Who was Pharaoh Neco?

Egypt recovered this shock under Psammetichus I of Sais (twenty-sixth dynasty), and in the days of Josiah, PHARAOH-NECHO, anxious to rival the glories of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, set out to attack the king of Assyria and to recover the long-lost sway of Egypt over Syria. Josiah opposed Necho, but was slain at Megiddo. Necho carrying all before him proceeded as far as Carchemish on the Euphrates, and on returning to Jerusalem he deposed Jehoahaz and carried him to Egypt (where he died), and set up his brother Eliakim in his stead, calling him Jehoiakim. The tribute was to be one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 2 Kings 23:29-34; 2 Chr. 35:20-24; Jer. 26:20-23. By Necho being able to attack the king of Assyria, in so distant a place as Carchemish shows the strength of Egypt at that time, but the power of Babylon was increasing, and after three years Nebuchadnezzar defeated the army of Necho at Carchemish, and recovered every place from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates; and "the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land." 2 Kings 24:7; Jer. 46:2-12. The Necho of scripture is Nekau on the monuments, a king of the twenty-sixth dynasty.

And now comes the closing act in this stirring drama of Josiah's life. "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by 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: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not." It was a fair warning, and Josiah should certainly have heeded it. Necho came against Assyria, and had no quarrel with Josiah. He was a man of enterprise and energy. It was he who attempted to connect the Red Sea with the Nile by a canal. Phenician navigators, under his patronage, circumnavigated the continent of Africa. He came by sea on this expedition, and landed at Accho. So he was not even on Josiah's territory when that king culpably marched his forces against him.

"Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and harkened not unto the words of Necho 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. 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."

The death of this excellent man and king of Judah has its lessons. The king of Egypt, who was Necho, also called Pharaoh-Necho, came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates. Josiah went out against him. But did Josiah ask counsel of the LORD? Was the good man guided by the LORD when he went out against Necho, 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. Necho had not come against Judah. God had commanded him to make haste and fight against Assyria. Josiah should have known what the prophets had announced about Assyria and its overthrow. Thus Necho sent his ambassadors to give a warning. Necho was on a mission which he knew was of God. Josiah opposed him. "Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not." But he gave no heed. The king who had cleansed Jerusalem and Judah, who had repaired the temple, obeyed the word and kept the Passover, neglected to ask the LORD in this matter and then continued in the wrong course. Perhaps pride played here also an important part. It would have greatly humbled him if he had desisted from his uncalled for warfare. How all this has been repeated and is being repeated in the individual experience of Christians needs hardly to be pointed out. Many who were much used like Josiah, stumbled and fell, when they ceased to depend on the Lord and acted in self will. Like Ahab (2 Chron. 18:29) he disguised himself. The arrow found him as it was with Ahab. He was pierced in the valley of Megiddo; he died in Jerusalem. There was great lamentation. The lamentations of Jeremiah are not the lamentations as we possess them in the book which bears that name. Jeremiah, however, refers to him (Jer. 22:10-13; Lam. 4:20). In Zechariah 12:10-14 the lamentation in the valley of Meggido is mentioned. It is connected there prophetically with another lamentation for another son of David, who was pierced. And He, our Lord, was pierced and wounded for our transgression. When He comes again to fill the throne of His father David, the people shall mourn for Him, but in a different way as they mourned for Josiah. Josiah was the last good king of the house of David who reigned. But there is another one coming who shall rule in righteousness (Is. 32:1).

After his victory at Megiddo Pharaoh-Necho took possession of the country. When he arrived in Jerusalem he found that the people had anointed Jehoahaz (otherwise, Shallum), Josiah's second son to be their king. Necho deposed him, and carried him prisoner in chains to Egypt. Necho then installed Eliakim whose name he changed to Jehoiakim (2 Chron. 36:1-4). Eliakim means "God will raise up"; Jehoiakim means "Jehovah will raise up." The reason for this change of name is not apparent, but it was at any rate an exercise of authority. The giving of names is a mark of lordship. Thus Nebuchadnezzar gave new names to Daniel and his three friends when he took them into his service (Dan. 1:7); and he also changed Mattaniah into Zedekiah when he set him upon Judah's tottering throne. What humiliating details! How low the chosen people had now fallen as the fruit of centuries of persistent transgression against Jehovah! The land which was intended to be the centre of God's ways in government was now at the mercy of rival Gentile Powers, and the heirs of David's royal throne, who should have been the leaders of the nation in righteousness, and blessing, were now objects of universal contempt. How degrading is sin! Pharaoh-Necho held the Holy land for a short time; then Nebuchadnezzar dispossessed him. Necho was not to be the head of the Gentiles, however ardently he may have desired it. He Who sits upon the throne above does as He pleases in the affairs of men; happy would it be if all competitors for power would learn this lesson. Since the sorrowful days which followed the death of Josiah the land has been held by Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Turks, and now the British, and the despised seed of Abraham have sighed for it in vain. Oh that they would humble themselves before God, and own their many sins — their violation of the law, their murder of the prophets, their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah, and their persistent opposition to the testimony of the Holy Spirit! When this comes about, every blessing will be theirs, and peace and prosperity in the land of their desire.

