When Good Kings Make Bad Calls Text: 2 Chronicles 35:20-27
Introduction: The Unsettling Providence of God
We have a tendency, particularly in our sentimental age, to want our heroes to be flawless. We want the story to be clean. We want the good guys to win every battle, make every right decision, and die peacefully in their beds at a ripe old age, surrounded by their adoring grandchildren. But the Bible is not a sentimental book. It is a book of rugged, jagged, and often unsettling history, all of it under the absolute sovereignty of a God who is not tame.
The story of King Josiah is one of the great tragedies of the Old Testament. Here is a man who, from his youth, sought the Lord with all his heart. He rediscovered the Law, cleansed the land of its high places, tore down the idols, and reinstituted the Passover with a zeal not seen since the days of Samuel. He was, by every biblical metric, one of the great reformers. He set the house of God in order. And after all this, after all his faithfulness, we come to the shocking end of his life. He dies prematurely, foolishly, and violently on the battlefield at Megiddo, after ignoring a direct warning from God delivered by the mouth of a pagan king.
This is profoundly troubling to our modern sensibilities. We want to believe that if we do everything right, God is obligated to make everything go right for us. We want a transactional relationship with the Almighty. But God is not a cosmic vending machine. He is the sovereign Lord of history, and His ways are not our ways. The death of Josiah forces us to grapple with a number of hard truths: that even the most righteous men can have fatal blind spots, that God can and does speak through the most unlikely of messengers, and that disobedience, even when cloaked in the guise of national piety or kingly duty, has devastating consequences. This is not a story about the failure of God's promises, but rather a stark lesson in the failure of even the best of men to listen to God's voice when it comes from an unexpected direction.
We must therefore approach this text with sobriety, asking God to deliver us from our own blind spots. We must learn that God's revealed will in Scripture is our only sure guide, and that when we step outside of it, presuming upon our own wisdom or past faithfulness, we are stepping onto very thin ice indeed.
The Text
After all this, when Josiah had set the house in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has said for me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not bring you to ruin.” However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of Megiddo. Then the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” So his servants took him out of the chariot and drove him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died, and he was buried in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them a statute in Israel; behold, they are also written in the lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of lovingkindness according to what was written in the law of Yahweh, and his acts, first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
(2 Chronicles 35:20-27 LSB)
A Righteous King's Unforced Error (v. 20-21)
The stage is set immediately after Josiah's greatest triumphs. He has done everything right. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.
"After all this, when Josiah had set the house in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him." (2 Chronicles 35:20)
The phrase "After all this" is crucial. It connects Josiah's faithful reforms directly to this final, fatal act. This is not some disconnected event. It is the tragic capstone to a righteous reign. A geopolitical conflict is brewing to the north between the rising Babylonians and the waning Assyrians, with Egypt caught in the middle. Pharaoh Neco is marching his army north along the coastal highway to aid the Assyrians at Carchemish. This route cuts through territory that was, at least in Josiah's mind, under Judah's sphere of influence. So, Josiah, perhaps feeling his oats after his successful reforms, decides to intercept the Egyptian army.
There is no record that Josiah inquired of the Lord. He didn't consult the prophet Jeremiah, who was active during his reign. He didn't ask for a word from the Lord through the Urim and Thummim. He seems to have made a purely political, military calculation. He saw a foreign army marching through his backyard and decided, as king, to do something about it. This was a reasonable political decision, but it was a disastrous spiritual one.
Neco's response is startling.
"But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, 'What have I to do with you, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has said for me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not bring you to ruin.'" (2 Chronicles 35:21)
Here we have a pagan king delivering a message that he claims is from God. And not just any god, but "Elohim," the very name used in Genesis 1. Neco says, in effect, "This is not your fight. I have no quarrel with you. My mission is from God, and He told me to make haste. If you get in my way, you are not getting in my way, but in God's way." This is an astonishing claim. How are we to take this? More importantly, how was Josiah to take this? The narrator of Chronicles will tell us plainly in the next verse that this was, in fact, "from the mouth of God." God is not limited to using prophets and priests. He is the Lord of all history and all nations, and He can press a pagan king into service to deliver His mail. He used Balaam's donkey, and He can certainly use Pharaoh's messengers.
The Deafness of Presumption (v. 22)
Josiah's reaction reveals a fatal spiritual deafness. He has already made up his mind.
"However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of Megiddo." (2 Chronicles 35:22 LSB)
Josiah would not listen. Why? We can only speculate, but it seems to be a case of pious presumption. Perhaps he thought, "I am the righteous king of Judah. This is a pagan king. How could God possibly speak through him? My duty is to defend the land." He confused his political duty with God's revealed will. He trusted his own strategic assessment more than the plain, albeit unusual, word delivered to him. His past faithfulness became a liability, blinding him to a present warning.
