It did not last long, however. It seems that not even a single pitched battle was fought. Josiah was picked off by a Libyan archer in the very first skirmish and wounded mortally, to the dismay of his entire army.
His old and devoted servant, Ebed-melech, was with the king in his chariot. The faithful Ethiopian carried the wounded Josiah from the royal chariot to another one. Protected by a detachment of the body guard, as if in mockery, Josiah was taken back to Jerusalem, dying. Before he reached the capital he was dead, and Necho declared himself master over Judah without the least resistance. He made it, at once, an Egyptian province.
The mourning for the dead King in Jerusalem and Judah was sincere and widespread. It is recorded that many odes by the poets and musicians of that day were written in his memory and that Jeremiah lamented for his friend in accents more woeful than did David for Jonathan. Ebed-melech hung around the sepulcher of his beloved master for many days. It was months before he returned to the palace to resume his duties.
"Like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him."
To indicate the force and power of Josiah's life with the people of Judah, and the genuine value in their own lives of the late king's reforms, the people at large passed over Eliakim, Josiah's eldest son, and raised his second son, Jehoahaz, to the throne of Judah.
Eliakim was a weakling, who loved ease and luxury above everything else. The people feared that he would not continue the life and work of his father. Jehoahaz, on the other hand, was a true son of his father, and would have made a splendid successor to the throne of Josiah, had not Pharaoh Necho interfered with the will of the people of Judah.
In the third month of the young king's reign (he was only twenty-three years old) Necho ordered him to appear before him at Riblah, on the Orontes. Arrived there, Jehoahaz was immediately thrown into chains and sent a prisoner to Egypt.
Necho then proclaimed Eliakim King of Judah and to show his complete mastery over king, land and people, he changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim.
The mourning in Jerusalem and Judah was now twofold. The people wept for their beloved king who was dead and for his beloved son who was a prisoner beyond hope.
A few men like Hilkiah and Jeremiah, and the others of the Prophetic Party, saw in Jehoahaz's successor the coming of more evil days for Judah. To those who hoped that there might again be a political change and that Jehoahaz would return from Egypt, to reign in his father's stead, Jeremiah held out no hope: