After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you today, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you.”
Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn’t listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, because I am seriously wounded!”
So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 Which was a city of the Assyrians, and Josiah…
Which was a city of the Assyrians, and Josiah fearing lest he passing through Judah, would have taken his kingdom, made war against him, and consulted not with the Lord.
Or, Euphrates.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 23, 24 2Ch 35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared…
2Ch 35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
Ver. 20. After all this,] viz, Thirteen years after the aforesaid passover.
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Necho king of Egypt,] i.e., Pharaoh with the goutish feet.
And Josiah went out against him.] But better he had kept at home. See 2Ki 23:29. Ius legionis facile est, The law of the army is easy, saith Vegetius, {a} Non sequi, non fugere bellum; war is neither to be followed after nor fled from. Passion is an ill counsellor. It is no weighing gold in the midst of a wind. We read not that he consulted with God by any prophet. Lassitude of the members precedeth a disease, saith Hippocrates: so doth carnal security danger.
I come not against thee.] Or, Be not against thyself.
But against the house wherewith I have war.] Heb., The house of my war, i.e., the race royal of Assyria, perpetual enemies and emulators to the Egyptians.
For God commanded me to make haste.] By Jeremiah, say the Jewish doctors; but that was more than Josiah knew. He might take it for a pretence only, like that of Rabshakeh {2Ki 18:25}
Forbear thee form meddling with God.] Desine a Deo. It is not safe to fight against God.
{a} Lib. ii. cap. 1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv20–22 When Josiah had prepared the temple; when he and…
When Josiah had prepared the temple; when he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a solid and lasting happiness was laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men oft mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God’s counsel and providence.
Charchemish; which the Assyrian had lately taken from the king of Egypt; of which he boasts, Isa 10:9.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v20 It was thirteen years from Josiah's famous passover to…
It was thirteen years from Josiah's famous passover to his death. During this time, we may hope, thing went well in his kingdom, that he prospered, and religion flourished; yet we are not entertained with the pleasing account of those years, but they are passed over in silence, because the people, for all this, were not turned from the love of their sins nor God from the fierceness of his anger. The next news therefore we hear of Josiah is that he is cut off in the midst of his days and usefulness, before he is full forty years old. We had this sad story, Kg2 23:29, Kg2 23:30. Here it is somewhat more largely related. That appears here, more than did there, which reflects such blame on Josiah and such praise on the people as one would not have expected.
I. Josiah was a very good prince, yet he was much to be blamed for his rashness and presumption in going out to war against the king of Egypt without cause or call. It was bad enough, as it appeared in the Kings, that he meddled with strife which belonged not to him. But here it looks worse; for, it seems, the king of Egypt sent ambassadors to him, to warn him against this enterprise, Ch2 35:21.
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1. The king of Egypt argued with Josiah, (1.) From principles of justice. He professed that he had no desire to do him any hurt, and therefore it was unfair, against common equity and the law of nations, for Josiah to take up arms against him. If even a righteous man engage in an unrighteous cause, let him not expect to prosper. God is no respecter of persons. See Pro 3:30; Pro 25:8. (2.) From principles of religion: "God is with me; nay, He commanded me to make haste, and therefore, if thou retard my motions, thou meddlest with God." It cannot be that the king of Egypt only pretended this (as Sennacherib did in a like case, Kg2 18:25), hoping thereby to make Josiah desist, because he knew he had a veneration for the word of God; for it is said here (Ch2 35:22) that the words of Necho were from the mouth of God. We must therefore suppose that either by a dream, or by a strong impulse upon his spirit which he had reason to think was from God, or by Jeremiah or some other prophet, he had ordered him to make war upon the king of Assyria. (3.) From principles of policy: "That he destroy thee not; it is at thy peril if thou engage against one that has not only a better army and a better cause, but God on his side."
2. It was not in wrath to Josiah, whose heart was upright with the Lord his God, but in wrath to a hypocritical nation, who were unworthy of so good a king, that he was so far infatuated as not to hearken to these fair reasonings and desist from his enterprise. He would not turn his face from him, but went in person and fought the Egyptian army in the valley of Megiddo, Ch2 35:22. If perhaps he could not believe that the king of Egypt had a command from God to do what he did, yet, upon his pleading such a command, he ought to have consulted the oracles of God before he went out against him. His not doing that was his great fault, and of fatal consequence. In this matter he walked not in the ways of David his father; for, had it been his case, he would have enquired of the Lord, Shall I go up? Wilt thou deliver them into my hands? How can we think to prosper in our ways if we do not acknowledge God in them?
