And his servants took him out from 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 sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
This verse closes the reign of Judah's last godly king. His servants carry him out of the battle dying, the nation weeps for him — and the hard question stands: why did such a king die in a fight he was never sent to?
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Chronicles records Josiah's obedience and his self-will with equal honesty. One writer explains why:
The Holy Spirit does not expand on it, but He has recorded it for our learning. It is always His way to give us men as they were. He writes the history of their "deeds, first and last" — good and bad — one as well as another. He tells us of Josiah's piety at the "first," and of his wilfulness at the "last." He shows us that as long as Josiah walked in the light of divine revelation, his path was lit up by the bright beams of God's face. But then he tried to act for himself — to walk by the light of his own eyes, 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. Josiah went against Necho without any command from God. Indeed, he went in direct opposition to words spoken "from the mouth of God." He meddled with strife that did not belong to him, and he reaped the consequences.
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Josiah entered the battle in disguise. One writer reads that detail as evidence against him, and applies it to us:
He disguised himself, which proves that he had no good conscience about the matter. We are not surprised that Ahab wore a disguise on the battlefield, while shamefully urging his friend Jehoshaphat to expose himself in his royal robes. Ahab knew that God's sentence of judgement hung over his head (1 Kings 22:30), and he would escape it if he could. But Josiah should have known better. The God who has revealed Himself so fully to us in the person of His Son is not served by underhand methods at any time. In everything we do, whether in the world or in the church, let everything bear the full light of day.
Josiah did not enquire of the Lord before this battle. One writer sets him beside an earlier king who did:
He had not even the faith of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat supported and helped Ahab, yet he would not go into battle without enquiring of the prophet of the Lord, and he went wearing his royal robes. Jehoshaphat was preserved; Josiah was slain. The God of battles guided the arrow that gave Ahab his death-wound. That same God controlled the archers who killed Josiah. Mercy took him away from the evil to come (Isa. 57:1); but there was judgment in the way it happened, and that judgment fell on the guilty city unmixed.
That he was carried back and laid in his own family tomb answered the word spoken to him earlier. One writer sees the same principle at work in Isaiah's words about the righteous being taken away:
A striking example of this was seen somewhat later when God-fearing Josiah was taken away so that his eyes might not see the disasters that were coming. It could then be said of him that "he shall enter into peace."
The grief was real and nationwide, and Scripture later uses it to picture a greater mourning still to come:
In truth the death of this king was the sunset of the kingdom of Judah. A few gleams of light may have lingered afterwards in Jehovah's mercy. But these soon faded into utter night, for both kings and people were deaf to the pleadings of the prophets. It seems the people grasped at once what Josiah's death meant… It was therefore a true national sorrow. The Holy Spirit here points back to it, to illustrate the mourning that will follow when their crucified and glorified Messiah is revealed to their hearts.
Yet their loyalty had been to the king rather than to the Lord:
Josiah set himself with his whole heart and soul to bring worshippers of carved images back to the living and true God. He was a bright and shining light, and the people were willing for a time to walk in his light. "All his days" they did not turn away from following the Lord. Yet at heart, according to the Lord's own declaration, they were still idolaters. They walked in the light of Josiah, not in the light of the Lord. They lived on the breath of Josiah, not on the words that came out of the mouth of God. They thought to live under the shadow of Josiah, not under the shadow of the Almighty.
- Light — Josiah was safe while he walked by God's revelation. The moment he walked by his own eyes, a life that opened in sunshine ended in gloom.
- Disguise — The mask he wore betrayed a bad conscience. God is not served by underhand methods; everything we do should bear the full light of day.
- Arrow — The God of battles who guided the arrow that killed Ahab controlled the archers who killed Josiah. Nothing about this death was accidental.
- Grave — Mercy took him away from the evil to come. His servants laid him in his fathers' tomb, and the judgment fell undiluted on the guilty city.
- Shadow — The nation wept for the man but never turned to his God. They lived in Josiah's light and under Josiah's shadow, not under the shadow of the Almighty. When he died, the sunset came.
And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance for Israel. And behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Josiah fell in battle at Megiddo, and the nation's grief outlasted his funeral: singers set it to music and kept it as a fixed custom. Why did one king's death cut so deep, and are these "lamentations" the Bible book that carries Jeremiah's name?
Commentators tie the grief to the collapse of the kingdom itself. A godly man's own folly hastened that end.
"All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah" (2 Chron. 35:24). They might well mourn, for the disaster in the valley of Megiddo was the end of the Kingdom of Judah. The crash had to come, for Jehovah had spoken of it years before. But it is sad that the folly of one of the brightest saints who ever lived should have hastened it! This thought should take every last trace of self-confidence out of us. We are poor stewards of God at best! Only His grace can keep us right for a single hour.
The loss was sharper because of what his reign had been.
Josiah's death hit Jeremiah and all the people hard, and they lamented greatly. Well they might. His reign had been like a shining light in the middle of Israel's darkness, and that darkness closed in again fast after his death. In fact, the laments of the singing men and women became a regular memorial of Josiah (v. 25).
Commentators differ here. Are these songs the Bible book called Lamentations? One reading keeps them apart, on grounds of timing:
Do not confuse these "lamentations" with Jeremiah's book "Lamentations." That book was written over the fall of Jerusalem, and so it came after it.
Another reading treats Josiah's death as the very thing that set Jeremiah writing:
The death of the godly Josiah (2 Chron. 35:24-25) was what directly prompted these songs of unmatched feeling, for Israel's last hope died with this godly king.
Public mourning in Israel had its trained specialists — and that skill carried a danger.
Real mourning grows out of sympathy for a neighbour, but it became twisted into shallow professionalism. Lamenting sank into an art, and some won a reputation for their skill (Amos 5:16). Mourning women stood ready to come and take up a wailing for the dead (Jer. 9:17-18), sometimes in songs of mourning (2 Chron. 35:25). The Lord was always tender and gracious to the distressed and afflicted, yet He rebuked this show of hollow grief at the house of the ruler whose daughter had died. He said to the hired mourners, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping."
The people followed the Lord for as long as Josiah lived. That was exactly the problem.
It was with his whole heart and soul that Josiah set himself to work to bring worshippers of carved images back to the living and true God. He was a bright and shining light, and the people were willing for a season to walk in his light. "All his days" they did not turn away from following the Lord. Yet at heart, according to the Lord's own declaration, they were idolaters still. They walked in the light of Josiah, not in the light of the Lord. They lived on the breath of Josiah, not on the words that came out of the mouth of God. They thought to live under the shadow of Josiah, not under the shadow of the Almighty.
Scripture later reaches back to this scene at Megiddo.
The death of this monarch was the sunset of the kingdom of Judah… The people seem to have sensed at once what Josiah's death meant. We read that "all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah… and made them an ordinance in Israel." So it was a true national sorrow. The Holy Spirit points back to it here to illustrate the mourning that will follow when their crucified and glorified Messiah is revealed to their hearts.
- Light. Josiah's reign shone in a dark stretch of Israel's history, and the darkness closed in again fast once he was gone.
- Borrowed light. The people walked in Josiah's light, not the Lord's. They lived on his breath, not on the words from the mouth of God.
- Light lost. Megiddo was the sunset of Judah's kingdom. One godly man's folly hastened a crash God had already announced.
- Light remembered. Trained singers turned the grief into songs and a fixed custom. Commentators differ on whether these are the book of Lamentations.
- Light to come. Scripture uses this national sorrow to picture a deeper mourning still ahead, when Israel sees their crucified and glorified Messiah.