Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.
The people of the land took Jehoahaz. Immediately after Josiah's overthrow and death, the people raised to the throne Shallum (1 Chronicles 3:15), afterward called Jehoahaz, in preference to his older brother Eliakim, from whom they expected little good. Jehoahaz is said (2 Kings 23:30) to have received at Jerusalem the royal anointing-a ceremony not usually deemed necessary in circumstances of regular and undisputed succession. But in the case of Jehoahaz, it seems to have been resorted to in order to impart greater validity to the act of popular election, and, it may be, to render it less likely to be disturbed by Necho, who, like all Egyptians would associate the idea of sanctity with the regal anointing. He was the youngest son of Josiah, but the popular favourite-on account, probably, of his martial spirit (Ezekiel 19:3), and determined opposition to the aggressive views of Egypt. At his accession, the land was free from idolatry; but this prince, instead of following the footsteps of his excellent father, adopted the criminal policy of his apostatizing predecessors, and through his influence, directly or indirectly used, idolatry rapidly increased (see the note at 2 Kings 23:32).