The Sons Named in Scripture

The clearest list of Josiah’s sons appears in 1 Chronicles 3:15: “The sons of Josiah: Johanan the firstborn, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.” That verse is essential because it identifies four sons, even though the historical books focus mainly on the three who became entangled in Judah’s final collapse. The list is Johanan, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Shallum. When the accounts in Kings, Chronicles, and Jeremiah are read together, it becomes plain that Shallum is the same man better known by his royal name Jehoahaz (Jeremiah 22:11; 2 Kings 23:30-34). It also becomes plain that the Zedekiah who reigned as Judah’s last king was Josiah’s son Mattaniah, whose name was changed by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:17). This matters because readers sometimes confuse him with others in the royal family or overlook the fact that Jehoiachin was not Josiah’s son at all, but his grandson through Jehoiakim.

Josiah had been one of Judah’s best kings. He turned back to the Law, purged idolatry, restored right worship, and humbled himself before Jehovah when the Book of the Law was found (2 Kings 22:8-20; 23:1-25; 2 Chronicles 34–35). Yet after Josiah’s death in 609 B.C.E., his sons did not carry forward that pattern of covenant faithfulness. Instead, the final years of Judah became a rapid unraveling of political weakness, spiritual corruption, and divine judgment. The story of Josiah’s sons therefore is not merely a matter of royal succession. It is a sobering account of how quickly a godly reform can be squandered when the next generation refuses to walk in obedience.

Johanan, the Firstborn Whom Scripture Leaves in Silence

Johanan is listed as Josiah’s firstborn in 1 Chronicles 3:15, yet after that mention he disappears from the biblical record. Scripture does not identify him as a reigning king, and it does not narrate any deeds, failures, exile, or death connected with him. What can be said with certainty is that the throne did not pass to him, even though he was named firstborn.

That silence is itself significant. In the normal course of royal expectation, the firstborn might have been expected to inherit the throne. Yet when Josiah died, the people of the land made Shallum, that is, Jehoahaz, king instead (2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1). Later, Pharaoh Neco installed Eliakim, renamed Jehoiakim, and afterward Babylon placed Mattaniah, renamed Zedekiah, on the throne. Johanan is absent from every stage of that succession crisis. The Bible therefore presents him as a real son of Josiah, but not as a participant in Judah’s final kingship. Scripture preserves his place in the family line, but not any later public role.

Shallum, Also Called Jehoahaz, the Son Taken to Egypt

The fourth son in 1 Chronicles 3:15 is Shallum, and Jeremiah 22:11 confirms that this Shallum is the same king called Jehoahaz in Kings and Chronicles. After Josiah was killed at Megiddo, the people of Judah chose Jehoahaz to reign in Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1). He was twenty-three years old and reigned only three months (2 Kings 23:31). His mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. His short reign shows that popular support did not guarantee lasting rule, especially when Judah stood caught between larger powers.

Scripture judges Jehoahaz harshly. Like several of the last kings of Judah, “he did what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah” (2 Kings 23:32). Pharaoh Neco removed him from the throne, bound him at Riblah, and carried him off to Egypt, where he died (2 Kings 23:33-34; Jeremiah 22:10-12). Jeremiah’s word about him is striking because it removes any false hope of return. The prophet says that he would not come back to see his native land again. That is exactly what happened. Jehoahaz became the first of Josiah’s sons to lose the kingdom, and his end in Egypt was an early sign that Judah’s royal house was now under judgment.

His story carries a particular sadness. The people had selected him, yet his reign vanished almost immediately. He left the land alive, but in effect as a defeated and dispossessed king. For that reason Jeremiah tells the people not to weep mainly for Josiah, who had died, but for Shallum who went away and would never return (Jeremiah 22:10-12). The emphasis is not only political tragedy but covenant consequence. A Davidic prince, ruling in Jehovah’s city, was removed by a foreign ruler and died in exile.

Jehoiakim, the Son Who Opposed Jehovah’s Word

After deposing Jehoahaz, Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim, another son of Josiah, king in Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:34). He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he ruled eleven years (2 Kings 23:36). His mother was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. From the start, his kingship was marked by foreign domination, since he came to the throne not by free covenant leadership before Jehovah but by the authority of Egypt. That political reality matched his spiritual condition, because he too “did what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah” (2 Kings 23:37).

