2 Chronicles 35 (JND) - Bible Truth Library

Josiah.The whole solemnity was performed with great exactness according to the law, and upon that account there was none like it since Samuel's time; for even in Hezekiah's passover there were several irregularities.

Bp. Patrick observes, that in this also it exceeded the other passovers which preceding things had kept, that though Josiah was by no means so rich as David, or Solomon, or Jehoshaphat, yet he furnished the congregation with beasts for sacrifice, both paschal and eucharistical, at his own proper cost and charge, which was more than any king ever did before.

2 Chron. 30:1‑27• ¹And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel.
²And the king took counsel, and his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, to hold the passover in the second month.
³For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not hallowed themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people been gathered together to Jerusalem.
⁴And the thing pleased the king and the whole congregation.
⁵So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; because they had not held it for a long time as it was written.
⁶And the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, return to Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
⁷And be not like your fathers and like your brethren, who transgressed against Jehovah the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
⁸Now, harden not your necks, as your fathers; yield yourselves to Jehovah, and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever; and serve Jehovah your God, that the fierceness of his anger may turn away from you.
⁹For if ye return to Jehovah, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with those that have carried them captive, so that they shall come again unto this land; for Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him.
¹⁰And the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.
¹¹Nevertheless certain of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
¹²The hand of God was also upon Judah to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of Jehovah.
¹³And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to hold the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
¹⁴And they rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and they took away all the incense-altars, and cast them into the torrent Kidron.
¹⁵And they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and hallowed themselves; and they brought the burnt-offerings into the house of Jehovah.
¹⁶And they stood in their place after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood receiving it from the hand of the Levites.
¹⁷For there were many in the congregation that were not hallowed; therefore the Levites had the charge of the slaughtering of the passover-lambs for every one not clean, to hallow them unto Jehovah.
¹⁸For a multitude of the people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, Jehovah, who is good, forgive every one
¹⁹that has directed his heart to seek God, Jehovah the God of his fathers, although not according to the purification of the sanctuary.
²⁰And Jehovah hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
²¹And the children of Israel, that were present at Jerusalem, held the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, with the instruments of praise to Jehovah.
²²And Hezekiah spoke consolingly to all the Levites that had understanding in the good knowledge of Jehovah; and they ate the feast-offerings the seven days, sacrificing peace-offerings, and extolling Jehovah the God of their fathers.
²³And the whole congregation took counsel to observe other seven days; and they observed the seven days with gladness.
²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation as heave-offering: a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests hallowed themselves.
²⁵And the whole congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
²⁶And there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had not been the like in Jerusalem.
²⁷And the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, to the heavens. (2 Chron. 30:1‑27)

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2 Kings 23:21‑23• ²¹And the king commanded all the people saying, Hold the passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
²²For there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
²³but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover holden to Jehovah in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 23:21‑23)

the fourteenth.

Ex. 12:6• ⁶And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. (Ex. 12:6)

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Num. 9:3• ³on the fourteenth day in this month between the two evenings, ye shall hold it at its set time; according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof shall ye hold it. (Num. 9:3)

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Deut. 16:1‑8• ¹Keep the month of Abib, and celebrate the passover to Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
²And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah will choose to cause his name to dwell there.
³Thou shalt eat no leavened bread along with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste,--that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life.
⁴And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst at even on the first day, be left over night until the morning.--
⁵Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover in one of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee;
⁶but at the place that Jehovah thy God will choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the time that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
⁷And thou shalt cook and eat it at the place which Jehovah thy God will choose; and in the morning shalt thou turn and go unto thy tents.
⁸Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a solemn assembly to Jehovah thy God; thou shalt do no work. (Deut. 16:1‑8)

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Ezra 6:19• ¹⁹And the children of the captivity held the passover upon the fourteenth of the first month. (Ezra 6:19)

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Ezek. 45:21• ²¹In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days: unleavened bread shall be eaten. (Ezek. 45:21)

Josiah's solemnization of the passover, which is merely alluded to at 2 Ki 23:21, is very particularly related her, while the destruction of idolatry is largely related in the Kings, and here only touched upon.

The feasts of the Lord God, appointed by the ceremonial law, were very numerous; but the passover was the chief.

It was the first which was solemnized in the night wherein Israel came out of Egypt, and ushered in those which were afterwards instituted:

and it was the last great feast which was held in the night wherein Christ was betrayed, before the vail of the temple was rent in twain.

Be means of this feast, both Josiah and Hezekiah revived religion in their day.

• We have one of the great results of the recovered Word here: the celebration of the Passover united with worship, the highest expression of divine life in the believer. The Passover was the foundation of worship, and thus the description of this feast is given in much greater detail than at the time of Hezekiah's Passover (2 Chron. 30:15-27), for it is accompanied by all the implements of the service of worship. (“Josiah - The Passover and Worship: 2 Chronicles 35” by H.L. Rossier)

• Josiah's Passover was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month, not in the second month like Hezekiah's Passover, because the priests and the Levites had hallowed themselves and consecrated themselves to the Lord. This date corresponds to the year of the restoration of the temple, that is, the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign. As long as God's dwelling in the midst of His people was not an acknowledged fact, established once again, it was impossible to celebrate this feast. (“Josiah - The Passover and Worship: 2 Chronicles 35” by H.L. Rossier)

• Worship was not understood and realized until after deliverance, and it will keep this character eternally when it will be celebrated around the Lamb who was slain, His expiatory work being its basis and its center. (“Josiah - The Passover and Worship: 2 Chronicles 35” by H.L. Rossier)

J. N. Darby Translation

And Josiah held a passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem; and they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the first month.