Jeremiah 22:18 Commentary: Why No Lament for Jehoiakim?

In ancient Israel, death was met with elaborate mourning rituals. Professional mourners, women and men skilled in wailing, would lead the community in ritual cries (see Jer 9:17-20). Family and friends would join with formulaic phrases: ‘Alas, my brother!’ for a male relative, ‘Alas, sister!’ for a female. Grief was expressed loudly and publicly. Kings, as the Lord’s anointed, were honoured with even greater displays: ‘Alas, lord!’ and ‘Alas, his glory!’ (or ‘his majesty’). The term hod (glory/splendor) evokes the royal majesty, crown, throne, robes.

Jehoiakim reigned as a vassal of Egypt, then Babylon. He oppressed his own people to fund extravagant building projects (vv.13-14), took unfair labor, and shed innocent blood (v.17). Unlike his father Josiah, who ‘judged the cause of the poor and needy’ and was mourned in lamentations still sung years later, Jehoiakim ruled as a despot. The prophecy likely came early in his reign (Lange suggests before the fourth year, before the Chaldean crisis). Historically, Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar after three years of vassalage. The Babylonian chronicles suggest he was killed during the siege or shortly after, though 2 Kings 24:6 simply says he ‘slept with his fathers.’ Keil and Delitzsch argue that his body was left unburied, fulfilling v.19: ‘burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’ The denial of lamentation matches this ignominious end, no tears, no ritual honour.

Keil and Delitzsch note that the Septuagint (LXX) omits the phrase ‘Alas, sister!’ (ההוי אחות), presumably because the translators took the words too literally as referring to Jehoiakim’s death and found the mention of a sister problematic. The omission disrupts the parallelism, which pairs brother/sister and lord/splendor. Apart from this, the consulted sources note no other significant textual variants for this verse. The Masoretic text is stable across manuscripts.

This verse has been read throughout church history as a stark example of divine retribution against unjust rulers. Early Christian commentators saw in Jehoiakim a type of the unrighteous king who rejects God’s word. The Geneva Bible (1599) notes that the judgment is pronounced ‘against Jehoiakim,’ emphasizing God’s opposition to oppressors. In the Reformation era, Calvin used the passage to warn that earthly glory cannot shield the wicked from shame. Puritan expositors like Matthew Henry drew pastoral lessons: a life of sin leads to an unmourned death, while a life of righteousness leaves a legacy of tears. Modern applications often connect the denial of lament to the broader biblical theme that God ‘opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:6). The verse has been cited in preaching against corruption and injustice in both church and state, reminding hearers that what we build with unjust hands will not be mourned when it falls.

Three-point outline

1. A king who lived for himself. Jehoiakim built cedar palaces with forced labor and ignored justice for the poor (vv.13-17). His eyes and heart were set only on covetousness and violence.
2. A death no one mourns. The lament formulas, brother/sister (family) and lord/glory (public), show that neither relatives nor subjects will grieve him. His oppression earned contempt, not tears.
3. God’s justice matches the sin. Denied the honour of being remembered, Jehoiakim’s legacy is shame. The absence of lament is a divine verdict: this life did not matter.

Five-point outline

1. The context: Jeremiah contrasts Josiah’s righteous reign with Jehoiakim’s wickedness.
2. The accusation: building his house by injustice, using unpaid labor, shedding innocent blood.
3. The sentence: no lament from family or subjects at his death.
4. The fulfillment: likely killed outside Jerusalem, his body unburied (v.19).
5. The warning: what we build with unjust hands will not be mourned when it falls.

Illustration hooks

• A public figure’s funeral. Compare the crowds at a beloved leader’s funeral with an unpopular tyrant who dies alone, unseen. The contrast makes the point: how we live determines how we are remembered.
• The empty seat at the table. A family member who was harsh, abusive, or absent, when they die, there is silence, not tears. The absence of grief is itself a judgment.
• Professional mourners. In many cultures, hired mourners signal status. When no one is hired, and no one comes voluntarily, the person’s life is shown to have left no mark of love.

Questions your congregation is asking

• Is it wrong to desire a ‘good death’ or a well-attended funeral? Does God care about how we are remembered?
• What does this passage say about the importance of justice in leadership, even in small spheres like family or workplace?
• If I’ve lived selfishly, is there any hope for change? How does this judgment connect to repentance?

This passage confronts us with a king who used power for his own gain and left no legacy of love or justice. As you discuss, consider how your own life, in your family, workplace, or church, builds a legacy that others will mourn or ignore.

Discussion questions

1. Read Jeremiah 22:13-19. What specific sins does God charge against Jehoiakim? (v.13-14, 17)
2. How does the description of Josiah (vv.15-16) contrast with Jehoiakim? What made Josiah’s reign ‘well’?
3. The lament formulas in v.18 distinguish between family grief (‘brother, sister’) and public grief (‘lord, glory’). Why is it significant that neither is offered to Jehoiakim?
4. Calvin said Jehoiakim ‘degenerated from the piety of his father.’ In what ways can a person raised in faith walk away from it, and what are the consequences for their legacy?
5. How does the denial of mourning connect to the idea of judgment in the Old Testament? See also 2 Chronicles 21:19-20; Jeremiah 16:4.
6. In what ways do we sometimes ‘build our house by injustice’, whether through unfair dealings at work, neglecting the poor, or using power for personal gain?
7. What would it look like for you, this week, to ‘know the Lord’ by doing justice and righteousness? (v.16)