Jehoiakim is remembered as a king of oppression, arrogance, and contempt for prophetic truth. Jeremiah condemned him for building his house by unrighteousness, using forced labor, and refusing justice for the afflicted (Jeremiah 22:13-17). His resistance to the word of Jehovah became especially clear when he cut up and burned the scroll written by Baruch at the dictation of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:20-26). That act was not merely contempt for a prophet. It was contempt for Jehovah’s own warning. A king who should have trembled before the Word instead tried to destroy its written form.

Politically, Jehoiakim shifted from Egyptian control to Babylonian pressure. Nebuchadnezzar came against Judah, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years before rebelling (2 Kings 24:1). That rebellion brought further devastation upon the land, with bands of Chaldeans and other raiders sent against Judah “according to the word of Jehovah” spoken through His prophets (2 Kings 24:2-4). His reign thus accelerated national ruin.

As for his end, 2 Kings 24:6 says that Jehoiakim “lay down with his fathers,” but Jeremiah gives the darker covenant meaning of his death. Jeremiah 22:18-19 declares that he would not receive the lament of honor given to a beloved king and that he would be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged away beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Whatever the precise details of the final disposal, the biblical point is unmistakable: Jehoiakim died under divine disgrace, not under divine approval. He inherited a reforming father’s throne but left behind a legacy of rebellion, injustice, and ruin.

Zedekiah, the Son Who Watched Jerusalem Fall

The third son named in 1 Chronicles 3:15 is Zedekiah, and the reigning king by that name was originally Mattaniah, another son of Josiah (2 Kings 24:17). He was the brother of Jehoahaz through their mother Hamutal (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18; Jeremiah 52:1). After Jehoiakim died and Jehoiachin reigned briefly, Nebuchadnezzar exiled Jehoiachin and made Mattaniah king, changing his name to Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17). He was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:18).

His reign was the last chapter of the kingdom of Judah, and it was a disastrous one. Though he repeatedly had contact with Jeremiah, he did not submit himself in steady obedience to Jehovah’s word (Jeremiah 37–38). He feared men more than he feared God. He listened, hesitated, sought private counsel, and occasionally showed flashes of concern, but he did not act with covenant courage. Scripture’s verdict is plain: “He did what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah his God” and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 36:12; 2 Kings 24:19).

When Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, the end came. Jerusalem was besieged, famine ravaged the city, the walls were breached, and the temple was burned (2 Kings 25:1-10; Jeremiah 39:1-10; 52:4-14). Zedekiah tried to escape by night, but he was captured in the plains of Jericho and brought to Riblah before Nebuchadnezzar. There his sons were slaughtered before his eyes, then his eyes were put out, and he was bound with bronze fetters and taken to Babylon (2 Kings 25:6-7; Jeremiah 52:10-11). Ezekiel 12:13 had foretold the bitter irony: he would be brought to Babylon, yet he would not see it. Blind and defeated, he spent the remainder of his life in captivity.

Among all Josiah’s sons, Zedekiah embodies the final collapse most vividly. Under him the city fell, the temple was destroyed, and the Davidic throne in Jerusalem ceased in visible earthly rule for that era. His life is a solemn witness that half-hearted listening to God’s word is not obedience. Nearness to prophecy, priests, and sacred history does not preserve a man who refuses to submit.

What the Record of Josiah’s Sons Teaches

The sons of Josiah were Johanan, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Shallum, who is Jehoahaz. Of those four, three are central to Judah’s final history. Jehoahaz was deposed by Egypt and died there. Jehoiakim ruled under foreign pressure, rejected Jehovah’s word, and died in disgrace. Zedekiah ruled as Babylon’s appointee, rebelled, saw Jerusalem destroyed, and died blind in Babylon. Johanan remains in the genealogy, but not in the throne record.

The contrast with Josiah is deliberate and powerful. A righteous father does not guarantee righteous sons. Covenant privilege does not replace covenant obedience. Judah’s last kings were not ruined because Scripture was unclear. They were ruined because they would not submit to what Jehovah had plainly spoken through the Law and through His prophets. The tragedy of Josiah’s sons is therefore not only dynastic. It is moral and spiritual. They inherited a kingdom, a lineage, a temple, and prophetic warnings. Yet without obedience, all of it slipped through their hands.

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