least to the greatest, heard plainly what God required.

Josiah then stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, publicly committing himself to walk after the Lord, to keep His commandments, testimonies, and statutes, with all his heart and soul. This was a deliberate act of allegiance. The phrase “made a covenant” literally means “cut a covenant,” an ancient practice involving the cutting of an animal and passing between the parts, symbolizing death to the one who breaks the agreement. This recalls Genesis 15:17, where the Lord confirmed His covenant with Abram, and Jeremiah 34:18, where covenant breakers were judged according to this imagery. Josiah’s action communicated that obedience to God was not optional for the king or the people, it was binding and solemn.

The people responded by standing to the covenant. Their commitment was voluntary, not coerced. It arose from the example and leadership of a godly king whose heart was fully yielded to the Lord. True revival cannot be manufactured, however, human leadership can set the stage for the Spirit’s work. The collective response indicates a unique movement of the Holy Spirit upon the nation. Scripture shows that at times the Spirit works corporately, influencing a gathered people together. Examples of this kind of outpouring are seen in Acts 2:4, Acts 4:31, and Acts 10:44, passages where the Spirit came upon groups in a unified display of divine power and conviction.

Scholars note that this ceremony parallels earlier covenant renewals, such as the gathering at Mizpah during the early monarchy in 1 Samuel 8:11-17 and 1 Samuel 10:25, and the covenant reaffirmation at Shechem in Joshua 24. Each of those moments marked turning points in Israel’s history. Likewise, Josiah’s renewal of the covenant stands as a decisive moment when the nation briefly returned to the true worship of God before the coming Babylonian judgment.

2. (2 Kings 23:4-14) The extent of King Josiah’s reformation in Judah.

2 Kings 23:4-14, KJV:
“And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem, them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.”

Josiah did not merely adjust the external forms of worship, he uprooted idolatry at every level of Judah’s religious life. His reformation began in the very heart of the nation, the temple itself, where articles dedicated to Baal, Asherah, and the host of heaven were found. The presence of these pagan objects within the sanctuary demonstrates how deep corruption had grown under previous kings. Josiah removed the objects, burned them outside the city in the fields of Kidron, and scattered their ashes toward Bethel, a center of false worship. This reveals that true reform starts at the center and moves outward, and Josiah was determined to cleanse the nation beginning with the house of God.

Josiah also removed the idolatrous priests, the men who served at the high places and enabled the continuation of these pagan practices. Sin does not persist on its own, it is upheld by sinful men, therefore genuine reformation must address both the wicked practices and the people who perpetuate them. These idolatrous priests, known as kemarim, likely wore dark garments and tended the sacrificial fires of the pagan altars. Josiah removed them entirely because a nation cannot turn to God while its spiritual leadership remains corrupt.

The king also tore down the ritual booths of the sodomites, the perverted persons who practiced ritual prostitution as part of their idolatrous worship. The Hebrew word for these individuals originally indicated someone consecrated or set apart, but here it described consecration to wickedness. The temple had become so polluted that immorality was practiced in its very precincts. Women even wove coverings used in these obscene rituals. Josiah removed this disgrace by destroying the booths and eliminating this evil from God’s house.

Josiah’s reforms were not limited to the temple. He traveled throughout Judah, from Geba to Beersheba, dismantling high places where unlawful worship had been performed for generations. He defiled these sites so that they could never be rebuilt. He removed unauthorized altars at the city gates, which earlier kings had allowed. Even though some priests from the high places were allowed to survive, they were barred from ministering at the altar of the Lord, though they were permitted to eat unleavened bread among their brethren. This preserved the priestly line while maintaining strict protection of the sanctity of the Jerusalem altar.

Josiah defiled Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom, where children had been sacrificed to Molech. He made the place unusable so that Israel would never again commit such abominations. The valley later became a perpetual burning dump, which formed the imagery Christ used for hell. He removed horses dedicated to the sun, burned the sun chariots, and destroyed altars built by Ahaz and Manasseh. He broke down ancient shrines on the Mount of Corruption, originally constructed by Solomon when he foolishly accommodated the idolatry of his foreign wives. Josiah smashed pillars, cut down groves, and filled their places with human bones, a gesture designed to desecrate pagan worship.

This sweeping, uncompromising purge reveals both the extent of Judah’s descent into idolatry and the intensity of Josiah’s devotion to God. Pagan worship had become embedded in the culture, supported by the monarchy, funded by the treasury, and practiced openly. Removing it required enormous effort, determination, and courage. Josiah’s reformation stands as one of the most complete purges of idolatry in the entire Old Testament, a testimony to what a godly leader with a tender heart can accomplish when he refuses to tolerate sin in the people of God.

