Text -- 2 Chronicles 35:13-27 (NET)

35:13 They cooked the Passover sacrifices over the open fire as prescribed and cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They quickly served them to all the people. 35:14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 35:15 The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them. 35:16 So all the preparations for the Lord’s service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, as prescribed by King Josiah. 35:17 So the Israelites who were present observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 35:18 A Passover like this had not been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had observed a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah and Israel who were there, and the residents of Jerusalem. 35:19 This Passover was observed in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

Josiah’s Reign Ends

35:20 After Josiah had done all this for the temple, King Necho of Egypt marched up to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. Josiah marched out to oppose him. 35:21 Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “Why are you opposing me, O king of Judah? I am not attacking you today, but the kingdom with which I am at war. God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, or else he will destroy you.” 35:22 But Josiah did not turn back from him; he disguised himself for battle. He did not take seriously the words of Necho which he had received from God; he went to fight him in the Plain of Megiddo. 35:23 Archers shot King Josiah; the king ordered his servants, “Take me out of this chariot, for I am seriously wounded.” 35:24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, put him in another chariot that he owned, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors; all the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned Josiah. 35:25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah which all the male and female singers use to mourn Josiah to this very day. It has become customary in Israel to sing these; they are recorded in the Book of Laments. 35:26 The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, including the faithful acts he did in obedience to what is written in the law of the Lord 35:27 and his accomplishments, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: 2Ch 35:18

The whole solemnity was performed exactly according to the law, whereas in Hezekiah's passover there were several irregularities: likewise Josiah furnished the whole congregation with beasts for sacrifice at his own charge, which no king ever did before him.

Wesley: 2Ch 35:20

When he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a lasting happiness laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men often mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God's providence.

Wesley: 2Ch 35:21

Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. It is at thy peril, if thou engage against one who has both a better army, and a better cause and God on his side.

Wesley: 2Ch 35:22

How can we think to prosper in our ways, if we do not acknowledge God in them!

Wesley: 2Ch 35:25

In all their succeeding lamentations for their publick calamities, they remembered Josiah's death as their first and fatal blow, which opened the flood - gates to all their following miseries.

JFB: 2Ch 35:13

(See Exo 12:7-9). 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 (1Sa 2:14).

JFB: 2Ch 35:13

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 (Lev 7:15-18).

JFB: 2Ch 35:14

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.

JFB: 2Ch 35:15

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.

JFB: 2Ch 35:18

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" [2Ki 23:22]. The meaning is the same in both passages, for Samuel concluded the era of the judges.

JFB: 2Ch 35:18

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 [2Ch 35:7], at ten to a company, would make 376,000 persons attending the feast.

JFB: 2Ch 35:19

"It is said (2Ki 22:3) 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 2Ch. 34:8-35:19) 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 2Ch 29:3). "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].

JFB: 2Ch 35:20

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.

JFB: 2Ch 35:20

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].

JFB: 2Ch 35:21-22

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 [2Ch 35:23].

JFB: 2Ch 35:24

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.

JFB: 2Ch 35:25

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 (Zec 12:11).

Clarke: 2Ch 35:18

There was no passover like to that - "That which distinguished this passover from all the former was,"says Calmet, "the great liberality of Josiah, who distributed to his people a greater number of victims than either David or Solomon had done."

Clarke: 2Ch 35:20

Necho king of Egypt - Pharaoh the lame, says the Targum.

Clarke: 2Ch 35:21

God commanded me to make haste - The Targum gives a curious turn to this and the following verse: "My idol commanded me to make haste; refrain therefore from me and my idol which is with me, that he betray thee not. When he heard him mention his idol, he would not go back; and he hearkened not unto the words of Necho, which he spake concerning his idol."Here is the rabbinical excuse for the conduct of Josiah.

Clarke: 2Ch 35:24

The second chariot - Perhaps this means no more than that they took Josiah out of his own chariot and put him into another, either for secrecy, or because his own had been disabled. The chariot into which he was put might have been that of the officer or aid-de-camp who attended his master to the war. See the note on 2Ki 22:20.

Clarke: 2Ch 35:25

Behold, they are written in the lamentations - The Hebrews had poetical compositions for all great and important events, military songs, songs of triumph, epithalamia or marriage odes, funeral elegies, etc. Several of these are preserved in different parts of the historical books of Scripture, and these were generally made by prophets or inspired men. That composed on the tragical end of this good king by Jeremiah is now lost. The Targum says, "Jeremiah bewailed Josiah with a great lamentation; and all the chiefs and matrons sing these lamentations concerning Josiah to the present day, and it was a statute in Israel annually to bewail Josiah. Behold, these are written in the book of Lamentations, which Baruch wrote down from the mouth of Jeremiah.

Clarke: 2Ch 35:27

And his deeds, first and last - "The former things which he did in his childhood, and the latter things which he did in his youth; and all the judgments which he pronounced from his eighth year, when he came to the kingdom, to his eighteenth, when he was grown up, and began to repair the sanctuary of the Lord; and all that he brought of his substance to the hand of judgment, purging both the house of Israel and Judah from all uncleanness; behold, they are written in the book of the Kings of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah."- Targum. These general histories are lost; but in the books of Kings and Chronicles we have the leading facts.

Defender: 2Ch 35:19

This uniquely great Passover (see previous verse), plus the repairs of the temple, the rediscovery and reading of the Scriptures, and the purging of the pagan practices of the land were apparently all accomplished during Josiah's eighteenth year as king, when he was only twenty-six years old (2Ch 34:8). That was truly a momentous year, but it could not prevent the coming judgment of God (2Ch 34:24-25) on the land and its people. Although the reforms were extensive and Josiah's efforts sincere, they seem to have been only superficial and did not take root. With Josiah's death thirteen years later, the people soon returned to their pagan ways."

Defender: 2Ch 35:22

This unusual (though not unique) divinely inspired message and mission of an Egyptian Pharaoh was ignored by Josiah at the cost of his own life (2Ch 35:24). Both the Egyptian and Assyrian armies were defeated at Carchemish by the Babylonians. Since the latter were to be used by God to punish Judah as prophesied, Josiah should not have interfered at all in these international developments involving them."

TSK: 2Ch 35:13

roasted : Exo 12:8, Exo 12:9; Deu 16:7; Psa 22:14; Lam 1:12, Lam 1:13

sod : Lev 6:28; Num 6:19; 1Sa 2:13-15

divided them speedily : Heb. made them run, Rom 12:11

TSK: 2Ch 35:14

because the priests : Act 6:2-4

TSK: 2Ch 35:15

place : Heb. station

according : 2Ch 29:25, 2Ch 29:26; 1Ch 16:41, 1Ch 16:42, 1Ch 23:5, 1Ch 25:1-7; Psa 77:1, Psa 78:1, Psa 79:1 *titles

the porters : 1Ch 9:17-19, 1Ch 26:14-19

TSK: 2Ch 35:17

present : Heb. found

the feast : 2Ch 30:21-23; Exo 12:15-20, Exo 13:6, Exo 13:7, Exo 23:15, Exo 34:18; Lev 23:5-8; Num 28:16-25; Deu 16:3, Deu 16:4, Deu 16:8; 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8

TSK: 2Ch 35:18

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. 2Ch 30:5; 2Ki 23:21-23

neither did : 2Ch 30:26, 2Ch 30:27

TSK: 2Ch 35:20

am 3394, bc 610

temple : Heb. house

Necho : Pharaoh, the lame, says the Targumist. 2Ki 23:29, 2Ki 23:30, Pharaoh-necho, Jer 46:2-12

Charchemish : Isa 10:9

TSK: 2Ch 35:21

What : 2Sa 16:10; Mat 8:29; Joh 2:4

house wherewith I have war : Heb. house of my war

God : 2Ki 18:25; Isa 36:10

forbear thee : 2Ch 25:19

TSK: 2Ch 35:22

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 (2Ch 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.

but disguised : 2Ch 18:29; 1Ki 14:2, 1Ki 22:30, 1Ki 22:34

the mouth : 2Ch 35:21, 2Ch 18:4-6; Jos 9:14

Megiddo : Jdg 5:19; 2Ki 9:27, 2Ki 23:30; Zec 12:11, Megiddon, Rev 16:16, Armageddon

TSK: 2Ch 35:23

the archers : 2Ch 18:33; Gen 49:23; 2Ki 9:24; Lam 3:13

wounded : Heb. made sick, 1Ki 22:34; 2Ki 8:29

TSK: 2Ch 35:24

the second : Gen 41:43

they : 2Ki 23:30

died : Psa 36:6; Ecc 8:14, Ecc 9:1, Ecc 9:2

in one of the : or, among the, 2Ch 34:28

Judah : Zec 12:11

TSK: 2Ch 35:25

Jeremiah : Jer 22:10; Lam 4:20

all the singing : Job 3:8; Ecc 12:5; Jer 9:17-21; Mat 9:23

and made them : Jer 22:20

TSK: 2Ch 35:26

goodness : Heb. kindness, 2Ch 31:20, 2Ch 32:32

TSK: 2Ch 35:27

deeds : 2Ch 20:34, 2Ch 24:27, 2Ch 25:26, 2Ch 26:22, 2Ch 32:32, 2Ch 33:19; 2Ki 10:34, 2Ki 16:19, 2Ki 20:20; 2Ki 21:25

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 2Ch 35:15

They might not depart - The singers and porters remained at their posts, while other Levites sacrificed for them and brought them their share of the lambs.

Barnes: 2Ch 35:20

After all this - i. e. 13 years after, 608 B.C. See the 2Ki 23:28-29 notes.

Barnes: 2Ch 35:21

The house wherewith I have war - Necho viewed Babylon as the successor and representative of Assyria - the hereditary enemy of Egypt - and he means that he is merely continuing an old hostility with which Josiah has nothing to do. No doubt the Assyrian and Egyptian armies had often passed up and down Syria by the coast route, without approaching Jerusalem, or even touching the soil of Judaea.

