2 Kings 23:30

2Ki 23:30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.

Ver. 30. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead.] Mortuum, i.e., Moribundum, a dying man. See on 2Ki 23:29.

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz.] Lest Pharaoh at his return finding no king, should seize upon the kingdom; but this greatly provoked the conqueror, to whom they should rather have sought for peace and liberty to make them a new king.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 23:30. His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo — That is, mortally wounded, as in the former verse; and, as we commonly say of a sick man, past hopes of recovery, that he is a dead man. Instead of dead, Houbigant reads dying. The people took Jehoahaz, and made him king — Who was younger than Jehoiakim, yet preferred by the people before the elder brother; either because Jehoiakim refused the kingdom for fear of Pharaoh, whom he knew he should hereby provoke; or, because Jehoahaz was the more stout and warlike prince: whence he is called a lion, Eze 19:3. And anointed him — Which ceremony was used because this was a troublesome time, and he was not the right heir to the crown, and therefore needed this solemn rite of confirmation, which Solomon had in the same circumstances.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:30 The Chronicler reports on the great honor that Josiah received in death (2 Chr 35:24-25).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 30. Dead from Megiddo] The word מת meth should here be considered as a participle, dying, for it is certain he was not dead: he was mortally wounded at Megiddo, was carried in a dying state to Jerusalem, and there he died and was buried. See 2Ch 35:24.

Herodotus, lib. i., c. 17, 18, 25, and lib. ii. 159, appears to refer to the same war which is here mentioned. He says that Nechoh, in the sixth year of his reign, went to attack the king of Assyria at Magdolum, gained a complete victory, and took Cadytis. Usher and others believe that Magdolum and Megiddo were the same place. The exact place of the battle seems to have been Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo, for there Zechariah tells us 2Kg 12:11, was the great mourning for Josiah. Compare this with 2Ch 35:24-25.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(30) And his servants carried him . . .—See Notes 2Ch_35:24.

The people of the land.—Thenius says they were the soldiery who had fled to Jerusalem; but this is doubtful.

Took Jehoahaz.—He was not the eldest son (see 2Ki_23:36), but he may have been thought a more capable prince amid the emergencies of the time, although Jer_22:10 seq. shows that this estimate was fallacious.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. carried him in a chariot] The italics are wrong as also in 2Ki_9:28. The verb signifies ‘to carry in a chariot’. The R.V. prints in common type. According to the Chronicler, they moved him from his war chariot into a second chariot which he had at hand. From Zec_12:11 ‘As the mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo’ it has been supposed that Josiah did not die till he reached Hadad-Rimmon, and that the mourning there mentioned by the prophet was for this good king’s death. The Chronicler dwells at length on the sorrow which this event caused. ‘Jeremiah lamented for him, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day’. Some have thought that the lamentation here spoken of is preserved to us in the poem contained in Lamentations 4. But there is hardly anything in it which can be taken as clear allusion to this time. Jeremiah’s dirge for Josiah has probably perished with much other literature of the period.

Jehoahaz … and anointed him] To anoint a king who succeeded in the ordinary way was not usual. Hence some have thought that the people of the land were not acting according to what Josiah himself would have wished, nor choosing the recognised successor in passing over the elder brother. They wished therefore, by this solemn rite, to ensure his acceptance as their religiously consecrated monarch.

It appears from the history in Kings that Eliakim (Jehoiakim) was older than Jehoahaz, because on Eliakim’s succession he is stated to have been 25 years old, while Jehoahaz, whose reign was only of three months’ duration, is said to have been 23 when he came to the throne (2Ki_23:31; 2Ki_23:36). But in the genealogy (1Ch_3:15) the sons of Josiah are put down as ‘the firstborn Johanan (and this the margin of A.V. identifies with Jehoahaz), the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum’. If the margin of A.V. is correct then Jehoahaz would have succeeded in his proper place. But he is called Shallum in Jer_22:11, and so he would be, according to the Chronicler, the fourth son.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Committed idolatry:

according to all that his fathers had done; his grand father and great grandfather, Amon and Manasseh; so soon after Josiah's death was the revolt to idolatry.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dead - It appears from a comparison of this passage with 2 Chronicles (marginal reference) that Josiah was not actually killed in the battle.

