THE UNEXPECTED END OF A GOOD KING
Since King Josiah of Judah (640-609 BCE) is unknown in secular history, records of his death are only to be found in three religious texts. These are the canonical books 2 Kings (23:29-30) and 2 Chronicles (35:20-25) plus the deuterocanonical book 1 Esdras (1:25-32). The accounts differ in some details but all agree that Josiah met his end as the result of an encounter with Pharaoh Neco of Egypt.
The biblical record of Josiah concentrates mainly on internal affairs and gives us neither the big picture as regards geopolitics, nor a summary of Josiah’s foreign policy and his manoeuvres in response to the power plays between the superpowers of Assyria, Egypt and Bablylonia. One therefore has to form a conjecture of the sequence of events from information about the period available in external historical sources.
The might of the Assyrian empire had been declining for many years, certainly since before Josiah came to the throne. The Egyptians, the Elamites, the Arabian tribes and others had all revolted, and internal power struggles further weakened the massive empire. Under Ashurbanipal (669-631 BCE) the Assyrians had some success in quelling revolts but things worsened after his death. By the end of Josiah’s reign the Babylonians, under Cyaxares the Mede (625-585 BCE) and the Chaldean Nabopolassar (626-605 BCE), father of Nebuchadnezzar, were coming into ascendancy. It would seem that the Egyptians under their new Pharaoh Neco, although traditionally hostile towards their Assyrians overlords, preferred a weak Assyria to a strong Babylonia, and had committed themselves to helping the Assyrians against the Babylonians.
‘While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. ‘ 2 Kgs 23:29a (NIV)
NB. There has been ongoing controversy over the translation of this verse. The KJV has ‘went up against’ while modern translations like the NIV and ESV say ‘went up to.’ For a technical discussion arguing for a retention of the KJV translation and maintaining that Egypt did not help Assyria see F. N. Jones, 1993, The Chronology of the Old Testament:
A Return to the Basics pp. 184-188. He contends that ‘the king of Assyria’ refers to the Neo-Babylonian Nabopolassar (‘the new possessor of the title “King of Assyria” p.188) who had recently defeated the Assyrians. This article, however, proceeds on the basis that Neco went up to help the Assyrians against the Babylonians, as per the modern translations.
The Babylonian Chronicle for 609 BCE confirms the information given in 2 Kings 23:29 that an Egyptian army crossed the River Euphrates in order to help the Assyrians under Asshur-uballit fight a last ditch attempt to retake Haran from the Babylonians. The Babylonians had taken and destroyed Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire in 612 BCE. The Assyrians had set up a refugee government in the town of Haran (in modern day Turkey) but had fled from there when it too was captured by the Babylonians in 610. They needed an Egypto-Assyrian victory in order to survive.
It is probable that Josiah, who is thought to have been an unwilling vassal of Egypt for some years before then, had foreseen that the Babylonians would emerge the superior power and had thrown in his lot with them. Some reckon that he therefore went to Megiddo with the express intention of engaging in military action against Neco and the Egyptian army in order to detain them on their way north to help the Assyrians retake Haran. The delay Josiah intended to cause would hinder the progress of the Egyptian reinforcements towards the Assyrians and make a Babylonian victory more likely.
‘King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.’ 2 Kgs 23:29b (NIV)
2 Chronicles makes no mention of the Assyrians but does say that Neco was heading for Carchemish in great haste (2 Chron 35:20-21).
Some scholars think that Josiah had been summoned to Megiddo by Neco. Neco had ascended the Egyptian throne just the previous year (610 BCE) and may have wished to meet and receive homage from his Judaean vassal. This type of request was standard procedure (e.g. Ahaz’s trip to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, 2 Kgs 16:10) and, as Neco assured Josiah, was not an occasion for hostilities (2 Chron 25:31; 1 Esdras 1:26-27)
Whatever the motive, Josiah went to Megiddo with war in mind. Various reasons have been proposed:
a) he was filled with religious and nationalistic fervour as a result of his reforms. He was so keen to fight the old enemy, Egypt, that he was blind to reason.
b) he overestimated his military capabilities.
C) as has already been suggested, he calculated that there would be a change in the balance of international power in favour of the Babylonians and hoped to curry favour by obstructing the Egyptian armed forces on their way to assist the Assyrians.
According to 2 Kings 23:29-30 Josiah was killed at Megiddo and his dead body transferred from there by chariot to Jerusalem for burial.
According to 2 Chronicles 35:23-24 archers shot and mortally wounded him at Megiddo. His officers transferred him into another chariot which brought him to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried.
According to 1 Esdras 1:30-31 he was not injured or killed in battle but was overcome by a weakness, transferred to a second chariot and taken to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried: ‘The king said to his servants, “Take me away from the battle, for I am very weak.” And immediately his servants took him out of the line of battle. He got into his second chariot; and after he was brought back to Jerusalem he died, and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors.’ 1 Esdras 1:30-31
Pharaoh Neco went on to the Euphrates to help with the assault on Haran. Near Carchemish his forces were routed by the Babylonians. Neco and his army retreated and, on his way back to Egypt some three months later, Neco summoned Josiah’s son and successor Jehoahaz to his camp at Riblah on the Orontes (near Lebanon). He took Jehoahaz captive and transported him to Egypt, installing his brother Jehoiakim as an Egyptian puppet and vassal. Although he paid dearly for it, Josiah’s delaying action may have successfully caused Neco’s failure to save Assyria.
One might wonder how Josiah’s untimely demise squares with the oracle of Huldah the prophetess which appeared to promise him a good death (2 Kgs 22:20; 2 Chron 34:28). Upon closer inspection, however, Huldah’s prophecy only promised him a peaceful burial (‘thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace’ ) i.e. his country would not be at war.
Huldah’s prophecy provides one of the explanations given in the Bible for Josiah’s unexpected death. In those days in Judah the death of a king in battle would not have been regarded as heroic. Nor would it have been attributed to bad decision-making on his part or just plain ‘bad luck’. It would have been regarded as part of a chain of cause and effect. Evil behaviour resulted in punishment, righteous living was rewarded with prosperity and long life. According to this system of retribution Josiah must have done wrong! How could such a thing have happened to a righteous and godly young man whose life was marked by ‘goodness’ (2 Chron 35:26) and warranted the glowing assessment of 2 Kgs 23:25?
‘And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him’
Three possible explanations (reading between the lines) were given:
1) Josiah did not listen to the word of God spoken through a foreign king – Pharaoh Neco.
‘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’ 2 Chron 35:22
2) Josiah died because of his grandfather Manasseh’s sins.
‘Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.’ 2 Kings 22:17
‘Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.’ 2 Kgs 23:26
3) Josiah’s death was a mercy.
According to Huldah’s prophecy (2 Kgs 22:20; 2 Chron 34:28) Josiah would have a peaceful burial. His country was not on a war footing and he was spared the distress of the forthcoming Babylonian invasion.
LESSONS:
a. Do not involve yourself in conflicts that do not concern the Lord’s people. Neco’s battle was with Babylon, not Judah.
b. Be open to the prompting and leading of the Lord through personal circumstances. Josiah died because he failed to recognize and heed God’s word through Pharoah Neco. Often God prompts through people and circumstances as well as through his written word.
See my posts:
King Josiah of Judah in 2 Kings
Written Exposition 
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