God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God - These are remarkable words in the mouth of a pagan; but ancient inscriptions show that the Egyptian kings, in a certain sense, acknowledged a single supreme god, and considered their actions to be inspired by him. (e. g. The god Tum (compare) the name of his city, Pithom, Exo 1:11 note) was worshipped as ankh, "the living One"(compare "Yahweh")). Hence, Necho merely expressed himself as Egyptian kings were in the habit of doing.

Barnes: 2Ch 35:22

Disguised himself - Compare the marginal reference. But most modern critics are dissatisfied with this sense in this place, and prefer to render "equipped himself;"or - with the Septuagint - adopt another reading, and render "took courage."

The words of Necho from the mouth of God - The author apparently regarded Necho’ s words as actually prophetic - a warning to which Josiah ought to have listened - sent him by God to make him pause - though not spoken by divine inspiration, or in consequence of any supernatural revelation of the divine will to the Egyptian king. Compare the "prophecy"of Caiaphas, Joh 11:51.

Barnes: 2Ch 35:24

The fate of Josiah was unprecedented. No king of Judah had, up to this time, fallen in battle. None had left his land at the mercy of a foreign conqueror. Hence, the extraordinary character of the mourning (compare Zec 12:11-14).

Barnes: 2Ch 35:25

Some find Jeremiah’ s lament in the entire Book of Lamentations; others in a part of it Lam. 4. But most critics are of opinion that the lament is lost. Days of calamity were commemorated by lamentations on their anniversaries, and this among the number. The "Book of Dirges"was a collection of such poems which once existed but is now lost.

And made them an ordinance - Rather, "and they made them an ordinance,"they i. e. who had authority to do so, not the minstrels.

Poole: 2Ch 35:13

The other holy offerings those from which the burnt offerings were removed, 2Ch 35:12 , to wit, the peace-offerings, part of which fell to the share of the offerer, who was Josiah, and by his gift to the people.

Poole: 2Ch 35:14

Afterward they made ready to wit, the paschal lambs, and their part of the peace-offerings.

Poole: 2Ch 35:20

When Josiah had prepared the temple when he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a solid and lasting happiness was laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men oft mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God’ s counsel and providence.

Charchemish which the Assyrian had lately taken from the king of Egypt; of which he boasts, Isa 10:9 .

Poole: 2Ch 35:21

Against the house wherewith I have war Heb. against the house or family of my war , i.e. against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war.

God commanded me either his false god by their lying priests; or the true God, either,

1. By some prophet; for God’ s prophets used sometimes to deliver or send commands from God to heathen kings. Though it is not probable either that Pharaoh would regard the command of the true God; or that a prophet of the Lord would not acquaint Josiah with this message; or that Josiah would oppose Pharaoh in a war undertaken by God’ s command. Or rather,

2. By a dream, as God spoke to another heathen king, Abimelech, Gen 20:3 . Though it is not impossible that he pretended this for his own advantage, that Josiah might not assist his enemies.

Poole: 2Ch 35:22

Josiah would not turn his face from him being peradventure encouraged to do so by a misinterpretation of that promise made to him, 2Ch 34:28 ,

Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace: thus God overrules the errors and miscarriages of men to the accomplishment of his own counsels.

Disguised himself changed his habit, that he might not give his enemies the advantage of aiming at his person, which he wisely thought they would do, that being a likely course to end their trouble, as indeed it proved.

Unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God either,

1. Which Pharaoh sent to him in the name of God, or as coming from God’ s month. Or rather,

2. Which Pharaoh received from the month of God, who was pleased some way or other to impart his mind to him; and which Pharaoh acquainted him with by the command of God. And therefore Josiah is here blamed for not hearkening to this message. Although, if he sinned herein, it was only a sin of ignorance, for he did not know that God had spoken this to Pharaoh, and was not bound to believe his testimony, which he had good reason to suspect in this matter. Yet, methinks, he ought so far to have regarded it, as to have inquired the mind of God about it; which he neglected to do, and therefore he cannot be wholly excused, and is here taxed for it.

Poole: 2Ch 35:25

In their lamentations to this day in all their succeeding lamentations for their public calamities, and for the ruin of their city, and temple, and state, and church they remembered Josiah’ s death as their first and most fatal blow, and as that which opened the flood-gates to all their following miseries, and it was ordained that they should do so, as the next words intimate.

In the lamentations either in that canonical book of Jeremiah’ s Lamentations, or in some other volume of mournful ditties, made by divers persons upon occasion of their following calamities, which is since lost.

Poole: 2Ch 35:26

His goodness either,

1. His piety towards God and his house. Or,

2. His benignity, clemency, and kindness towards all his subjects, being of a most tender disposition and carriage both towards God, 2Ch 34:27 , and towards men. But the former seems principally intended, because it best agrees both with the history of Josiah, which is wholly taken up with the former, and speaks little or nothing of the latter, and with the following words; and it doth not disagree with the Hebrew word hesed , which though it doth most frequently express kindness to men, yet sometimes it notes a man’ s piety to God and his house, as is manifest from Neh 13:14 .

Haydock: 2Ch 35:13

Victims. Heb. and Sept. "but the holy offerings they boiled." See Ex. xii. 9. H.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:15

Prophets. Heb. "seer." But Sept., &c. read in the plural. These were "prophets of the king," (H.) or masters of music. C. ---

Vulgate might insinuate that these three gave orders, as well as David. But they were in office under him, as people of the same name were, probably, under Josias. H.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:18

As Josias kept. He displayed greater liberality (Estius. See 4 K. xxiii. 20.) and devotion; and the festival had also been neglected for some time. W.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:20

Charcamis belonged to the Assyrian monarch, (Isaias x. 9.) who subdued the empire of Babylon, C. xxxiii. 11.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:21

With me. Grotius thinks that Jeremias had given the order; and the author of Hebrew Traditions, supposes that he forbade Josias to oppose Pharao, who, it seems, was assured of victory. C. ---

But this is uncertain; and Josias might justly suspect that the king of Egypt spoke without authority. H. ---

The augurs of the latter might declare the truth, (M.) though they could not dive into futurity. H. ---

Herodotus (i.) informs us, that Nechos fought against the Syrians, (or Israelites) in Magdelum, and took Cadythis, a city as large as Sardis, of Lydia; probably Jerusalem, (D.) or Cades. C.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:22

Prepared. Heb. "disguised himself," like Achab; (C.) or set his army in array. Sept. "he was bent on fighting him." H. ---

He supposed that Pharao intended to invade his dominions, and God would withdraw him from the world. W.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:24

After the manner of kings, is not in Hebrew, &c. H. ---

Curtius (iv.) informs us, that the Persian monarch had always a horse behind his chariot, to be ready in case of any accident.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:25

Lamentations. Some think that we have them in the Bible. Josephus, &c. ---

Others believe that they are lost. Salien, the year of the world 3425. ---

Law, on the anniversary; (M.) or when any calamity occurs, the lamentations of Jeremias are used. T. ---

There were collections of such poems, as well as of canticles, for victory and marriages. C.

Haydock: 2Ch 35:27

Israel is placed first in Heb. and Sept. H. ---

The kings of Juda assumed the title, as the kingdom had been subverted above a century; and the wretched remains of Israel had retreated into the territories, (C.) or acknowledged their dominion. H.

Gill: 2Ch 35:13

And they roasted the passover with fire, according to the ordinance,.... Of the Lord by Moses, Exo 12:8.

but the other holy offerings; which were the peace offerings:

sod they in pots, and in cauldrons, and pans; which was forbid to be done with the passover lamb, but might with the other sacrifices, which were to be eaten, Exo 12:9.

and divided them speedily among all the people; the parts which belonged to the offerer, who was the king; but he gave his part to the people, and therefore the Levites delivered them to them as soon as they could.

Gill: 2Ch 35:14

And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests,.... The passover lambs, and such parts of the peace offerings that belonged to them:

because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering burnt offerings; such as are before said to be removed or separated for that purpose:

and the fat; of the peace offerings that was to be burnt: and this employed them

until night; so that they could not prepare the passover for themselves:

and therefore the Levites prepared, not only for themselves, but and also for the priests the sons of Aaron; who were otherwise engaged in the service of the day.

Gill: 2Ch 35:15

And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place,.... In the court of the priests, singing and playing on their instruments while the sacrifices were offering:

according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; the same with Ethan; and everyone were seers, as Jarchi interprets it, that is, the three last:

and the porters waited at every gate; such of the Levites as were in, that post and office:

they might not depart from their service; to let people in and out, that came for their passover lamb, and share in their other offerings:

for their brethren the Levites prepared for them; because they were not at leisure to prepare for themselves.

Gill: 2Ch 35:16

So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day,.... With every sacrifice, and for all sorts of persons:

to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord; which were required to be done on that day:

according to the commandment of King Josiah; which was, that every thing be provided, prepared, and done, as the law required.

Gill: 2Ch 35:17

And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time,.... In its proper time, on the fourteenth day of Nisan:

and the feast of unleavened bread seven days; the seven days following the passover, as the Lord by Moses appointed.

Gill: 2Ch 35:18-19

And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel,.... So exactly according to the law, so universally by Israel and Judah, and with such liberality shown by the king, and the chief of the priests and Levites; of this, and the following verse; see Gill on 2Ki 23:22; see Gill on 2Ki 23:23

Gill: 2Ch 35:20

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple,.... Purified it, and cleansed it from the filth in it, and from all idolatry, and had repaired it, and put the service of it in good order, and on a good footing, after which great prosperity in church and state might have been expected:

Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates; now called Querquisia, supposed by some to be the same with the Cadytis of Herodotus, which that historian calls a great city of Syria, whither he says Necho went after the battle with the Syrians ^x; of which See Gill on Isa 10:9 and of this king of Egypt; see Gill on 2Ki 23:29, Jer 46:2.

and Josiah went out against him; or to meet him, and stop him from going through his land, which lay between Egypt and Syria; Egypt being on the south of Israel, and Euphrates on the north of it, as Jarchi observes.

