2 Chronicles 35:21

_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._ But he sent ambassadors ... What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? Not wishing to spend time or strength in vain, Necho informed the king of Judah that he had no intention of molesting the Jews, that his expedition was directed solely against his old Assyrian enemy, and that he had undertaken it by an express commission from God. Commentators are not agreed whether it was really a divine commission given him through Jeremiah, or whether he merely used the name of God as an authority that Josiah would not refuse to obey. Since he could not know the truth of Necho's declaration, Josiah did not sin in...

20-27 The Scripture does not condemn Josiah's conduct in opposing Pharaoh. Yet Josiah seems to deserve blame for not inquiring of the Lord after he was warned; his death might be a rebuke for his rashness, but it was a judgment on a hypocritical and wicked people. He that lives a life of repentance, faith, and obedience, cannot be affected by the sudden manner in which he is removed. The people lamented him. Many mourn over sufferings, who will not forsake the sins that caused God to send them. Yet this alone can turn away judgments. If we blame Josiah's conduct, we should be watchful, lest we be cut down in a way dishonourable to our profession....

Verse 2 Chronicles 35:21. _GOD COMMANDED ME TO MAKE HASTE_] The _Targum_ gives a curious turn to this and the following verse: "My idol commanded me to make haste; refrain therefore from me and my idol which is with me, that he betray thee not. When he heard him mention his idol, he would not go back; and he hearkened not unto the words of Necho, which he spake concerning his idol." Here is the rabbinical _excuse_ for the conduct of Josiah....

THE HOUSE WHEREWITH I HAVE WAR - Necho viewed Babylon as the successor and representative of Assyria - the hereditary enemy of Egypt - and he means that he is merely continuing an old hostility with which Josiah has nothing to do. No doubt the Assyrian and Egyptian armies had often passed up and down Syria by the coast route, without approaching Jerusalem, or even touching the soil of Judaea. GOD COMMANDED ME TO MAKE HASTE: FORBEAR THEE FROM MEDDLING WITH GOD - These are remarkable words in the mouth of a pagan; but ancient inscriptions show that the Egyptian kings, in a certain sense, acknowledged a single supreme god, and considered their actions to be inspired by him. (e. g. The god Tum (compare) the name of his city, Pithom, Exodus 1:11 note) was worshipped as ankh, “the living One” (compare “Yahweh”)). Hence, Necho me

EXPOSITION This chapter of twenty-seven Verses, occupied with the account of Josiah's great Passover (2 Chronicles 35:1), and his death in the battle of Megiddo, waged by Necho King of Egypt with "Carchemish by Euphrates" (2 Chronicles 35:20-14), is paralleled by the ten verses of 2 Kings 23:21-12. 2 CHRONICLES 35:1 THEY KILLED THE PASSOVER ON THE FOURTEENTH … OF THE FIRST MONTH;_ i.e. _on the day appointed originally (Exodus 12:6

BUT HE SENT AMBASSADORS TO HIM,.... That is, Necho sent to Josiah: SAYING, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE, THOU KING OF JUDAH? signifying he had no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with him, and he had no business to intermeddle between him and another prince: I COME NOT AGAINST THEE THIS DAY; in an hostile manner: BUT AGAINST THE HOUSE WHEREWITH I HAVE WAR; the king of Assyria: FOR GOD COMMANDED ME TO MAKE HASTE; and oppose his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers y; but the true God might have appeared to him in a dream, or sent a prophet to him; or at least he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Josiah; and indeed it seems to be real from the following verse: FORBEAR THEE FROM MEDDLING WITH GOD, WHO IS WITH ME, THAT HE DESTROY THEE NOT; he concluded God was with him, and would succeed

CHAPTER 35 THE KEEPING OF THE PASSOVER AND JOSIAH'S DEATH _ 1. The Passover kept (2 Chronicles 35:1)_ 2. The death of Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:20) In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah, like his great-grandfather Hezekiah, kept the Passover. No doubt the reading of the law had made this feast once more an urgent necessity. Moreover they had made a solemn covenant “to walk after the LORD, to keep His commandments, His testimonies and His statutes, and to perform the words of the covenant written in the book.” Therefore in the appointed time, on the fourteenth day of the first month, they kept the memorial feast, the last before the house of Judah was carried into captivity. (Hezekiah's Passover was kept in the second month. See...

2 Chronicles 34:1 to 2 Chronicles 35:27. THE REIGN OF JOSIAH. See notes on 2 Kings 22, 2 Kings 23:1, which form the basis of the Chronicler's account; but he has made many alterations in accordance with his general tendencies. One important difference between the two accounts is that, according to the Chronicler, Josiah's Reformation takes place before the finding of the book of the Law, an obviously illogical sequence; but the Chronicler desires to emphasize Josiah's piety even in his tender years. The description of the celebration of the Passover (2 Chronicles 35:1) is far fuller than that given in...

HE. Pharaoh-necho....

_against the house wherewith I have war_ In 1Es 1:27 there is a different reading "My war is upon Euphrates." _commanded_ R.V. HATH COMMANDED....