Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
He reigned three months. His possession of sovereign power was of but very brief duration; because He reigned three months. His possession of sovereign power was of but very brief duration; because Necho determined to follow up the advantage that he gained in Judah, and, deeming it expedient to have a king of his own nomination on the throne of that country, he deposed the popularly elected monarch, and placed his brother Eliakim (whom God hath appointed), or Jehoiakim (whom Yahweh sets up), on the throne, whom he anticipated to be a more obsequious vassal. The course of events seems to have been this: on receiving intelligence after the battle of the accession of Jehoahaz to the throne, and perhaps also in consequence of the complaint which Eliakim brought before him in regard to this matter, Necho set out with a part of his forces to Jerusalem, while the remainder of his troops pursued their way at leisure toward Riblah, laid a tribute on the country, raised Eliakim (Jehoiakim) as his vassal to the throne, and, on his departure, brought Jehoahaz captive with him to Riblah. 'Riblah stood near "the entering in of Hamath," over the northern extremity of Anti-Lebanon' (Porter's 'Damascus,' 2:, p. 336). The old expositors mostly assumed that Necho, after the battle of Megiddo, marched directly against Carchemish, and then on his return came to Jerusalem. The improbability, indeed the impossibility, of his doing so appears from this: that Carchemish was from 400 to 500 miles from Megiddo, so that within "three months" an army could not possibly make its way there, conquer the fenced city Carchemish, and then march back a still greater distance to Jerusalem, and take that city (Keil).