Gill: 2Ch 35:21

But he sent ambassadors to him,.... That is, Necho sent to Josiah:

saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? signifying he had no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with him, and he had no business to intermeddle between him and another prince:

I come not against thee this day; in an hostile manner:

but against the house wherewith I have war; the king of Assyria:

for God commanded me to make haste; and oppose his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers ^y; but the true God might have appeared to him in a dream, or sent a prophet to him; or at least he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Josiah; and indeed it seems to be real from the following verse:

forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not; he concluded God was with him, and would succeed him, because he had put him upon this enterprise, and hastened him to it; therefore Josiah, in opposing him, might expect to be resisted by him, and fall.

Gill: 2Ch 35:22

Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him,.... Or withdraw his forces, and go back:

but disguised himself that he might fight with him; without being personally known, and aimed at, see 1Ki 22:30.

and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God: not believing that what he said came from the Lord, though it might; and his infirmity was, that he did not inquire of the Lord about it:

and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo; which was in the tribe of Manasseh, thought to be the Magdolum of Herodotus, where he says Necho fought the battle ^z; See Gill on 2Ki 23:29.

Gill: 2Ch 35:23

And the archers shot at King Josiah,.... For, though disguised, he appeared to be a general officer, and indeed chief commander, and therefore aimed at him, and pressed him hard:

and the king said to his servants, have me away, for I am wounded; as Ahab said, when in the like case, 1Ki 22:34.

Gill: 2Ch 35:24

And his servants therefore took him out of that chariot,.... Dead, and had him to Jerusalem, and buried him; See Gill on 2Ki 23:30,

and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; he having been so good a king, so tender of them, and such an happy instrument in restoring the true religion, and the service of God; this was the sense of the generality of them, who were sincere in their mourning; but it is not improbable that those who were inclined to idolatry were secretly glad, though they dissembled mourning with the rest.

Gill: 2Ch 35:25

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah,.... Composed a lamentation for him, which is now lost; for what is said in Lam 4:20 respects Zedekiah, and not Josiah:

and all the singing men, and all the singing women, spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; who were made use of on mournful occasions, as the "preficae" among the Romans, see Jer 9:17 these in their mournful ditties used to make mention of his name, and the disaster that befell him:

and made them an ordinance in Israel; an annual constitution, as the Targum calls it, appointing a solemn mourning for him once a year, which Jarchi says was on the ninth of Ab or July:

and, behold, they are written in the lamentations; not of Jeremiah; though the Targum is,

"lo, they are written in the book which Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, concerning the lamentations,''but respect a collection of lamentations on various subjects then in being, but since lost.

Gill: 2Ch 35:26-27

His piety towards God, and liberality to the people; of these two verses; see Gill on 2Ki 23:28.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:15

¹ tn Or “seer.”

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:20

¹ tn Heb “After all this, [by] which Josiah prepared the temple.”

² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:21

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Neco) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “What to me and to you, king of Judah?”

³ tn Heb “Not against you, you, today, but against the house of my battle.”

⁴ tn Heb “Stop yourself from [opposing] God who is with me and let him not destroy you.”

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:22

¹ tn Heb “and Josiah did not turn his face from him.”

² tn Heb “listen to.”

³ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:23

¹ tn Heb “carry me away.”

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:24

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

² tn Heb “fathers.”

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:26

¹ tn Heb “and his faithful acts according to what is written in the law of the Lord.”

NET Notes: 2Ch 35:27

¹ tn Heb “look, they are written.”

Geneva Bible: 2Ch 35:15

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 ^{( h )} seer; and the porters [waited] at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

^{( h )} Meaning, by this his prophet, because he appointed the psalms and prophecies which were to be sung.

Geneva Bible: 2Ch 35:19

In ^{( i )} the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

^{( i )} Which was in his 26th year.

Geneva Bible: 2Ch 35:20

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against ^{( k )} Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

^{( k )} Which was a city of the Assyrians and Josiah fearing lest in passing through Judah he would have taken his kingdom, made war against him and did not consult the Lord.

Geneva Bible: 2Ch 35:22

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but ^{( l )} 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.

^{( l )} That is, armed or disguised himself so that he would not be recognized.

Geneva Bible: 2Ch 35:24

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 ^{( m )} mourned for Josiah.

^{( m )} The people so lamented the loss of this good king that after when there was any great lamentation this was spoken of as a proverb, (Zec 12:11).

Geneva Bible: 2Ch 35:25

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 ^{( n )} lamentations.

^{( n )} Which some think Jeremiah wrote, in which he laments the state of the church after this king's death.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 2Ch 35:1-27

1 Josiah keeps a most solemn passover.

20 He provoking Pharaoh-necho, is slain at Megiddo.

25 Lamentations for Josiah.

MHCC: 2Ch 35:1-19

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.

MHCC: 2Ch 35:20-27

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.

Matthew Henry: 2Ch 35:1-19

The destruction which Josiah made of idols and idolatry was more largely related in the Kings, but just mentioned here in the foregoing chapter (v. 33); but his solemnizing the passover, which was touched upon there (2Ki 23:21), is very particularly related here. Many were the feasts of the Lord, appointed by the ceremonial law, but the passover was the chief. It began them all in the night wherein Israel came out of Egypt; it concluded them all in the night wherein Christ was betrayed; and in the celebration of it Hezekiah and Josiah, those two great reformers, revived religion in their day. The ordinance of the Lord's supper resembles the passover more than it does any of the Jewish festivals; and the due observance of that ordinance, according to the rule, is an instance and means both of the growing purity and beauty of churches and of the growing piety and devotion of particular Christians. Religion cannot flourish where that passover is either wholly neglected or not duly observed; return to that, revive that, make a solemn business of that affecting binding ordinance, and then, it is to be hoped, there will be a reformation in other instances also.

In the account we had of Hezekiah's passover the great zeal of the people was observable, and the transport of devout affection that they were in; but little of the same spirit appears here. It was more in compliance with the king that they all kept the passover (2Ch 35:17, 2Ch 35:18) than from any great inclination they had to it themselves. Some pride they took in this form of godliness, but little pleasure in the power of it. But, whatever defect there was among the people in the spirit of the duty, both the magistrates and the ministers did their part and took care that the external part of the service should be performed with due solemnity.

I. The king exhorted and directed, quickened and encouraged, the priests and Levites to do their office in this solemnity. Perhaps he saw them remiss and indifferent, unwilling to go out of their road or mend their pace. If ministers are so, it is not amiss for any, but most proper for magistrates, to stir them up to their business. Say to Archippus, Take heed to thy ministry, Col 4:17. Let us see how this good king managed his clergy upon this occasion. 1. He reduced them to the office they were appointed to by the law of Moses (2Ch 35:6) and the order they were put into by David and Solomon, 2Ch 35:4. He set them in their charge, 2Ch 35:2. He did not cut them out new work, nor put them into any new method, but called them back to their institution. Their courses were settled in writing; let them have recourse to that writing, and marshal themselves according to the divisions of their families, 2Ch 35:5. Our rule is settled in the written word; let magistrates take care that ministers walk according to that rule and they do their duty. 2. He ordered the ark to be put in its place. It should seem, it had of late been displaced, either by the wicked kings, to make room for their idols in the most holy place, or by Hezekiah, to make room for the workmen that repaired the temple. However it was, Josiah bids the Levites put the ark in the house (2Ch 35:3), and not carry it about from place to place, as perhaps of late they had done, justifying themselves therein by the practice before the temple was built. Now that the priests were discharged from this burden of the ark they must be careful in other services about it. 3. He charged them to serve God and his people Israel, 2Ch 35:3. Ministers must look upon themselves as servants both to Christ and to his church for his sake, 2Co 4:5. They must take care, and take pains, and lay out themselves to the utmost, (1.) For the glory and honour of God, and to advance the interests of his kingdom among men. Paul, a servant of God, Tit 1:1. (2.) For the welfare and benefit of his people, not as having dominion over their faith, but as helpers of their holiness and joy; and there will be no difficulty, in the strength of God, in honestly serving these two masters. 4. He charged them to sanctify themselves, and prepare their brethren, 2Ch 35:6. Ministers' work must begin at home, and they must sanctify themselves in the first place, purify themselves from sin, sequester themselves from the world, and devote themselves to God. But it must not end there; they must do what they can to prepare their brethren by admonishing, instructing, exhorting, quickening, and comforting, them. The preparation of the heart is indeed from the Lord; but ministers must be instruments in his hand. 5. He encouraged them to the service, 2Ch 35:2. He spoke comfortably to them, as Hezekiah did, 2Ch 30:22. He promised them his countenance. Note, Those whom we charge we should encourage. Most people love to be commended, and will be wrought upon by encouragements more than by threats.

II. The king and the princes, influenced by his example, gave liberally for the bearing of the charges of this passover. The ceremonial services were expensive, which perhaps was one reason why they had been neglected. People had not zeal enough to be at the charge of them; nor were they now very fond of them, for that reason, and therefore, 1. Josiah, at his own proper cost, furnished the congregation with paschal lambs, and other sacrifices, to be offered during the seven days of the feast. He allowed out of his own estate 30,000 lambs for passover offerings, which the offerers were to feast upon, and 3000 bullocks (2Ch 35:7) to be offered during the following seven days. Note, Those who are serious in religion should, when they persuade others to do that which is good, make it as cheap and easy to them as may be. And where God sows plentifully he expects to reap accordingly. It is to be feared that the congregation generally had not come provided; so that, if Josiah had not furnished them, the work of God must have stood still. 2. The chief of the priests, who were men of great estates, contributed towards the priests' charges, as Josiah did towards the people's. The princes (2Ch 35:8), that is, the chief of the priests, the princes of the holy tribe, rulers of the house of God, bore the priests' charges. And some of the rich and great men of the Levites furnished them also with cattle, both great and small, for offerings, 2Ch 35:9. For, as to those that sincerely desire to be found in the way of their duty, Providence sometimes raises up friends to bear them out in it, beyond what they could have expected.

