Bible Synapse
Did Josiah die at Megiddo or in Jerusalem?
Hard question · Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Pharaoh Necho “slew him at Megiddo”; “his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem”.
In his days Pharaoh–nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 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.
Shot by archers, Josiah said, “Have me away; for I am sore wounded”; his servants moved him to his second chariot, “and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died”.
And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
God tells the living Abimelech, “thou art but a dead man”: as good as dead.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
The objection
2 Kings says that Pharaoh Necho killed Josiah at Megiddo and that his servants carried him dead from there to Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles says that he was badly wounded at Megiddo, was taken to Jerusalem, and died. Did he die on the battlefield or after reaching the capital?
The answer
Both accounts agree on what matters: Josiah received his fatal wound in battle at Megiddo, was driven in a chariot to Jerusalem, and was buried there. Kings tells it in two lines; Chronicles gives more detail. When Kings says that Necho “slew him at Megiddo”, it names the place where the deadly blow was struck, much as we might say a soldier was killed at the Somme although he died of his wounds a day later.
The word translated “dead” in 2 Kings 23:30 is the Hebrew met, from the verb ‘to die’. It can describe someone who is dying or as good as dead. God says to the living Abimelech, hinnekha met, “thou art but a dead man” (Genesis 20:3), which the BSB renders “You are as good as dead”. So Kings may describe a king carried from Megiddo mortally wounded. Chronicles, which has him say “Have me away; for I am sore wounded”, shows that he lived long enough to give that order.
Chronicles does not fix the moment of death either. It says that they brought him to Jerusalem “and he died”, and Keil and Delitzsch point out that the order of these clauses does not mean he died only after arriving. Gill thought he died of his wounds on the road; he may also have died soon after reaching the city. Either way, the two accounts describe the same death.
From the classic commentators
They took him out of the chariot in which he was wounded, and put him into another, where he died of his wounds by the way; being mortally wounded, he is said to be dead, or a dead manJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on 2 Kings 23 (1746–1763)
Sources
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: 2 Kings 23 (1857–78), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 2 Kings 23 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
- Brown-Driver-Briggs and other lexicons: mut, ‘to die’ (Strong’s H4191), at Bible Hub