Jehoahaz - Or Shallum (the marginal note). He may have taken the name of Jehoahaz (“the Lord possesses”) on his accession. He was not the eldest son of Josiah (see 2Ki 23:36 note). The mention of “anointing” here favors the view that there was some irregularity in the succession (see 1Ki 1:34 note).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Sepulchre. Paralipomenon xxxv., in the monument (or mausoleum) of his fathers. Such was the end of Josias: he fell gloriously in defence of his country, as he had spent his life in promoting religion. God therefore withdrew him from the sight of the miseries which were shortly to fall on his devoted people, chap. xxii. 20. (Haydock) --- He was a prince of most excellent disposition, and receives the highest encomium, ver. 25., and Ecclesiasticus xlix. 1. Jeremias composed his funeral canticle, which was sung on his anniversary for many years, 2 Paralipomenon xxxv. 24. The mourning for this pious king became proverbial, and resembled that which should be made for the Messias, Zacharias xii. 11. The life and death of Josias prefigured those of Jesus Christ; who should be long expected as the restorer of the true religion, the teacher of a more excellent law, and the most innocent victim for the sins of the people. The glorious Phase under Josias, was but a faint representation of the eucharistic sacrifice. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Dead, i.e. mortally wounded, as in the former verse; and as we commonly say of a sick man past hopes of recovery, that he is a dead man: compare Gen 20:3.

Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, who was younger than Jehoiakim, by comparing 2Ki 23:31 with 2Ki 23:36, yet preferred by the people before the elder brother; either because Jehoiakim refused the kingdom for fear of Pharaoh, whom he knew he should hereby provoke; or because Jehoahaz was the more stout and warlike prince; whence he is called a lion, Eze 19:3, though indeed he showed his courage more against his people than his enemies; but they judged that he was most able and willing to defend them against the conquering army.

Anointed him; as they used to do in such extraordinary cases, because this was a troublesome time, and he was not the right heir to the crown, and therefore needed this solemn rite of confirmation, which Solomon had in the same circumstances.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. Dead from Megiddo — So he did not die at Jerusalem, as the form of statement in Chronicles would lead one to suppose. He probably gave orders, as soon as wounded, for his whole army to retreat, and he had perhaps been carried as far as Hadadrimmon, some five miles south of Megiddo, before he expired. Hence the origin of the expression, “the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” Zec_12:11.

Buried him in his own sepulchre — Which was probably “in the garden of Uzza,” where his father (2Ki_21:26) and grandfather (2Ki_21:18) had been buried. 2 Chronicles adds, that “all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented,” together with “all the singing men and the singing women,” so that their lamentations became “an ordinance in Israel.”

People of the land — The great body of the nation by their representatives, the elders. Compare 2 Kings 11:24.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And his servants carried him in a chariot his "second chariot," according to the writer of Chronicles, (2Ch_35:24) which was probably one kept in reserve in case flight should be necessary, of lighter construction, and drawn by fleeter horses, than his war-chariotdead from Megiddo. Wounded to death, that is. From Chronicles we gather that his wound, which was from an arrow, was not immediately fatal; (2Ch_35:23, 2Ch_35:24) but that he died of it on his way to Jerusalem, or directly after his arrival. And brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulcher. (comp. 2Ki_21:18, 2Ki_21:26) The writer of Chronicles says, "in the sepulcher of his fathers," apparently meaning the burial-place in which were interred the bodies of Manasseh and Amen. We learn from Chronicles that a great lamentation was made for Josiah, the only King of Judah slain in battle, the last good king of David"s line, the pious prince whose piety had not sufficed to avert the anger of Jehovah. Jeremiah "lamented for him", (2Ch_35:25) perhaps in a set composition (Josephus, " Ant. Jud:," 10:5. though that composition is certainly not either the Book of Lamentations or the fourth chapter of that book. He was further mourned by "all the singing men and the singing women" (2 Chronicles, l.s.c.), who "spake of him in their lamentations, and "made them an ordinance in Israel," and entered these "lamentations," apparently in a book, which was called "The Book of Lamentations," or "of Dirges." And the people of the laud took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah. Jehoahaz was otherwise named "Shallum" (1Ch_3:15; Jer_22:11) On what grounds the people preferred him to his elder brother, Eliakim, we do not know. Perhaps Eliakim had accompanied his father to Megiddo, and been made prisoner by Nechoh in the battle. And anointed him (see the comment on 1Ki_1:34, and supra, 2Ki_11:12) and made him king in his father"s stead.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dead - Mortally wounded. Jehoahaz - Who was younger than Jehoiakim, yet preferred by the people before the elder brother; either because Jehoiakim refused the kingdom for fear of Pharaoh, whom he knew he should hereby provoke. Or because Jehoahaz was the more stout and warlike prince; whence he is called a lion, Ezek xix, 3.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Anointed. He did not require anointment, nonetheless [he was anointed] because Yehoyakim his brother was two years older than he, as is explained in this section.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.