In his days Pharaoh-Nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and king Josiah went against him; but [Nechoh] slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
Josiah was one of the best kings Judah ever had. Then, with no word from God, he marched north against an Egyptian army that was not even coming for him. His death at Megiddo raises the hardest question of his story: how does a king this good end this way?
Prophecy had already told Josiah what these armies meant. He had no business joining in.
The time had come, as prophecy said, for the power of Assyria to be broken. That power had pressed hard on all the nations. Now it must give place to the worldwide empire of Babylon. Neco goes up with an Egyptian army against the king of Assyria. Josiah sides with Assyria against Pharaoh, something God had never commanded him to do. Why should he prop up the crumbling power of Israel's cruel enemy? Prophecy had told him that Assyria's final ruin was near. Had God sent him to put world events right, or to take a hand in them?
The same writer names the price: "the world punishes us for our intervening in its affairs."
God's warning came through the last man anyone would expect — the king of Egypt himself.
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 on 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 anyone He pleases.
Josiah had not always been deaf to that voice.
A few years earlier Josiah had a sensitive conscience about the will of God. When the book of the law was read to him, he knew it was God's voice and obeyed it. Why did he not recognise that same voice speaking through Pharaoh Neco? How easy it is for any of us to sink into spiritual dullness! Then God's voice fails to move us, even when it rings out clearly through some chosen messenger or passage of Scripture.
Josiah went into the battle in disguise. One writer traces the whole collapse back to a heart lifted up by God's own blessings.
When a believer stops watching himself, his old sinful nature feeds on the very blessings God has given. A heart lifted up with pride 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 save us. Like godless Ahab, Josiah pretended to be someone else. And like Ahab, he is struck down by an arrow sent from Him who sees through every disguise.
Israel had fought at Megiddo before, with a very different result.
Megiddo was the scene of a great victory when Barak and Deborah moved in faith against the Canaanites, for God was with them (Judges 5:19). Now Megiddo was the scene of a crushing defeat, for God was not with Josiah in his foolish venture.
The arrow that killed him did two things at once.
In this matter Josiah did not ask the Lord: it was his own eagerness that led him to stand against Pharaoh Neco. The God of battles, Who guided the arrow that gave Ahab his death-wound, 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 he died, and on the guilty city that judgment fell with no mercy mixed in.
Josiah's fall does not erase his life. Scripture keeps the whole account.
So God records our goodness as well as our badness. Our first deeds, done when love was fresh and warm, are not wiped out by any sad last deeds. God remembers everything and gives it His own value. "The LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed" (1 Sam. 2:3). Not "counted," as if quantity were everything with God, but "weighed"; quality is the chief thing with Him.
- Unsent. Josiah went out to a battle God never gave him; the fight belonged to Egypt and Assyria, not to him.
- Unheard. God warned him through Pharaoh Neco's mouth. The king who once obeyed God's book no longer knew His voice.
- Uncovered. No disguise hides anyone from God's eye; the arrow found Josiah anyway.
- Undone. The field of Deborah's victory became the field of Josiah's defeat, because God was with her and not with him.
- Unforgotten. His death was both discipline and mercy; it spared him the ruin ahead. God still weighs and remembers his first, faithful deeds.
And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Josiah's long reign has just ended, and the throne passes to a son who lasts three months. The verse gives only this king's age, the length of his rule, and his mother's name. Commentators find in those bare facts the story of how one generation's blessing fails to reach the next.
Chronicles records how he came to the throne:
Chronicles tells us that right after the death of Josiah, the people of the land took Jehoahaz (which means "Jehovah holds up") and made him king. He was not the LORD's choice, but the people's choice. He was not the eldest son and therefore the action of the people was an unlawful and a lawless one.
One writer turns the question from the king to the people who crowned him:
Did not the people's choice of a king show what was in their own hearts? It seems plain that even in the later days of Josiah they had turned away in heart from following the Lord their God.
Commentators do not treat the shortness as an excuse:
Jehoahaz only reigned for three months, but he did not follow his father's steps... Even though his reign was short, what an opportunity he missed. If he had been faithful like his father, the divine record would have given his name something of the true fame of Josiah.
He was twenty-three when he took the throne. Commentators suggest the turn to evil was not sudden:
We can hardly suppose that the decision to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord was a sudden one. It surely points to evil influences at work even in the royal household before Josiah died... Godly Josiah's presence had kept the evil in check. But it was clearly there in the hearts of the people, and in the hearts of the royal princes, ready to take control whenever the opportunity came.
Scripture says he did evil, but only one passage shows what that evil looked like:
Ezekiel 19:1-4 compares him to a young lion who "learned to catch prey; he devoured men." This is the only hint Scripture gives about the character of his sin. He was probably guilty of deeds of violence.
The verse calls him Josiah's son. The next verse ties him to a different line altogether, and that gap is the point:
Under Josiah's reign God showed all His favour. The Lord filled the hearts of the people with blessing and joy. None of it bears fruit in this king's successors. The people chose Jehoahaz and proclaimed him king in his father's place. He "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done." He is linked not to Josiah, but to his unbelieving and idolatrous fathers. He is not counted in the line of faith. You cannot have Josiah or Abraham as your father without producing fruits fit for repentance.