III. The priests and Levites performed their office very readily, 2Ch 35:10. They killed the paschal lambs in the court of the temple, the priests sprinkled the blood upon the altar, the Levites flayed them, and then gave the flesh to the people according to their families (2Ch 35:11, 2Ch 35:12), not fewer than ten, nor more than twenty, to a lamb. They took it to their several apartments, roasted it, and ate it according to the ordinance, 2Ch 35:13. As for the other sacrifices that were eucharistical, the flesh of them was boiled according to the law of the peace-offerings and was divided speedily among the people, that they might feast upon it as a token of their joy in the atonement made and their reconciliation to God thereby. And, lastly, The priests and Levites took care to honour God by eating of the passover themselves, 2Ch 35:14. Let not ministers think that the care they take for the souls of others will excuse their neglect of their own, or that being employed so much in public worship will supersede the religious exercises of their closets and families. The Levites here mace ready for themselves and for the priests, because the priests were wholly taken up all day in the service of the altar; therefore, that they might not have their lamb to dress when they should eat it, the Levites got it ready for them against supper time. Let ministers learn hence to help one another, and to forward one another's work, as brethren, and fellow-servants of the same Master.

IV. The singers and porters attended in their places, and did their office, 2Ch 35:15. The singers with their sacred songs and music expressed and excited the joy of the congregation, and made the service very pleasant to them; and the porters at the gates took care that there should be no breaking in of any thing to defile or disquiet the assembly, nor going out of any from it, that none should steal away till the service was done. While they were thus employed their brethren the Levites prepared paschal lambs for them.

V. The whole solemnity was performed with great exactness, according to the law (2Ch 35:16, 2Ch 35:17), and, upon that account, there was none like it since Samuel's time (2Ch 35:18), for in Hezekiah's passover there were several irregularities. And bishop Patrick observes that in this also it exceeded the other passovers which the preceding kings had kept, that though Josiah was by no means so rich as David, and Solomon, and Jehoshaphat, yet he furnished the whole 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 him.

Matthew Henry: 2Ch 35:20-27

It was thirteen years from Josiah's famous passover to his death. During this time, we may hope, thing went well in his kingdom, that he prospered, and religion flourished; yet we are not entertained with the pleasing account of those years, but they are passed over in silence, because the people, for all this, were not turned from the love of their sins nor God from the fierceness of his anger. The next news therefore we hear of Josiah is that he is cut off in the midst of his days and usefulness, before he is full forty years old. We had this sad story, 2Ki 23:29, 2Ki 23:30. Here it is somewhat more largely related. That appears here, more than did there, which reflects such blame on Josiah and such praise on the people as one would not have expected.

I. Josiah was a very good prince, yet he was much to be blamed for his rashness and presumption in going out to war against the king of Egypt without cause or call. It was bad enough, as it appeared in the Kings, that he meddled with strife which belonged not to him. But here it looks worse; for, it seems, the king of Egypt sent ambassadors to him, to warn him against this enterprise, 2Ch 35:21.

1. The king of Egypt argued with Josiah, (1.) From principles of justice. He professed that he had no desire to do him any hurt, and therefore it was unfair, against common equity and the law of nations, for Josiah to take up arms against him. If even a righteous man engage in an unrighteous cause, let him not expect to prosper. God is no respecter of persons. See Pro 3:30; Pro 25:8. (2.) From principles of religion: " God is with me; nay, He commanded me to make haste, and therefore, if thou retard my motions, thou meddlest with God."It cannot be that the king of Egypt only pretended this (as Sennacherib did in a like case, 2Ki 18:25), hoping thereby to make Josiah desist, because he knew he had a veneration for the word of God; for it is said here (2Ch 35:22) that the words of Necho were from the mouth of God. We must therefore suppose that either by a dream, or by a strong impulse upon his spirit which he had reason to think was from God, or by Jeremiah or some other prophet, he had ordered him to make war upon the king of Assyria. (3.) From principles of policy: " That he destroy thee not; it is at thy peril if thou engage against one that has not only a better army and a better cause, but God on his side."

2. It was not in wrath to Josiah, whose heart was upright with the Lord his God, but in wrath to a hypocritical nation, who were unworthy of so good a king, that he was so far infatuated as not to hearken to these fair reasonings and desist from his enterprise. He would not turn his face from him, but went in person and fought the Egyptian army in the valley of Megiddo, 2Ch 35:22. If perhaps he could not believe that the king of Egypt had a command from God to do what he did, yet, upon his pleading such a command, he ought to have consulted the oracles of God before he went out against him. His not doing that was his great fault, and of fatal consequence. In this matter he walked not in the ways of David his father; for, had it been his case, he would have enquired of the Lord, Shall I go up? Wilt thou deliver them into my hands? How can we think to prosper in our ways if we do not acknowledge God in them?

II. The people were a very wicked people, yet they were much to be commended for lamenting the death of Josiah as they did. That Jeremiah lamented him I do not wonder; he was the weeping prophet, and plainly foresaw the utter ruin of his country following upon the death of this good king. But it is strange to find that all Judah and Jerusalem, that stupid senseless people, mourned for him (2Ch 35:24), contrived how to have their mourning excited by singing men and singing women, how to have it spread through the kingdom (they made an ordinance in Israel that the mournful ditties penned on this sad occasion should be learned and sung by all sorts of people), and also how to have the remembrance of it perpetuated: these elegies were inserted in the collections of state poems; they are written in the Lamentations. Hereby it appeared, 1. That they had some respect to their good prince, and that, though they did not cordially comply with him in all his good designs, they could not but greatly honour him. Pious useful men will be manifested in the consciences even of those that will not be influenced by their example; and many that will not submit to the rules of serious godliness themselves yet cannot but give it their good word and esteem it in others. Perhaps those lamented Josiah when he was dead that were not thankful to God for him while he lived. The Israelites murmured at Moses and Aaron while they were with them and spoke sometimes of stoning them, and yet, when they died, they mourned for them many days. We are often taught to value mercies by the loss of them which, when we enjoyed them, we did not prize as we ought. 2. That they had some sense of their own danger now that he was gone. Jeremiah told them, it is likely, of the evil they might now expect to come upon them, from which he was taken away; and so far they credited what he said that they lamented the death of him that was their defence. Note, Many will more easily be persuaded to lament the miseries that are coming upon them than to take the proper way by universal reformation to prevent them, will shed tears for their troubles, but will not be prevailed upon to part with their sins. But godly sorrow worketh repentance and that repentance will be to salvation.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ch 35:1-19

The solemnization of the passover . - To ratify the renewal of the covenant, and to confirm the people in the communion with the Lord into which it had entered by the making of the covenant, Josiah, immediately after the finding of the book of the law and the renewal of the covenant, appointed a solemn passover to be held at the legal time, which is only briefly mentioned in 2Ki 23:21-23, but in the Chronicle is minutely described.

2Ch 35:1

2Ch 35:1 contains the superscription-like statement, that Josiah held a passover to the Lord; and they held the passover in the 14th day of the first month, consequently at the time fixed in the law. It happened otherwise under Hezekiah (2Ch 30:2, 2Ch 30:13, and 2Ch 30:15). With 2Ch 35:2 commences the description of the festival: and first we have the preparations, the appointment of the priests and Levites to perform the various services connected with the festival (2Ch 35:2-6), and the procuring of the necessary beasts for sacrifice (2Ch 35:10-15); then the offering of the sacrifices and the preparation of the meals (2Ch 35:10-15); and finally the characterization of the whole festival (2Ch 35:16-19).

2Ch 35:2

He appointed the priests according to their guards or posts, i.e., according to the service incumbent upon each division, and "he strengthened them for the service of the house of Jahve,"namely, by encouraging speech, and by teaching as to the duties devolving upon them, according to the provisions of the law. Cf. the summons of Hezekiah, 2Ch 29:5.; and as to the יחזּק , Neh 2:18.

