Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 23
Riblah in Hamath was an important military camp. Egypt’s army and later Babylon’s army (25:20-21) used it. There they kept and they punished their prisoners. It was about 200 miles (350 kilometres) north of Jerusalem.
The Bible does not tell us whether Egypt’s army had to fight another battle in order to arrest Jehoahaz. He had ruled as the king of Judah for just 3 months. For some time, he was a prisoner in Riblah. Then the king of Egypt took him to Egypt, where he died (23:34).
Judah would exist as a separate nation for another 22 years – but it would hardly be an independent nation. The politics in the region had changed, so that it was hard for any small nation to be truly independent. Instead, much more powerful nations would take control over these small nations.
So, for a short time after Jehoahaz’s arrest, Egypt controlled Judah. Later, Babylon became extremely powerful, and took control of the entire region. From that time, Egypt’s army would remain in Egypt (24:7).
Jehoiakim, Jehoahaz’s older brother, became king only because he accepted the king of Egypt’s authority over him. The king of Egypt appointed him when he (Jehoiakim) agreed to collect taxes from Judah’s people, on behalf of Egypt’s king. So, the king of Egypt demanded a vast quantity of silver, and a small amount of gold. That fact may show that Judah’s people had become much poorer. They only had a small amount of gold that they could pay to Egypt’s king. So, they had to pay the tax in silver, which was much cheaper than gold.
Next part: The rule of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:36-37)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2026, Keith Simons.