2 Chronicles 35:21

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) But . . . ambassadors.—And . . . messengers.

What have I to do with thee?—Literally, what to me and to thee? Τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί; (LXX.; and Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28).

I come not against thee.—So the old versions. The Hebrew is, “not against thee—thee—to-day,” The versions appear to have read ‘attāh, “thee,” with different points as ‘ôtheh, “coming.” (Comp. Syriac, ôthê ‘nû, “come I.”)

But against the house . . . war.—A strange expression. (Comp. 1Chronicles 18:10.) Probably the reading indicated by 3 Esdr. 1:25 is right (ὲπὶ γὰρ τοῡ Εὐφράτου δ πόλεμος μοῡ ἐστί), “but against the Euphrates is my war” (Perath for bêth). Josephus supports this. LXX. and Syriac omit; Vulg., “sed contra allain pugno domum.”

For God . . . haste.—And God . . . The Egyptian kings, like those of Israel, consulted their prophets before undertaking any expedition. So did the Assyrians, as abundantly appears from their inscriptions. So, too, we read on the Moabite stone, “Chemosh said unto me, Go; take Nebo . . . Go up against Horonaim, and take it.” These facts sufficiently explain the text, without assuming that Necho had received an oracle from Jehovah, or was referring to the God of Israel. (Comp. Herod, ii. 158.)

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 35:21. I come not against thee, but against the house wherewith I have war — Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. For God commanded me to make haste — Therefore, give me no hinderance. Some think he only pretended this, because he knew Josiah had a great reverence for God, and in obedience to him might desist from his purpose. And the Targum, with some of the Jews, thinks he called his own idol by the name of God; though Kimchi thinks, and the event makes it most probable, that he spoke of the true God, who perhaps admonished him in a dream, as he did Abimelech, or sent him a message to go against the Assyrians by the Prophet Jeremiah, many of whose prophecies are directed to foreign nations. Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, &c. — It is at thy peril if thou engage against one who has both a better army, and a better cause, and God on his side.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

35:20-27 The Scripture does not condemn Josiah's conduct in opposing Pharaoh. Yet Josiah seems to deserve blame for not inquiring of the Lord after he was warned; his death might be a rebuke for his rashness, but it was a judgment on a hypocritical and wicked people. He that lives a life of repentance, faith, and obedience, cannot be affected by the sudden manner in which he is removed. The people lamented him. Many mourn over sufferings, who will not forsake the sins that caused God to send them. Yet this alone can turn away judgments. If we blame Josiah's conduct, we should be watchful, lest we be cut down in a way dishonourable to our profession.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The house wherewith I have war - Necho viewed Babylon as the successor and representative of Assyria - the hereditary enemy of Egypt - and he means that he is merely continuing an old hostility with which Josiah has nothing to do. No doubt the Assyrian and Egyptian armies had often passed up and down Syria by the coast route, without approaching Jerusalem, or even touching the soil of Judaea.

God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God - These are remarkable words in the mouth of a pagan; but ancient inscriptions show that the Egyptian kings, in a certain sense, acknowledged a single supreme god, and considered their actions to be inspired by him. (e. g. The god Tum (compare) the name of his city, Pithom, Exodus 1:11 note) was worshipped as ankh, "the living One" (compare "Yahweh")). Hence, Necho merely expressed himself as Egyptian kings were in the habit of doing.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21, 22. But he sent ambassadors … What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?—Not wishing to spend time, or strength in vain, Necho informed the king of Judah that he had no intention of molesting the Jews; that his expedition was directed solely against his old Assyrian enemy; and that he had undertaken it by an express commission from God. Commentators are not agreed whether it was really a divine commission given him through Jeremiah, or whether he merely used the name of God as an authority that Josiah would not refuse to obey. As he could not know the truth of Necho's declaration, Josiah did not sin in opposing him; or, if he sinned at all, it was a sin of ignorance. The engagement took place. Josiah was mortally wounded [2Ch 35:23].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Against the house wherewith I have war, Heb. against the house or family of my war, i.e. against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war.

