2 Chronicles 35

Josiah Keeps the Passover

1 ¹Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb ²on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2 He appointed the priests to their offices ³and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD.

3 And he said to the Levites ⁴who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.

4 Prepare yourselves ⁵according to your fathers' houses by your divisions, ⁶as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel ⁷and the document of Solomon his son.

5 And ⁸stand in the Holy Place ⁹according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers' household.

6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and ¹⁰consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses."

7 Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; ¹¹these were from the king's possessions.

8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. ¹²Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls.

9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests ¹³stood in their place, ¹⁴and the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command.

11 ¹⁵And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests ¹⁶threw the blood that they received from them ¹⁷while the Levites flayed the sacrifices.

12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of the lay people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls.

13 ¹⁸And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they ¹⁹boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people.

14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place ²⁰according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's ²¹seer; ²²and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah.

17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, ²³and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.

18 ²⁴No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

Josiah Killed in Battle

20 ²⁵After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at ²⁶Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.

21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, "What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you."

22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but ²⁷disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of ²⁸Megiddo.

23 And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, ²⁹"Take me away, for I am badly wounded."

24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. ³⁰All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

25 ³¹Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all ³²the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.

26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the LORD,

27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

2 Chronicles 35 Commentary

Chapter 35

The passover kept by Josiah. (1-19) Josiah slain in battle. (20-27)

Verses 1-19 The destruction Josiah made of idolatry, was more largely related in the book of Kings. His solemnizing the passover is related here. The Lord's supper resembles the passover more than any other of the Jewish festivals; and the due observance of that ordinance, is a proof of growing piety and devotion. God alone can truly make our hearts holy, and prepare them for his holy services; but there are duties belonging to us, in doing which we obtain this blessing from the Lord.

Verses 20-27 The Scripture does not condemn Josiah's conduct in opposing Pharaoh. Yet Josiah seems to deserve blame for not inquiring of the Lord after he was warned; his death might be a rebuke for his rashness, but it was a judgment on a hypocritical and wicked people. He that lives a life of repentance, faith, and obedience, cannot be affected by the sudden manner in which he is removed. The people lamented him. Many mourn over sufferings, who will not forsake the sins that caused God to send them. Yet this alone can turn away judgments. If we blame Josiah's conduct, we should be watchful, lest we be cut down in a way dishonourable to our profession.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 23:21-23
• 2. Exodus 12:6; Ezra 6:19
• 3. 2 Chronicles 29:11
• 4. 2 Chronicles 17:9; Nehemiah 8:7, 9; [2 Chronicles 15:3; 2 Chronicles 30:22; Leviticus 10:11; Deuteronomy 33:10; Ezra 7:10; Malachi 2:7]
• 5. 1 Chronicles 9:9
• 6. See 1 Chr. 23 - 26
• 7. 2 Chronicles 8:14
• 8. Psalms 134:1
• 9. [Ezra 6:18]
• 10. See 2 Chronicles 29:5
• 11. [2 Chronicles 31:3]
• 12. 2 Chronicles 34:9, 14
• 13. 2 Chronicles 30:16
• 14. Ezra 6:18
• 15. 2 Chronicles 30:15; Ezra 6:20
• 16. See 2 Chronicles 29:22
• 17. [2 Chronicles 29:34]
• 18. Exodus 12:8, 9; Deuteronomy 16:7
• 19. [1 Samuel 2:13-15]
• 20. See 1 Chronicles 25
• 21. See 1 Samuel 9:9
• 22. See 1 Chronicles 9:17-29; 1 Chronicles 26:1-19
• 23. See 2 Chronicles 30:21
• 24. 2 Kings 23:22, 23
• 25. 2 Kings 23:29, 30
• 26. [Jeremiah 46:2]
• 27. [1 Kings 22:30]
• 28. Judges 5:19
• 29. [1 Kings 22:34]
• 30. [Zechariah 12:11]
• 31. Lamentations 4:20; [2 Samuel 1:17]
• 32. 2 Samuel 19:35; Ezra 2:65; Nehemiah 7:67; [Matthew 9:23]

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 35

In this chapter we have an account of the keeping of the passover and its preparation, for which the priests and Levites were ordered to prepare, and to which Josiah, and his princes, gave liberally, and such an one was kept as had not been for ages past, 2Ch 35:1-19, and of Josiah's rash engagement in battle with the king of Egypt, in which he was slain, 2Ch 35:20-23 and of the great lamentations that were made for him, 2Ch 35:24-27.