Dead, i.e. mortally wounded, as in the former verse; and as we commonly say of a sick man past hopes of recovery, that he is a dead man: compare Genesis 20:3. Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, who was younger than Jehoiakim, by comparing 2 Kings 23:31 with 2 Kings 23:36, yet preferred by the people before the elder brother; either because Jehoiakim refused the kingdom for fear of Pharaoh, whom he knew he should hereby provoke; or because Jehoahaz was the more stout and warlike prince; whence he is called a lion, Ezekiel 19:3, though indeed he showed his courage more against his people than his enemies; but they judged that he was most able and willing to defend them against the conquering army. Anointed him; as they used to do in such extraordinary cases, because this was a troublesome time, and he was not the right heir to the crown, and therefore needed this solemn rite of confirmation, which Solomon had in the same circumstances.
Related Commentaries of 2 Kings 23:30
2 Kings 23:30
30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.