Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 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.
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-ar-ikun (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.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
After all this – i. e. 13 years after, 608 B.C. See the 2Ki 23:28-29 notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Necho king of Egypt] Pharaoh the lame, says the Targum.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Gods counsel and providence.
Charchemish; which the Assyrian had lately taken from the king of Egypt; of which he boasts, Isa 10:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. After all this, when Josiah hadprepared the templeHe most probably calculated that therestoration of the divine worship, with the revival of vital religionin the land, would lead, according to God’s promise and the uniformexperience of the Hebrew people, to a period of settled peace andincreased prosperity. His hopes were disappointed. The brightinterval of tranquillity that followed his re-establishment of thetrue religion was brief. But it must be observed that thisinterruption did not proceed from any unfaithfulness in the divinepromise, but from the state into which the kingdom of Judah hadbrought itself by the national apostasy, which was drawing down uponit the long threatened but long deferred judgments of God.
Necho king of Egypt came upto fight against Carchemish by EuphratesNecho, son ofPsammetichus, succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the twentieth yearof Josiah. He was a bold and enterprising king, who entered with allhis heart into the struggle which the two great powers of Egypt andAssyria had long carried on for the political ascendency. Each,jealous of the aggressive movements of its rival, was desirous tomaintain Palestine as a frontier barrier. After the overthrow ofIsrael, the kingdom of Judah became in that respect doubly important.Although the king and people had a strong bias for alliance withEgypt, yet from the time of Manasseh it had become a vassal ofAssyria. Josiah, true to his political no less than his religiousengagements, thought himself bound to support the interests of hisAssyrian liege lord. Hence, when “Necho king of Egypt came up tofight Carchemish, Josiah went out against him.” Carchemish, onthe eastern side of the Euphrates, was the key of Assyria on thewest, and in going thither the king of Egypt would transport histroops by sea along the coast of Palestine, northwards. Josiah, as afaithful vassal, resolved to oppose Necho’s march across the northernparts of that country. They met in the “valley of Megiddo,”that is, the valley or plain of Esdraelon. The Egyptian king had comeeither by water or through the plains of Philistia, keepingconstantly along the coast, round the northwest corner of Carmel, andso to the great plain of Megiddo. This was not only his direct way tothe Euphrates, but the only route fit for his chariots, while therebyalso he left Judah and Jerusalem quite to his right. In this valley,however, the Egyptian army had necessarily to strike across thecountry, and it was on that occasion that Josiah could mostconveniently intercept his passage. To avoid the difficulty ofpassing the river Kishon, Necho kept to the south of it, and must,therefore, have come past Megiddo. Josiah, in following with hischariots and horsemen from Jerusalem, had to march northwards alongthe highway through Samaria by Kefr-Kud (the ancient Caper-Cotia) toMegiddo [VAN DEVELDE].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple,…. Purified it, and cleansed it from the filth in it, and from all idolatry, and had repaired it, and put the service of it in good order, and on a good footing, after which great prosperity in church and state might have been expected:
Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates; now called Querquisia, supposed by some to be the same with the Cadytis of Herodotus, which that historian calls a great city of Syria, whither he says Necho went after the battle with the Syrians x; of which
[See comments on Isa 10:9] and of this king of Egypt,
[See comments on 2Ki 23:29] [See comments on Jer 46:2]
and Josiah went out against him; or to meet him, and stop him from going through his land, which lay between Egypt and Syria; Egypt being on the south of Israel, and Euphrates on the north of it, as Jarchi observes.
x Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 159. & Galei not. in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The end of Josiah’s reign; his death in battle against Pharaoh Necho. Cf. 2Ki 23:25-30. – The catastrophe in which the pious king found his death is in 2 Kings introduced by the remark, that although Josiah returned unto the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength, and walked altogether according to the law, so that there was no king before him, and none arose after him, who was like him, yet the Lord did not turn away from the fierceness of His great wrath against Judah, and resolved to remove Judah also out of His sight, because of the sins of Manasseh. This didactic connecting of the tragical end of the pious king with the task of his reign, which he followed out so zealously, viz., to lead his people back to the Lord, and so turn away the threatened destruction, is not found in the Chronicle. Here the war with Necho, in which Josiah fell, is introduced by the simple formula: After all this, that Josiah had prepared the house, i.e., had restored and ordered the temple worship, Necho the king of Egypt came up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. For further information as to Necho and his campaign, see on 2Ki 23:29.
