After all this, when Josiah had arranged the house, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Karkemish at the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.
"After all this" — three words that turn the page on the brightest reign in Judah's later history. Josiah had broken down the idols, set the temple in order and kept a great Passover. Then, with no word from God, he marched out against an Egyptian army that was not coming for him.
The opening phrase is no casual link between events:
These words mark an epoch in the inspired record of the life of Josiah, king of Judah. They show the close of a career of brilliant usefulness. They also show the start of a course of self-will leading to defeat, disaster and death.
Between the Passover and this verse the record says nothing at all. That gap is itself instructive:
Thirteen years pass without any mention made of them. They speak of the long quiet years when principles are being tested. No great work of idol-breaking. No excitement from new discoveries of truth. No great spiritual crises to stir the emotions, such as the wonderful Passover and the service of voluntary self-dedication. Only a calm period, a testing time — the long and eventful years of maintenance, of holding fast to known truth and position.
Necho's march up the Euphrates had nothing to do with Judah. Josiah inserted himself into it:
The nations of the earth are like broken pieces of pottery, and they are quarrelling among themselves. Why is the Lord's anointed mixing himself up in their quarrel, unless he has a word from the Lord telling him to? Does he have such a word? No; but the very opposite.
The geography sharpens the point. Necho was not even trespassing:
It was a fair warning, and Josiah should certainly have heeded it. Necho came against Assyria, and had no quarrel with Josiah. He came by sea on this expedition, and landed at Accho. So he was not even on Josiah's territory when that king marched his forces against him — and the blame was his own.
The clash on the Euphrates opened an era that will run until the Lord appears. Josiah entered it without asking God, unlike another king who did ask:
The rule of the Gentile nations soon began, and will only end when the Lord appears. But Josiah, in this matter, did not enquire of the Lord. It was his own eagerness that led him to stand against Pharaoh Necho. He disguised himself, as if he sensed that he would die. Faith in God would have made that disguise needless. He did not even have the faith of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was helping Ahab, yet he would not go into battle without enquiring of the prophet of the Lord, and he went in his royal robes. Jehoshaphat was preserved; Josiah was slain. The God of battles, Who guided the arrow that gave Ahab his death-wound, controlled the archers that killed Josiah. Mercy took him away from the evil to come.
One writer traces the fall to what God's own blessings had done to a heart that stopped watching:
How solemnly instructive this is. How does it happen that the ear that was so attentive a moment ago is now deaf to the voice of God? We are told about another godly king, Uzziah, that "he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction" (ESV; an older translation reads "his heart was lifted up"). We may see Josiah's case as something like it. In a believer who stops watching, the flesh grows fat on the very blessings God gives. A lifted-up heart both deafens and blinds. We may refuse to listen to the voice of God. But no disguise can get us out from under His eye, and no shelter will help us.
Josiah is not the only servant of God who insisted on his own way:
It is a serious thing for a child of God to persist in doing his own will. Josiah went to Megiddo when he ought to have stayed at Jerusalem, and the archers shot him, and he died. Jonah went to Tarshish when he ought to have gone to Nineveh, and he was thrown into the deep. Paul persisted in going to Jerusalem though the Spirit told him not to, and he fell into the hands of the Romans. Now, all these were true, earnest, devoted servants of God. But they failed in these things. God overruled their failure for blessing, and yet they still had to reap the fruit of their failure.
- After — these three words mark the turn. A life of usefulness closes; a course of self-will opens, ending in death.
- Alone — the thirteen silent years were the real test: holding fast when no crisis calls for it.
- Ahead — Josiah pushed into a quarrel that was not his, against a king who had no fight with Judah and was not even on his land.
- Unasked — Josiah never enquired of the Lord. Jehoshaphat asked, and lived; Josiah did not, and was slain.
- Unmasked — the disguise hid him from the archers no better than it hid him from God, and the arrow found him anyway.
And he sent messengers 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 with which I have war; and God has told me to make haste keep aloof from God who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
Josiah was one of the best kings Judah ever had. Then the king of Egypt, who was not even coming to fight him, sent word telling him to stop — and Scripture says those words came from the mouth of God.
