2 Kings 23:30 - Exposition

And his servants carried him in a chariot —his "second chariot," according to the writer of Chronicles ( 2 Chronicles 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-chariot— dead from Megiddo. Wounded to death, that is. From Chronicles we gather that his wound, which was from an arrow, was not immediately fatal ( 2 Chronicles 35:23 , 2 Chronicles 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 . 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" ( 2 Chronicles 35:25 ), perhaps in a set composition (Josephus, ' Ant. Jud.,' 10.5. § 1); 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" ( 1 Chronicles 3:15 ; Jeremiah 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 1 Kings 1:34 , and supra, 2 Kings 11:12 ), and made him king in his father's stead.