Our LibraryCommentariesCommentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible2 Chronicles2 Chronicles 352 Chronicles 35
CHAPTER 35
2 Chronicles 35:1-19 . JOSIAH KEEPS A SOLEMN PASSOVER.
1-3. Moreover Josiah kept a The first nine verses give an account of the preparations made for the celebration of the solemn feast ( 2 Chronicles 35:1-9 ). The day appointed by the law was kept on this occasion (compare 2 Chronicles 30:2 2 Chronicles 30:13 ). The priests were ranged in their courses and exhorted to be ready for their duties in the manner that legal purity required (compare 2 Chronicles 29:5 ). The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded ( 2 Chronicles 35:3 ) to "put the holy ark in the house which Solomon did build." Their duty was to transport the ark from place to place according to circumstances. Some think that it had been ignominiously put away from the sanctuary by order of some idolatrous king, probably Manasseh, who set a carved image in the house of God ( 2 Chronicles 33:7 ), or Amon; while others are of opinion that it had been temporarily removed by Josiah himself into some adjoining chamber, during the repairs on the temple. In replacing it, the Levites had evidently carried it upon their shoulders, deeming that still to be the duty which the law imposed on them. But Josiah reminded them of the change of circumstances. As the service of God was now performed in a fixed and permanent temple, they were not required to be bearers of the ark any longer; and, being released from the service, they should address themselves with the greater alacrity to the discharge of other functions.
4. prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses--Each course or division was to be composed of those who belonged to the same fathers' house.
according to the writing of David and . . . Solomon--Their injunctions are recorded (2 Chronicles 8:14'1 Chronicles 23:1-26:32').
5. stand in the holy place--in the court of the priests, the place where the victims were killed. The people were admitted according to their families in groups or companies of several households at a time. When the first company entered the court (which consisted commonly of as many as it could well hold), the gates were shut and the offering was made. The Levites stood in rows from the slaughtering places to the altar, and handed the blood and fat from one to another of the officiating priests ( 2 Chronicles 30:16-18 ).
6. So kill the passover, &c.--The design of the minute directions given here was to facilitate the distribution of the paschal lambs. These were to be eaten by the respective families according to their numbers ( Exodus 12:3 ). But multitudes of the people, especially those from Israel, having been reduced to poverty through the Assyrian devastations, were to be provided with the means of commemorating the passover. Therefore, the king enjoined the Levites that when the paschal lambs were brought to them to be killed ( 2 Chronicles 35:7-9 ) they should take care to have everything put in so orderly a train, that the lambs, after due presentation, might be easily delivered to the various families to be roasted and eaten by themselves apart.
7. Josiah gave to the people . . . lambs and kids--These were in all probability destined for the poor; a lamb or a kid might be used at convenience ( Exodus 12:5 ).
and . . . bullocks--which were offered after the lambs on each of the successive days of the feast.
8, 9. his princes--These gave to the priests and Levites; as those of Hezekiah's princes ( 2 Chronicles 30:24 ). They were ecclesiastical princes; namely, Hilkiah the high priest ( 2 Chronicles 34:9 ). Zechariah, probably the second priest of the Eleazar ( 2 Kings 16:18 ), and Jehiel, of the Ithamar line. And as the Levitical tribes were not yet sufficiently provided ( 2 Chronicles 35:9 ), some of their eminent brethren who had been distinguished in Hezekiah's time ( 2 Chronicles 31:12-15 ), gave a large additional contribution for the use of the Levites exclusively.