God commanded me; either his false god by their lying priests; or the true God, either,

1. By some prophet; for God’s prophets used sometimes to deliver or send commands from God to heathen kings. Though it is not probable either that Pharaoh would regard the command of the true God; or that a prophet of the Lord would not acquaint Josiah with this message; or that Josiah would oppose Pharaoh in a war undertaken by God’s command. Or rather,

2. By a dream, as God spoke to another heathen king, Abimelech, Genesis 20:3. Though it is not impossible that he pretended this for his own advantage, that Josiah might not assist his enemies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But he sent ambassadors to him,.... That is, Necho sent to Josiah:

saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? signifying he had no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with him, and he had no business to intermeddle between him and another prince:

I come not against thee this day; in an hostile manner:

but against the house wherewith I have war; the king of Assyria:

for God commanded me to make haste; and oppose his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers (y); but the true God might have appeared to him in a dream, or sent a prophet to him; or at least he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Josiah; and indeed it seems to be real from the following verse:

forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not; he concluded God was with him, and would succeed him, because he had put him upon this enterprise, and hastened him to it; therefore Josiah, in opposing him, might expect to be resisted by him, and fall.

(y) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 22. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. against the house wherewith I have war] In 1Es 1:27 there is a different reading “My war is upon Euphrates.”

commanded] R.V. hath commanded.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - Not against thee this day. Possibly the suggestion couched in these last two words may have been the opposite of agreeable to King Josiah. For God commanded me to make haste. The margin reading of the Revised Version seems preferable, both for the Hebrew text and the connection, hath given command to speed me. 2 Chronicles 35:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Then he (Pharaoh Necho) sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? Not against thee, thee, (do I come) to-day (now), but against my hereditary enemy; and God has said that I must make haste: cease from God, who is with me, that I destroy thee not." ולך מה־לּי, see Judges 11:12; 2 Samuel 16:10. אתּה is an emphatic repetition of the pronominal suffix; cf. Gesen. Gr. 121. 3. היּום, this day, that is, at present. מלחמתּי בּית does not signify, my warlike house, but, the house of my war, i.e., the family with which I wage war, equivalent to "my natural enemy in war, my hereditary enemy." This signification is clear from 1 Chronicles 18:10 and 2 Samuel 8:10, where "man of the war of Tou" denotes, the man who waged war with Tou.

(Note: When Bertheau, on the contrary, denies this signification, referring to 1 Chronicles 18:10 for support, he would seem not to have looked narrowly at the passage cited; and the conjecture, based upon 3 Esr. 1:25, which he, following O. F. Fritzsche, brings forward, מלחמתּי לא־פּרת, "on the Euphrates is my war," gains no support from the passage quoted. For the author of this apocryphal book, which was written on the model of the lxx, has not translated the text he uses, but only paraphrased it: οὐχὶ πρὸς σὲ ἐξαπέσταλμαι, ὑπὸ κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ Εὐφράτου ὁ πόλεμος μού ἐστι, καὶ κύριος μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐπισπεύδων ἐστίν. Neither the lxx nor Vulg. have read and translated פּרת in their original text; for they run as follows: οὐκ ἐπὶ σὲ ἥκω (taking אתּה for אהת) σήμερον πόλεμον ποιῆσαι, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν κατασπεῦσαι με. Vulg.: Non adversus te hodie venio, sed contra aliam pugno domum, ad quam me Deus festinato ire praecepit.)

The God who had commanded Pharaoh to make haste, and whom Josiah was not to go against, is not an Egyptian god, as the Targ. and many commentators think, referring to Herod. ii. 158, but the true God, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 35:22. Yet we need not suppose, with the older commentators, that God had sive per somnium sive per prophetam aliquem ad ipsum e Judaea missum spoken to Pharaoh, and commanded him to advance quickly to the Euphrates. For even had Pharaoh said so in so many words, we could not here think of a divine message made known to him by a prophet, because God is neither called יהוה nor האלהים, but merely אלהים, and so it is only the Godhead in general which is spoken of; and Pharaoh only characterizes his resolution as coming from God, or only says: It was God's will that Josiah should not hinder him, and strive against him. This Pharaoh might say without having received any special divine revelation, and after the warning had been confirmed by the unfortunate result for Josiah of his war against Necho; the biblical historian also might represent Necho's words as come from God, or "from the mouth of God."