2 Chronicles 35:20-27
We now read an account of the circumstances which led to King Josiah's death. Necho, King of Egypt was on his way with his soldiers to fight against Charchemish near the River Euphrates. Josiah went out to intercept him and despite being warned by Necho that God had told him to make haste and Josiah would be meddling with God, he persisted and was wounded by an archer. Josiah was transferred into another chariot and taken into Jerusalem where he died and was much mourned for.
In this account I particularly noticed in verse 22 that Josiah, 'hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God'. I was puzzled by this, and by Josiah's actions.
First of all, why didn't Josiah listen to Necho? Was it because Necho and the Egyptians didn't follow the Judean religion and consequently Josiah didn't believe him when he said he was commanded by God? And secondly, why did Josiah then disguise himself to go out to battle with Necho?
We have an advantage over Josiah in that we have the whole of the Bible. This contains other examples where God speaks through or uses ungodly people to perform his plans. I particularly think of Cyrus, King of Persia, who although not thought to be a true believer, was 'stirred up' by God to allow the Jews to return from captivity to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (2 Chronicles 36:22,23, Isaiah 45).
But then we also have examples of people who say God has spoken through them and they are lying - do you remember the old prophet in Bethel who told another prophet from Judah that God had told him to invite him back to his house? We read, 'but he lied unto him' (1 Kings 13:18). God had told the prophet from Judah he must not eat, drink or return the way he had gone to Bethel, but because he believed the Bethel prophet and stayed with him for a meal he was killed by a lion on his way home - the consequence of disobedience to God was death. The consequence to Josiah here was death. We think of Adam and Eve disobeying God, and the consequence of death for all mankind.
What does this teach us then? The value of prayer and the need for discernment. We do not read of Josiah praying to God about what Necho said to ask if it really was so. We do not read of the prophet asking God if his commandment had changed. We do not read of Adam and Eve going back to God to ask if it was really so before taking of the fruit. The prophet and Adam and Eve were believing others rather than God. God knows our flesh - he knows our problems with unbelief, but he is also most longsuffering and kind and will give tokens of his will when we ask - think of Gideon and the fleece - think of Hezekiah and the sundial.
Secondly, I wondered about Josiah disguising himself. I remember reading about King Ahab also doing this. Both times they were trying to hide themselves from the enemy. Both Ahab and Josiah had been warned about the fatal consequences of their actions. Did they both think that by hiding themselves from man they could hide themselves from God? We know that Ahab was not at peace with God, he hated God and his prophets; and Josiah, we wonder if he didn't truly believe Necho's message was from God - but either way, they each continued because they wanted to do this thing.
It reminds me of how sometimes I have prayed about a matter to 'quiet' my conscience, but in my heart I have known that I was still going to do what I wanted. Do you ever find yourself doing this? It is hard to admit it sometimes.
Let us not be Josiahs in our daily lives. If we want to do a certain thing and somebody tells us that they believe God would not have us to do it, perhaps we should stop and consider. Are they speaking a word from God to us? We could pray about it and search in God's word for guidance. Or if we believe God has spoken to us about a certain matter and somebody tries to tell us to do otherwise, let us again pray about it- God does not change his commandments (although we do read of him having mercy and withholding judgement when people repent), and we are to obey him and what he will have us to do.
May we be given soft hearts and kept in a tender conscience to discern the Lord's voice to us, even if it seems in unusual ways.
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