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Necho or Pharaoh-Necho

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

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An Egyptian king, mentioned not only in Scripture, but by Herodotus, who says that he was son of Psammetichus, king of Egypt: and that, having succeeded him in the kingdom, he raised great armies, and sent out great fleets, as well on the Mediterranean as the Red Sea; that he expended a vast sum and many thousands of lives in a fruitless effort to unite and Nile and the Red Sea by a canal; and that he was the first to send a ship wholly around Africa. Josiah king of Judah being tributary to the king of Babylon, opposed Necho on his first expedition against Nebuchadnezzar, and gave him battle at Megiddo, where he received the wound of which he died; and Necho pressed forward, without making any long stay in Judea. On his return from the Euphrates, where he had taken and garrisoned the city of Carchemish, B. C. 610, he halted at Riblah in Syria; and sending for Jehoahaz, king of the Jews, he deposed him, loaded him with chains, and sent him into Egypt. Then coming to Jerusalem, he set up Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, in his place, and exacted the payment of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. The accompanying cut from the great "Tomb of the Kings" in Egypt, explored by Belzoni, is believed to represent four Jewish hostages or captives of distinction presented before Pharaoh-Necho. One of them may be meant for Jehoahaz.

They were colored white; and with them were four reds, four blacks, and four others white supposed to represent Babylonians, Ethiopians, etc. They were led before the king, seated on his throne, by one of the hawk-headed figures so frequent on Egyptian monuments. Jeremiah 46:2 , acquaints us that Carchemish was retaken by Nabopolassar king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim king of Judah; so that Necho did not retain his conquests in Syria more than four year, 2 Kings 23:29-24:7 2 Chronicles 35:20-36:6 .