3. (2 Kings 23:15-20) Josiah extends his reformation to Bethel and Samaria.

2 Kings 23:15-20, KJV:
“Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.”

Josiah’s reformation did not stop at the borders of Judah. His zeal for the Lord compelled him to travel into the former northern kingdom of Israel, where Jeroboam had introduced a corrupt system of worship centuries earlier. The spiritual decay that began with the golden calf at Bethel had spread like poison through the northern tribes, ultimately contributing to their destruction by Assyria. Josiah confronted this corrupted legacy head-on. He broke down the altar at Bethel, burned the high place, crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image that stood beside it. This was not a symbolic gesture, it was decisive, total destruction of every remnant of false worship.

Politically, Josiah’s actions were possible because the Assyrian Empire had weakened significantly by this time. Their decline gave him the freedom to act beyond Judah’s traditional boundaries. Spiritually, his actions demonstrated that idolatry is not confined to a nation’s borders, and true reform must oppose sin wherever it is found. Bethel had long been a symbol of rebellion against the true worship of Yahweh. Its destruction marked a major victory in restoring purity to the worship of God.

As Josiah surveyed the region, he noticed tombs on the hillside. He removed bones from those tombs and burned them on the altar, a deliberate act to defile that pagan shrine. This fulfilled a specific prophecy uttered centuries earlier by an unnamed man of God during the reign of Jeroboam. That prophet declared in 1 Kings 13:1-2, KJV,
“Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.”
Josiah’s actions were not merely political or moral, they were prophetic. God had announced these events long before Josiah was born, proving that the Lord oversees history and preserves His word with unmatched precision.

When Josiah asked about a particular gravestone, the men of Bethel explained that it belonged to the very prophet who had predicted these events. Josiah immediately honored the man of God, ordering that his bones be left undisturbed. This reveals Josiah’s discernment and humility. He was zealous, but not reckless. He would not defile the resting place of one who had faithfully spoken the word of the Lord. He also allowed the bones of another prophet from Samaria, mentioned in the same passage of Kings, to remain untouched. This restraint shows that true reform is guided by obedience to Scripture, not by uncontrolled destruction.

Josiah then extended his cleansing to the rest of Samaria. He destroyed all the shrines of the high places that former kings of Israel had established, systematically overturning what had provoked the Lord to anger for generations. He executed the priests who served at these high places, carrying out the precise judgment that had been prophesied long before. Burning bones on the altars further defiled them so they could never again be used for idol worship. Only after finishing this comprehensive purge did Josiah return to Jerusalem.

Josiah’s actions demonstrate a model of uncompromising obedience. He did not limit his reform to convenient areas or politically safe regions. He pursued idolatry until he had rooted it out everywhere it still existed. His determination reflects a heart fully yielded to God, unwilling to tolerate any rival to the Lord’s holiness.

4. (2 Kings 23:21-23) Josiah keeps the Passover on a national basis.

2 Kings 23:21-23, KJV:
“And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem.”

Josiah’s reforms naturally culminated in restoring the Passover, the most central act of worship in the covenant life of Israel. The king commanded all the people to observe the Passover exactly as written in the Book of the Covenant. Josiah could not command internal devotion, but he could lead the nation to prioritize the worship God had ordained. In reviving the Passover, Josiah brought the people back to the foundational memory of redemption, when the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt with a mighty hand. Scripture testifies that such a Passover had not been celebrated since the time of the judges. This means that for centuries, under kings on both sides of the divided kingdom, the nation had failed to honor this central act of remembrance. The Passover pointed Israel back to the blood of the lamb, to divine deliverance, and to the covenant relationship established through God’s saving power. Neglecting the Passover meant neglecting the very heart of their identity as the redeemed people of God. In the same way that modern Christians would be spiritually adrift if they abandoned the Lord’s Supper, Israel had drifted far by forgetting the Passover. Josiah’s restoration of it was a monumental spiritual turning point.

5. (2 Kings 23:24-25) The vast extent of Josiah’s reforms.