2Ch 35:21 Then he (Pharaoh Necho) sent messengers to him, saying, “What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? Not against thee, thee, (do I come) to-day (now), but against my hereditary enemy; and God has said that I must make haste: cease from God, who is with me, that I destroy thee not.” , see Jdg 11:12; 2Sa 16:10. is an emphatic repetition of the pronominal suffix; cf. Gesen. Gr. 121. 3. , this day, that is, at present. does not signify, my warlike house, but, the house of my war, i.e., the family with which I wage war, equivalent to “my natural enemy in war, my hereditary enemy.” This signification is clear from 1Ch 18:10 and 2Sa 8:10, where “man of the war of Tou” denotes, the man who waged war with Tou.
(Note: When Bertheau, on the contrary, denies this signification, referring to 1Ch 18:10 for support, he would seem not to have looked narrowly at the passage cited; and the conjecture, based upon 3 Esr. 1:25, which he, following O. F. Fritzsche, brings forward, , “ on the Euphrates is my war, ” gains no support from the passage quoted. For the author of this apocryphal book, which was written on the model of the lxx, has not translated the text he uses, but only paraphrased it: , , . Neither the lxx nor Vulg. have read and translated in their original text; for they run as follows: (taking for ) , . Vulg.: Non adversus te hodie venio, sed contra aliam pugno domum, ad quam me Deus festinato ire praecepit .)
The God who had commanded Pharaoh to make haste, and whom Josiah was not to go against, is not an Egyptian god, as the Targ. and many commentators think, referring to Herod. ii. 158, but the true God, as is clear from 2Ch 35:22. Yet we need not suppose, with the older commentators, that God had sive per somnium sive per prophetam aliquem ad ipsum e Judaea missum spoken to Pharaoh, and commanded him to advance quickly to the Euphrates. For even had Pharaoh said so in so many words, we could not here think of a divine message made known to him by a prophet, because God is neither called nor , but merely , and so it is only the Godhead in general which is spoken of; and Pharaoh only characterizes his resolution as coming from God, or only says: It was God’s will that Josiah should not hinder him, and strive against him. This Pharaoh might say without having received any special divine revelation, and after the warning had been confirmed by the unfortunate result for Josiah of his war against Necho; the biblical historian also might represent Necho’s words as come from God, or “from the mouth of God.”
2Ch 35:22-24 But Josiah turned not his face from him, i.e., did not abandon his design, “but to make war against him he disguised himself.” denotes elsewhere to disguise by clothing, to clothe oneself falsely (2Ch 18:29; 1Ki 20:38; 1Ki 22:30), and to disfigure oneself (Job 30:18). This signification is suitable here also, where the word is transferred to the mental domain: to disfigure oneself, i.e., to undertake anything which contradicts one’s character. During his whole reign, Josiah had endeavoured to carry out the will of God; while in his action against Pharaoh, on the contrary, he had acted in a different way, going into battle against the will of God.
(Note: Bertheau would alter into , because the lxx, and probably also the Vulg., Syr., 3 Esr. 2Ch 1:16, and perhaps also Josephus, have so read. But only the lxx have , Vulg. praeparavit , 3 Esr. ; so that for only the lxx remain, whose translation gives no sufficient ground for an alteration of the text. , to show oneself strong, or courageous, is not at all suitable; for the author of the Chronicle is not wont to regard enterprises undertaken against God ‘ s will, and unfortunate in their results, as proofs of physical or spiritual strength.)
As to the motive which induced Josiah, notwithstanding Necho’s warning, to oppose him by force of arms, see the remark on 2Ki 23:29. The author of the Chronicle judges the matter from the religious point of view, from which the undertaking is seen to have been against the will of God, and therefore to have ended in Josiah’s destruction, and does not further reflect on the working of divine providence, exhibited in the fact that the pious king was taken away before the judgment, the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, broke over the sinful people. For further information as to the Valley of Megiddo, the place where the battle was fought, and on the death of Josiah, see 2Ki 23:29. The , bring me forth (2Ch 35:23), is explained in 2Ch 35:24: his servants took him, mortally wounded by an arrow, from the war-chariot, and placed him in a second chariot which belonged to him, and probably was more comfortable for a wounded man.
2Ch 35:25-27 The death of the pious king was deeply lamented by his people. The prophet Jeremiah composed a lamentation for Josiah: “and all the singing-men and singing-women spake in their lamentations of Josiah unto this day;” i.e., in the lamentation which they were wont to sing on certain fixed days, they sung also the lamentation for Josiah. “And they made them (these lamentations) an ordinance (a standing custom) in Israel, and they are written in the lamentations,” i.e., in a collection of lamentations, in which, among others, that composed by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah was contained. This collection is, however, not to be identified with the Lamentations of Jeremiah over the destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, contained in our canon. – On 2Ch 35:26. cf. 2Ki 23:28. as in 2Ch 32:32. , according to that which is written in the law of Moses, cf. 2Ch 31:3. is the continuation of (2Ch 35:26).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Death of Josiah. | B. C. 610. |
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. 21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? 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. 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, 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. 23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. 24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, 27 And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
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, 2Ki 23:29; 2Ki 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, v. 21.
