What can we learn about God's sovereignty from Josiah's encounter with Pharaoh Necho? Setting the scene 2 Chronicles 35:20 records a startling turn: “After all this that Josiah had prepared for the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to confront him.” Josiah—Judah’s reforming king—meets an unexpected opponent and an even more unexpected word from God spoken through that opponent. God’s sovereignty over international affairs • The Lord steers kings and kingdoms: “The king’s heart is a watercourse in the hand of the LORD; He directs it wherever He pleases” (Proverbs 21:1). • Egypt and Babylon think they are shaping history, yet God is weaving His larger redemptive story (cf. Isaiah 10:5-7; Jeremiah 25:8-9). • Josiah’s day reminds us that geopolitical shifts never escape divine oversight. An unexpected messenger • Pharaoh Necho sends envoys: “What have we to do with each other, O king of Judah? I have not come against you…God has told me to hurry. So stop opposing God, who is with me, or He will destroy you!” (2 Chronicles 35:21). • God sometimes speaks through outsiders—Balaam (Numbers 22), Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1), Pilate’s warning wife (Matthew 27:19). • Sovereignty means God can choose any mouthpiece; our task is to discern His voice, not the pedigree of the speaker. The cost of resisting sovereign direction • Josiah “would not turn away…he disguised himself to fight…and did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God” (35:22). • Archers strike him; Judah’s beloved king dies prematurely (35:23-24). • Even righteous zeal, when detached from God’s current command, turns into presumption (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22-23). When good intentions meet a higher plan • Josiah’s motive—defending his land or aiding Babylon against Egypt—seemed noble. Yet God had ordained Egypt’s passage. • God’s sovereignty is not negated by our devotion; rather, He calls devoted hearts to humble obedience (Micah 6:8). • Romans 9:18: “Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.” His purposes stand. Wider biblical echoes • Daniel 4:35—no one can stay His hand. • Job 42:2—no plan of His can be thwarted. • Acts 4:27-28—nations rage, yet do “what God’s hand and purpose predestined to occur.” Personal takeaways for today • Stay teachable; God may correct through unexpected voices. • Test every word against Scripture, but do not dismiss it because it comes from “Egypt.” • Align zeal with prayerful listening; obedience outruns bravado. • Trust that global events, national shifts, and personal detours are all under the careful rule of the Sovereign Lord. He writes history—and our stories—without error. |
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