1) The document discusses the reigns of several kings of Judah, including Josiah, Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Amon. It describes the reforms undertaken during Josiah's reign to restore true worship of God, as well as his untimely death after defying the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho's order to avoid conflict. 2) Despite Josiah's efforts to bring religious reform, the people of Judah had shown during previous wicked reigns that they remained unchanged at heart. God thus pronounced coming judgment on Judah. 3) Josiah was killed in battle after interfering with the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho's forces marching to aid the Assyrians, against the

1. A Self-Made Mess
2Chr 35:20-25
Sin is something too strong to be toyed with;
it will destroy you in a second,
when you least suspect it.
But the forgiveness found in the Saviors blood
is a substance too holy for sin to stain it.
“The bright spot in 2 Chronicles is the record it gives
of four national revivals.
Under Asa (15) the God-ordained festivals were
restored.
Under Joash (24) inspired by Jehoiada the priest.
Under Hezekiah (29-30).
Under Josiah (34).”
Knox, James W.. Old Testament Survey (Kindle Location 3700). THE
BIBLE Baptist Church. Kindle Edition.
2Chr 35:20-25
20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the
temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight

2. against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah
went out against him.
2Tim 1:12
12 For the which cause I also suffer these
things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day.
Against: With a view to, in readiness for, in regard
to
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.
22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from
him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with
him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho
from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the
valley of Megiddo.
23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king
said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore
wounded.

3. 24 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.
25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the
singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah
in their lamentations to this day, and made them an
ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in
the lamentations.

4. Josiah is caught between 3 great Empires Egypt to the
south, Assyria to the north and Babylon to the east.
Babylon in the east, led by Nabopolassar, makes its way
up the Euphrates River conquering:
Asher in 614 (just south of Nineveh), then
Nineveh in 612 (both served as capital cities of the
Assyrian Empire), then moving north west
He took Haran in 612
Meanwhile in Egypt Pharaoh-nechoh intends to fight
either with or against Assyria at Carchemish.
To do this he must pass through the length of Israel.
The rout he chose from Egypt is the modern-day rout
65 in Israel following the Megiddo valley.
Nechoh makes it to Carchemish, and both armies are
defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in 605.
Nechoh returns to Egypt, pursued by Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar takes captives from Jerusalem in 605
& 597 then finally destroys it in 586.
A Self-Made Mess
I. HEZEKIAH
2Kgs 20:1
1 King Hezekiah was sick unto death…
2Kgs 20:6

5. 6 God healed him and gave him another fifteen
years…
2Kgs 20:11 gave him a sign
11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and
he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by
which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.
II. MANASSEH
2Kgs 21:1-2
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to
reign…
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the
LORD…
2Kgs 21:3
3 For he built up again the high places which
Hezekiah his father had destroyed;
and he reared up altars for Baal,
and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel;
and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served
them.
2Kgs 21:6
6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and
observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt
with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much

6. wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him
to anger.
2Kgs 21:7
7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had
made in the house…
2Kgs 21:9
9 …Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than
did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before
the children of Israel.
2Kgs 21:12-13
12 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel,
Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem
and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both
his ears shall tingle.
13 …I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a
dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
2Kgs 21:16
16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very
much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to
another…
(2Kgs 21:10
10 And the LORD spake by his servants the
prophets, saying,

7. He killed the servants and prophets God
sent to him 2Chr 33:10; 2Chr 36:15; Neh
9:26; Neh 9:30; Matt 23:34-37)
III. AMON
2Kgs 21:19
19 Amon was twenty and two years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned two years...
2Kgs 21:21
21 And he walked in all the way that his father
walked in, and served the idols that his father
served, and worshipped them:
2Kgs 21:23-24
23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him,
and slew the king in his own house.
24 And the people of the land slew all them that had
conspired against king Amon...
IV. JOSIAH
2Kgs 22:1-2
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in
Jerusalem...

8. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the
LORD...
2Kgs 22:3-4
3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king
Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan …the scribe, to
the house of the LORD, saying,
4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum
the silver which is brought into the house of the
LORD…
2Kgs 22:8
8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the
scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house
of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan,
and he read it.
2Kgs 22:10
10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying,
Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And
Shaphan read it before the king.
2Kgs 22:13
13 Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the
people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of
this book that is found…
2Kgs 22:14
14 So …[they] went unto Huldah the prophetess...

9. 2Kgs 22:16
16 Thus saith the LORD,
Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and
upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words
of the book which the king of Judah hath read:
(21:12-13)
2Kgs 22:19
19 Because thine [Josiah] heart was tender,
and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD,
… and hast rent thy clothes,
and wept before me;
I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.
2Kgs 22:20
20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy
fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy
grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all
the evil which I will bring upon this place. And
they brought the king word again.
Jeremiah preaches in Josiah’s time in Jer. 1-6.
Jer 1:1-3
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of
the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of
Benjamin:

10. 2 To whom the word of the LORD came in the
days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah,
in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son
of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the
eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king
of Judah, unto the carrying away of
Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Jer 3:10-11
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister
Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole
heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding
Israel hath justified herself more than
treacherous Judah.
Jer 6:10-14
10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning,
that they may hear? behold, their ear is
uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken:
behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a
reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I
am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon
the children abroad, and upon the assembly of
young men together: for even the husband with

11. the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is
full of days.
12 And their houses shall be turned unto
others, with their fields and wives together: for I
will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants
of the land, saith the LORD.
13 For from the least of them even unto the
greatest of them every one is given to
covetousness; and from the prophet even unto
the priest every one dealeth falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace,
peace; when there is no peace.
V. THE MORTAL SIN OF MEDDLING
2Chr 35:20-26
20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the
temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against
Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out
against him.
21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What
have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come

