1.
Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
Josiah. This passover kept in the eighteenth year of his reign (2 Kings 23:21-23 ).
kept a passover. One of the ten observances recorded. See note on Exodus 12:28 .
fourteenth day. In this respect it was unlike Hezekiah's. Compare 2 Chronicles 30:2 , 2Ch 30:3 ; 2 Kings 23:22 , 2 Kings 23:23 .
2.
And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,
he set the priests, &c. This passover is interesting from the succinct description of its observance.
3.
And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,
that taught all Israel. This was the great and special duty of the priests and Levites. But they neglected it for their ritual, as too many priests have done from that day to this. See notes on Deuteronomy 33:10 ; Deuteronomy 17:11 , &c.
all Israel. Not Judah only.
holy. See note on Exodus 3:5 .
Put the holy ark. It had probably been removed during the reparation of the Temple.
the holy ark = the Sanctuary's Ark. See note on Exodus 25:22 and 1 Chronicles 13:3 .
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4 .
4.
And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
the writing of David. Compare 1 Chronicles 28:19 ; 1 Chronicles 29:25 , 1 Chronicles 29:27 , 1 Chronicles 29:30 .
the writing of Solomon. Compare 2 Chronicles 8:14 .
5.
And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.
divisions. The word occurs only here.
the families = the houses.
the People = the sons of the People: i.e. the common people.
6.
So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
by the hand Of Moses. This is Divine testimony as to the authorship of the Pentateuch (Exodus 12 ).
7.
And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.
8.
And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.
Hilkiah. The high priest (2 Chronicles 34:9 ).
God. Hebrew. Elohim. (with Art.) = the [true] God. App-4 .
9.
Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
Shemaiah . . . Jozabad. Compare 2 Chronicles 31:12-15 .
10.
So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.
11.
And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
they: i.e. the Levites.
12.
And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
offer = bring near. Hebrew. karab. App-43 .
the book of Moses: i.e. Exodus. See App-47 .
13.
And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.
sod = boiled.
14.
And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
afterward. Contrast Ezekiel 34 .
offering = offering up. Hebrew. 'alah. See App-43 .
15.
And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
David, and Asaph. Compare 1 Chronicles 25:1 ; 1 Chronicles 6:33 , 1Ch 6:39 , 1 Chronicles 6:44 .
seer. See notes on Judges 9:9 . 1 Chronicles 29:29 .
they might not: or they need not.
16.
So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.
17.
And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
children = sons.
18.
And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
no passover like to that. Compare 2 Kings 23:22 . No discrepancy with Hezekiah's passover (2 Chronicles 30:26 ); none like Hezekiah's till then. This, of Josiah's, was later, and exceeded it.
19.
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
kept. The Septuagint Version adds here [with a colon after kept]: "
: after all these things that Josiah did in the house, who also burnt those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and the sodomites, which were in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that lie might confirm the words of the law that were written in the book which Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. There was no one like him before him. who turned to the LORD with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his strength, according to all the law of Moses, and after him there rose up none like him. Nevertheless the LORD turned not from the anger of His great wrath, wherewith the LORD was greatly angry against Judah, for all the provocations wherewith Manasseh provoked Him. And the LORD said: 'I shall even remove Judah also from My presence, as I have removed Israel; and I have rejected the city which I chose, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My Name shall be there. ' ' "
20.
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
After all this. Thirteen years after.
temple = house.
Necho. Called also Pharaoh-necho. Said to be the founder of the twentyfifth dynasty, about the thirty-fifth year of Manasseh: i.e. in 553 B.C.
against = at.
Charchemish = the fortress of Chemosh). Pharaohnecho's object was to share the spoils of the falling empire of Assyria. Nineveh was taken 607 B.C. Compare Jeremiah 46:2 .
21.
But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
he. Pharaoh-necho.
22.
Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
disguised himself. As Ahab had done (2 Chronicles 18:29 . 1 Kings 22:30 ).
Megiddo. Compare 2 Kings 23:29 .
23.
And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
24.
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
sepulchres = graves. Hebrew. keber, as in 2 Chronicles 34:4 .
25.
And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Jeremiah lamented. This does not refer to the book of that name (Lamentations), though Josiah is referred to in it (Lamentations 4:20 and Jeremiah 22:10-18 ). Compare Zechariah 12:11 . 2 Kings 23:31 .
26.
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,
27.
And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.