His decision to disguise himself is telling. It is a direct echo of the wicked King Ahab, who disguised himself before the battle at Ramoth-gilead and was killed by a random arrow (1 Kings 22:30-35). Righteous Josiah, in his disobedience, ends up mimicking the actions of one of Israel's worst kings. When we are outside of God's will, we begin to resemble those who have always been outside His will. The disguise did not fool God. You cannot hide from the sovereign purposes of the Almighty. The arrow that finds its target is not random; it is guided.
The chronicler's editorial comment is the key to the whole passage: "nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God." The text is unambiguous. God spoke, and Josiah refused to hear. This is the central tragedy. All his reforms, all his zeal for the Law, were undone in a moment of stubborn pride. He knew the Law, but he failed to apply the most basic principle of wisdom: the fear of the Lord, which begins with listening to Him, no matter who the mailman is.
The Inevitable Consequence (v. 23-25)
Disobedience in the face of a clear warning from God has consequences. God's word is not a suggestion; it is a statement of how reality operates.
"Then the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, 'Take me away, for I am badly wounded.' So his servants took him out of the chariot... and brought him to Jerusalem where he died... And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah." (2 Chronicles 35:23-24 LSB)
The battle is swift and decisive. The disguised king is struck down. His plan failed. His wisdom was folly. His death was not a martyr's death; it was the direct result of placing himself where God told him not to be. He went looking for a fight that wasn't his, and he found it.
The mourning for him was profound. This was not like the death of a wicked king, where the people rejoice. This was a genuine tragedy. A good man, a great king, was dead. Jeremiah himself, the weeping prophet, composed a lament for him. This tells us that a man can be genuinely righteous in the main, and yet still commit a catastrophic, fatal error. God's grace in our lives does not make us infallible. We are always one step away from foolishness if we do not remain utterly dependent on His guidance through His Word.
"Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day." (2 Chronicles 35:25 LSB)
The death of Josiah was a national disaster. He was the last good king. After him came a succession of puppets and fools, leading directly to the Babylonian exile. His foolish decision at Megiddo effectively removed the last barrier to judgment. This is a sober reminder that the personal sins of leaders have massive public consequences. When a king disobeys, the entire nation suffers.
A Sobering Epitaph (v. 26-27)
The passage concludes with a summary of Josiah's life, which only serves to heighten the tragedy of his death.
"Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of lovingkindness according to what was written in the law of Yahweh, and his acts, first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah." (2 Chronicles 35:26-27 LSB)
His legacy was one of "lovingkindness according to what was written in the law of Yahweh." He was a man defined by his covenant faithfulness. And yet. That faithfulness did not give him a pass. It did not exempt him from the consequences of his final, disobedient act. This is the hard lesson. God judges His people, and He often holds His leaders to the highest standard. Our obedience must be consistent, present-tense obedience. We cannot coast on the fumes of past victories.
Conclusion: Check Your Sources
What, then, are we to take from this grim account? First, we must recognize that God's sovereignty is not constrained by our expectations. He is free to speak through whomever He pleases, a pagan king, a stubborn donkey, a burning bush. Our job is not to vet the messenger, but to test the message against the clear standard of God's revealed will in Scripture. Josiah's primary failure was not military, but theological. He failed to inquire of the Lord.
Second, we must beware of the sin of presumption. Josiah had done so much good that he likely thought he had a good handle on things. He presumed that his course of action was the righteous one, and he was deaf to any correction. We must cultivate a spirit of humility, recognizing that our hearts are deceitful and that we are capable of monumental foolishness, even in the midst of genuine faithfulness. We must never stop asking, "What does the Lord require of me?" And the answer must always be sought in His Word, not in our political calculations or pious gut feelings.
Finally, we see the terrible price of disobedience. Josiah's death ushered in the final, dark chapter of Judah's history before the exile. His one act of defiant self-will had consequences that rippled out for generations. This should sober us. Our personal obedience to God is not a private matter. It affects our families, our churches, and our nation.
But for us, who live on this side of the cross, the story does not end in a lament. Josiah was a good king, but he was a flawed king who died because of his own folly. We serve a perfect King, Jesus Christ, who went to a different plain, the hill of Golgotha, not in disobedience, but in perfect obedience to the Father's will. He did not disguise Himself to enter a battle that wasn't His; He took on human flesh to enter the battle that was truly ours. He fought not against Pharaoh Neco, but against sin, death, and the devil. And where Josiah was struck down in defeat, our King rose again in victory. Josiah's death brought mourning and judgment. Christ's death brings joy and salvation. Therefore, let us learn from Josiah's failure, and let us fix our eyes on Christ's perfect success, trusting and obeying Him in all things.