II. The people were a very wicked people, yet they were much to be commended for lamenting the death of Josiah as they did. That Jeremiah lamented him I do not wonder; he was the weeping prophet, and plainly foresaw the utter ruin of his country following upon the death of this good king. But it is strange to find that all Judah and Jerusalem, that stupid senseless people, mourned for him (Ch2 35:24), contrived how to have their mourning excited by singing men and singing women, how to have it spread through the kingdom (they made an ordinance in Israel that the mournful ditties penned on this sad occasion should be learned and sung by all sorts of people), and also how to have the remembrance of it perpetuated: these elegies were inserted in the collections of state poems; they are written in the Lamentations. Hereby it appeared, 1. That they had some respect to their good prince, and that, though they did not cordially comply with him in all his good designs, they could not but greatly honour him. Pious useful men will be manifested in the consciences even of those that will not be influenced by their example; and many that will not submit to the rules of serious godliness themselves yet cannot but give it their good word and esteem it in others. Perhaps those lamented Josiah when he was dead that were not thankful to God for him while he lived. The Israelites murmured at Moses and Aaron while they were with them and spoke sometimes of stoning them, and yet, when they died, they mourned for them many days. We are often taught to value mercies by the loss of them which, when we enjoyed them, we did not prize as we ought. 2. That they had some sense of their own danger now that he was gone. Jeremiah told them, it is likely, of the evil they might now expect to come upon them, from which he was taken away; and so far they credited what he said that they lamented the death of him that was their defence. Note, Many will more easily be persuaded to lament the miseries that are coming upon them than to take the proper way by universal reformation to prevent them, will shed tears for their troubles, but will not be prevailed upon to part with their sins. But godly sorrow worketh repentance and that repentance will be to salvation.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv20–24 But he sent ambassadors to him,.... That is, Necho…
But he sent ambassadors to him,.... That is, Necho sent to Josiah:
saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? signifying he had no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with him, and he had no business to intermeddle between him and another prince:
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I come not against thee this day; in an hostile manner:
but against the house wherewith I have war; the king of Assyria:
for God commanded me to make haste; and oppose his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers (y); but the true God might have appeared to him in a dream, or sent a prophet to him; or at least he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Josiah; and indeed it seems to be real from the following verse:
forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not; he concluded God was with him, and would succeed him, because he had put him upon this enterprise, and hastened him to it; therefore Josiah, in opposing him, might expect to be resisted by him, and fall.
(y) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 22. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv20–22 After all - When he and his people hoped…
After all - When he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a lasting happiness laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men often mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God's providence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 24 Verse 20. Necho king of Egypt] Pharaoh the lame,…
Verse 20. Necho king of Egypt] Pharaoh the lame, says the Targum.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 2Ch 35:20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared…
2Ch 35:20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple — When he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a lasting happiness laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men often mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God’s providence. To fight against Charchemish — Which the Assyrian had lately taken from the king of Egypt, of which he boasts, Isa 10:9.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 After all this - i. e. 13 years after,…
After all this - i. e. 13 years after, 608 B.C. See the 2Ki 23:28-29 notes.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 Charcamis belonged to the Assyrian monarch, (Isaias x. 9.)…
Charcamis belonged to the Assyrian monarch, (Isaias x. 9.) who subdued the empire of Babylon, C. xxxiii. 11.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 24 HIS DEATH. (Ch2 35:20-27)
HIS DEATH. (Ch2 35:20-27)
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple--He most probably calculated that the restoration of the divine worship, with the revival of vital religion in the land, would lead, according to God's promise and the uniform experience of the Hebrew people, to a period of settled peace and increased prosperity. His hopes were disappointed. The bright interval of tranquillity that followed his re-establishment of the true religion was brief. But it must be observed that this interruption did not proceed from any unfaithfulness in the divine promise, but from the state into which the kingdom of Judah had brought itself by the national apostasy, which was drawing down upon it the long threatened but long deferred judgments of God.