2Ch 35:3-4

The Levites are designated "those teaching all Israel, those holy to the Lord,"in reference to what is commanded them in the succeeding verses. The Keth. מבונים does not elsewhere occur, and must be regarded as a substantive: the teachers; but it is probably only an orthographical error for מבינים (Neh 8:7), as the Keri demands here also. As to the fact, cf. 2Ch 17:8. The Levites had to teach the people in the law. Josiah said to them, "Set the ark in the house which Solomon did build; not is to you to bear upon the shoulder;"i.e., ye have not any longer to bear it on your shoulders, as formerly on the journey through the wilderness, and indeed till the building of the temple, when the ark and the tabernacle had not yet any fixed resting-place (1Ch 17:5). The summons וגו את־ערון וּ תּן is variously interpreted. Several Rabbins regard it as a command to remove the ark from its place in the most holy place into some subterranean chamber of the temple, so as to secure its safety in the event of the threatened destruction of the temple taking place. But this hypothesis needs no refutation, since it in no way corresponds to the words used. Most ancient and modern commentators, on the other hand, suppose that the holy ark had, during the reigns of the godless Manasseh and Amon, either been removed by them from its place, or taken away from the most holy place, from a desire to protect it from profanation, and hidden somewhere; and that Josiah calls upon the Levites to bring it back again to its place. Certainly this idea is favoured by the circumstance that, just as the book of the law, which should have been preserved in the ark of the covenant, had been lost, and was only recovered when the temple was being repaired, so the ark also may have been removed from its place. But even in that case the sacred ark would have been brought back to its place, according to the law, at the completion of the purification of the temple, before the king and people made the covenant with Jahve, after the law had been read to them in the temple, and could not have remained in its hiding-place until the passover. Still less probable is Bertheau's conjecture, "that the Levites bore the just reconsecrated ark upon their shoulders at the celebration of the passover, under the idea that they were bound by the law to do so; but Josiah taught them that the temple built by Solomon had caused an alteration in that respect. They were no longer bearers of the ark; they might set it in its place, and undertake other duties."For the idea that the Levites bore the ark at the celebration of the passover is utterly inconsistent with the context, since 2Ch 35:3-6 do not treat of what was done at the passover, but merely of that which was to be done. But even if we were to alter "they bare"into "they wished to bear,"yet there is no historic ground for the idea attributed by Bertheau to the Levites, that at the celebration of the passover the ark was to be brought forth from the most holy place, and carried in procession in the temple courts or elsewhere. Finally, the reasons stated for the call, וגו תּנוּ , cannot be made to harmonize with the two views above mentioned. If it was only the bringing back of the ark to its ancient place in the most holy place which is here spoken of, why are the words "which Solomon built"added after בּבּית ; and why is the command based upon the statement, "Ye have not to carry it any more upon your shoulders, but are to serve the Lord your God and His people in another way"? Both the additional clause and these reasons for the command show clearly that Josiah, in the words וגו תּנוּ , did not command something which they were to do at the approaching passover, but merely introduces therewith the summons: "Serve now the Lord,"etc. R. Sal. saw this, and has given the sense of the verse thus: quum non occupemini amplius ullo labore vasa sacra portandi, Deo servite et populo ejus mactando et excoriando agnos paschales v. 4ff . It therefore only remains to ascertain how this signification is consistent with the words בּבּית הק את־ארון תּנוּ . The exhortation, "Set the ark in the house,"must certainly not be understood to mean, "Leave it in the place where it has hitherto stood,"nor, "Bring the sacred ark back into the house;"for נתן with בּ does not mean to bring back, but only to place anywhere, set; and is here used not of material placing, but of mental. "Set the ark in the house"is equivalent to, "Overlook, leave it in the temple; you have not any longer, since Solomon built a house for it, to bear it upon your shoulders;"i.e., Think not on that which formerly, before the building of the temple, belonged to your service, but serve the Lord and His people now in the manner described in 2Ch 35:4. The interpretation of the words as denoting a material setting or removing of the ark, is completely excluded by the facts, (1) that in the description of what the Levites did at the passover, "according to the command of the king,"which follows (2Ch 35:10-15), not a word is said of the ark; and (2) that the bearing of the ark into the most holy place was not the duty of the Levites, but of the priests. The duty of the Levites was merely to bear the ark when it had to be transported for great distances, after the priests had previously wrapped it up in the prescribed manner. In 2Ch 35:4-6 the matters in which they are to serve the Lord in the preparation of the passover are more fully stated. The Keth. הכונו is imper. Niphal, הכּונוּ , Make yourselves ready according to your fathers'-houses, in your divisions, according to the writing of David. בּ in בּכתב , as in בּמצות , 2Ch 29:25; but כּתב does not = מצות , but is to be understood of writings, in which the arrangements made by David and Solomon in reference to the service of the Levites were recorded.

2Ch 35:5

"Stand in the sanctuary for the divisions of the fathers'-houses of your brethren, the people of the nation, and indeed a part of a father's-house of the Levites;"i.e., Serve your brethren the laymen, according to their fathers'-houses, in the court of the temple, in such fashion that a division of the Levites shall fall to each father's-house of the laymen; cf. 2Ch 35:12. So Bertheau correctly; but he would erase the ו before הלקּת without sufficient reason. Older commentators have supplied the preposition ל before הלקּת : Stand, according to the divisions of the fathers'-houses, and according to the division of a father's-house of the Levites; which gives the same sense, but can hardly be justified grammatically.

2Ch 35:6

Kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare it (the passover) for your brethren (the laymen), doing according to the word of the Lord by Moses (i.e., according to the law of Moses). The sanctification mentioned between the killing and the preparation of the passover probably consisted only in this, that the Levites, after they had slain the lamb, had to wash themselves before they gave the blood to the priest to sprinkle upon the altar (cf. 2Ch 35:11 and 2Ch 30:16). As to the slaying of the lamb by the Levites, cf. the remarks on 2Ch 30:16.

2Ch 35:7-9

The bestowal of beasts for sacrifice on the part of the king and his princes. - 2Ch 35:7. The king gave ( ירם as in 2Ch 30:24) to the sons of the people small cattle, viz., lambs and young goats, all for the passover-offerings, for all that were present, to the number of 30,000 (head), and 3000 bullocks from the possession of the king (cf. 2Ch 31:3; 2Ch 32:29). כּל־הנּמצא is all the people who were present, who had come to the feast from Jerusalem and the rest of Judah without having brought lambs for sacrifice.

2Ch 35:8-9

And his princes (the king's princes, i.e., the princes of the kingdom) presented for a free-will offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. לנדבה is not to be taken adverbially, as Berth. thinks: according to goodwill, but corresponds to the לפּסחים , i.e., for free-will offerings, Lev 7:16. The number of these gifts is not stated. From the princes of the king we must distinguish the prefects of the house of God and the princes of the Levites, who are mentioned by name in 2Ch 35:8 , 2Ch 35:9. Of these the first presented sheep and cattle for passover-sacrifices to the priests, the latter to the Levites. Of the three נגידים of the house of God named in 2Ch 35:8, Hilkiah is the high priest (2Ch 34:9), Zechariah perhaps the next to him ( משׁנה כּהן , 2Ki 25:18; Jer 52:24), and Jehiel is probably, as Berth. conjectures, the chief of the line of Ithamar, which continued to exist even after the exile (Ezr 8:2). Of the Levite princes (2Ch 35:9) six names are mentioned, three of which, Conaniah, Shemaiah, and Jozabad, are met with under Hezekiah in 2Ch 31:12-15, since in the priestly and Levitic families the same names recur in different generations. The Conaniah in Hezekiah's time was chief overseer of the temple revenues; the two others were under overseers. Besides the פּסהים for which the king and the princes of the priests and of the Levites gave צאן , i.e., lambs and young goats, בּקר , oxen, in considerable numbers, are mentioned as presents; 3000 from the king, 300 from the princes of the priests, and 500 from the princes of the Levites. Nothing is said as to the purpose of these, but from 2Ch 35:13 we learn that the flesh of them was cooked in pots and caldrons, and consequently that they were intended for the sacrificial meals during the seven days of the Mazzoth-feast; see on 2Ch 35:12 and 2Ch 35:13.

2Ch 35:10-15

The preparation of the paschal sacrifice and the paschal meals. - 2Ch 35:10 leads on to the carrying out of the arrangements. "So the service was prepared;"the preparation for the festival mentioned in 2Ch 35:3-9 was carried out. The priests stood at their posts (cf. 2Ch 30:16), and the Levites according to their courses, according to the command of the king (in 2Ch 35:4 and 2Ch 35:5).

2Ch 35:11

And they (the Levites, cf. 2Ch 35:6) slew the passover (the lambs and young goats presented for the passover meal), and the priests sprinkled (the blood of the paschal lambs) from their hand (i.e., which the Levites gave them), while the Levites flayed them; as also under Hezekiah, 2Ch 30:17.

2Ch 35:12

"And they took away the burnt-offerings, to give them to the divisions of the fathers'-houses of the sons of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses; and so also in regard to the oxen." הסיר signifies the taking off or separating of the pieces intended to be burnt upon the altar from the beasts slain for sacrifice, as in Lev 3:9., Lev 4:31. העלה , in this connection, can only signify the parts of the paschal lamb which were to be burnt upon the altar, viz., the same parts which were separated from sheep and goats when they were brought as thank-offerings and burnt upon the altar (Lev 3:6-16). These pieces are here called העלה , because they not only were wholly burnt like the burnt-offering, but also were burnt upon the flesh of the evening burnt-offering to God, for a savour of good pleasure; cf. Lev 3:11, Lev 3:16, with Lev 1:13. They cannot have been special burnt-offerings, which were burnt along with or at the same time with the fat of the paschal lambs; for there were no special festal burnt-offerings, besides the daily evening sacrifice, prescribed for the passover on the evening of the 14th Nisan; and the oxen given by the king and the princes for the passover are specially mentioned in the concluding clause of the verse, לבּקר וכן , so that they cannot have been included in העלה . The suffix in לתתּם might be referred to הפּסח : to give the paschal lambs, after the עלה had been separated from them, to the divisions of the people. But the following ליהוה להקריב does not harmonize with that interpretation; and the statement in 2Ch 35:13, that the Levites gave the roasted and boiled flesh to the sons of the people, is still more inconsistent with it. We must consequently refer לתתּם to the immediately preceding noun, העלה : to give the parts separated from the paschal lambs to be burnt upon the altar to the divisions of the people, that they might offer them to the Lord. This can only mean that each division of the fathers'-houses of the people approached the altar in turn to give the portions set apart from the עלה to the priests, who then offered them on the fire of the altar to the Lord. On בס כּכּתוּב Gusset. has already rightly remarked: Lex Mosis hic allegatur non quasi omnia illa quae praecedunt, exprimerentur in ipsa, sed respective seu respectu eorum quae mandata erant; quibus salvis adjungi potuerunt quidam modi agendi innocui et commodi ad legis jussa exsequenda . לבּקר וכן , and so was it done also with the oxen, which consequently were not offered as burnt-offerings, but as thank-offerings, only the fat being burnt upon the altar, and the flesh being used for sacrificial meals.

