Eliakim

e-li'-a-kim ('elyaqim; Eliakeim, "God sets up"):

(1) The son of Hilkiah who succeeded Shebna as gorvernor of the palace and "grand vizier" under Hezekiah (Isa 22:20). The functions of his office are seen from the oracle of Isaiah in which Shebna is deposed and Eliakim set in his place (Isa 22:15). He is the "treasurer" (the Revised Version, margin "steward"), and is "over the house" (Isa 22:15).

At his installation he is clothed with a robe and girdle, the insignia of his office, and, having the government committed into his hand, is the "father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah" (Isa 22:21). The key of the house of David is laid on his shoulder, and he alone has power to open and shut, this being symbolic of his absolute authority as the king's representative (Isa 22:22).

One of Solomon's officials is the first mentioned as occupying this position (1 Kgs 4:6), and this office was continued in both the Northern and Southern Kingdom (1 Kgs 16:9; 1 Kgs 18:3; 2 Kgs 10:5; 2 Kgs 15:5). Its importance is seen from the fact that after Azariah was smitten with leprosy, Jotham his heir "was over the household, judging the people of the land" (2 Kgs 15:5).

When Sennacherib sent an army against Jerusalem in 701, Eliskim was one of these Jewish princes who held on behalf of Hezekiah a parley with the Assyrian officers (2 Kgs 18:18; 2 Kgs 18:26; 2 Kgs 18:37; Isa 36:3; Isa 36:11; Isa 36:22). As a result of the invader's threats, he was sent by Hezekiah in sackcloth to Isaiah, entreating his prayers to Yahweh on behalf of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 19:2; Isa 37:2).

(2) The original name of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, whom Pharaoh-necoh made king of Judah (2 Kgs 23:34; 2 Chr 36:4).

(3) A priest who assisted at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, rebuilt after his return from Babylon (Neh 12:41).

(4) A grandson of Zerubbabel and ancestor of Jesus (Matt 1:13).

(5) An ancestor of Jesus (Luke 3:30).

S. F. Hunter