2 Chronicles 35:20-27

The Death of Josiah: 2 Chronicles 35:20–27✞

Passage

In this passage we come to the end of the reign of Josiah, and it seems kind of anticlimactic after all the reforms of his reign.

We’re told in verse 20 that Necho, the king of Egypt, is going into battle, and Josiah decides to go and fight against him. Necho, however, doesn’t seem to be too worried about it! In verse 21✞ he says, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.” Josiah (and, by extension, Judah) seems like a mild inconvenience for Necho, not a real problem!

I don’t assume God actually told Necho anything, but that aside, Josiah doesn’t listen. He goes into battle against the Egyptians (and Assyrians – see below), but unfortunately for him he gets hit by an arrow during the battle, and is brought back to Jerusalem, where he dies.

We’re told that Jeremiah composes laments for Josiah, to commemorate him.

Thoughts

I’m never sure what to do with this passage when I get to it. Is there a message to take away? Was Josiah foolish in going to into battle against the Egyptians and Assyrians, or was that not a problem, and it was just his time?

Not that it matters. If I had a life half as exemplary as Josiah’s, I’d prefer to be remembered for all the good things I’d done, rather than the one foolish thing I did at the end (if it even was foolish).

Who is Josiah fighting?

The text here doesn’t say who Egypt is actually fighting, but the parallel passage in 2 Kings 23:29✞ tells us that Egypt is joining up with the Assyrians, and the ESV Study Bible tells me that it’s the Babylonians that they’ll be fighting against. Which is interesting!

I don’t know the specific history (i.e. the dates when things happened), but I know that the Assyrians are, at one point in history, the dominant force in the world—they’re the ones who conquered the northern nation of Israel—and I know that the Babylonians will be the next dominant world power after the Assyrians—they’re the ones who will conquer the southern nation of Judah—so we have a former world power (Egypt) joining together with what might be a waning power (Assyria) to fight against the next world power (Babylon).

The ESV Study Bible also posits that Josiah might be trying to gain favour with the Babylonians by joining them in battle against the Egyptians and Assyrians – if so, he’s either unsuccessful or only temporarily successful because, as mentioned, the Babylonians will be conquering Judah in the very next chapter¹.

Footnotes

1: The next chapter, but probably not the next post here on the blog. I haven’t written the next posts yet, but I’m guessing it’ll be one or two more before we get to the end. We’ll see…