But he sent ambassadors to him,.... That is, Necho sent to Josiah:
saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? signifying he had no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with him, and he had no business to intermeddle between him and another prince:
I come not against thee this day; in an hostile manner:
but against the house wherewith I have war; the king of Assyria:
for God commanded me to make haste; and oppose his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers y; but the true God might have appeared to him in a dream, or sent a prophet to him; or at least he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Josiah; and indeed it seems to be real from the following verse:
forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not; he concluded God was with him, and would succeed him, because he had put him upon this enterprise, and hastened him to it; therefore Josiah, in opposing him, might expect to be resisted by him, and fall.
y T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 22. 2.