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Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates--Necho, son of Psammetichus, succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the twentieth year of Josiah. He was a bold and enterprising king, who entered with all his heart into the struggle which the two great powers of Egypt and Assyria had long carried on for the political ascendency. Each, jealous of the aggressive movements of its rival, was desirous to maintain Palestine as a frontier barrier. After the overthrow of Israel, the kingdom of Judah became in that respect doubly important. Although the king and people had a strong bias for alliance with Egypt, yet from the time of Manasseh it had become a vassal of Assyria. Josiah, true to his political no less than his religious engagements, thought himself bound to support the interests of his Assyrian liege lord. Hence, when "Necho king of Egypt came up to fight Carchemish, Josiah went out against him." Carchemish, on the eastern side of the Euphrates, was the key of Assyria on the west, and in going thither the king of Egypt would transport his troops by sea along the coast of Palestine, northwards. Josiah, as a faithful vassal, resolved to oppose Necho's march across the northern parts of that country. They met in the "valley of Megiddo," that is, the valley or plain of Esdraelon. The Egyptian king had come either by water or through the plains of Philistia, keeping constantly along the coast, round the northwest corner of Carmel, and so to the great plain of Megiddo. This was not only his direct way to the Euphrates, but the only route fit for his chariots, while thereby also he left Judah and Jerusalem quite to his right. In this valley, however, the Egyptian army had necessarily to strike across the country, and it was on that occasion that Josiah could most conveniently intercept his passage. To avoid the difficulty of passing the river Kishon, Necho kept to the south of it, and must, therefore, have come past Megiddo. Josiah, in following with his chariots and horsemen from Jerusalem, had to march northwards along the highway through Samaria by Kefr-Kud (the ancient Caper-Cotia) to Megiddo [VAN DE VELDE].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v21 21. God commanded me to make haste — This…
21. God commanded me to make haste — This message of Necho to Josiah is preserved only by the chronicler, and is specially interesting as coming from a heathen king. Some have thought that Necho here referred to some prophecy of Jeremiah, (compare 1Es_1:28,) or of some other prophet. But the words are appropriate in the mouth of a monotheistic sovereign, who regarded himself as a favourite of heaven. In an inscription of an Egyptian king of about this period occur the following words, as translated by the Revelation Canon Cook: “Didst thou not know that the Divine shade was over me? I have not acted without his knowledge; he commanded my acts.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv20–24 20. Necho] R.V. Neco. This was Neco II. (reigned…
20. Necho] R.V. Neco. This was Neco II. (reigned 611–595 b.c., Maspero, Histoire Ancienne, p. 545, note), who according to Herodotus (II. 159) conquered the “Syrians” (Jews or Assyrians?) at “Magdol” (Megiddo or Magdol near the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile?) and then captured Cadytis (Kadesh on the Orontes or Gaza?), an important city of Syria. The account of Herodotus is obscure, ambiguous and defective, but a comparison of 2 Kings with an inscription of Nabu-na’id king of Babylon (555–538 b.c.) sets Neco’s action in a clearer light. The campaign (which took place about 608 b.c.) was directed “against the king of Assyria” (2Ki_23:29), i.e. against the last king Sin-šar-iškun (Saracos) who was at war with Nabopolassar (father of Nebuchadnezzar), king of Babylon. Nabopolassar, hard pressed, called in to his help the Umman-manda (Scythians), who destroyed Nineveh circ. 608 b.c.; cp. Messerschmidt, die Inschrift der Stele Nabu-na’id’s (pp. 5–13). Neco advanced to the Euphrates to secure some of the spoils of the Assyrian overthrow, but the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over Neco at Carchemish (circ. 605 b.c.) finally excluded Egypt from any share.
against Carchemish] Cp. Jer_46:2. It was a city situated near the junction of the Habor and Euphrates. In 2 Kin., “against the king of Assyria.”
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20–24 (= 1Es_1:25-31; cp. 2Ki_23:29-30). The Death of Josiah
The account of Josiah’s death is very much fuller in Chron. than in Kings. The features which are peculiar to the Chronicler are, (1) Neco’s message to dissuade Josiah from war, (2) Josiah’s disguising himself and coming to fight in the valley of Megiddo, (3) the wounding of Josiah by archers, (4) the transfer of the wounded king from a war chariot to another chariot. In other words all the details which represent the meeting at Megiddo as a battle are peculiar to Chron.
The account given in Kings is simply:—“King Josiah went to meet him (Necho), and he put him to death at Megiddo when he saw him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem.” The Hebrew expression for “went to meet” in this passage is the same as in 1Ki_18:16; 2Ki_16:10; it does not suggest a hostile meeting, though it can be used in a suitable context to describe one. The phrase “when he saw him” suggests an interview rather than a battle. Thus we have two traditions of Josiah’s death: according to Chron. he was mortally wounded in battle, according to Kings he sought an interview with Neco and was assassinated by him at the town of Megiddo.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv20–24 JOSIAH SLAIN IN BATTLE AGAINST NECHO KING OF EGYPT…
JOSIAH SLAIN IN BATTLE AGAINST NECHO KING OF EGYPT (2Ch_35:20-27. Comp. 2Ki_23:29-30; 3 Ezra 1:23-30).
(20) After all this.—Comp. the similar, “after these matters, and this faithfulness” (2Ch_32:1). The phrase calls attention to the difference between the event and what might naturally have been expected. In spite of Josiah’s fidelity to Jehovah, this was his end.
