Pharaoh Neco
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Pharaoh Neco (Necho) was the king of Egypt who marched north to the Euphrates around 609 BC, during the final struggle between Assyria and Babylon. When King Josiah of Judah went out to stop him at Megiddo, Neco warned him through messengers that God had commanded him to make haste and that Josiah should not meddle; Josiah persisted and was killed. Three months later Neco deposed Josiah's son Jehoahaz, took him to Egypt, put Judah under tribute, and made Eliakim king in his place, renaming him Jehoiakim. Egypt's hold on the region ended in 605 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Neco's army at Carchemish.
Biography
- Occupation
- King of Egypt
- Era
- Divided Kingdom
- Nationality
- Egyptian
- Also Known As
- Necho, Pharaoh-nechoh, Neco II
Did You Know?
The King James Version says Neco went up 'against the king of Assyria' (2 Kings 23:29), but the Babylonian Chronicle shows that Egypt was marching to support the last Assyrian forces against Babylon; the Hebrew preposition can also mean 'to.'
The Chronicler presents Neco's warning to Josiah as coming 'from the mouth of God' (2 Chronicles 35:22), so Josiah's death followed his refusal to heed a divine word spoken through a foreign king.
He is identified with Necho II of Egypt's Twenty-sixth Dynasty; the Greek historian Herodotus says he began digging a canal from the Nile toward the Red Sea.
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Josiah Slain at Megiddo
2 Kings 23:29-30
The death of Judah's most faithful king at the hands of a foreign army is told with stark brevity.
29n his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
Necho's Warning
2 Chronicles 35:20-24
The Chronicler presents Neco's words as coming 'from the mouth of God,' so Josiah's death follows his refusal to listen.
20fter all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
Neco Makes Jehoiakim King
2 Kings 23:33-35
Judah's throne is now in a foreign king's gift, and the people pay heavily for Egypt's favor.
33nd Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
Defeat at Carchemish
Jeremiah 46:2
Jeremiah dates his oracle against Egypt to Neco's defeat by Nebuchadnezzar, a turning point that shifted power to Babylon.
2gainst Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
