CHAPTER 35
. JOSIAH KEEPS
A SOLEMN PASSOVER.
1-3. Moreover Josiah kept a
passover—(See on ).
The first nine verses give an account of the preparations made for
the celebration of the solemn feast []. 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 30:13). The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in
all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded (2 Chronicles 30:13) 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 30:13), 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).
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 (). 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 () 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 ().
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 (). They were ecclesiastical princes; namely, Hilkiah the
high priest (2 Chronicles 34:9).
Zechariah, probably the second priest of the Eleazar (2 Chronicles 34:9), and Jehiel, of the Ithamar line. And as the Levitical
tribes were not yet sufficiently provided (2 Chronicles 34:9), some of their eminent brethren who had been distinguished
in Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 34:9), gave a large additional contribution for the use of
the Levites exclusively.
10, 11. So the service was prepared,
c.—All the necessary preparations having been completed, and the
appointed time having arrived for the passover, the solemnity was
celebrated. One remarkable feature in the account is the prominent
part that was taken by the Levites in the preparation of the
sacrifices namely, the killing and stripping of the skins, which were
properly the peculiar duties of the priests; but as those
functionaries were not able to overtake the extraordinary amount of
work and the Levites had been duly sanctified for the service, they
were enlisted for the time in this priestly employment. At the
passover in Hezekiah's time, the Levites officiated in the same
departments of duty, the reason assigned for that deviation from the
established rule being the unprepared state of many of the people
(2 Chronicles 30:17). But on this
occasion the whole people had been duly sanctified, and therefore the
exceptional enlistment of the Levites' services must have been
rendered unavoidably necessary from the multitudes engaged in
celebrating the passover.
12. they removed the burnt
offerings—Some of the small cattle being designed for burnt
offerings were put apart by themselves, that they might not be
intermingled with the paschal lambs, which were carefully selected
according to certain rules, and intended to be sacramentally eaten;
and the manner in which those burnt offerings were presented seems to
have been the following: "All the subdivisions of the different
fathers' houses came one after another to the altar in solemn
procession to bring to the priests the portions which had been cut
off, and the priests laid these pieces upon the fire of the altar of
burnt offering."
13. they roasted the passover with
fire according to the ordinance—(See ). This mode of preparation was prescribed by the law
exclusively for the paschal lamb; the other offerings and thank
offerings were cooked in pots, kettles, and pans ().
divided them speedily among
the people—The haste was either owing to the multiplicity of
the priests' business, or because the heat and flavor of the viands
would have been otherwise diminished. Hence it appears that the meal
consisted not of the paschal lambs alone, but of the meat of the
thank offerings—for part of the flesh fell to the portion of the
offerer, who, being in this instance, the king and the princes, were
by them made over to the people, who were recommended to eat them the
day they were offered, though not absolutely forbidden to do so on
the next (Leviticus 7:15-18).
14. afterwards they made ready for
themselves, and for the priests—The Levites rendered this aid
to the priests solely because they were so engrossed the entire day
that they had no leisure to provide any refreshments for themselves.
15. And the singers . . ., were in
their place—While the priests and people were so much engaged,
the choir was not idle. They had to sing certain Psalms, namely, the
hundred thirteenth to the hundred eighteenth inclusive, once, twice,
and even a third time, during the continuance of each company of
offerers. As they could not leave their posts, for the singing was
resumed as every fresh company entered, the Levites prepared for them
also; for the various bands relieved each other in turn, and while
the general choir was doing duty, a portion of the tuneful brethren,
relieved for a time, partook of the viands that were brought them.
18. there was no passover like to
that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel—One feature by
which this passover was distinguished was the liberality of Josiah.
But what distinguished it above all preceding solemnities was, not
the imposing grandeur of the ceremonies, nor the immensity of the
assembled concourse of worshippers; for these, with the exception of
a few from the kingdom of Israel, were confined to two tribes; but it
was the ardent devotion of the king and people, the disregard of
purely traditional customs, and the unusually strict adherence, even
in the smallest minutiæ, to the forms of observance prescribed in
the book of the law, the discovery of an original copy of which had
produced so great a sensation. Instead of "from the days of
Samuel," the author of the Book of Kings says, "from the
days of the judges who judged Israel" []. The meaning is the same in both passages, for Samuel
concluded the era of the judges.
all Judah and Israel that
were present—The great majority of the people of the northern
kingdom were in exile, but some of the remaining inhabitants
performed the journey to Jerusalem on this occasion. 37,600 paschal
lambs and kids were used, which [], at ten to a company, would make 376,000 persons attending
the feast.
