2 Kings 23:29

Pharaoh-nechoh] i.e. Nechoh II, a king of the 26th dynasty (610-595 b.c.), whose father Psammetichus, at one time a tributary of the Assyrians, had secured independence for Egypt in 664 b.c.

The king of Assyria] i.e. the king of Babylon. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, fell in 607 before the united forces of the Median Cyaxares and the Babylonian Nabopolassar; and it was to dispute the spoils of the fallen empire with Nabopolassar that Nechoh advanced northward through Palestine. The king of Babylon is here called by the name of Assyria, the country he had conquered (cp. Ezra 6:22, where a Persian king is likewise styled 'king of Assyria,' the Persians having subdued and dispossessed the Babylonians).

Josiah went against him] Josiah's motives can only be conjectured, but it is probable that in the downfall of Assyria's power he hoped to extend his authority over what had once been the northern kingdom, and feared that his designs would be foiled by the Egyptian advance. At Megiddo] see on 2 Kings 9:27. Josiah took up his position here to dispute the passage across Carmel. The Greek historian Herodotus probably alludes to this battle when he states that Nechoh defeated the Syrians at Magdolus. When he had seen him] i.e. when he encountered him in battle: cp. 2 Kings 14:8. For the sorrow occasioned by Josiah's death see 2 Chronicles 35:25; Sir 49:2, Sir 49:8.