2 Chronicles 35
1 Josiah keeps a most solemn passover.
20 He provoking Pharaoh-necho, is slain at Megiddo.
25 Lamentations for Josiah.
Josiah <02977> [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.
fourteenth <0702> [the fourteenth.]
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.
duties <04931> [charges.]
encouraged them <02388> [encouraged.]
Levites <03881> [the Levites.]
Place <05414> [Put.]
temple <01004> [in the house.]
carry <04853> [not be.]
Lord ......................... serve ... Lord <05647 03068> [serve now.]
families <01004> [the houses.]
divisions <04256> [after your courses.]
The regulations formed by David, and established by Solomon, concerning the courses of the priests and Levites, were committed to writing, and preserved, for them to refer to continually. Josiah, as well as Hezekiah, required the priests and Levites to attend to their several duties, and encouraged them therein, but he neither added, altered, not retrenched anything: he merely enforced what had been established in the law, and in the regulations made by David and the contemporary prophets: "the commandment of the king....was by the word of the Lord."
<04385> [and according.]
Stand in <05975> [And stand.]
[families of the fathers. Heb. house of the fathers. people.]
Heb. sons of the people.
Slaughter <07819> [So kill.]
consecrate <06942> [sanctify.]
Josiah <02977> [Josiah.]
supplied <07311> [gave. Heb. offered.]
30,000 ............ 3,000 <0505 07970> [thirty thousand.]
According to the calculation, that not fewer than ten, nor more than twenty persons, were to join for one kid or lamb, the numbers given on this occasion would suffice for above 400,000 persons.
royal <07399 04428> [the king's substance.]
officials <08269> [his princes.]
supplied <07311 05414> [gave. Heb. offered. willingly.]
Hilkiah <02518> [Hilkiah.]
leaders <05057> [rulers.]
supplied <07311> [gave. Heb. offered.]
priests <03548> [the priests.]
priests <03548> [the priests.]
skinned <06584> [flayed them.]
prescribed <03789> [as it is written.]
cooked ............ cooked <01310> [roasted.]
cooked ............ cooked <01310> [sod.]
served <07323> [divided them speedily. Heb. made them run.]
priests .... priests ........................ priests <03548> [because the priests.]
posts <04612> [place. Heb. station. according.]
guards <07778> [the porters.]
present <04672> [present. Heb. found. the feast.]
Passover .......................... Passover <06453> [there was no passover.]
Not one on purer principles, more heartily joined in by the people present, more literally or exactly consecrated, according to the law, or more religiously observed. The words do not refer to the number present, but to the manner and spirit.
this had .... observed ................. had observed ....... celebrated <06213> [neither did.]
temple <01004> [A.M. 3394. B.C. 610. temple. Heb. house. Necho.]
Pharaoh, the lame, says the Targumist.
[Pharaoh-necho.]
[Charchemish.]
king <04428> [What.]
kingdom ....... war <04421 01004> [house wherewith I have war. Heb. house of my war. God.]
God ...... Stop ... God <02308 0430> [forbear thee.]
Josiah <02977> [Nevertheless.]
Josiah's conduct in this affair has been treated with great severity; and he has been charged with engaging rashly in an unjust war, and disregarding the express command of God. But Scripture no where condemns him; and Pharaoh, in marching through Josiah's territories, against his will, certainly committed an act of hostility. It is evident that Josiah was in possession of the whole land of Israel (ch. 26:6); and probably he held the northern parts of it as a grant from the king of Babylon; and was not only in alliance with him, but bound to guard his frontiers against hostile invaders. He may, therefore, be fairly justified from the charge of unjustly meddling in a war that did not belong him. It is true the ambassadors assured Josiah, that "God had commanded Pharaoh to make haste;" and he is therefore said not to have "hearkened to the words of Necho, from the mouth of God." But Necho produced no proof that he was a prophet of Jehovah; and the word he employed, {elohim,} may denote gods or idols; and critics have noticed that the expression, "from the mouth of God," is not used when the true God is meant.
disguised <02664> [but disguised.]
<06310> [the mouth.]
Megiddo <04023> [Megiddo.]
[Megiddon.]
[Armageddon.]
Archers shot <03384> [the archers.]
wounded <02470> [wounded. Heb. made sick.]
another <04932> [the second.]
<03212> [they.]
died <04191> [died.]
tombs <06913> [in one of the. or, among the.]
Judah <03063> [Judah.]
Jeremiah <03414> [Jeremiah.]
singers <07891> [all the singing.]
become customary <05414 02706> [and made them.]
faithful <02617> [goodness. Heb. kindness.]
accomplishments <01697> [deeds.]