19. In the eighteenth year of the
reign Josiah was this passover kept—"It is said () that Josiah sent Shaphan to Hilkiah in the eighth month of
that year." If this statement rests upon an historical basis,
all the events narrated here (at ) must have happened in about the space of five months
and a half. We should then have a proof that the eighteenth year of
Josiah's reign was reckoned from the autumn (compare ). "The eighth month" of the sacred year in the
eighteenth year of his reign would be the second month of his
eighteenth year, and the first month of the new year would be the
seventh month [BERTHEAU].
. HIS DEATH.
20. After all this, when Josiah had
prepared the temple—He most probably calculated that the
restoration of the divine worship, with the revival of vital religion
in the land, would lead, according to God's promise and the uniform
experience of the Hebrew people, to a period of settled peace and
increased prosperity. His hopes were disappointed. The bright
interval of tranquillity that followed his re-establishment of the
true religion was brief. But it must be observed that this
interruption did not proceed from any unfaithfulness in the divine
promise, but from the state into which the kingdom of Judah had
brought itself by the national apostasy, which was drawing down upon
it the long threatened but long deferred judgments of God.
Necho king of Egypt came up
to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates—Necho, son of
Psammetichus, succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the twentieth year
of Josiah. He was a bold and enterprising king, who entered with all
his heart into the struggle which the two great powers of Egypt and
Assyria had long carried on for the political ascendency. Each,
jealous of the aggressive movements of its rival, was desirous to
maintain Palestine as a frontier barrier. After the overthrow of
Israel, the kingdom of Judah became in that respect doubly important.
Although the king and people had a strong bias for alliance with
Egypt, yet from the time of Manasseh it had become a vassal of
Assyria. Josiah, true to his political no less than his religious
engagements, thought himself bound to support the interests of his
Assyrian liege lord. Hence, when "Necho king of Egypt came up to
fight Carchemish, Josiah went out against him." Carchemish, on
the eastern side of the Euphrates, was the key of Assyria on the
west, and in going thither the king of Egypt would transport his
troops by sea along the coast of Palestine, northwards. Josiah, as a
faithful vassal, resolved to oppose Necho's march across the northern
parts of that country. They met in the "valley of Megiddo,"
that is, the valley or plain of Esdraelon. The Egyptian king had come
either by water or through the plains of Philistia, keeping
constantly along the coast, round the northwest corner of Carmel, and
so to the great plain of Megiddo. This was not only his direct way to
the Euphrates, but the only route fit for his chariots, while thereby
also he left Judah and Jerusalem quite to his right. In this valley,
however, the Egyptian army had necessarily to strike across the
country, and it was on that occasion that Josiah could most
conveniently intercept his passage. To avoid the difficulty of
passing the river Kishon, Necho kept to the south of it, and must,
therefore, have come past Megiddo. Josiah, in following with his
chariots and horsemen from Jerusalem, had to march northwards along
the highway through Samaria by Kefr-Kud (the ancient Caper-Cotia) to
Megiddo [VAN DE
VELDE].
21, 22. But he sent ambassadors . .
. What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?—Not wishing
to spend time, or strength in vain, Necho informed the king of Judah
that he had no intention of molesting the Jews; that his expedition
was directed solely against his old Assyrian enemy; and that he had
undertaken it by an express commission from God. Commentators are not
agreed whether it was really a divine commission given him through
Jeremiah, or whether he merely used the name of God as an authority
that Josiah would not refuse to obey. As he could not know the truth
of Necho's declaration, Josiah did not sin in opposing him; or, if he
sinned at all, it was a sin of ignorance. The engagement took place.
Josiah was mortally wounded [].
24. took him out of that chariot,
and put him in the second chariot—the carriage he had for
ordinary use, and which would be more comfortable for the royal
sufferer than the war chariot. The death of this good king was the
subject of universal and lasting regret.
25. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah,
c.—The elegy of the prophet has not reached us but it seems to have
been long preserved among his countrymen and chanted on certain
public occasions by the professional singers, who probably got the
dirges they sang from a collection of funeral odes composed on the
death of good and great men of the nation. The spot in the valley of
Megiddo where the battle was fought was near the town of
Hadad-rimmon; hence the lamentation for the death of Josiah was
called "the lamentation of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of
Megiddo," which was so great and so long continued, that the
lamentation of Hadad passed afterwards into a proverbial phrase to
express any great and extraordinary sorrow ().
CHAPTER 35
. JOSIAH KEEPS A SOLEMN PASSOVER.
1-3. Moreover Josiah kept a passover—(See on ). The first nine verses give an account of the preparations made for the celebration of the solemn feast []. 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 30:13). The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded (2 Chronicles 30:13) 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 30:13), 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).
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 (). 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 () 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 ().
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 (). They were ecclesiastical princes; namely, Hilkiah the high priest (2 Chronicles 34:9). Zechariah, probably the second priest of the Eleazar (2 Chronicles 34:9), and Jehiel, of the Ithamar line. And as the Levitical tribes were not yet sufficiently provided (2 Chronicles 34:9), some of their eminent brethren who had been distinguished in Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 34:9), gave a large additional contribution for the use of the Levites exclusively.
10, 11. So the service was prepared, c.—All the necessary preparations having been completed, and the appointed time having arrived for the passover, the solemnity was celebrated. One remarkable feature in the account is the prominent part that was taken by the Levites in the preparation of the sacrifices namely, the killing and stripping of the skins, which were properly the peculiar duties of the priests; but as those functionaries were not able to overtake the extraordinary amount of work and the Levites had been duly sanctified for the service, they were enlisted for the time in this priestly employment. At the passover in Hezekiah's time, the Levites officiated in the same departments of duty, the reason assigned for that deviation from the established rule being the unprepared state of many of the people (2 Chronicles 30:17). But on this occasion the whole people had been duly sanctified, and therefore the exceptional enlistment of the Levites' services must have been rendered unavoidably necessary from the multitudes engaged in celebrating the passover.
12. they removed the burnt offerings—Some of the small cattle being designed for burnt offerings were put apart by themselves, that they might not be intermingled with the paschal lambs, which were carefully selected according to certain rules, and intended to be sacramentally eaten; and the manner in which those burnt offerings were presented seems to have been the following: "All the subdivisions of the different fathers' houses came one after another to the altar in solemn procession to bring to the priests the portions which had been cut off, and the priests laid these pieces upon the fire of the altar of burnt offering."
13. they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance—(See ). This mode of preparation was prescribed by the law exclusively for the paschal lamb; the other offerings and thank offerings were cooked in pots, kettles, and pans ().
divided them speedily among the people—The haste was either owing to the multiplicity of the priests' business, or because the heat and flavor of the viands would have been otherwise diminished. Hence it appears that the meal consisted not of the paschal lambs alone, but of the meat of the thank offerings—for part of the flesh fell to the portion of the offerer, who, being in this instance, the king and the princes, were by them made over to the people, who were recommended to eat them the day they were offered, though not absolutely forbidden to do so on the next (Leviticus 7:15-18).
14. afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests—The Levites rendered this aid to the priests solely because they were so engrossed the entire day that they had no leisure to provide any refreshments for themselves.
15. And the singers . . ., were in their place—While the priests and people were so much engaged, the choir was not idle. They had to sing certain Psalms, namely, the hundred thirteenth to the hundred eighteenth inclusive, once, twice, and even a third time, during the continuance of each company of offerers. As they could not leave their posts, for the singing was resumed as every fresh company entered, the Levites prepared for them also; for the various bands relieved each other in turn, and while the general choir was doing duty, a portion of the tuneful brethren, relieved for a time, partook of the viands that were brought them.
18. there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel—One feature by which this passover was distinguished was the liberality of Josiah. But what distinguished it above all preceding solemnities was, not the imposing grandeur of the ceremonies, nor the immensity of the assembled concourse of worshippers; for these, with the exception of a few from the kingdom of Israel, were confined to two tribes; but it was the ardent devotion of the king and people, the disregard of purely traditional customs, and the unusually strict adherence, even in the smallest minutiæ, to the forms of observance prescribed in the book of the law, the discovery of an original copy of which had produced so great a sensation. Instead of "from the days of Samuel," the author of the Book of Kings says, "from the days of the judges who judged Israel" []. The meaning is the same in both passages, for Samuel concluded the era of the judges.
all Judah and Israel that were present—The great majority of the people of the northern kingdom were in exile, but some of the remaining inhabitants performed the journey to Jerusalem on this occasion. 37,600 paschal lambs and kids were used, which [], at ten to a company, would make 376,000 persons attending the feast.
