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In 2 Chronicles, Josiah ignores a warning that Pharaoh Necho says came from God and dies after the battle at Megiddo. 1 Esdras retells the battle but credits the warning Josiah ignored to the prophet Jeremiah, speaking for God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Chronicles 35:22
Hebrew Bible
20 After Josiah had done all this for the temple, King Necho of Egypt marched up to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. Josiah marched out to oppose him. 21 Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “Why are you opposing me, O king of Judah? I am not attacking you today, but the kingdom with which I am at war. God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, or else he will destroy you.” 22 But Josiah did not turn back from him; he disguised himself for battle. He did not take seriously the words of Necho that he had received from God; he went to fight him in the Plain of Megiddo. 23 Archers shot King Josiah; the king ordered his servants, “Take me out of this chariot, for I am seriously wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, put him in another chariot that he owned, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors; all the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned Josiah.
1 Esdras 1:28
Esdras A, 3 Esdras
Deuterocanon
25 After all these acts of Josiah, it happened that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, went to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. 26 And the king of Egypt sent word to him saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judea? 27 I was not sent against you by the Lord God, for my war is at the Euphrates. And now the Lord is with me! The Lord is with me, urging me on! Stand aside, and do not oppose the Lord.” 28 But Josiah did not turn back to his chariot, but tried to fight with him, and did not heed the words of Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord. 29 He joined battle with him in the plain of Megiddo, and the commanders came down against King Josiah. 30 And the king said to his servants, “Take me away from the battle, for I am very weak.” And immediately his servants took him out of the line of battle. 31 And he got into his second chariot; and after he was brought back to Jerusalem he died, and was buried in the tomb of his fathers.
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Notes and References
“... 1:24–26. and the king of Egypt The main thrust of Pharaoh’s address is that he was sent to battle by God and should not be disturbed on the way. Pharaoh refers to his God as “the Lord who is with me”; the Chronicler identified this God with the God of Josiah but used the general title “God.” In all the occurrences of this title—five times in this short passage—1 Esdras replaces “God” by the title “the Lord God” or simply “the Lord,” the title of the God of Israel. According to 1 Esdras, Pharaoh’s God was the God of Israel, and he was hastening him to wage war on the Euphrates. Moreover, rather than “Josiah . . . [was] heedless of Necho’s words from the mouth of God” (2 Chron. 35:22),1 Esdras reads “Josiah . . . did not heed the words of the prophet Jeremiah from the mouth of the Lord.” 1 Esdras does not specify where and when Jeremiah spoke to Josiah about this issue, but the message is clear: Josiah should have listened to the Lord’s warning and retreated from battle, but he did not. The tragic outcome was thus fully justified. ...”
Japhet, Sara
"1 Esdras" in Feldman, Louis H.; Kugel, James L.; Schiffman, Lawrence H. (ed.) Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture
(p. 152) Jewish Publication Society, 2013
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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