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 3:20; 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, 2 Kings xviii. 25), hoping thereby to make Josiah desist, because he knew he had a veneration for the word of God; for it is said here (v. 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, v. 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 (v. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
see note on: 2Ki 23:24
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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 Josiahs fidelity to Jehovah, this was his end.
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 rro, king). The Hebrew spelling Parh appears to be due to an assimilation of the Egyptian word to the Hebrew prth, 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 Nik sar ali Mimpi u ali Sa, 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 Mabg, i.e., Hierapolis. Nechos 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 Jirbs, 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 Msh. 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-Msh, mound of Msh; Greek, . (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).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Josiah Slain at Megiddo
v. 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the Temple, v. 21. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? v. 22. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, v. 23. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded, v. 24. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, 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, v. 26. Now, the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, v. 27. and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
We have here, as in all men, a shade to the character of Josiah. The sequel in Josiah’s death proves that what Necho, king of Egypt, told Josiah, was well founded. Such a message therefore he ought to have regarded. But Josiah is in this instance a renewed evidence of the universal corruption of human nature. Where, blessed Jesus, shall we look but to thee for perfection?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Necho king of Egypt,
And Josiah went out against him.
I come not against thee.
But against the house wherewith I have war.
For God commanded me to make haste.
Forbear thee form meddling with God.
a Lib. ii. cap. 1.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
After all this. Thirteen years after.
temple = house.
Necho. Called also Pharaoh-necho. Said to be the founder of the twentyfifth dynasty, about the thirty-fifth year of Manasseh: i.e. in 553 B.C.
against = at.
Charchemish = the fortress of Chemosh). Pharaohnecho’s object was to share the spoils of the falling empire of Assyria. Nineveh was taken 607 B.C. Compare Jer 46:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ch 35:20-27
2Ch 35:20-27
CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN OF GOOD KING JOSIAH
“After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemesh by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore 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 sepulchre of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they were written in the lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Jehovah, and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.”
The remarkable thing in this paragraph concerns the claim of Neco that the message he gave to Josiah came from the true God. Not for a moment, may we believe that Neco believed in Jehovah; but yet his claim here to have received a message from the true God is supported by a statement in the apocryphal book of 1Esdras (1Es 1:27 f), which states that “The warning came from Jeremiah.” Meyers based this opinion on a reference he cited from the Apochrypha (1Es 1:27 f), but we are not able to find any such reference in 1Esdras.). Nevertheless our text here clearly indicates that it was indeed a true message from God that came to Josiah by the mouth of Neco (verse 22); where Neco received it, or how, we do not know.
Some have made a big point out of the fact that God’s promise of a peaceful death for Josiah was not fulfilled; but all such objectors should read again Jer 18:7-10. Josiah’s disobedience here nullified the prophecy. Certainly we may reject the insistence of Curtis (Madsen), and their school of critics, that this whole account is “probably fiction.” The reason for all such opinions is because Second Chronicles so effectively contradicts their darling theory of the D Document.
At this junction in Israel’s history, God did indeed speak to them, in some instances, through pagan kings, as witnessed also in the decree of Cyrus.
The historical situation at that time found Assyria a tottering, weakened empire, destined to fall within a couple of years to Babylon in the battle of Carchemish. Whether Josiah was acting as an ally of Assyria, or in hopes of establishing his independence is not clear; but neither the strengthening of Assyria nor the independence of Israel, doomed to fall to Babylon in the near future, was in line with God’s will.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 35:20. Preparing the temple had nothing to do with the movements of the king of Egypt. The writer merely mentions it in the way of dates; that the expedition of Necho was after the repair of the temple and the reformatory work that accompanied it. By such a statement, the reader will be informed that the sad affair about to be reported did not interfere with the life work of the good king. The king of Egypt made a tour against a city on the Euphrates. To do so he had to travel across some territory in which Josiah felt an interest, not far from Nazareth. But he was passing along peaceably and not making any disturbance against the land of Palestine. However, Josiah went out with the intention of intercepting him.
2Ch 35:21. We do not know why God wished the people of Charchemish chastised. But it was not the only instance in which one heathen people was sent against another, by the ordinance of the Lord. (2Ki 5:1.) It was done also after this in the days of Nebuchadnezzar (Eze 26:7), and later in the days of Belshazzar (Dan 5:28). It was a meddling with the work of God, therefore, for Josiah to interfere with the march of Necho.
