(NIV)2 Chronicles 34:29-31, 33
Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. [30] He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites---all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. [31] The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord---to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book. [33] Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
(NIV)2 Chronicles 35:20-24
"After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. 21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”
22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Neco had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.
23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.” 24 So they took him out of his chariot, put him in the other chariot he had and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him."
This is such an interesting story and example to us. Here is a King, one who finally is following God's law, who is leading the people to follow God, and He gets himself killed, by fighting a battle that he wasn't supposed to be fighting. I am sure there was a rationalization that He was following God, but it doesn't say that He sought God's will, but that He saw the enemy marching toward Him and marched out to meet Him. This would be te sin of presumption. He presumed that this was God's plan, and his duty. We need to be very careful to only engage in the battles we are called by the Lord to fight, else we might end up like Josiah, and the people that follow us, the same.
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