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Necho king of Egypt came up.—Kings, “In his days came up Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt.” So LXX. here. Syriac, “Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt.” Pharaoh is simply “the king;” Coptic Pouro, or Perro (pi “the,” ouro or r̄ro, “king”). The Hebrew spelling Pa’rôh appears to be due to an assimilation of the Egyptian word to the Hebrew pĕrâ’ôth, “leaders” (Jdg_5:1). An inscription of Assurbanipal gives a list of twenty subject kings appointed by Esarhaddon his father to bear rule in Egypt, the first name in the list being that of “Nikû sar ali Mimpi u ali Sâa,” i.e., “Necho, king of the city of Memphis, and the city of Sais.” Assurbanipal twice reinstated this Necho (Necho I., circ. 664 B.C. ) after vanquishing Tirhakah.
The Necho of our text is Necho II., who reigned circ. 610 B.C. (See the Note on 2Ki_23:29.)
Against Charchemish.—At Charchemish. Syriac and Arabic, “to assault Mabûg,” i.e., Hierapolis. Necho’s enemy was “the king of Assyria” (2Ki_23:29; so LXX. here), i.e., Esarhaddon II. (Saracus), the last of the rulers of Nineveh; not Nabopalassar, king of Babylon, for the Assyrian empire had not yet fallen before the united assault of the Medes and the Babylonians. Charchemish has been identified with the modern Jirbâs, on the western bank of the middle Euphrates. Its situation, as Schrader observes, suits an intended expedition against Nineveh and Assyria, rather than against Babylon. It was one of the great Hittite capitals, and inscriptions in hieroglyphics, similar to those of Hamath, have recently been disinterred on the site, and brought thence to the British Museum. The name means, “Fortress of Mîsh.” Comp. “Mesha” (Gen_10:30), the Assyrian Masu, i.e., the part of the Syrian desert which ran along the right bank of the Euphrates. The place was also called Tel-Mîsh, “mound of Mîsh;” Greek, Τελμησσός. (Thenius thinks the phrase, “against Charchemish,” was originally a marginal gloss, noting the place of the final and decisive encounter between Necho and the Babylonians).
Josiah went out against him.—To this statement Kings only adds that Necho “slew him at Me-giddo, when he saw him,” i.e., at the outset of the encounter. The chronicler, therefore, has derived the details of the following verses from another source (2Ch_35:21-25).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 After all this. A period of about thirteen years…
After all this. A period of about thirteen years of happy retrospect is now the portion of the good king. This period brings itself to an unhappy and even fatal termination in the year B.C. 608; when, as it would appear by the result, King Josiah did wrong, and went out of his way, in opposing the march of Pharaoh-Necho (who reigned B.C. 611595), successor of Psammetichus King of Egypt, against Cyaxares (the monarch who, with Nabo-polassar, had taken Nineveh, B.C. 625) King of Assyria, (2Ki_23:29) or King of Babylon at Circesium on the River Phrat, the head-quarters now of the united Assyrian and Babylonian power. Where the fault or sin of Josiah lay whether he ran before he was sent, or whether, according to our following two verses, he set out against the Divine word by Necho is certainly a question left in obscurity. Nothing is said in our history or its parallel to accredit the tale of Necho, or to discredit the heart and motive of Josiah nothing except what silence and the result seem to say. One other clement of interest and of difficulty may be added to the question; for of the thirteen years" interval, which we have described above as one presumably of happy retrospect in certain aspects for Josiah, we know nothing from Scripture, but have every reason to suppose that during it Josiah and his kingdom had become subject, if only nominally, to Nabopolassar; so that, in offering to resist Necho of Egypt, he was offering to strengthen so far forth the royal line which did dishonour to his own country and his country"s God. Upon this supposition, however, we can lay no stress.
Vers. 20-27.
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The lamentations for Josiah"s death.