2 Kings 23:24-25, KJV:
“Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him.”

Josiah’s commitment to reform extended beyond the removal of visible idols. He eliminated those who practiced occult arts, mediums, and spiritists, all of which were explicitly condemned in the law of God. These practices represented spiritual rebellion of the highest order, drawing Israel toward demonic deception rather than the voice of the Lord. Josiah’s actions demonstrated a deep reverence for Scripture. His passion was to perform the words of the law exactly as written, a posture that reflects the heart of the Reformation principle sola scriptura centuries before the Reformation ever occurred. When the Word is restored to its proper authority, genuine revival always follows.

The text declares that no king before Josiah and none after him matched his wholehearted devotion. Others, such as David and Hezekiah, were great leaders, yet Josiah stands alone for a particular reason. He lived in a time of sweeping apostasy, when idolatry and hypocrisy filled both the land and the temple. In such an environment, his obedience shone with remarkable brightness. As Clarke noted, “David was a greater but not a better man than Josiah.” Josiah’s greatness lay not only in what he accomplished but in when he accomplished it. He pursued righteousness in an age of deep wickedness.

Even so, the judgment of God on Judah still came swiftly after his reign. This reveals an important truth about his reforms: the hearts of the people had not truly changed. Outward obedience is not the same as genuine repentance. This is confirmed by the ministry of Jeremiah, who prophesied during Josiah’s reign. Jeremiah confronted the people with God’s promise that if they truly amended their ways, they would dwell safely in the land. Jeremiah 7:5-7, KJV, declares,
“For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour… then will I cause you to dwell in this place.”
Yet despite the outward reforms, their response was hypocritical. God spoke through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 3:10, KJV,
“And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.”

Josiah’s reforms were real, powerful, and God-honoring, but national revival does not automatically guarantee national repentance. The king’s heart was wholly the Lord’s, but the people’s hearts were not. Even the greatest spiritual leadership cannot force spiritual life into a people who refuse it. Josiah stands, therefore, as a high model of godly leadership, faithful obedience, and courageous reform in a spiritually dark age.

6. (2 Kings 23:26-27) God’s promise of judgment.

2 Kings 23:26-27, KJV:
“Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

Even after the sweeping reforms of Josiah, Scripture makes it clear that the Lord did not turn away from the fierceness of His great wrath. Josiah’s obedience was real, and his reforms were thorough, but the nation as a whole remained spiritually corrupt. The sins introduced under Manasseh had so deeply shaped Judah’s culture and religious life that the people still loved their sin. God’s anger was not rash or uncontrolled, it was the settled, righteous response of a holy God toward a nation that repeatedly rejected His commandments, despised His mercy, and hardened itself against His voice. The Lord’s wrath was provoked not only by idolatry but by generations of rebellion, violence, and covenant-breaking.

Huldah the prophetess had already revealed to Josiah that judgment was coming and that it would not be reversed. While Josiah himself would be spared from witnessing the catastrophe, the nation would not escape it. As G. Campbell Morgan observed, Josiah knew from the word of the Lord that the people’s repentance was shallow and temporary. Yet this knowledge did not absolve him from obeying God. He still pursued righteousness because faithfulness to God is required regardless of the results. Obedience is not conditioned on the behavior of others but on the character of God and the responsibility of His servants.

The Lord declared that He would remove Judah from His sight, just as He had removed the northern kingdom of Israel more than a century earlier. This meant exile, the loss of their land, the destruction of their independence, and the collapse of their national life. God also promised to cast off Jerusalem, the very city He had chosen for His name to dwell, and the temple where He had placed His presence. This demonstrates the seriousness of covenant-breaking. Even the chosen city and the sacred temple were not beyond judgment when the people refused to honor God. Their privileged status did not protect them when their hearts remained rebellious.

The stark reality is that God’s holiness demands justice. The reforms of one godly king could not undo generations of deep-rooted wickedness. Outward conformity without inward repentance provokes divine judgment. Judah believed that the temple and their religious identity guaranteed their safety. Yet God rejected the city and the house that bore His name because the people refused to obey His voice. This section serves as a sobering reminder that privilege abused brings judgment, and that national restoration requires more than external reform; it requires hearts turned wholly to the Lord.

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2. (2 Kings 23:31-34) The evil reign of Jehoahaz and his captivity to Egypt.

2 Kings 23:31-34, KJV:
“Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt, and died there.”

Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, ascended the throne at twenty-three years of age and reigned only three months. His brief reign is marked by the tragic reality that the godly reforms of Josiah did not penetrate the hearts of the people nor the hearts of his own sons. Scripture plainly states that Jehoahaz “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,” walking in the pattern of the kings who had provoked God to anger rather than following his father’s example. Josiah’s righteousness had been genuine, but the nation was spiritually hardened, and Jehoahaz demonstrated that the revival of his father’s day had been largely outward rather than inward.

