Who succeeded Josiah, Jehoahaz or Shallum?

Difficult Passages · Who, Where, and Which

Who succeeded Josiah, Jehoahaz or Shallum?

Jehoahaz and Shallum are one man, Josiah’s son who reigned three months and died captive in Egypt.

The Passages

2 Chronicles 36:1

1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.

11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: 12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

31 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. 32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 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. 34 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.

The Difficulty

Chronicles says, “the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead” (2 Chronicles 36:1). Jeremiah speaks of “Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father” (Jeremiah 22:11).

The Answer

They are one man with two names, as Josiah’s other sons were renamed when they came to the throne, Eliakim to Jehoiakim and Mattaniah to Zedekiah (2 Kings 23:34; 24:17). Jeremiah’s word fits Jehoahaz exactly: Shallum “went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive” (Jeremiah 22:11–12), and Pharaohnechoh “took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there” (2 Kings 23:34). Chronicles lists “the fourth Shallum” among Josiah’s sons (1 Chronicles 3:15). He wasn’t the youngest, but he is named last, Gill says, for his short reign. Jehoram’s youngest son, too, was Jehoahaz and Ahaziah.

Sources

John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament, vol. 3 (1765), p. 6, on 1 Chronicles 3:15

the fourth Shallum; the same with Jehoahaz, who was first made king in the room of his father; but reigning so short a time, and making so mean a figure, is mentioned last, see Jer. xxii. 11.

Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-28