This verse names the king's mother. One writer weighs what that detail is worth now:
From now on, mothers who come from among the people of God have no influence. Either there is no longer an ear to hear them, or they themselves share in the ruin. Hamutal was the wife of Josiah and the mother of Jehoahaz. She was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and apparently of the priestly line. Her son reigns only three months. Yet he finds time to do evil, and by his conduct toward God to contradict what Josiah had established.
The same writer looks at the kings who turned out well and finds one explanation:
Whatever those good or bad influences may have been, grace alone explains the characters of Hezekiah and of Josiah. The last kings of Judah prove it. They were ungodly despite their Jewish mothers and their godly father.
The record keeps his mother's name, and gives him a second name of his own:
His mother's name was Hamutal (delight), the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah... He and Zedekiah, the last of Judah's nineteen kings, were born of the same mother (2 Kings 24:18). Jeremiah 22:11 calls him, tellingly, Shallum (to whom it is repaid). The royal genealogy of Judah registers him under this name (1 Chronicles 3:15). Matthew 1 leaves his name out from among those of our Lord's ancestors.
- Chosen — The people picked him, not God. He was not the eldest son. A crowd that crowns a king shows its own heart.
- Short — Three months was time enough to devour men and contradict what Josiah had built. The shortness excused nothing. It only measured the opportunity he lost.
- Descended — Scripture calls him Josiah's son, then places him with his idolatrous fathers. A faithful father puts no one in the line of faith.
- Mothered — Scripture records his mother Hamutal, but her influence had run out. Grace alone, not upbringing, explains a Hezekiah or a Josiah.
- Repaid — The genealogy files him as Shallum, "to whom it is repaid." Matthew's list of the Lord's ancestors leaves his name out.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.
Josiah's reign had filled the nation with blessing and joy. Then his son Jehoahaz took the throne for three months, and God's verdict tied him not to his father but to "his fathers" — so why is a reformer's son counted with the idolaters?
All of Josiah's reforms stop at his own life. One writer traces where the verse places his son, and what three months were enough to undo:
Under Josiah's reign God showed great favour. The Lord filled the hearts of the people with blessing and joy. None of it bears fruit in the kings who came after him. The people chose Jehoahaz and proclaimed him king in his father's place, and he "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done" (v. 32). He is linked not to Josiah, but to his unbelieving and idolatrous fathers, and he is not numbered in the line of faith. You cannot have Josiah or Abraham as your father and produce no fruit fitting repentance… Jehoahaz reigns only three months, and yet finds time to do evil and, by his conduct toward God, to contradict what Josiah had established.
A godly father gave Jehoahaz no head start with God. One writer states the rule plainly:
There is no such thing as succession in grace. The son of the most faithful father needs to be born again as well as the most degraded of mankind. This is written clearly on many a page of the word of God. "You must be born again."
Another writer says the same thing to Christian parents:
Let no one suppose that we mean to teach that grace is hereditary, or that we can, by any act or system of training, make Christians of our children. No! nothing of the kind. Grace is sovereign. The children of Christian parents must be born of water and of the Spirit, just like everyone else, before they can see or enter the kingdom of God.
A reign this brief leaves almost no record — except this one. The speed of the collapse suggests the evil was not new but only newly free:
The decision to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord was hardly a sudden one. It certainly suggests that evil influences were at work in the royal household even before Josiah died… The presence of godly Josiah had kept the evil in check. But it was plainly there in the hearts of the people, and in the hearts of the royal princes, ready to take control whenever the chance came.
Jehoahaz did not reach the throne by right of birth. The people put him there:
The regular succession to the throne of Judah ceased with the much-mourned Josiah. Jehoahaz was not the eldest son of the late king. Johanan and Jehoiakim were both older than he was (1 Chronicles 3:15). The people made him king by popular choice: it was the preference of the crowd, not the appointment of God… In Jeremiah 22:11 he is given the telling name Shallum, which means "to whom it is repaid". The royal genealogy of Judah records him under that name (1 Chronicles 3:15). Matthew 1 leaves his name out of the list of our Lord's ancestors.
The verse says he did evil, but not what the evil was. One writer collects the few hints given by Scripture and by the historian Josephus:
He is compared in Ezekiel 19:1-4 to a young lion: "he learned to catch prey; he devoured men." This is the only hint given to us about the character of his sin. Josephus says of him that he was a godless man, and impure in the way he lived. He was probably guilty of acts of violence.
The tragedy is not only what Jehoahaz did but what was within his reach:
Jehoahaz reigned only three months, and he did not follow his father's steps. It is written about him: "he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done" (2 Kings 23:32). Even though his reign was short, what an opportunity he missed. Had he been faithful like his father, his name would have come down to us in the divine record with something of the true fame of Josiah.
