2Ki 23:29-37 | TNotes | STEP | 23:29 In 609 BC , Pharaoh Neco was en route to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria in fighting the Babylonians at Haran, when Josiah met him at Megiddo . After the death of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in 626 BC , Assyrian cities began falling to Nabopolassar (626–605 BC ), king of the rising neo-Babylonian power. Nabopolassar captured Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in 612 BC . The Assyrian forces fled to Haran, where the Babylonians defeated them in 609 BC . Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (605–562 BC ) later defeated the remaining Assyrians at Carchemish in 605 BC , the same year in which he first invaded Judah (see 24:1 ).

23:29 ^a In 609 BC, Pharaoh Neco was en route to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria in fighting the Babylonians at Haran, when Josiah met him at Megiddo. After the death of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in 626 BC, Assyrian cities began falling to Nabopolassar (626–605 BC), king of the rising neo-Babylonian power. Nabopolassar captured Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in 612 BC. The Assyrian forces fled to Haran, where the Babylonians defeated them in 609 BC. Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (605–562 BC) later defeated the remaining Assyrians at Carchemish in 605 BC, the same year in which he first invaded Judah (see 24:1 ^b).
23:30 ^c The Chronicler reports on the great honor that Josiah received in death (2 Chr 35:24-25 ^d).
Summary for 2Kgs 23:31-34: 23:31-34 ^e Jehoahaz was named Shallum at birth (see study note on 1 Chr 3:15); his throne name Jehoahaz has been discovered among seals from the 600s BC. He was twenty-three years old, but his brother Jehoiakim was twenty-five (2 Kgs 23:36 ^f). There is no indication as to why the younger brother was made king.

• The three months of Jehoahaz’s reign (in 609 BC) might coincide with the period in which Pharaoh Neco was attempting to aid the Assyrians (23:29 ^g).
23:32 ^h He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight: The entrenched wickedness and apostasy of the times surfaced even in Josiah’s own sons (23:32 ⁱ, 37 ^j; 24:9 ^k, 19 ^l). The Lord’s intention to judge Judah (23:26-27 ^m) was justified and would soon be fulfilled.
23:33 ⁿ Riblah was a fortified administrative center in Aramean territory about sixty miles northeast of Damascus.
23:34 ^o Eliakim ... Jehoiakim: Neco continued the Assyrian practice of requiring an oath of loyalty and assigning a new name to the local head of state.
23:36 ^p Jehoiakim, Jehoahaz’s older brother (cp. 23:31 ^q), reigned eleven years (609–598 BC).
23:37 ^r did what was evil: The record in the book of Jeremiah characterizes Jehoiakim as a total apostate (see Jer 22:13-23 ^s; 25:1-14 ^t; 26:20-23 ^u; 36:1-32 ^v).