2 Chronicles 35:22

_NEVERTHELESS JOSIAH WOULD NOT TURN HIS FACE FROM HIM, BUT DISGUISED HIMSELF, THAT HE MIGHT FIGHT WITH HIM, AND HEARKENED NOT UNTO THE WORDS OF NECHO FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD, AND CAME TO FIGHT IN THE VALLEY OF MEGIDDO._ Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, х_ HITCHAPEES_ (H2664), disguised himself (cf. 1 Samuel 28:8; 1 Kings 20:38; 1 Kings 22:30; Job 30:18). The Septuagint has: all' ee polemein auton ekrataioothee, but was rather strengthened, stimulated to fight; and in like manner other ancient versions render the words]. The engagement took place

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....

DISGUISED HIMSELF - Compare the marginal reference. But most modern critics are dissatisfied with this sense in this place, and prefer to render “equipped himself;” or - with the Septuagint - adopt another reading, and render “took courage.” THE WORDS OF NECHO FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD - The author apparently regarded Necho’s words as actually prophetic - a warning to which Josiah ought to have listened - sent him by God to make him pause - though not spoken by divine inspiration, or in consequence of any supernatural revelation of the divine will to the Egyptian king. Compare the “prophecy” of Caiaphas, John 11:51....

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

NEVERTHELESS, JOSIAH WOULD NOT TURN HIS FACE FROM HIM,.... Or withdraw his forces, and go back: BUT DISGUISED HIMSELF THAT HE MIGHT FIGHT WITH HIM; without being personally known, and aimed at, see 1 Kings 22:30 AND HEARKENED NOT UNTO THE WORDS OF NECHO FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD: not believing that what he said came from the Lord, though it might; and his infirmity was, that he did not inquire of the Lord about it: AND CAME TO FIGHT IN THE VALLEY OF MEGIDDO; which was in the tribe of Manasseh, thought to be the Magdolum of Herodotus, where he says Necho fought the battle z; 2 Kings 23:29. z Gale in Herodot. ut supra. (Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 159. Galei not. in ib.)...

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...

DISGUISED HIMSELF. As Ahab had done (2 Chronicles 18:29; 1 Kings 22:30). MEGIDDO. Compare 2 Kings 23:29....

_disguised himself_ Josiah, like Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:29), took the warning so far seriously as to think that his life was in danger and that he would be safer fighting in disguise. The ἐκραταιώθη ("was strengthened") of the LXX. represents an inferior reading. _the valley of Megiddo_ Cp. Judges 5:19; Zechariah 12:11. In 1Es 1:29, "the _plain_of Megiddo." The whole (or perhaps only the western part) of the plain of Esdrelon is meant; cp. 1 Chronicles 10:7, note....

BUT DISGUISED HIMSELF— _But encouraged himself._ Houbigant; who, in the 15th verse, instead of _the king's seer,_ reads, _the king's seers._...