The strangest thing about this verse is who speaks it. One commentator finds it striking that God's warning came through a pagan king:
Josiah had a remarkable warning addressed to him — by the king of Egypt himself! ... Amazing words! Does it seem strange to Christian readers that God would speak through a pagan king to one of His own best servants? The Holy Spirit adds His own comment to Pharaoh's message: "Josiah ... did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God." Here is a remarkable example of the sovereignty of God: He works and speaks through whomever He pleases.
The warning called for a pause, not a battle:
God may speak to believers through any agency, and we should be awake to discern whether it may be God speaking even through an unbeliever. At the very least, Neco's words ought to have made Josiah pause and consider what God's will was in this matter.
Older translations read "forbear thee from meddling with God." The ESV has "Cease opposing God." One commentator defends the older sense:
The sense there is not at all "stop leaning on God." As our English version rightly puts it, the sense is "stop meddling with God." It is a question of context, not of Hebrew.
That single phrase is then applied far beyond Megiddo:
The believer who acts on his own, apart from the will of the Lord, meddles with God. He leaves the place of true usefulness — perhaps thinking he is doing good work — and, like king Josiah, he is bound to disguise himself. "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
Why was the campaign wrong? One writer points to what Josiah never did:
Did Josiah ask counsel of the LORD? Was the good man guided by the LORD when he went out against Neco, who did not intend to attack Judah? The evidence is conclusive that Josiah acted of himself and was not directed by the LORD. The Egyptian king rebuked him. Neco had not come against Judah. God had commanded him to hurry and fight against Assyria. Josiah should have known what the prophets had announced about Assyria and its overthrow ... Perhaps pride played an important part here too. It would have greatly humbled him to give up his uncalled-for warfare.
Josiah went into that battle in disguise. One writer asks what the mask means:
"He disguised himself." Why do this, if he was sure he was acting for God? Why wear a mask, if he was walking the path God appointed? ... Josiah had no command to fight at Megiddo, and so he could not count on divine protection. "He disguised himself," but that did not shield him from the enemy's arrow.
How did a listening king go deaf? One writer points to what long success does to the heart:
We are told about another godly king, Uzziah, that "he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction," and we may regard Josiah's case as somewhat parallel. Through a lack of watchfulness, the flesh in a believer will grow fat on the very blessings God gives. And a lifted-up heart both deafens and blinds.
There is a safeguard against the wrong voices:
It is true that there are voices around us that lure us. Even in religious circles men tell lies while pretending to be sincere, and "many false prophets have gone out into the world" ... But the soul that walks humbly with God, with a heart subject to His Word, will readily tell the difference between His voice and the voice of the deceiver.
Josiah was fighting a war that was not his:
Josiah had been set apart from all the course of this world to serve the Lord, he and his people, and we see him meddling in politics! He does not have to wait long for the result: the world punishes us for intervening in its affairs. ... From the moment he entered on this path, Josiah lost his ability to discern the mind of the Lord, and he could no longer recognize the word of His mouth.
- Warned. God sent a plain message; the surprise is the messenger. He "works and speaks through whomever He pleases," so a word may reach us through someone we would never expect.
- Unasked. Josiah never sought counsel. Good motives and a strong record did not replace a command; without one he "could not count on divine protection."
- Wilful. A refused warning hardens into self-will. Long blessing had bred a lifted-up heart, and "a lifted-up heart both deafens and blinds."
- Disguised. Why wear a mask on the path God appointed? Acting apart from God's will always ends in "meddling with God."
- Wounded. The arrow found him anyway. Meddling in quarrels that were not his cost Josiah his life: "the world punishes us for intervening in its affairs."
But Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight against him; and he hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God; and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
Josiah was one of Judah's most godly kings. Near the end of his reign he marched out to a battle no one had asked him to fight. The verse names three fatal moves. He would not turn back. He put on a disguise. He ignored a warning that the text calls the word of God.