2Ch 35:13

The passover, i.e., the flesh of the paschal lamb, they roasted ( בּאשׁ בּשּׁל , to make ready upon the fire, i.e., roast; see on Exo 12:9), according to the ordinance (as the law appointed); and "the sanctified (as they called the slaughtered oxen, cf. 2Ch 29:33) they sod ( שּׁלוּ , sc. במּים , cf. Exo 12:9) in pots, caldrons, and pans, and brought it speedily to the sons of the people,"i.e., the laymen. From this Bertheau draws the conclusion, "that with the paschal lambs the oxen were also offered as thank-offerings; and the sacrificial meal consisted not merely of the paschal lamb, but also of the flesh of the thank-offerings: for these must have been consumed on the same day as they were offered, though the eating of them on the following day was not strictly forbidden, Lev 7:15-18."But this conclusion is shown to be incorrect even by this fact, that there is no word to hint that the roasting of the paschal lambs and the cooking of the flesh of the oxen which were offered as thank-offerings took place simultaneously on the evening of the 14th Nisan. This is implied neither in the לבּקר וכן , nor in the statement in 2Ch 35:14, that the priests were busied until night in offering the עלה and the חלבים . According to 2Ch 35:17, the Israelites held on that day, not only the passover, but also the Mazzoth-feast, seven days. The description of the offering and preparation of the sacrifices, partly for the altar and partly for the meal, 2Ch 35:13-15, refers, therefore, not only to the passover in its more restricted sense, but also to the seven days' Mazzoth festival, without its being expressly stated; because both from the law and from the practice it was sufficiently well known that at the פּסח meal only צאן (lambs or goats) were roasted and eaten; while on the seven following days of the Mazzoth, besides the daily burnt-offering, thank-offerings were brought and sacrificial meals were held; see on Deu 16:1-8. The connecting, or rather the mingling, of the sacrificial meal prepared from the roasted lambs with the eating of the sodden flesh of oxen, would have been too great an offence against the legal prescriptions for the paschal meal, to be attributed either to King Josiah, to the priesthood, or to the author of the Chronicle, since the latter expressly remarks that the celebration was carried out according to the prescription of the law of Moses, and according to the "right."

2Ch 35:14-15

And afterwards ( אחר , postea , after the passover had been prepared for the laymen in the way described) the Levites prepared it for themselves and for the priests; for the latter, however, only because they were busied with the offering of the עלה and the חלבים till night. Most expositors understand by עלה the fat of the paschal lambs, which was burnt upon the altar, as in 2Ch 35:12; and חלבים , the fat of oxen, which was likewise burnt upon the altar, "but was not, as it seems, designated by the expression העלה "(Berth.). This interpretation certainly at first sight seems likely; only one cannot see why only the fat of the oxen, and not that of the paschal lambs also, should be called חלבים , since in the law the parts of all thank-offerings (oxen, sheep, and goats) which were burnt upon the altar are called חלבים . We will therefore be more correct if we take והחלבים to be a more exact definition of העלה : the burnt-offering, viz., the fat which was offered as a burnt-offering; or we may take העלה here to denote the evening burnt-offering, and החלבים the fat of the paschal lambs. But even if the first-mentioned interpretation were the only correct one, yet it could not thence be concluded that on the passover evening (the 14th Nisan) the fat not only of the 37,600 lambs and goats, but also of the 3800 oxen, were offered upon the altar; the words, that the priests were busied until night with the offering of the עלה and the חלבים , are rather used of the sacrificing generally during the whole of the seven days' festival. For the compressed character of the description appears in 2Ch 35:15, where it is remarked that neither the singers nor the porters needed to leave their posts, because their brethren the Levites prepared (the meal) for them. With the words, "according to the command of David,"etc., cf. 1Ch 25:1 and 1Ch 25:6.

2Ch 35:16-19

The character of the passover and Mazzoth festivals. - 2Ch 35:16.

"So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, in regard to the preparing of the passover, and the offering of the burnt-offerings upon the altar, according to the command of the king."This statement, like that in 2Ch 35:10, summarizes all that precedes, and forms the transition to the concluding remarks on the whole festival. ההוּא בּיּום is not to be limited to the one afternoon and evening of the fourteenth day of the month, but refers to the whole time of the festival, just as יום in Gen 2:4 embraces the seven days of creation. " עלות are the עלה and the חלבים (2Ch 35:14)"(Berth.); but it by no means follows from that, that "at the passover, besides the regular burnt-offering (Num 28:4), no burnt-offering would seem to have been offered,"but rather that the words have a more general signification, and denote the sacrifices at the passover and Mazzoth festivals.

2Ch 35:17

The duration of the festival. The Israelites who had come kept the passover "at that time (that is, according to 2Ch 35:1, on the fourteenth day of the first month), and the Mazzoth seven days,"i.e., from the 15th to the 21st of the same month.

2Ch 35:18-19

2Ch 35:18 contains the remark that the Israelites had not held such a passover since the days of the prophet Samuel and all the kings; cf. 2Ki 23:22, where, instead of the days of Samuel, the days of the judges are mentioned. On the points which distinguished this passover above others, see the remarks on 2Ki 23:22. In the concluding clause we have a rhetorical enumeration of those who participated in the festival, beginning with the king and ending with the inhabitants of Jerusalem. הנּמצא ישׂראל are the remnant of the kingdom of the ten tribes who had come to the festival; cf. 2Ch 34:33. - In 2Ch 35:19 the year of this passover is mentioned in conclusion. The statement, "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah,"refers back to the same date at the beginning of the account of the cultus reform (2Ch 34:8 and 2Ki 22:3), and indicates that Josiah's cultus reform culminated in this passover. Now since the passover fell in the middle of the first month of the year, and, according to 2 Chron 34 and 2 Kings 22, the book of the law was also found in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, many commentators have imagined that the eighteenth year of the king is dated from the autumn; so that all that is narrated in 2 Chronicles, from 34:8-35:19, happened within a period of six months and a half. This might possibly be the case; since the purification and repair of the temple may have been near their completion when the book of the law was found, so that they might hold the passover six months afterwards. But our passage does not require that the years of the king's reign should be dated from the autumn, and there are not sufficient grounds for believing that such was the case. Neither in our narrative, nor in 2 Kings 22 and 23, is it said that the passover was resolved upon or arrange din consequence of the finding of the book of the law. Josiah may therefore have thought of closing and ratifying the restoration of the Jahve-worship by a solemn passover festival, even before the finding of the book; and the two events need not be widely separated from each other. But from the way in which the account in 2 Kings 22 and 23 is arranged, it is not improbable that the finding of the book of the law may have occurred before the beginning of the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, and that date may have been placed at the beginning and end of the narrative, because the cultus reform was completed with the celebration of the passover in his eighteenth year.

(Note: The addition of the lxx to 2Ki 22:3, "in the eighth month,"to which Thenius and Berth. attach some weight, as a proof that the years of Josiah's reign are dated from autumn, is utterly useless for that purpose. For even were that addition more than a worthless gloss, it would only prove the contrary, since the eighth month of the civil year, which is reckoned from autumn, corresponds to the second month of the ecclesiastical year, and would consequently carry us beyond the time of the passover.)

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ch 35:20-27

The end of Josiah's reign; his death in battle against Pharaoh Necho . Cf. 2Ki 23:25-30. - The catastrophe in which the pious king found his death is in 2 Kings introduced by the remark, that although Josiah returned unto the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength, and walked altogether according to the law, so that there was no king before him, and none arose after him, who was like him, yet the Lord did not turn away from the fierceness of His great wrath against Judah, and resolved to remove Judah also out of His sight, because of the sins of Manasseh. This didactic connecting of the tragical end of the pious king with the task of his reign, which he followed out so zealously, viz., to lead his people back to the Lord, and so turn away the threatened destruction, is not found in the Chronicle. Here the war with Necho, in which Josiah fell, is introduced by the simple formula: After all this, that Josiah had prepared the house, i.e., had restored and ordered the temple worship, Necho the king of Egypt came up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. For further information as to Necho and his campaign, see on 2Ki 23:29.

2Ch 35:21

Then he (Pharaoh Necho) sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? Not against thee, thee, (do I come) to-day (now), but against my hereditary enemy; and God has said that I must make haste: cease from God, who is with me, that I destroy thee not." ולך מה־לּי , see Jdg 11:12; 2Sa 16:10. אתּה is an emphatic repetition of the pronominal suffix; cf. Gesen. Gr. §121. 3. היּום , this day, that is, at present. מלחמתּי בּית does not signify, my warlike house, but, the house of my war, i.e., the family with which I wage war, equivalent to "my natural enemy in war, my hereditary enemy."This signification is clear from 1Ch 18:10 and 2Sa 8:10, where "man of the war of Tou"denotes, the man who waged war with Tou.

(Note: When Bertheau, on the contrary, denies this signification, referring to 1Ch 18:10 for support, he would seem not to have looked narrowly at the passage cited; and the conjecture, based upon 3 Esr. 1:25, which he, following O. F. Fritzsche, brings forward, מלחמתּי לא־פּרת , "on the Euphrates is my war,"gains no support from the passage quoted. For the author of this apocryphal book, which was written on the model of the lxx, has not translated the text he uses, but only paraphrased it: οὐχὶ πρὸς σὲ ἐξαπέσταλμαι, ὑπὸ κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ Εὐφράτου ὁ πόλεμος μού ἐστι, καὶ κύριος μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐπισπεύδων ἐστίν . Neither the lxx nor Vulg. have read and translated פּרת in their original text; for they run as follows: οὐκ ἐπὶ σὲ ἥκω (taking אתּה for אהת ) σήμερον πόλεμον ποιῆσαι, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν κατασπεῦσαι με . Vulg.: Non adversus te hodie venio, sed contra aliam pugno domum, ad quam me Deus festinato ire praecepit .)

The God who had commanded Pharaoh to make haste, and whom Josiah was not to go against, is not an Egyptian god, as the Targ. and many commentators think, referring to Herod. ii. 158, but the true God, as is clear from 2Ch 35:22. Yet we need not suppose, with the older commentators, that God had sive per somnium sive per prophetam aliquem ad ipsum e Judaea missum spoken to Pharaoh, and commanded him to advance quickly to the Euphrates. For even had Pharaoh said so in so many words, we could not here think of a divine message made known to him by a prophet, because God is neither called יהוה nor האלהים , but merely אלהים , and so it is only the Godhead in general which is spoken of; and Pharaoh only characterizes his resolution as coming from God, or only says: It was God's will that Josiah should not hinder him, and strive against him. This Pharaoh might say without having received any special divine revelation, and after the warning had been confirmed by the unfortunate result for Josiah of his war against Necho; the biblical historian also might represent Necho's words as come from God, or "from the mouth of God."