Some cloud of mystery, but, so far as we can see, none of shame, hangs over the closing events of Josiah"s reign and life. His determined resolution to oppose Necho King of Egypt, when he came to "Charchemish by Euphrates," with the view of engaging in battle with the forces of Babylon or Assyria, had no doubt some strong motive, It is not at all impossible to imagine and even to assign some alternative motives as those most probably at work. One element in the obscurity concerns the question What was the operating and determining reason? The larger source of difficulty, however, lies in the obscurity surrounding the question whether any blame whatsoever attached to Josiah for his immovable resolution. That he paid no heed to the representations and remonstrances of the King of Egypt, as that king made very free use, but by no means necessarily equally intelligent and religious use, of the name of God, was very natural, and surely diplomatically justifiable. We can, meantime, find nowhere any reflection passed on Josiah for neglecting the pretended anxious warning of Necho, which may be construed to mean all anxiety for himself only. No condemnation of Josiah"s conduct is written on the page of Scripture, either before or after his death, in connection with this subject. And, lastly, the allusions which the writings of the prophets contain (Jer_22:10, 18 34:5; Zec_12:11) are not only equally clear of any suspicion of reflecting blame upon him, but also are of the most touching, tender, and sympathetic character. The probability seems to be that, after the earnest, religious work of Josiah to the date of the Passover, special and solemn celebration (in "the eighteenth year of his reign," and twenty-seventh of his life), with its last effort to bring in the hapless remnant of Israel also, and after the lapse of another period of some thirteen years, the doings of which, on the part of Josiah, are nowhere recorded, he is to be permitted, before the sad plot thickens, to be "taken away from the evil to come;" and as his life was by no means in the sere and yellow leaf, the method of his departure shall be ordained mercifully not one of sickness, or stricken plague, or ignominious "accident," but in the honourable risk and challenge of battle. Occasion may be taken here to consider the mingled mysteries and mercies that mark the Divine methods of summoning men from this present life, the methods of him whose wisdom is unchallengeable, whose ways are so often a profound deep, but of whom this may ever be recorded as comforting certainty, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." The phenomenon before us is that of a good man and a good king, placed at a most remarkable juncture of history; one, indeed, without the possibility of an exact parallel, who has served his day and generation and his God with singular fidelity amid circumstances of singular difficulty. He is the last true king, and the short following of his descendants and his successors on the throne are not in any degree the inheritors of his virtues and goodness. He has made one more, one last protest for his God and against that idolatry of his nation which has cankered to the very heart its religious and its national health. Such a stand he has boldly and for a year successfully made; but he has been told, and doubtless has seen, that all was too late, and that the tide could not be turned. He is but thirty-nine years of age. And the appearance is as of a man rushing on his fate. But there is no appearance of recklessness or of intemperateness. He does not sport nor gamble away his life; and if in any partial aspect it looks for a moment like a gratuitous hazarding, it cannot be said to come of any of the ordinary impulses in any such cases. It is not for self, for sense, for sin; not for the gratification of any of these; and, meantime, it is not plain for what it is! It is the parable of providence a parable by no means unfamiliar to us; known, indeed, to many an age, many a nation, many a family, and full of silent, deep, useful lesson and suggestion. It teaches
I THAT WHAT WE KNOW AS DEATH IS NOT EXTINCTION OF LIFE. Let alone whatever else, what it simply and by itself means is the merging of one cycle of existence in another; the removal of life from one school of knowledge to another; the shifting of it from one sphere of activity to another. All the living force and excellence and virtue of Josiah are not quenched, cannot be merely thrown away; and if in one sense broken in twain though all the analogies of sense must here in this very respect failonly in one sense. Such a death at such a time of present life, under such circumstances, is one of the strongest moral persuasives a source of moral conviction irresistible as to what death is.
II THE THING CALLED DEATH, IN ITSELF, ASKS ABSOLUTELY MORE TITAN ANY OTHER OF THE FACTS OF LIFE, THE THING CALLED FAITH. It is itself a fact of life the last fact of the series known here. To be understood rightly, and to be used rightly, and to yield anything like its full fruit of advantage, it demands to be "mixed with faith" more than any preceding fact of life. Therefore it is that sometimes it actually gives birth to faith, sometimes greatly strengthens it, or, lastly, supposing it is absolutely wanting, condemns the forlorn mourner to utter darkness.
III THE METHODS OF DEATH OFTEN SERVE, EVEN BEYOND THE FACT ITSELF, TO SURPRISE, TO STARTLE INTO EXISTENCE A WONDER THAT WILL NOT REST. That irrepressible and often agonized wonder assists to tear open the eye of flesh and sense, and operates to find deep within, or deep behind, the dormant but now struggling germ of other and more real vision. Sorrow, grief, and wonder are three of the greatest moral forces of our nature, and their agonized unanswered questions avail to sound some of the deeper depths of that nature. The mystery of death is one thing, but the mysteries of the methods of death the victims of death, the apparently capricious or arbitrary action of death in those taken of youth and excellence and usefulness, in the height of their service to the world, add where heads and hearts are, in consequence, literally mowed down in widest sweep and circles are other things. It is, indeed, sometimes not impossible to imagine the gain to those who go; but what a wrecked scene for all that is left behind with work that must be abandoned, schemes that must be abortive, hopes that must be dashed to the ground a widespread field of desolation and devastation! For the whole scene there is one refuge. It is one which postulates, for its highest safety, and adequacy, not merely the existence and presence of faith, but faith of overcoming and dominant quality. Wanting this, which so uniformly is wanting, it may yet be that faith learns life, and lifts itself to bud and to begin to unfold its buds.
