"Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say,-- What was thy mother? A lioness! Amidst lions she couched, In the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps. She brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion; He learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. The nations heard of him; In their pit was he taken,[755] And they brought him with hooks into the land of Egypt."[756] We see, too, that he was to an eminent degree the darling of the nation in the still more plaintive wail of Jeremiah which will be quoted later. The fact that Shallum solemnly changed his name to Jehoahaz ("Jehovah taketh hold"),[757] and that the people of the land not only "made him king in his father's stead," but also "anointed him," points to a disputed succession.[758] High hopes were conceived of him; but he hardly had a chance of fulfilling them, for he was only permitted to reign three months. What were the events of those months we do not know. Jehoahaz must have disappointed any hopes which may have been formed of him by the religious party; for dear as he was to them, the historians record of him that "he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done," although they specify no particular offence. The same sad verdict is passed on all his four successors; but Josephus says even more emphatically of Jehoahaz that he was impious and impure.[759] He must have shown some activity in other respects, or else Ezekiel would hardly have said that "the nations heard of him," and that "he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men." Over all his deeds, whatever they may have been, "the iniquity of oblivion has blindly scattered her poppy," and he fell a victim to the great world-movements of those troublous times.