2Ch 35:22. This verse shows that Necho was telling the truth when he said that God was with him. The inspired writer is the one who tells us that the words of Necho were from the mouth of God. Josiah committed the one great mistake of his life in this case. He disguised himself in an attempt to escape defeat. He should have remembered the like conduct of Ahab (1Ki 22:30-37), and the failure that he suffered. But he persisted in his own way and thought to elude the danger that usually confronts a man when he goes out to battle; especially in a cause that is not his business.
2Ch 35:23. The archers were those who used the bow and arrow, a common weapon of warfare in those times. The simple statement is made that they shot at Josiah, but the rest of the verse shows they hit him. Sore wounded is worded “made sick” in the margin. The lexicon would agree with it, for part of the definition is, “to be weak, sick, afflicted.” The idea is that he was not only critically hurt, but was still fully conscious and could feel the sickening effect of his wound.
2Ch 35:24. A second chariot was one in reserve, not in direct line of combat. It was thus used as we would use an ambulance, and served to bring the wounded king to his capital at Jerusalem. The statement and he died is made after the one about his being brought to Jerusalem. That does not make it mean, however, that the death occurred after arrival. It is just a common form of expression in the Bible, where the several facts of a circumstance may be named with very little regard for their chronological order. The corresponding passage in 2Ki 23:30 plainly says that the servants carried hint in his chariot dead. Where two different, but not conflicting accounts of an event are given, one more specific than the other, the one that is clearer should be used to explain the other. Josiah was critically wounded, but death was not instantaneous, for he felt and announced his terrible condition. It was a considerable distance from the scene of the tragedy to Jerusalem, and the king did not live to see it. He was buried in one of the family tombs. Judah was his proper realm and Jerusalem was its capital. The whole nation mourned the passing of one of the best kings it had ever had.
2Ch 35:25. Jeremiah was one of the writing prophets and wrote two of the books in our Bible. But, like many other writers of old, he wrote or expressed some things that have not been handed down to us. It was very natural that he, “the weeping prophet,” should lament the death of so good a man as Josiah. The singing men and women expressed their sentiment in their composition. To this day means to the day this book was being written. It is similar to a common expression of writers in current publications, “as we go to press.” Made them an ordinance denotes that they established it as a custom to mourn the sad fate of their good king. Written in the lamen-tations does not have any special reference to the book bearing that name. It is from a word that is defined, “a dirge (as accompanied by beating the breasts or on instruments).”–Strong.
2Ch 35:26-27. For comments on this thought see 1Ki 14:19.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
am 3394, bc 610
temple: Heb. house
Necho: Pharaoh, the lame, says the Targumist. 2Ki 23:29, 2Ki 23:30, Pharaoh-necho, Jer 46:2-12
Charchemish: Isa 10:9
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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 Gods providence. To fight against Charchemish Which the Assyrian had lately taken from the king of Egypt, of which he boasts, Isa 10:9.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against {k} Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
(k) Which was a city of the Assyrians and Josiah fearing lest in passing through Judah he would have taken his kingdom, made war against him and did not consult the Lord.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Josiah’s death 35:20-27
Josiah died at Megiddo, in 609 B.C., when he interrupted Pharaoh Neco’s military advance against the Babylonians.
"Fearing the advance of the Babylonians, Pharaoh Neco and the Egyptian army were on their way to assist the Assyrians. Josiah, who apparently was an ally of the Babylonians (or at least an opponent of the Assyrians), attempted to impede the march of Neco." [Note: Thompson, p. 385.]
This is similar to what Ahab had done years earlier, when he and Jehoshaphat had opposed the Arameans at Ramoth-gilead (cf. ch. 18). Quite clearly Pharaoh’s word to Josiah to turn back was from the Lord (2Ch 35:22). Probably the writer included this event in his narrative because Josiah came closer to the Davidic ideal than any other king since Solomon. Yet he, too, was disobedient to God. Thus David’s greatest Son was yet to come. When He comes back to the earth He will win the battle that will be raging at the very place where Josiah died: the Plain of Megiddo (i.e., Armageddon, lit. the mountain of Megiddo). [Note: See H. G. M. Williamson, "The Death of Josiah and the Continuing Development of the Deuteronomic History," Vetus Testamentum 32:2 (April 1982):242-48.]
"He [Josiah] was a shepherd whose flock never really accepted or understood him, though his concern was for its own welfare . . ." [Note: Wilcock, p. 270.]
Josiah’s death is another example of immediate retribution for sin, of which we have seen many in Chronicles. He is one more king who began well but ended up doing something wrong (cf. Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah). He was not the only king to hear a warning before his tragic military error (cf. 2Ch 11:1-4; 2Ch 18:16-22; 1Sa 28:19). Like the other reforming kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah), he sensed a military threat by an external enemy after enacting his religious reforms. [Note: Christopher T. Begg, "The Death of Josiah in Chronicles: Another View," Vetus Testamentum 37:1 (Januray 1987):1-3.]