Jeho´ahaz (God-sustained), son of Jehu, king of Israel, who succeeded his father in B.C. 856, and reigned seventeen years. As he followed the evil courses of the house of Jeroboam, the Syrians under Hazael and Benhadad were suffered to prevail, over him; so that, at length, he had only left of all his forces fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot. Overwhelmed by his calamities, Jehoahaz at length acknowledged the authority of Jehovah over Israel, and humbled himself before him; in consideration of which a deliverer was raised up for Israel in the person of Joash, this king's son, who was enabled to expel the Syrians and re-establish the affairs of the kingdom (; ).
Jehoahaz, 2
Jehoahaz, otherwise called Shallum, seventeenth king of Judah, son of Josiah, whose reign began and ended in the year B.C. 608. After his father had been slain in resisting the progress of Pharaoh Necho, Jehoahaz, who was then twenty-three years of age, was raised to the throne by the people, and received at Jerusalem the regal anointing, which seems to have been usually omitted in times of order and of regular succession. He found the land full of trouble, but free from idolatry. Instead, however, of following the excellent example of his father, Jehoahaz fell into the accustomed crimes of his predecessors; and under the encouragements which his example or indifference offered, the idols soon reappeared. It seems strange that in a time so short, and which must have been much occupied in arranging plans for resisting or pacifying the Egyptian king, he should have been able to deserve the stigma which the sacred record has left upon his name. But there is no limit except in the greatness of the divine power to the activity of evil dispositions. The sway of Jehoahaz was terminated in three months, when Pharaoh Necho, on his victorious return from the Euphrates, thinking it politic to reject a king not nominated by himself, removed him from the throne, and set thereon his brother Jehoiakim. This reign was the shortest in the kingdom of Judah, although in that of Israel there were several shorter. The deposed king was at first taken as a prisoner to Riblah in Syria; but was eventually carried to Egypt, where he died (;;; ).
The anointing of this king has drawn attention to the defect of his title as the reason for the addition of that solemn ceremony. It appears from that Josiah had four sons, of whom Johanan is expressly said to have been 'the first-born.' But he seems to have died before his father, as we nowhere find his name historically mentioned, while those of the other brothers are familiar to us. If, therefore, he died childless and Jehoahaz were the next son, his claim would have been good. But he was not the next son. His name, as Shallum, occurs last of the four in; and from the historical notices in 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 36, we ascertain that when Josiah died the ages of the three surviving sons were, Eliakim (Jehoiakim) twenty-five years, Jehoahaz (Shallum) twenty-three years, Mattaniah (Zedekiah) ten years; consequently Jehoahaz was preferred by the popular favor above his elder brother Jehoiakim, and the anointing, therefore, was doubtless intended to give to his imperfect claim the weight of that solemn ceremony. It was also probably suspected that, as actually took place, the Egyptian king would seek to annul a popular election unsanctioned by himself; but as the Egyptians anointed their own kings, and attached much importance to the ceremony, the possibility that he would hesitate more to remove an anointed than an unanointed king might afford a further reason for the anointing of Jehoahaz [ANOINTING].
Jehoahaz is supposed to be the person who is designated under the emblem of a young lion carried in chains to Egypt ().