IV THOUGH DEATH IS SUCH A VIGOROUS AND RELENTLESS BIDDER FOR FAITH, BOTH IN ITSELF AND IN ITS CIRCUMSTANCE, YET IT DOES ALSO INFER SOME VERY CERTAIN PRESENT USE AND SIGNIFICANCE. In every case, for instance, of deep sorrow and sincere expression of it in "lamentation," what (comparatively speaking) healthy action of living hearts is betokened, and what a pure tribute of unharmful and direct honour is rendered to the vanished goodness! Upon this ancient sorrow, so far removed from ourselves, of "all Judah and Jerusalem and of Jeremiah and of all the singing men and the singing women so that they made "an ordinance of it in Israel," and recorded the words of their lamentation in their historical writings with what pathetic interest we nevertheless look back! And we wish there were no sadder end to the history of Judah and her kings impending, no bitterer tears to flow, no anguished cries to be heard, no shame to be bowed beneath! So the death of Josiah, and his place after death yet on earth, in memory, in heart, and in song, are fraught with no little interest, apart from faith"s higher action, and are charged incentives to zeal, devotion, pure religion, and sensitiveness of conscience even for ourselves.
Vers. 20-27.
The death of Josiah.
I JOSIAH"S MILITARY EXPEDITION. (Ver. 20.) Seemingly the only expedition in his reign.
1. When it took place. "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple;" i.e. after the eighteenth year of his reign, in point of fact, thirteen years after. (2Ch_34:1)
1. Against whom it was directed. Necho King of Egypt; in Egyptian, Neku, son of Psammatik I, the illustrious founder of the Saitic or twenty-sixth
2. dynasty, and grandson of Necho I, of the twenty-fifth or Ethiopian dynasty, Necho II ascended the throne of the Pharaohs in B.C. 612, and reigned sixteen years. A warlike and adventurous prince, he was likewise devoted to commercial pursuits; he possessed two fleets of Greek-made triremes, one in the Mediterranean and another in the Red Sea. In his service Phoenician sailors were the first to circumnavigate Africa (Herod., 4:44).
3. For what reason it was projected. To oppose Necho, who was on his way through Palestine towards Carchemish on the Euphrates, to fight against the King of Assyria. Whether this sovereign was "King of Assyria proper in which case he would most likely be Esarhaddon II, the last ruler of Nineveh or whether he was the Babylonian monarch Nahopolassar, who seized the empire after the overthrow of the Assyrian power, cannot be conclusively determined, although the best authorities favour the latter hypothesis (Ebers, Sayce, Rawlinson). In any ease, Necho, taking advantage either of the declining power of Nineveh, or of the still unsettled state of Babylonian affairs, resolved to strike a blow for the recovery of those Asiatic provinces which had formerly been subject to the Pharaohs; and Josiah, still regarding himself as a tributary of the Assyrian crown, and probably under Jeremiah"s teaching, (Jer_47:2-5) dreading the rise of the Egyptian power, hastened to resist his advance (B.C. 610).
II JOSIAH"S PROVIDENTIAL WARNING. (Ver. 21.)
1. The purport of this warning. Before the two armies met, Necho despatched an embassy to Josiah, requesting him to desist from offering opposition.
(1) Because he, Necho, was not seeking to disturb or injure him, Josiah, but was aiming at Assyria house wherewith I have war." Cf. Joash to Amaziah. (2Ch_25:18, 2Ch_25:19)
(2) Because he, Necho, was acting in accordance with a Divine commission, so that in opposing him Josiah would be guilty of resisting God, and would only bring ruin upon himself. In claiming to act under the impulse of Heaven, Necho probably meant no more than Pianchi-Mer-Amon of the twenty-fifth dynasty, who, when marching against Tafnakhth and other rebel chieftains, said, "Thou knowest what Amon the great god hath commanded us;" and again, "I am born of the loins, created from the egg, of the deity; the divine procreation is in me. All hail to him, I have not acted without his knowing; he ordained that I should act" ("Records," etc., 2:84, 91).
2. The author of this warning. Though Necho may have had no other idea in using the term god" than that above explained, and though certainly it cannot be assumed that he understood himself to be the medium of conveying a Divine warning to the King of Judah, it is nevertheless clear that the Chronicler beheld in the incident the finger of God. Whether Jehovah actually put the words into Necho"s mouth, or only permitted him to speak as he did, the Hebrew historian, perhaps judging from the fatal issue of the war, regarded the message of Pharaoh as a clear warning from Heaven which Josiah should have accepted. There is no need for supposing either that Necho spoke of Josiah"s God or that Josiah"s God spoke to Necho.
III JOSIAH"S LAMENTABLE OBSTINACY. (Ver. 22.)