The chapter's closing lines break sharply with everything that came before them.
Most gladly would we linger over the brilliant and stirring scene in the opening verses of 2 Chronicles 35, but we must bring this paper to an end, and we shall only glance very quickly at the solemn and warning close of Josiah's history. It stands in sad and painful contrast with all the rest of his most interesting career, and sounds a note of warning in our ears that we are bound to take seriously.
Necho was a foreign king with no place among God's people, yet the text says his words came from God's mouth.
Amazing words! Does it strike Christian readers as strange that God should speak through a pagan king to one of His own choicest servants? The Holy Spirit adds His own comment to Pharaoh's message: "Josiah … did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God." This is a remarkable example of the sovereignty of God. He works and speaks through whomever He pleases.
The messenger's character does not settle whether the message is from God.
God may speak to believers through any agency. We should be awake to discern whether it may be God speaking even through an unbeliever. At the very least, Necho's words should have made Josiah pause. He ought to have weighed God's will in this matter.
Years earlier the same king had heard the law read aloud and obeyed it. Something had changed in him, not in God.
Josiah a few years earlier had a sensitive conscience about the will of God. When the book of the law was read before him, he quietly recognised the divine voice and obeyed it. Why did he not recognise the same voice speaking to him through Pharaoh Necho? How easy it is for any of us to fall into a state of spiritual dullness! Then the voice of God fails to move us, even when it sounds out clearly through some chosen instrument or passage of Scripture.
The mask itself is the confession. A man sure of God's backing has no reason to hide.
As long as Josiah walked in the light of God's revelation, his path was lit by the bright beams of God's face. But then he tried to act for himself, and to travel off the straight and narrow way of simple obedience. At that moment dark and heavy clouds gathered around him, and the course that had opened in sunshine ended in gloom. … "He disguised himself." Why do this, if he was conscious of acting for God? Why wear a mask, if he was walking the path God appointed? … We can count on God to the fullest extent if we are walking in His way. But we have no security at all if we try to travel off the line God has drawn. Josiah had no command to fight at Megiddo, and so he could not count on divine protection. "He disguised himself," but that did not shield him from the enemy's arrow.
Josiah stepped into a war between two foreign powers. It was not his quarrel.
Josiah takes the Assyrian's side against Pharaoh, something God had in no way commanded him to do. What did he have to do with propping up the tottering structure of this power, Israel's cruel enemy? … Was he commissioned by God to correct world affairs or to lend his support in them? … Josiah had been set apart from all the course of this world to serve the Lord, he and his people. Yet we see him meddling in politics! He does not have to wait long for the result: the world punishes us for interfering in its affairs.
Josiah is not alone in this failure, and good men are not exempt from its results.
It is a serious thing for a child of God to persist in doing his own will. Josiah went to Megiddo when he should have stayed at Jerusalem, and the archers shot him, and he died. Jonah went to Tarshish when he should have gone to Nineveh, and he was thrown into the sea. Paul insisted on going to Jerusalem though the Spirit told him not to, and he fell into the hands of the Romans. Now, all these were true, earnest, devoted servants of God. But they failed in these things. God overruled their failure for blessing, yet they still had to reap the fruit of it.
One writer also sees a mercy in the timing of his death.
The people were completely unworthy of such a godly ruler. Despite the outward reformation, their wickedness called loudly for judgment. So the righteous was taken away from the evil to come. Seen from this angle it was a mercy to the man himself; but to the nation, humanly speaking, it was a terrible disaster.
- Voice heard. Josiah's best years began with a book read aloud and a king who obeyed what he heard.
- Voice sent. God spoke again through a foreign king. The messenger's unfitness did not cancel the message.
- Voice refused. Dullness, not ignorance, was the problem. The ear that once obeyed no longer knew His voice.
- Voice replaced. He acted without any command, meddled in a war that was not his, and the disguise proved he knew it.
- Voice vindicated. No mask shields a believer who has left God's path. The arrow found him. Yet God spared him from seeing the judgment to come.