Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
You’ve heard the phrase ‘all good things must come to an end’, right? Almost always this statement is made when people are grieving that some wonderful experience is drawing to a close. Let’s return to Jerusalem, about 2600 ago, for sadly, the wonderful 31-year reign of King Josiah was nearing its end, and there are lessons to be learned for us today.
I left you yesterday walking around Jerusalem during the “G.O.A.T.” Passover celebration, remember? It’s described for us in 2 Chronicles 35:1-19. There is a 13-year gap between verse 19 & verse 20, because the next words describing the exciting life of King Josiah record this: “After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah marched out to meet him.”
Now if you know your geography you know Egypt is south and west of Israel and the grand Euphrates River is to the northeast of Israel. Pharaoh Necho of Egypt had no quarrel with King Josiah and the small kingdom of Judah with its capital city Jerusalem. Necho and his vast Egyptian army were marching toward the Euphrates River with a very specific enemy and purpose in mind.
You see, three years before, the Babylonian army had amazingly conquered and destroyed the great city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, as predicted by Nahum the prophet of God. Some small groups of Assyrian warriors had survived and were regrouping at the Euphrates River preparing to attack Babylon in revenge. Egyptian Pharaoh Necho saw an opportunity to join with the remnants of the Assyrian force and with them attack Babylon who was the new world power threatening Egypt. As you see this battle had nothing to do with Jerusalem or King Josiah.
Have you ever found yourself getting involved in someone else’s business to your own detriment? That was happening with King Josiah. The record says: “Necho sent messengers to King Josiah saying, ‘What quarrel is there, King of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but Babylon 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.” (2 Chron. 35:21)
The claim of Israel to be God’s people and therefore have God guiding and protecting them was well known to all nations in the Middle east. And the history of God’s direct involvement in Israel’s military engagements was also well known, so when Pharaoh Necho sent word to King Josiah that Almighty God has told Necho to attack Babylon this is NOT necessarily an indication that Necho believed in the God of Israel or had any relationship with God, but rather Necho was taking a tactic similar to what the Assyrians took against King Hezekiah about 100 years before when they claimed the God of Israel was on their side! (1 Kings 18:25)
Furthermore, Necho warned Josiah that if he interfered it may be that the God of Israel would come against Israel for interfering in something that was none of their business!
Sadly, Josiah was not to be deterred. He had been enjoying a long 30-year reign of great success in Jerusalem and widespread blessing and protection of God. Perhaps Josiah was getting prideful, maybe he thought he was impervious. I see no evidence Josiah inquired of God about what he should do. The record says: “King Josiah, however, would not turn away, but disguised himself to engage Necho in battle. He went to fight on the plain of Megiddo. Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, ‘Take me away I am badly wounded’. So, they brought him to Jerusalem where Josiah died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for King Josiah.” (2 Chron. 35:22-24) Oh my, what a sad ending to a wonderful life and legacy. In my visits to Israel this Megiddo battlefield, where King Josiah ended his triumphant life and reign, has been one of the sad places I have visited.
The writer of 2 Chronicles gives us a very interesting statement which tells us how much King Josiah was loved by the people of Jerusalem and what a great difference his life had made in Israel’s history: “Jeremiah composed laments for King Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in these laments. They became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Book of Laments.” (2 Chron. 35:25)
No, as far as we know these specific ‘laments’ for King Josiah are not included in Jeremiah’s Bible book of Lamentations. We have no record of the funeral ceremony honoring King Josiah, but we can imagine it was significant. As was the royal family tradition, Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz was installed by the people as the new King of Judah following his father’s death. (2 Chron. 36:1)
Amazingly the summary of Jehoahaz’s life is only three verses! “Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for only three months! Pharaoh Necho of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a heavy levy of silver and gold. The Pharaoh of Egypt made Eliakim, a brother of Jehoahaz king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoakim. Then Necho took Jehoahaz in chains off to Egypt.” (2 Chronicles 36:2-4)
While Pharaoh Necho had assured Josiah he had no quarrel with Israel, the fact that Josiah mustered his army and went out against Necho caused Necho to attack Jerusalem on his return from Carchemish, and take as captive the new king of Israel, and impose a heavy financial tribute upon Jerusalem. Oh, the price for intruding into a fight that wasn’t Israel’s!
Let’s pause and reflect with some questions as we close today my friends?
* What wisdom has God given you for staying out of other people’s business and not intruding into things which do not involve you?
* While we don’t know for sure what motivated Josiah to rally his troops and take on Pharaoh Necho, what wisdom lessons has God given you about the danger of picking an unnecessary or unwarranted fight?
* When your life draws to a close how will people respond to your departure? Will you be greatly missed and will your legacy leave people filled with gratitude to God that He touched them through your life?
Let’s consider those questions as we worship with this wonderful song…
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chron. 35:20-36:4.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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