2Ch 35:22-24

But Josiah turned not his face from him, i.e., did not abandon his design, "but to make war against him he disguised himself." התהפּשׂ denotes elsewhere to disguise by clothing, to clothe oneself falsely (2Ch 18:29; 1Ki 20:38; 1Ki 22:30), and to disfigure oneself (Job 30:18). This signification is suitable here also, where the word is transferred to the mental domain: to disfigure oneself, i.e., to undertake anything which contradicts one's character. During his whole reign, Josiah had endeavoured to carry out the will of God; while in his action against Pharaoh, on the contrary, he had acted in a different way, going into battle against the will of God.

(Note: Bertheau would alter התחפשׂ into התחזק , because the lxx, and probably also the Vulg., Syr., 3 Esr. 2Ch 1:16, and perhaps also Josephus, have so read. But only the lxx have ἐκραταιώθη , Vulg. praeparavit , 3 Esr. ἐπεχείρει ; so that for התחזק only the lxx remain, whose translation gives no sufficient ground for an alteration of the text. התחזק , to show oneself strong, or courageous, is not at all suitable; for the author of the Chronicle is not wont to regard enterprises undertaken against God's will, and unfortunate in their results, as proofs of physical or spiritual strength.)

As to the motive which induced Josiah, notwithstanding Necho's warning, to oppose him by force of arms, see the remark on 2Ki 23:29. The author of the Chronicle judges the matter from the religious point of view, from which the undertaking is seen to have been against the will of God, and therefore to have ended in Josiah's destruction, and does not further reflect on the working of divine providence, exhibited in the fact that the pious king was taken away before the judgment, the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, broke over the sinful people. For further information as to the Valley of Megiddo, the place where the battle was fought, and on the death of Josiah, see 2Ki 23:29. The העבירוּני , bring me forth (2Ch 35:23), is explained in 2Ch 35:24 : his servants took him, mortally wounded by an arrow, from the war-chariot, and placed him in a second chariot which belonged to him, and probably was more comfortable for a wounded man.

2Ch 35:25-27

The death of the pious king was deeply lamented by his people. The prophet Jeremiah composed a lamentation for Josiah: "and all the singing-men and singing-women spake in their lamentations of Josiah unto this day;"i.e., in the lamentation which they were wont to sing on certain fixed days, they sung also the lamentation for Josiah. "And they made them (these lamentations) an ordinance (a standing custom) in Israel, and they are written in the lamentations,"i.e., in a collection of lamentations, in which, among others, that composed by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah was contained. This collection is, however, not to be identified with the Lamentations of Jeremiah over the destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, contained in our canon. - On 2Ch 35:26. cf. 2Ki 23:28. הסדיו as in 2Ch 32:32. בת כּכּתוּב , according to that which is written in the law of Moses, cf. 2Ch 31:3. וּדבריו is the continuation of דּברי יתר (2Ch 35:26).

Constable: 2Ch 10:1--36:23

IV. THE REIGNS OF SOLOMON'S SUCCESSORS chs. 10--36

"With the close of Solomon's reign we embark upon a new phase in Chr.'s account of Israel's history. That account can be broadly divided . . . into the pre-Davidic era, the time of David and Solomon, and the period of the divided monarchy up until the Babylonian exile."²⁴

". . . the Chronicler never regarded the northern monarchy as anything but illegitimate and a rebellion against God's chosen dynasty. As far as he was concerned, all Israel had one and only one ruling family."²⁵

The writer continued his sermon by evaluating each of Solomon's successors with the same yardstick he had used on Solomon, namely, the example of David. His intent appears to have been to show that none of David's descendants measured up to him much less surpassed him. Consequently the promised Son of David was yet to appear. The relationship of each king to temple worship showed his heart commitment to God. Consequently there is much in what follows that deals with the kings' relationship to the temple and temple worship.

Constable: 2Ch 34:1--35:27

P. Josiah chs. 34-35

Like Amon's death, Josiah's was unnecessarily premature. However unlike Amon Josiah was one of Judah's reformers.

"Josiah instituted the most thorough of all the OT reforms . . ."⁹¹

"Despite this, however, Josiah is not so significant a monarch overall for the Chronicler as he is for the earlier historian [i.e., the writer of Kings]. Much that he records is now to be understood as recapitulation of Hezekiah's work, who stands out as the real innovator in Chronicles."⁹²

Constable: 2Ch 35:1-19

2. Josiah's Passover 35:1-19

As Hezekiah had done, Josiah led his people in observing the Passover, that greatest feast of Israel that commemorated her redemption from Egyptian slavery. Josiah's Passover was even greater than Hezekiah's that Hezekiah had put together quickly (v. 18; cf. 29:36). Josiah offered almost twice as many sacrifices as Hezekiah had (30:24) but far fewer than Solomon had at the temple dedication (7:5). The writer's attention to detail reflects his intense interest in Josiah's concern that the people worship Yahweh properly.⁹⁶ All that the writer recorded between 34:8 and 35:19 happened when Josiah was 26 years old.⁹⁷

Constable: 2Ch 35:20-27

3. Josiah's death 35:20-27

Josiah died at Megiddo in 609 B.C. when he interrupted Pharaoh Neco's military advance against the Babylonians.

"Fearing the advance of the Babylonians, Pharaoh Neco and the Egyptian army were on their way to assist the Assyrians. Josiah, who apparently was an ally of the Babylonians (or at least an opponent of the Assyrians), attempted to impede the march of Neco."⁹⁸

Quite clearly Pharoah's word to him to turn back was from the Lord (v. 22). Probably the writer included this event in his narrative because Josiah came closer to the Davidic ideal than any other king since Solomon. Yet he too was disobedient to God. Thus David's greatest Son was yet to come. When He comes back to the earth He will win the battle that will be raging at the very place Josiah died, the Plain of Megiddo (i.e., Armageddon, lit. the mountain of Megiddo).⁹⁹

"He [Josiah] was a shepherd whose flock never really accepted or understood him, though his concern was for its own welfare . . ."¹⁰⁰

Josiah's death is another example of immediate retribution for sin, of which we have seen many in Chronicles. He is one more king who began well but ended up doing something wrong (cf. Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah). He was not the only king to hear a warning before his tragic military error (cf. 11:1-4; 18:16-22). Like the other reforming kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah), he sensed a military threat by an external enemy following his religious reforms.¹⁰¹

Guzik: 2Ch 35:1-27

2 Chronicles 35 - Josiah's Passover

A. Josiah's great Passover.

1. (1-6) Josiah directs the priests and the Levites for the Passover.

Now Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service of the house of the LORD. Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD: "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses, according to your divisions, following the written instruction of David king of Israel and the written instruction of Solomon his son. And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your brethren the lay people, and according to the division of the father's house of the Levites. So slaughter the Passover offerings, consecrate yourselves, and prepare them for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses."

a. They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month: The previous Passover of note was in the days of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30:1-3). That Passover had to be celebrated in the second month, but Josiah was able to keep this great Passover at the appointed time in the first month (Numbers 9:1-5).

b. He set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for service: Josiah understood that it would take an enormous amount of planning and work to properly conduct this Passover. The priests needed to be both set and encouraged for this.

i. "The first thing is to get every man into his proper place; the next thing is for every man to have a good spirit in his present place, so as to occupy it worthily." (Spurgeon)

c. Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built: Under Josiah's direction, Hilkiah the priest recently had found the copy of the Law of Moses in the temple. Now we learn that under the apostate administrations of the previous kings, Manasseh and Amon, apparently the holy ark had also been removed from the temple. Now, King Josiah directed that it be returned to its rightful place.

i. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders indicates that the ark was not at "rest" in the holy place of the temple. The time was long overdue to return it to its rest.

ii. "The Hebrews tell us, that the priests in those idolatrous times had carried the holy ark out of the temple - that it might not stand there among those heathenish idols - and conveyed it to the house of Shallum, who was uncle to the prophet Jeremiah, and husband to the prophetess Huldah." (Trapp)

d. So slaughter the Passover offerings: One of the main features of the Passover was the sacrifice of a lamb for each household (Exodus 13:43-49). This meant a substantial amount of work for the priests.

2. (7-9) Lambs provided for the Passover sacrifice.

Then Josiah gave the lay people lambs and young goats from the flock, all for Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, as well as three thousand cattle; these were from the king's possessions. And his leaders gave willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred from the flock, and three hundred cattle. Also Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings five thousand from the flock and five hundred cattle.

a. Josiah gave the lay people lambs and young goats from the flock: This was staggering generosity on the part of King Josiah. He provided thirty thousand lambs or goats for the Passover sacrifice, as well as three thousand cattle. It shows how passionate King Josiah was to have a proper Passover celebration, that he was willing to bear the expense.

i. "The total number of offerings is more than double that at Hezekiah's Passover (2 Chronicles 30:24), a further indication of the greater generosity and significance of this occasion." (Selman)

b. And his leader gave willingly to the people: As is often the custom, the generosity of the leader (King Josiah) prompted the generosity of others.

3. (10-14) The slaughter of the Passover lambs and the sacrificial meal.

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's command. And they slaughtered the Passover offerings; and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hands, while the Levites skinned the animals. Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the lay people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the cattle. Also they roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the ordinance; but the other holy offerings they boiled in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly among all the lay people. Then afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering burnt offerings and fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

a. So the service was prepared: "The service was arranged is a rare but significant phrase occurring additionally in the Old Testament only at 2 Chronicles 8:16; 29:35, meaning that everything had been done as God required." (Selman)

b. And they slaughtered the Passover offerings: It seems that on this Passover the sacrifices were all directly made by the priests themselves. They did not allow the head of each household to perform the sacrifice individually.

i. "In contrast to Hezekiah's practice and the implications of the Pentateuchal law (Deuteronomy 16:5-6; 2 Chronicles 30:17), the Levites slaughtered all the Passover lambs." (Selman)

ii. Clarke had a different suggestion: "The people themselves might slay their own paschal lambs, and then present the blood to the priests, that they might sprinkle it before the altar; and the Levites flayed them, and made them ready for dressing."

c. They roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to ordinance: This was the second aspect of the Passover celebration - a festive meal enjoyed by the entire nation, household by household.

i. They roasted the Passover offerings with fire, "To set forth Christ roasted for us in the fire of his Father's fierce wrath." (Trapp)

ii. "While the flocks of sheep and goats provided for the paschal lambs, the cattle must have served for peace offerings, for feasting throughout the days of Unleavened Bread that followed the Passover." (Payne)

d. Then afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests: This was the correct order. First the people were served, and then the priests and the Levite leaders.