19. In the eighteenth year of the reign Josiah was this passover kept—"It is said () that Josiah sent Shaphan to Hilkiah in the eighth month of that year." If this statement rests upon an historical basis, all the events narrated here (at ) must have happened in about the space of five months and a half. We should then have a proof that the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign was reckoned from the autumn (compare ). "The eighth month" of the sacred year in the eighteenth year of his reign would be the second month of his eighteenth year, and the first month of the new year would be the seventh month [BERTHEAU].
. HIS DEATH.
20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple—He most probably calculated that the restoration of the divine worship, with the revival of vital religion in the land, would lead, according to God's promise and the uniform experience of the Hebrew people, to a period of settled peace and increased prosperity. His hopes were disappointed. The bright interval of tranquillity that followed his re-establishment of the true religion was brief. But it must be observed that this interruption did not proceed from any unfaithfulness in the divine promise, but from the state into which the kingdom of Judah had brought itself by the national apostasy, which was drawing down upon it the long threatened but long deferred judgments of God.
Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates—Necho, son of Psammetichus, succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the twentieth year of Josiah. He was a bold and enterprising king, who entered with all his heart into the struggle which the two great powers of Egypt and Assyria had long carried on for the political ascendency. Each, jealous of the aggressive movements of its rival, was desirous to maintain Palestine as a frontier barrier. After the overthrow of Israel, the kingdom of Judah became in that respect doubly important. Although the king and people had a strong bias for alliance with Egypt, yet from the time of Manasseh it had become a vassal of Assyria. Josiah, true to his political no less than his religious engagements, thought himself bound to support the interests of his Assyrian liege lord. Hence, when "Necho king of Egypt came up to fight Carchemish, Josiah went out against him." Carchemish, on the eastern side of the Euphrates, was the key of Assyria on the west, and in going thither the king of Egypt would transport his troops by sea along the coast of Palestine, northwards. Josiah, as a faithful vassal, resolved to oppose Necho's march across the northern parts of that country. They met in the "valley of Megiddo," that is, the valley or plain of Esdraelon. The Egyptian king had come either by water or through the plains of Philistia, keeping constantly along the coast, round the northwest corner of Carmel, and so to the great plain of Megiddo. This was not only his direct way to the Euphrates, but the only route fit for his chariots, while thereby also he left Judah and Jerusalem quite to his right. In this valley, however, the Egyptian army had necessarily to strike across the country, and it was on that occasion that Josiah could most conveniently intercept his passage. To avoid the difficulty of passing the river Kishon, Necho kept to the south of it, and must, therefore, have come past Megiddo. Josiah, in following with his chariots and horsemen from Jerusalem, had to march northwards along the highway through Samaria by Kefr-Kud (the ancient Caper-Cotia) to Megiddo [VAN DE VELDE].
21, 22. But he sent ambassadors . . . What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?—Not wishing to spend time, or strength in vain, Necho informed the king of Judah that he had no intention of molesting the Jews; that his expedition was directed solely against his old Assyrian enemy; and that he had undertaken it by an express commission from God. Commentators are not agreed whether it was really a divine commission given him through Jeremiah, or whether he merely used the name of God as an authority that Josiah would not refuse to obey. As he could not know the truth of Necho's declaration, Josiah did not sin in opposing him; or, if he sinned at all, it was a sin of ignorance. The engagement took place. Josiah was mortally wounded [].
24. took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot—the carriage he had for ordinary use, and which would be more comfortable for the royal sufferer than the war chariot. The death of this good king was the subject of universal and lasting regret.
25. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, c.—The elegy of the prophet has not reached us but it seems to have been long preserved among his countrymen and chanted on certain public occasions by the professional singers, who probably got the dirges they sang from a collection of funeral odes composed on the death of good and great men of the nation. The spot in the valley of Megiddo where the battle was fought was near the town of Hadad-rimmon; hence the lamentation for the death of Josiah was called "the lamentation of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo," which was so great and so long continued, that the lamentation of Hadad passed afterwards into a proverbial phrase to express any great and extraordinary sorrow ().