through Judea, resolved to oppose his passage.  With this view he raised all the forces of his kingdom, and posted himself in the valley of Megiddo (a city on this side of Jordan, belonging to the tribe of Manasseh, and called Magdolus by Herodotus).  Nechao informed him by a herald, that his enterprise was not designed against him; that he had other enemies in view, and that he had undertaken this war in the name of God, who was with him; that for this reason he advised Josiah not to concern himself with this war for fear it otherwise should turn to his disadvantage.  However, Josiah was not moved by these reasons; he was sensible that the bare march of so powerful an army through Judea would entirely ruin it.  And besides, he feared that the victor, after the defeat of the Babylonians, would fall upon him and dispossess him of part of his dominions.  He therefore marched to engage Nechao; and was not only overthrown by him, but unfortunately received a wound of which he died at Jerusalem, whither he had ordered himself to be carried.

Nechao, animated by this victory, continued his march and advanced towards the Euphrates.  He defeated the Babylonians; took Carchemish, a large city in that country; and securing to himself the possession of it by a strong garrison, returned to his own kingdom after having been absent three months.

Being informed in his march homeward, that Jehoaz had caused himself to be proclaimed king at Jerusalem, without first asking his consent, he commanded him to meet him at Riblah in Syria.  The unhappy prince was no sooner arrived there than he was put in chains by Nechao’s order, and sent prisoner to Egypt, where he died.  From thence, pursuing his march, he came to Jerusalem, where he gave the sceptre to Eliakim (called by him Jehoiakim), another of Josiah’s sons, in the room of his brother; and imposed an annual tribute on the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold.  This being done, he returned in triumph to Egypt.

Herodotus, mentioning this king’s expedition, and the victory gained by him at Magdolus, (as he calls it,) says that he afterwards took the city Cadytis, which he represents as situated in the mountains of Palestine, and equal in extent to Sardis, the capital at that time not only of Lydia, but of all Asia Minor.  This description can suit only Jerusalem, which was situated in the manner above described, and was then the only city in those parts that could be compared to Sardis.  It appears besides, from Scripture, that Nechao, after his victory, made himself master of this capital of Judea; for he was there in person, when he gave the crown to Jehoiakim.  The very name Cadytis, which in Hebrew, signifies the holy, points clearly to the city of Jerusalem, as is proved by the learned dean Prideaux.

10. Psammis.—­His reign was but of six years’ duration, and history has left us nothing memorable concerning him, except that he made an expedition into Ethiopia.