Yahweh Did Not Turn From His Anger
26 Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 Yahweh said, “I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’” 28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place. 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.
The best king in the book cannot avert the sentence, dies at Megiddo, and within months Judah is a vassal whose king is appointed by a pharaoh.
Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.
The sentence lands immediately after the highest praise in the book, and it is the hardest theological statement in it. The most thorough reform in Israel's history, undertaken wholeheartedly by a king with none like him, does not avert the judgment. Huldah had said so in advance 2 Kings 22:16–17, and the book repeats it here so nobody can mistake the reform for a reprieve.
This needs stating carefully, because it can be read as saying repentance is pointless. What the passage says is narrower and harder. Josiah's own life was answered 2 Kings 22:19–20; the nation's reckoning was not lifted. And the reason given is Manasseh — fifty-five years that had formed a generation, and innocent blood filling Jerusalem end to end 2 Kings 24:4 which no later liturgy could unshed. The reform reached the shrines and did not reach the people; the moment Josiah dies the country reverts within months, which suggests how deep the covenant had actually gone.
Yahweh said, “I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
The sentence is stated in the terms of chapter seventeen. The chosen city and the house that bears the Name are both included, and the reader who has been told since Solomon's dedication that the house could become a heap 1 Kings 9:7–8 now hears it decided.
In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him.
The death is reported in half a verse without explanation. Egypt is marching north to prop up the last of Assyria against Babylon; Josiah intercepts and is killed. This book offers no reason for the intervention — the parallel record says he was warned and would not listen 2 Chronicles 35:21–22 — and the effect is that Judah's best king dies at thirty-nine in a battle that was not his.
He is carried home dead in a chariot and buried in his own tomb 2 Kings 23:30, which is the peace Huldah promised: not a long life, but a grave in a city still standing.
Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
Then the collapse is astonishingly fast. The people crown Jehoahaz; three months later Egypt removes him, fines the country a hundred talents of silver, installs his brother, and changes his name to Jehoiakim — the renaming being the clearest possible statement of who owns the throne. Jehoahaz dies in Egypt, and Judah is a tributary state.
Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh.
The puppet king funds the tribute by assessing his own population — the same arrangement Menahem used in the north a century earlier 2 Kings 15:20, and the north is a cautionary example nobody consults. Within one chapter of the greatest Passover since the judges, Judah is taxing its farmers to pay Egypt, under a king whose name a pharaoh chose.
It is the reason the book's argument matters to its first readers. The end did not come because God was weak or absent. It came exactly as it had been said, to a nation that had been warned by every prophet and had just spent eighteen months proving it could keep the covenant if it wanted to.
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