Chronicles tells us that immediately 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. He was an evil-doer; Josephus speaks of him as having been vile. In the brief period he reigned he may have attempted to restore the immoral rites which his father had so completely crushed. He may have opposed Pharaoh-necho, King of Egypt.

As Josephus explains it, "Necho had, after the battle of Megiddo, continued his march towards Syria. Thither, at Riblah, 'in the land of Hamath,' the victor summoned the new Jewish King. On his arrival, Jehoahaz, who had been crowned without the leave of Necho, was put in bonds. Necho does not seem, on this occasion, to have pursued his expedition against Assyria. The great battle at Carchemish, to which the chronicler refers by anticipation (2 Chron. 35:20), was fought on a second expedition, three years later, when the Egyptian army under Necho was defeated with great slaughter by Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopalassar. This was after the fall of Nineveh, and when the Babylonian or Chaldean empire had taken the place of the Assyrian. But on the present occasion Necho seems to have returned, before encountering the Assyrians, into Egypt, whither 'he brought' with him Jehoahaz, who died in captivity." (See Jeremiah 22:11-12.)

The first then runs, "Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. Order ye the buckler and shield and draw near to battle. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines." (Ver. 2-4.) It was the same energetic king whom Josiah attacked at Megiddo on his route to Carchemish but to his own ruin, not at all by any design of the Egyptian monarch who in vain begged the king of Judah to leave him alone. He subsequently deposed Jehoahaz and set up Eliakim as king, changing his name to Jehoiakim. But reverse was at hand. His army at Carchemish was utterly routed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the consequence was not merely the loss of all Asiatic possessions, but the shutting up of the king within his own land henceforth. "Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, says Jehovah. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. Who is this that comes up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of Jehovah God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he way avenge him of his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Jehovah of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates, Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry has filled the land: for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together." (Ver. 5-12.)

Josiah's end does not correspond to the initial blessings of his reign. We have seen that by special grace God had accorded external rest to him, so that his testimony might develop in peace. It was Josiah himself who now allowed himself to be drawn into war. The time had come when, according to prophecy, the power of the Assyrian which had been weighing so heavily upon all the peoples was to be broken to give place to the universal empire of Babylon. Nechoh goes up with an Egyptian army against the king of Assyria. Josiah takes the Assyrian's part against Pharaoh, something that God had in no wise commanded him. What did he have to do with supporting the tottering structure of this power, Israel's cruel enemy? Through prophecy he knew that the final ruin of the Assyrian was near. Was he commissioned by God to correct world happenings or to lend his support in them? Nothing in this world's condition can be improved in God's eyes, and we know that this world is already judged. 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 our intervening in its affairs. "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?" Pharaoh, who is conscious of being an instrument of God, says to him: "God … is with me. God has told me to make haste," and "the words of Nechoh [came] from the mouth of God" (2 Chr. 35:20-22). From the moment that he entered upon this path, Josiah lost his discernment of the mind of the Lord and was no longer able to recognize the word of his mouth.

Josiah had a remarkable warning addressed to him — by the King of Egypt himself! Pharaoh Necho "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 commands me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not" (2 Chron. 35:21). Amazing words! Does it strike Christian readers as strange that God should speak through a heathen King to one of His own choicest servants? The Holy Spirit adds His own comment to Pharaoh's message: "Josiah … hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God." We have here a remarkable example of the sovereignty of God, who works and speaks through whomsoever He pleases. Did not the Holy Spirit come upon wicked Balaam and constrain him to say most blessed things concerning His people? (Num. 24:2). Had not Josiah himself experienced the sovereignty of God when He sent him an important message by a woman prophetess? (2 Kings 22:14). When Rabshakeh was sent against Jerusalem by his master the King of Assyria, he said: "Am I come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it" (Isa. 36:10). Awful words as proceeding from such lips! It was falsehood and blasphemy, which Jehovah resented and speedily judged.

Josiah a few years earlier had a sensitive conscience concerning 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 recognize the same voice speaking to him through Pharaoh Necho? How easy it is, beloved brethren, for any of us to fall into a condition of spiritual dullness, so that the voice of God, although clearly sounding forth through some chosen instrument, or text of scripture, fails to move us! It is true that there are siren voices around us. Even in the religious circle men speak "lies in hypocrisy" (1 Tim. 4:2); "many false prophets have gone out into the world," animated by evil spirits (1 John 4:1). All this calls for spiritual alertness that we be not led astray. But the soul that walks humbly with God, with a heart subject to His Word, will readily distinguish between His voice and the voice of the deceiver.

First as to EGYPT, a word was given to foretell the overthrow of Pharaoh-necho’s army which had gone up to the river Euphrates (Jer. 46:2-12). Egypt would have liked the pre-eminence among the nations, but Israel having failed and lost it, God had decided that it should be given to Babylon. All the nations must therefore be judged, and we see the care and patience of God in giving His word to them concerning this.

First Egypt's desolation is announced (verses 1-12). The king of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, called in Greek, Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho, who defeated King Josiah at Meggido (2 Chron. 35:20-27). King Zedekiah of Judah expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra, when Jerusalem was besieged. The Egyptian army under Hophra advanced through Phoenicia and forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:5-7). But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire. The prophet Jeremiah announced also the doom of Hophra, associating it with Zedekiah's doom: "Thus saith the LORD, Behold I will give Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah, King of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life" (Jer. 44:30).