12. 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.
22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from
him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with
him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho
from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the
valley of Megiddo.
23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king
said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore
wounded.
24 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.
25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the
singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah
in their lamentations to this day, and made them an
ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in
the lamentations.
Lam 4:20

13. 20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the
LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said,
Under his shadow we shall live among the
heathen.
26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his
goodness, according to that which was written in the
law of the LORD,
Despite the incredible reforms under Josiah, the
changes for the people were only superficial. They
had shown their true colors under the wicked
reigns of Manasseh and Amon—and inside they
were really no different. So, God pronounces
judgment on Judah.
But He had promised this calamity would not come
until after Josiah's death (2 Kings 22:16-20). 13
years after the great Passover, and three years
after the fall of Nineveh.
"Pharaoh Necho [II] (609-594 b.c.) was the
recently crowned king of Egypt's twenty-sixth
dynasty. During the long years of Josiah's reign
(640-609 b.c.), Assyrian power had steadily
crumbled until, as Nahum had predicted, Nineveh
itself had fallen (612 b.c.) to a coalition of
Chaldeans, Medes, and others. The surviving
Assyrian forces had regrouped at Haran. Because
Egypt was a long-standing ally of Assyria [since its

14. integration into the empire several decades
earlier], Necho journeyed northward to help the
beleaguered Assyrians" (Nelson Study Bible, note
on 2 Kings 23:29-30). The King James Version
incorrectly has Necho marching against the
Assyrians.
"Pharaoh Necho turned up in Judah at the head of
a more impressive-looking Egyptian army than had
been fielded in centuries. Taking advantage of
Assyrian decline, Necho's father Psammetichus I
[who had been appointed pharaoh by Assyrian
emperor Ashurbanipal] had greatly revived his
country's clout as a superpower" (Ian Wilson, The
Bible Is History, 1999, p. 174). "Emboldened by
his success... Psammetichus refused to continue
payment of tribute to Assyria...though Egypt
remained more or less an ally of Assyria until his
death and even beyond" (Merrill, Kingdom of
Priests, p. 439). Perhaps Necho at this later time
was not so much interested in restoring Assyria as
he was in keeping a balance among the
Mesopotamian powers. If Assyria were utterly
eliminated, Babylon would fill the void as an
unchecked power, creating major problems for
Egypt. In any event, Necho advanced up the
coastal plain, through Philistine territory. But this
area was now under the control of Judah's king,
Josiah.

15. "A Hebrew letter written in his time has been found
at 'Mesad Hashavyahu,' a fortress built on the
coast between Jabneh and Ashdod. According to
the letter, an Israelite governor resided at the fort;
thus, Josiah ruled also over this area, expanding
his kingdom at the expense of the Philistine cities"
(Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah, The
Macmillan Bible Atlas, 1977, p. 102). Indeed,
remember that, apparently with earlier help from
the Scythians, Josiah's "purification of worship was
carried out not only in Jerusalem and Judah, but
also 'in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and
Simeon, even unto Naphtali...throughout the land
of Israel' (2 Chron. 34:6-7). Thus, we may assume
that Josiah again ruled in all these areas and
annexed the Assyrian provinces which had been
founded in the territory of the kingdom of Israel:
Samaria, Megiddo, and possibly also Gilead. This is
confirmed by the fact that he fought at Megiddo"
(p. 102).
"When Pharaoh Neco passed through Judah on his
way to fight the Babylonians at Carchemish, Josiah
marched out to meet him in battle. It is far from
clear why he did so. Most likely is the suggestion
that he wanted to assure Judah's independence
among the nations. Had he permitted the
Egyptians to pass through, he could have been
considered to be a collaborator against Babylon"

16. ("Josiah," Paul Gardner, editor, The Complete
Who's Who in the Bible, 1995, p. 384). There is no
doubt that Josiah would not have wanted anyone
helping Assyria back into power. And it is possible
that Judah still maintained a residual alliance with
Babylon since the days of Hezekiah. Then again,
perhaps Josiah simply did what any ruler would do
when an uninvited foreign army comes marching
through your land—put a stop to it to make sure
your borders are respected.
Deut 2:4-5 4 And command thou the people,
saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your
brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir;
and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed
unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them;
for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much
as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir
unto Esau for a possession.
Deut 2:19 And when thou comest nigh over against
the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor
meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the
land of the children of Ammon any possession;
because I have given it unto the children of Lot
for a possession.

17. Prov 17:14 The beginning of strife is as when one
letteth out water: therefore leave off contention,
before it be meddled with.
Prov 20:3 It is an honour for a man to cease from
strife: but every fool will be meddling.
Prov 20:19 He that goeth about as a talebearer
revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him
that flattereth with his lips.
Prov 24:21 My son, fear thou the LORD and the
king: and meddle not with them that are given to
change:
Prov 26:17 He that passeth by, and meddleth with
strife belonging not to him, is like one that
taketh a dog by the ears.
Jas 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings
among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts
that war in your members?
Prov 16:32
32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a
city.
Hezekiah’s self-made mess was pride of possessions.

18. Manasseh’s self-made mess was satanic peer pressure.
Amon’s self-made mess was poor leadership.
Josiah’s self-made mess was meddling.
A Self-Made Mess
I. HEZEKIAH
II. MANASSEH
III. AMON
IV. JOSIAH
V. THE MORTAL SIN OF MEDDLING