1. His rejection of the warning. "He hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God." To assume Josiah knew that Necho was going against Nabopolassar with the express sanction of Jehovah, and that Necho"s dissuasive admonition proceeded straight from Heaven, and to hold moreover that Josiah, cognizant of all this, nevertheless closed his ear against the voice of the Supreme, is to put the worst construction possible on Josiah"s conduct; to understand the sacred writer"s language as merely importing, that Josiah was not disposed to hearken to Necho"s advice, and so failed to recognize it as "from the mouth of God," is probably to put upon the King of Judah"s behaviour the best construction it will admit of. Had Josiah not been bent upon this war, he would have quickly discerned the prudence of Necho"s counsel.
2. His determination to fight. "Josiah would not turn his face from him" (Necho), but pushed on and offered battle in the valley of Megiddo, Magdol (Herod., 2:159) the modern Leijun, west of the Plain of Esdraelon, and near Taanach (Robinson), though a claim has been advanced for the modern Mujedda, "an important ruin in the Plain of Beisan, at the foot of Gilbea" (Conder). Here had. once stood an old Canaanitish town, of which the king was conquered by Joshua, (Jos_12:21) and which, though within the territory of Issachar, was yet assigned to Manasseh. (Jos_17:11) In later years Solomon selected it as one of his fortified cities. (1Ki_9:15) In Megiddo Ahaziah sought refuge when mortally wounded by Jehu. (2Ki_9:27) Megiddo had been the scene of a great battle between Thothmes IIL and one of the confederations of the small kings and princes of Palestine, B.C. 1600 ("Records," etc., 2:35). Now on this historic ground the forces of Josiah and Necho come into collision.
IV JOSIAH"S FATAL WOUND. (Ver, 23.)
1. The ineffectual disguise Like Ahah at Ramoth-Gilead, (2Ch_18:29) Josiah resorted to a customary hut foolish and, in this case, useless artifice. Josiah should have ventured upon no campaign which demanded such an expedient. Had Josiah been sure of the Divine approbation, he would have needed no protection beyond the invisible shield and buckler of Jehovah. (Ps 91)
2. The death-winged arrow. No coat of mail can protect a soldier, or stratagem prolong the days of him whose hour is come. Whether the Egyptian bowmen penetrated through Josiah"s disguise or not, Jehovah did. If Necho"s archers shot at random, the almighty and omniscient Archer (Lam_2:4; Job_6:4; Rev_6:2) did not. Every shaft that flies from his hand hits. Josiah believed he was only fighting against Necho; Necho told him he was fighting against God. In this unequal contest (Isa_27:4) Josiah was of course defeated. "The archers shot at King Josiah; and King Josiah said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
V JOSIAH"S UNTIMELY DEATH. (Ver. 24.) It was:
1. Immediate. The pious but mistaken monarch felt he had received his death-blow. Obeying his instructions, his soldiers lifted him from his war-chariot, and, placing him "in a second chariot which belonged to him, and was probably more comfortable for a wounded man" (Keil), conveyed him to Jerusalem, where he shortly after expired.
2. Untimely. What Hezekiah feared was about to happen to him in his thirty-ninth year, (Isa_38:10) happened in reality to Josiah; he was deprived of the residue of his years. What another singer prayed against (Psa_102:24) befell him, perhaps, notwithstanding his prayers he was cut off in the midst of his days. In the language of a Hebrew prophet, "his sun had gone down at noon". (Amo_8:9) Considering his elevated character, the quality of the work he had already performed, and the promise of good for his land and people which lay, or seemed to lie, in his prolonged life, his death could scarcely be pronounced other than premature; it was all too soon for Jerusalem and Judah. Yet was it not too soon for God, who best knew the moment in which to fulfil his own promise (2Ch_34:28; Psa_31:15) or for Josiah, who was thereby removed from the evil to come (Psa_12:1; Isa_57:1) so that his eyes saw not the calamities which forthwith began to descend upon his country. (2Ch_36:3)
3. Regretted.
1. Mourned for by the people. When they buried him in the sepulchres of his fathers (ver. 24), or in his own sepulchre (2Ki_23:30) perhaps in one of the chambers of Manasseh"s tomb (2Ch_33:20) the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem felt that "a prince and a great man" had been taken from them. They sorrowed for him as they had never before sorrowed for a sovereign, "lamenting and grieving on his account many days" (Josephus), with such an intensity of heartfelt anguish that even after the Captivity "the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon" became a proverbial expression for the deepest and truest. (Zec_12:11)
2. Lamented by Jeremiah. The most plaintive of all the prophets, who had commenced his ministry in the thirteenth year of the deceased sovereign"s, (Jer_1:1) composed a dirge to keep in memory his death. Whether that elegiac hymn was recited at his funeral (Stanley) or not, it was placed in the national collection of such threnodies, and was long after chanted by the singing men and singing women who, on fixed days, were appointed to recall the memory of the good king.
