In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt
Who is called in the Targum Pharaoh the lame, because he was lame in his feet, perhaps gouty; Herodotus F24 also calls him Necos the son of Psammiticus; now it was in the last days of Josiah this king reigned in Egypt, or however that the following event was:
[that] he went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates;
to Carchemish, a city situated upon it; see ( 2 Chronicles 35:26 ) ( Jeremiah 46:2 ) , the king he went against was the king of Babylon, who had conquered the Assyrian monarchy, and therefore called king of it; some take him to be Nabopolassar; according to Marsham F25, he was Chyniladanus;
and King Josiah went against him;
to stop him, that he might not pass through his country, and attack the king of Babylon, whose ally, perhaps, Josiah was; or, however, thought himself obliged to him by the privileges, power, and authority he allowed him to exercise in the land of Israel:
and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him;
as soon as they came face to face, and engaged in battle, see ( 2 Kings 14:8 2 Kings 14:11 ) that is Pharaoh slew Josiah at the first onset. Megiddo was a city in the tribe of Manasseh, ( Joshua 17:11 ) . Herodotus F26 calls it Magdolus, which seems to be a city on the borders of Egypt, the same with Migdol, ( Jeremiah 44:1 ) where he says Pharoahnechoh conquered the Syrians; in Josephus F1 it is called Mendes very wrongly. Josiah seems to have engaged in this action without consulting the Lord and his prophets.