What is the meaning of 2 Chronicles 35:22? Josiah, however, did not turn away from him • The chronicler contrasts Josiah’s long record of humble obedience (2 Chronicles 34:26–28) with this single, tragic refusal to step aside. • Pharaoh Neco had no quarrel with Judah (2 Chronicles 35:21), yet Josiah pressed forward, ignoring the obvious path of peace—echoing the warning of Proverbs 14:12 about a way that “seems right” but ends in death. • The verse reminds readers that even a godly king can stumble when self-confidence overrides prayerful discernment (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:12). Instead, in order to engage him in battle, he disguised himself • Josiah imitated the earlier folly of King Ahab, who also masked his identity in battle and died anyway (2 Chronicles 18:29–34). • Disguise suggests reliance on strategy rather than on the LORD (Psalm 20:7). • Stepping out of one’s God-given role never ends well; compare Saul donning priestly duties (1 Samuel 13:8–14). He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God • God can speak through unexpected messengers: Balaam (Numbers 22:38), Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1), even Caiaphas (John 11:49–52). • Rejecting a divine warning, regardless of the source, violates the command to heed God’s voice (Deuteronomy 18:19). • Josiah’s earlier tenderness toward God (2 Chronicles 34:27) highlights the seriousness of his present deafness. But went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo • Megiddo had witnessed previous judgments against kings who trusted in human schemes (2 Kings 23:29). • Its strategic location made it a crossroads of empires, yet in Scripture it also becomes a symbol of ultimate confrontation (Revelation 16:16). • Josiah’s death here hastened Judah’s decline, fulfilling the warning of Leviticus 26:17 that disobedience would place the nation “under the power of the sword.” summary 2 Chronicles 35:22 records a sobering turn in Josiah’s life: a faithful king chooses self-reliance, rejects a divinely sent warning, and perishes on a battlefield he need never have entered. The verse underscores that no past devotion exempts God’s people from present obedience, that the Lord may speak through unlikely voices, and that ignoring His counsel brings ruin—even to the best of leaders. |
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