Jehoahaz appears to have been the people’s choice rather than the rightful heir by primogeniture. His throne name, Jehoahaz, meaning “Yahweh has seized,” differed from his personal name, Shallum, found in Jeremiah 22:11 and 1 Chronicles 3:15. This suggests that his elevation to the throne may have been politically motivated, perhaps because his older brother Eliakim held views contrary to the Egyptians. Furthermore, the fact that Jehoahaz is omitted in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 indicates that God did not regard him as the true, covenantal successor. His elevation to the throne reveals the spiritual blindness of the nation. The people chose a man whose heart was not aligned with the Lord, illustrating how far Judah had drifted even after Josiah’s reforms.

After Josiah’s death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho, Judah fell under Egyptian domination. Pharaoh Necho arrested Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath to prevent him from ruling in Jerusalem. This humbling of Judah shows the rapid decline that followed Josiah’s death. The nation quickly shifted from independence to vassalage. Egypt imposed a heavy tribute of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold, draining Judah’s wealth and asserting total control. Pharaoh then replaced Jehoahaz with his brother Eliakim, renaming him Jehoiakim to signify political subservience. The renaming of a king was a symbolic act, asserting Egyptian authority over Judah’s throne.

Jehoahaz was carried off to Egypt, where he died in captivity. His short reign, marked by wickedness and humiliation, stands as a stark contrast to the godliness of his father. It reveals how fragile revival is when hearts do not truly repent. External reforms cannot preserve a nation whose spiritual condition remains corrupt. Jehoahaz embodies the tragic spiritual decline of Judah as it moved swiftly toward the Babylonian judgment the prophets had long warned about.

3. (2 Kings 23:35-37) The reign of Jehoiakim over Judah.

2 Kings 23:35-37, KJV:
“And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh, he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh. Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.”

Jehoiakim inherited a kingdom already subdued under Egyptian domination. Pharaoh Necho installed him as a vassal king, and Jehoiakim’s first order of business was giving silver and gold to Egypt in obedience to Pharaoh’s demands. To meet the tribute, he heavily taxed the people, extracting wealth according to a set assessment. Rather than functioning as a shepherd to the nation, Jehoiakim served as Pharaoh’s collector, draining Judah’s resources to satisfy a foreign power. The text paints a humiliating picture of a king installed by an enemy and ruling under the authority of an imperial overlord.

Jehoiakim’s reign was marked by injustice, oppression, and corruption. While burdening the people with excessive taxation, he also engaged in wasteful and luxurious construction projects, building himself a new palace through forced labor, as denounced in Jeremiah 22:13-19. His leadership served his own interests and the interests of Egypt, not the welfare of Judah. Clarke observed that Jehoiakim functioned as nothing more than Necho’s viceroy, a political puppet set in place to raise funds for Egypt rather than govern according to righteousness.

Spiritually, Jehoiakim followed the same wicked path as his brother Jehoahaz. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, directly rejecting the godly example of Josiah. Jehoiakim’s heart was hardened against the word of God to an extraordinary degree. His treatment of Scripture is recorded in Jeremiah 36, where the prophet dictated a scroll of God’s warnings and judgments. The scroll was read before the king, and as each section was read, Jehoiakim cut it with a penknife and cast it into the fire until the entire scroll was burned.

Jeremiah 36:22-24, KJV:
“Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire… Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments.”

God responded immediately with a prophetic judgment against Jehoiakim.

Jeremiah 36:29-30, KJV:
“Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land… Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.”

This prophecy was fulfilled. Jehoiakim experienced no honorable burial, and his dynasty was cut off. His rejection of God’s word brought the curses of the covenant upon him. His evil extended further, as Jeremiah records that Jehoiakim murdered Urijah the prophet, a man who had faithfully declared God’s message (Jeremiah 26:20-23, KJV). This act of killing a prophet places Jehoiakim among the most wicked kings of Judah, aligning him with the persecutors of God’s servants.

Jehoiakim’s eleven-year reign stands as a portrait of defiance, injustice, and rebellion. It reveals how quickly a nation can fall after the death of a righteous leader, and how deeply entrenched Judah’s sin had become. Instead of embracing Josiah’s legacy, Jehoiakim chose violence, idolatry, tyranny, and open war against the word of God. His reign pushed Judah further toward the Babylonian judgment that soon followed.