- Inheritance — Jehoahaz inherited a throne, a reformed nation and a godly father. The one thing he could not inherit was new birth. Grace is sovereign and never passes down a bloodline.
- Restraint — His father's presence had held the evil in check; it had not removed it. The moment the restraint lifted, what was already in the heart took control.
- Exposure — Three months was enough to show it. A short reign is still long enough to reveal the heart.
- Association — Scripture files him with "his fathers," not with Josiah. You are counted with the line whose ways you copy, not the line you were born into.
- Loss — He could have carried something of Josiah's honour into the record. Instead his name is left out of the list of Jesus' ancestors.
And Pharaoh-Nechoh had him bound at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and laid a tribute upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Pharaoh-Nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king instead of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And he took Jehoahaz; and he came to Egypt, and died there.
Egypt's Pharaoh reaches into Jerusalem and reorders the royal house. He sets one son of Josiah on the throne, renames him, and drags another away to die abroad. David's throne is now a gift in a foreign king's hand. How did the line of the godly Josiah fall this far, this fast?
Judah still had a king after Josiah's death. But the choice of that king had passed out of Judah's hands. One commentator compares the two brothers and their fates.
Yet Judah was allowed to have a king, but a king of Pharaoh's choice. Eliakim was also a son of Josiah, but evidently one easier for Pharaoh to handle. Pharaoh changed his name to Jehoiakim. When Pharaoh returned to Egypt he took Jehoahaz with him, and Jehoahaz died there. He had become king at age 23 and reigned only three months. So he was a younger brother of Eliakim, who was 25 when he took the throne. It was the people who made Jehoahaz king, no doubt because they preferred him to his older brother. But Pharaoh reversed the people's decision.
Changing a man's name was not a detail of court etiquette. It was how a master marked out someone as his.
Eliakim means "God will raise up"; Jehoiakim means "Jehovah will raise up." Why he changed the name is not clear, but it was at least an act of authority. Giving names is a mark of lordship. So Nebuchadnezzar gave new names to Daniel and his three friends when he took them into his service (Dan. 1:7). He also changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah when he set him on Judah's shaky throne. What humiliating details! How low God's chosen people had fallen after centuries of persistent sin against Jehovah! The land was meant to be the centre of God's rule. Now it lay at the mercy of rival Gentile powers.
Another writer offers a reason for the new name, and measures the reign that followed.
Then the king of Egypt took the oldest son of Josiah, Eliakim, changed his name to Jehoiakim and made him King over Judah. Jehoiakim means "Jehovah raises up." He probably chose this name to impress the people. He reigned eleven years. It was a most disastrous time and the beginning of the end.
One commentator reads the deposed king's own name against him.
He never returned from Egypt. Jehoahaz — the name means "Jehovah-seized" — had seized the throne that was not his by right. In turn Necho, God's instrument, seized him and carried him off to a land of exile. There he found a grave, far from the tombs of his fathers.
Egypt did not appear out of nowhere. One writer traces the road from Josiah's last campaign to the tribute the new king paid.
Pharaoh Necho takes revenge on Jehoahaz for the opposition of Josiah. Josiah had unwisely backed the Assyrian king by trying to block the march of the Egyptian army. Bound with chains, Jehoahaz is led to Egypt and dies there. Pharaoh pays no attention to this kingship set up by the people… Necho takes Eliakim, the son of Josiah, and makes him king "in the place of Josiah his father," changing his name to Jehoiakim. Eliakim becomes the servant of the king of Egypt and pays him tribute. He gives Pharaoh the gold and silver he collects through taxes.
Writers differ on Josiah's part in this. One calls his move folly. Another sees God using that same failure as a rod:
Josiah's last act in opposing Pharaoh Necho gave that ruler the chance to interfere in Israel's affairs. But the Lord used it to discipline the king and His wayward people.
The man who handed out David's throne did not keep his own prize for long.
Pharaoh Necho held the Holy Land for a short time; then Nebuchadnezzar took it from him. Necho was not to be the head of the Gentiles, however much he may have wanted it. He Who sits on the throne above does as He pleases in the affairs of men.
From here on, David's line never stands on its own feet again.
Josiah was the last independent king of David's family. Jechoniah was the one actually carried away, and he marks the turning point. Josiah is named as the last king who had any free place in Israel. Jehoahaz reigned three months and was then carried into Egypt, and Judah never raised its head again.
- Choice — The people crowned Jehoahaz. Pharaoh overruled them and installed the brother he found easier to handle.
- Name — Giving a name is a mark of lordship. Eliakim became Jehoiakim at a foreign king's word, and the new name said who owned the throne.
- Irony — "Jehovah-seized" had seized a throne that was not his. Necho seized him in turn, and he was buried far from his fathers' graves.
- Rod — Josiah's own last campaign opened the door to Egypt. God used that opening to discipline a wayward king and people.
- End — Josiah was the last king of David's line with any free place in Israel. Judah never raised its head again. Yet Necho's own hold was brief: God does as He pleases with thrones.