LESSONS.
1. The danger of intermeddling with other people"s strife. (Pro_26:17)
2. The folly of rejecting good advice, even though given by an enemy.
3. The probability that he who runs into danger unbidden will not escapeunhurt. (Psa_91:11)
4. The certainty that death will overtake all, in such an hour as they think. (Mat_24:44)
5. The loss which a good man"s death is to a community or nation. (2Ki_2:12)
6. The propriety of perpetuating the recollection of noble lives. (Pro_10:7)
7. The fitness of song to express sorrowful emotions W. (2Sa_1:17; (Mic_2:4)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv21, 24 For God commanded me to make haste.
2Ch_35:21
For God commanded me to make haste.
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Spiritual haste
Haste is not hurry. Hurry implies confusion and disorder. It is not the same with speed.
I. What it refers to. We should not err were we to apply it to the duties of relative and secular life. It applies particularly--
1. To the salvation of the soul.
2. To a course of godliness.
3. To labour for the welfare of others (Pro_3:27-28).
II. On what it is founded.
1. The importance of the thing itself.
2. The limitation of our opportunities.
3. This only season is short. (W. Jay.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v20 Josiah Slain at Megiddo
Josiah Slain at Megiddo
v. 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the Temple, when his work of restoring the ancient worship had come to a close and an era of peace and prosperity might have been expected, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates, a great commercial city. And Josiah went out against him, either because he thought the neutrality of his country endangered, or because he felt that he must take the part of the Assyro-Babylonian king.
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v. 21. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? Pharaoh-Necho urged Josiah not to meddle in this affair, since he had no quarrel with him. I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make haste. Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not. What Necho believed to be the will of the Egyptian god whom he served, that he transferred to Jehovah of Israel, in order to persuade Josiah the more easily.
v. 22. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, as Ahab of Israel had done in the battle against the Syrians, by wearing the armor and dress of a common soldier or officer, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo, in the Plain of Jezreel, Necho having either brought up his army by fleet to the neighborhood of Carmel or marched up along the Mediterranean Sea.
v. 23. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded, sick with the severity and with the pain of his wound.
v. 24. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, probably one larger and more comfortable than his war-chariot. And they brought him to Jerusalem; and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchers of his fathers, in the tombs of the kings. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
v. 25. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, probably taking one of the poems of Jeremiah for that purpose, and made them an ordinance in Israel; and, behold, they are written in the lamentations, a collection of poems chanted on certain public occasions by professional singers.
v. 26. Now, the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, all his acts of kindness, according to that which was written in the Law of the Lord,
v. 27. and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. He was one of the best-loved kings of the house of David, through whom God blessed His people, as He does through all faithful rulers.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22, 23 set the temple in order
set the temple in order
This means that he restored the worship in the temple as God had intended it to be. AT: "restored proper worship to the temple" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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Necho, king of Egypt, went up
This is the name of the king of Egypt. Here the king represents himself accompanied by his army. AT: "Necho, king of Egypt, went up with his army" (See: How to Translate Names and Synecdoche)
against Carchemish
This is the name of a city. Here the city represents the people who live there. AT: "against the people of Carchemish" (See: How to Translate Names and Metonymy)
Josiah went to fight against him
Here both Josiah and Necho represent themselves accompained by their armies. AT: "Josiah and his army went to fight against Necho and his army" (See: Synecdoche)
What have I to do with you, king of Judah?
Necho uses this rhetorical question to tell Josiah that he is not in conflict with him and that Josiah should not attack him. This question can be written as a statement. AT: "You have no reason to attack me, king of Judah." (See: Rhetorical Question)
I am not coming against you
Here the king Josiah represents his kingdom. AT: "I am not fighting your kingdom" (See: Synecdoche)
against the house with which
Here the word "house" refers to the house of Babylon, where "house" is a metonym for the kingdom. The kingdom is a synechdoche representing the Babylonian army. AT: "against the house of Babylon, with whom" (See: Metonymy and Synecdoche)
translationWords
temple
Egypt
Euphrates River
ambassador
house
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v20 35:20-24 The narrative jumps from Josiah’s eighteenth year (622…
35:20-24 The narrative jumps from Josiah’s eighteenth year (622 BC) to the year of his death (609 BC). The decline of the Assyrian Empire brought Egypt and Babylon, two great powers that had long been subject to Assyria, into conflict with each other. King Neco of Egypt, who had allied with Assyria to resist Babylonian expansion, asked Josiah to allow free passage of his army. Josiah’s interception might have been the result of a coalition with Babylon, or it might have been his own attempt to establish independence from Egypt. Josiah’s death was caused by his disobedience to a divine oracle delivered by a Gentile king.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.