2 Chronicles 35

The Passover Observed Again

1 Then Josiah ¹celebrated the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and ²they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth * day of the first month.

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

3 He also said to ⁴the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; ⁵it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

4 "⁶Prepare yourselves by your fathers' households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and ⁷according to the writing of his son Solomon.

5 "Moreover, ⁸stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers' households of your brethren the lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father's household.

6 "Now ⁹slaughter the Passover animals, ¹⁰sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses."

7 Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young * goats *, all for the Passover offerings, numbering 30,000 * plus 3,000 * bulls; these were from the king's possessions.

8 His officers also contributed a freewill offering to the people, the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, ¹¹the officials of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 * from the flocks and 300 * bulls.

9 ¹²Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 * from the flocks and 500 * bulls.

10 So the service was prepared, and ¹³the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king's command.

11 ¹⁴They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while ¹⁵the priests sprinkled the blood received from their hand, ¹⁶the Levites skinned them.

12 Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers' households of the lay people to present to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls.

13 So ¹⁷they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled ¹⁸the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people.

14 Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their stations ¹⁹according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and ²⁰the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service, because the Levites their brethren prepared for them.

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

17 Thus ²¹the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.

18 ²²There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

19 In the eighteenth * year of Josiah's reign this Passover was celebrated.

Josiah Dies in Battle

20 ²³After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at ²⁴Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him.

21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "²⁵What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you."

22 However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but ²⁶disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco ²⁷from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of ²⁸Megiddo.

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

24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. ²⁹All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

25 Then ³⁰Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations.

26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of the LORD,

27 and his acts, first to 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
• 2. Exodus 12:6; Numbers 9:3
• 3. 2 Chronicles 29:11
• 4. 2 Chronicles 17:8, 9; Nehemiah 8:7
• 5. 1 Chronicles 23:26
• 6. 1 Chronicles 9:10-13
• 7. 2 Chronicles 8:14
• 8. Ezra 6:18
• 9. 2 Chronicles 35:1
• 10. 2 Chronicles 29:5
• 11. 2 Chronicles 31:13
• 12. 2 Chronicles 31:12
• 13. 2 Chronicles 35:5
• 14. 2 Chronicles 35:1, 6
• 15. 2 Chronicles 29:22
• 16. 2 Chronicles 29:34
• 17. Exodus 12:8, 9
• 18. Leviticus 6:28
• 19. 1 Chronicles 25:1
• 20. 1 Chronicles 26:12-19
• 21. Exodus 12:1-20; 2 Chronicles 30:21
• 22. 2 Kings 23:21; 2 Chronicles 30:5
• 23. 2 Kings 23:29, 30
• 24. Isaiah 10:9; Jeremiah 46:2
• 25. 2 Chronicles 25:19
• 26. 2 Chronicles 18:29
• 27. 2 Chronicles 35:21
• 28. Judges 5:19
• 29. Zechariah 12:11
• 30. Jeremiah 22:10; Lamentations 4:20

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "sons of the people," and so throughout the ch
• [b]. I.e. the Levites
• [c]. So with Gr
• [d]. Lit "house"
• [e]. Lit "he"
• [f]. Lit "his face"
• [g]. Lit "and"

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.