Eliakim

Eli'akim (Hebrews Elyakim', אֶליָקַיַם whom God will raise up; Sept. Ε᾿λιακίμ and Ε᾿λιακείμ; N.T. Ε᾿λιακείμ; Josephus, Ε᾿λιάκιμος, Ant. 10:1, 2; Vulg. Eliacim), the name of five men.

1. The son of Melea and father of Jonan, in the genealogy (q.v.) of Christ (Luke in, 30); probably the grandson of Nathan, of the private line of David's descent (Strong's Harm. and Expos. page 16). B.C. considerably post 1013.

2. Son of Hilkiah, and praefect of the palace under king Hezekiah, who sent him to receive the message of the invading Assyrians, and report it to Isaiah (2Ki 18:18; 2Ki 19:2; Isa 36:3,11,22; Isa 37:2). B.C. 713. He succeeded Shebna in this office after the latter had been ejected from it (Grotius thinks by reason of his leprosy) as a punishment for his pride (Isa 22:15-20). Eliakim was a good man, as appears by the title emphatically applied to him by God, "my servant Eliakim" (Isa 22:20), and as was evinced by his conduct on the occasion of Sennacherib's invasion (2Ki 18:37; 2Ki 19:1-5), and also in the discharge of the duties of his high station, in which he acted as a "father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah" (Isa 22:21). It was as a special mark of the divine approbation of his character and conduct, of which, however, no further details have been preserved to us, that he was raised to the post of authority and dignity which he held at the time of the Assyrian invasion. What this office was has been a subject of some perplexity to commentators. The ancients, including the Sept. and Jerome, understood it of the priestly office, as appears by the rendering of סֹכֵן (Isa 22:15; A.V. "treasurer") by παστοφόριον, the "priest's chamber," by the former, and of על9הִבִּיַת ("over the house," as Isa 36:3) by "praepositus templi," by the latter. Hence Nicephorus, as well as the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, includes in the list of high priests Somnas or Sobnas (i.e., Shebna), and Eliakim, identifying the latter with Shallum or Meshullam. But it is certain from the description of the office in Isaiah 22, and especially from the expression in verse 22, "The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder," that it was the king's house, and not the house of God, of which Eliakim was praefect, as Ahishar had been in the reign of Solomon (1Ki 4:6), and Azrikam in that of Ahaz (2Ch 28:7). With this agrees both all that is said, and all that is not said, of Eliakim's functions. The office seems to have been the highest under the king, as was the case in Egypt, when Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Thou shalt be over my house (על9בֵּיתַי) ... only in the throne will I Le greater than thou" (Ge 41:40; compare 39:4). In 2Ch 28:7, the officer is called "governor (נָגַרד) of the house." It is clear that the "scribe" was inferior to him, for Shebna, when degraded from the prefecture of the house, acted as scribe under Eliakim (2Ki 18:37). The whole description of it too by Isaiah implies a place of great eminence and power. This description is transferred in a mystical or spiritual sense to Christ the son of David in Re 3:7, thus making Eliakim in some sense typical of Christ. The true meaning of סֹכֵן, soken', is very doubtful. "Friend," i.e., of the king, and "steward of the provisions," are the two most probable significations. SEE TREASURER. Eliakim's career was a most honorable and splendid one. Most commentators agree that Isa 22:25 does not apply to him, but to Shebna.

⇒Bible concordance for ELIAKIM.

3. The original name of Jehoiakim (q.v.), king of Judah (2Ki 23:34; 2Ch 36:4).

4. Son of Abiud and father of Azor, of the posterity of Zerubbabel (Mt 1:13). He is probably identical with the SHECHANIAH SEE SHECHANIAH (q.v.) of 1 Chronicles in, 21 (Strong's Harmony and Expos. of the Gospels, page 11). SEE GENEALOGY (OF CHRIST).

5. A priest in the days of Nehemiah, who assisted at the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem (Ne 12:41). B.C. 446.