2 Kings 23:24-37
In spite of the faithfulness of their king, the people had not returned to the LORD with all their heart (Jeremiah 3:10). "Treacherous Judah" has not learnt its lesson from the chastisement suffered by "backsliding Israel". So the hour will now strike when this tribe will, in its turn, be expelled from the land.
To accomplish His purposes, God made use of the great nations of old, just as He does with modern nations, unknowingly the agents of His ways towards Israel. World events are controlled by Him, and He uses them to protect or to discipline His own.
The two great powers at the time of Josiah were Egypt and Assyria. Situated at opposite ends of Canaan, these two kingdoms, in continual conflict, had to cross the territory of Israel to fight one another. Josiah, taking the side of the king of Assyria, tries to hinder the passage of Pharaoh-nechoh, but he is killed by the latter at Megiddo. If only he had separated from the world and from its alliances, as carefully as he had separated from evil! He took part in a dispute which was not his own, and he suffers the fatal consequences (Proverbs 26:17).
Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, after an evil reign of three months, falls under the power of Pharaoh-nechoh. He deports him, and replaces him by his brother Jehoiakim, who turns out to be no better than Jehoahaz.