4. (15-19) The greatness of Josiah's Passover.

And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places, according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer. Also the gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not have to leave their position, because their brethren the Levites prepared portions for them. So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

a. The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places: There was nothing in the Law of Moses directing singing or a communal worship service at the celebration of Passover. Josiah therefore went beyond the commandment to make this an especially meaningful and memorable occasion.

b. Also the gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not have to leave their position: This shows that Josiah was mindful of the security and the strength of the kingdom even during this great celebration. Every guard stayed ready and on duty, and the Levites prepared portions for the grateful gatekeepers.

c. So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day: Because of the remarkable planning, organization, and hard work of the king, the priests, and the Levites, this massive amount of sacrifice and festive meals were all prepared the same day. They did this not out of some strange compulsion, but in trying to be obedient to the command of Moses for the day on which to observe Passover (Numbers 9:1-5).

d. There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet: This celebration of Passover was so significant that one had to go back before the time of David and Solomon to find a keeping of Passover that was so well organized and joyfully conducted.

i. This Passover was remarkable for several reasons.

· It was remarkable in the magnitude of its celebration, including even the remnant of the north came to celebrate it in Jerusalem. " 'All Judah and Israel' includes people from north and south, implying a larger attendance than at Hezekiah's Passover (cf. 2 Chronicles 30:25)." (Selman)

· It was remarkable in its strict obedience to the Law of Moses

· It was remarkable in the way it shined amidst these dark years in Judah's history.

ii. "No, not Hezekiah; for at his passover the congregation was not so great, nor so well prepared; nor were the Levites and singers so well marshaled, nor the sacrifices so many." (Trapp)

iii. "Josiah's passover was so vast and rare a success because of the large amount of previous preparation, as is described in this chapter." (Meyer)

B. The death of King Josiah.

1. (20-22) Josiah disregards God's warning and goes to war.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. But he sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; for God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you." Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.

a. Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish: This was part of the geopolitical struggle between the declining Assyrian Empire and the emerging Babylonian Empire. The Assyrians made an alliance with the Egyptians to protect against the growing power of the Babylonians.

b. King Josiah went against him: Sadly, Josiah disregarded what was actually good counsel from Necho when he said What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day. Josiah stubbornly refused to hear this warning (which was actually from God).

i. Josiah was in sin because his attack against Egypt was in support of the Assyrian Empire, and he had no business supporting the Assyrian Empire. "The only reason for doing so must have been some supposed political advantage. Against that kind of action the prophets were constantly warning the kings. A word claiming to be from God, forbidding what was already forbidden, had a weight of moral appeal almost amounting to certainty." (Morgan)

ii. Interestingly, Necho himself said, "for God has commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you." It is unlikely that Necho understood and meant that he was in fact an agent of the God of Israel; he probably said and understood this in terms of his own gods and his own incorrect understanding of God. Nevertheless, it was an unknowing divine prophecy, much as the words of Caiaphas regarding the death of Jesus (John 11:49-52).

iii. "Yet, methinks, he ought so far to have regarded it, as to have inquired the mind of God about it; which he neglected to do, and therefore he cannot be wholly excused, and is here taxed for it." (Poole)

iv. "How Josiah was supposed to recognize God's guidance is not specified, though sanctified common sense would have been a perfectly adequate response." (Selman)

v. "Such a story must, to say the least, give us pause, and make us enquire as to how far we are ever justified in refusing to consider a word which is claimed as a divine message, even when it comes from sources from which we should least expect to receive it." (Morgan)

c. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from them: Josiah thought he could escape the prediction of Necho by disguising himself in battle - yet he was still shot by archers and died. This was a sad end to one of the great kings of Judah.

i. "It was not of faith, else why 'disguise' himself? There is no record of any prayer before the battle, as in the case of so many of his godly ancestors; and this rash act of Josiah seems unaccountable." (Knapp)

ii. "The exact place of the battle seems to have been Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo, for there Zechariah tells us, chapter 12:11, was the great mourning for Josiah." (Clarke)

iii. "The reality of the contest at 'Megiddo' has received archaeological confirmation from the ruins of the site's Stratum II." (Payne)

2. (23-25) Josiah's death and burial

And the archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am severely wounded." 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. So he died, and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah. And to this day all the singing men and the singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations. They made it a custom in Israel; and indeed they are written in the Laments.

a. And the archers shot King Josiah: Though he was disguised, he was still wounded and killed. We can admire the bravery of Josiah, but not his stubborn insistence on disregarding the warnings from God and going into battle.

i. "He repented at his death, no doubt, of his rashness." (Trapp)

ii. "The manner of Josiah's demise is also interpreted ironically by being paralleled with Ahab's demise (cf. 2 Chronicles 18:29-34). The links are quite explicit, for each king disguised himself, archers delivered the fatal blow, and each king admitted I am wounded, and was propped up in a chariot before he died. The ultimate irony is that despite Josiah's previous record, he died in the same way as someone who was known to 'hate the LORD' (2 Chronicles 19:2)." (Selman)

b. And to this day all the singing men and the singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations: Zechariah 12:11 tells us a bit of this great mourning, using it as a comparison to the great mourning that will come upon the Jewish people when they turn to their once-rejected Messiah: In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

i. "These dirges are then said to be 'written in the Laments' - a book that is no longer extant and which is not to be confused with the prophet's later laments over Josiah's sons (Jeremiah 22:10, 20-30) or over Jerusalem's fall (Lamentations)." (Payne)

ii. "Far from being embarrassed by Huldah's prophecy, therefore, the Chronicler is at pains to stress that God kept his promises about Josiah's peaceful burial and the exile's continuing delay despite Josiah's stupidity and violent death." (Selman)

3. (26-27) The summary of the reign of good King Josiah.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, according to what was written in the Law of the LORD, and his deeds from first to last, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

a. The rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness: It seems that Josiah's reign was remembered with special fondness; perhaps because he ended up being the last good king of Judah.

i. Yet, the people of the kingdom turned against God very quickly after the reign of Josiah. "Josiah had evidently made himself greatly beloved by them, and the probability is that the reforms he instituted were based on that love rather than on the people's real return to devotion to God." (Morgan)

ii. "Even so, Josiah's passing removed the last obstacle to the coming catastrophe." (Selman)

b. According to what was written the Law of the LORD: This is what made Josiah such a good king and a good man. He had a great interest in and obedience to what was written in the Law of the LORD.

© 2006 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 2 Chronicles (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES were also considered as one by the ancient Jews, who called them "words of days," that is, diaries or journals, being probably compiled from those registers that were kept by the king's historiographers of passing occurrences. In the Septuagint the title given them is Paraleipomenon, "of things omitted," that is, the books are supplementary because many things unnoticed in the former books are here recorded; and not only the omissions are supplied, but some narratives extended while others are added. The authorship is commonly ascribed to Ezra, whose leading object seems to have been to show the division of families, possessions, &c., before the captivity, with a view to the exact restoration of the same order after the return from Babylon. Although many things are restated and others are exact repetitions of what is contained in Kings, there is so much new and important information that, as JEROME has well said, the Chronicles furnish the means of comprehending parts of the New Testament, which must have been unintelligible without them. They are frequently referred to by Christ and the Apostles as forming part of "the Word of God" (see the genealogies in Mat. 1:1-16; Luk. 3:23-38; compare 2Ch 19:7 with 1Pe 1:17; 2Ch 24:19-21 with Mat 23:32-35).

JFB: 2 Chronicles (Outline)

• SOLEMN OFFERING OF SOLOMON AT GIBEON. (2Ch 1:1-6)
• HIS CHOICE OF WISDOM IS BLESSED BY GOD. (2Ch 1:7-13)
• HIS STRENGTH AND WEALTH. (2Ch 1:14-17)
• SOLOMON'S LABORERS FOR BUILDING THE TEMPLE. (2Ch 2:1-2)
• HIS MESSAGE TO HURAM FOR SKILFUL ARTIFICERS. (2Ch 2:3-10)
• HURAM'S KIND ANSWER. (2Ch 2:11-18)
• PLACE AND TIME OF BUILDING THE TEMPLE. (2Ch 3:1-2)
• MEASURES AND ORNAMENTS OF THE HOUSE. (2Ch 3:3-7)
• DIMENSIONS, &C., OF THE MOST HOLY HOUSE. (2Ch 3:8-13)
• ALTAR OF BRASS. (2Ch 4:1)
• MOLTEN SEA. (2Ch 4:2-5)
• THE TEN LAVERS, CANDLESTICKS, AND TABLES. (2Ch 4:6-18)
• THE DEDICATED TREASURES. (2Ch 5:1)
• BRINGING UP OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT. (2Ch 5:2-13)
• SOLOMON BLESSES THE PEOPLE AND PRAISES GOD. (2Ch. 6:1-41)
• GOD GIVES TESTIMONY TO SOLOMON'S PRAYER; THE PEOPLE WORSHIP. (2Ch 7:1-3)
• SOLOMON'S SACRIFICES. (2Ch 7:4-11)
• GOD APPEARS TO HIM. (2Ch 7:12-22)
• SOLOMON'S BUILDINGS. (2Ch 8:1-6)
• THE CANAANITES MADE TRIBUTARIES. (2Ch 8:7-11)
• SOLOMON'S FESTIVAL SACRIFICES. (2Ch 8:15-18)
• THE QUEEN OF SHEBA VISITS SOLOMON; SHE ADMIRES HIS WISDOM AND MAGNIFICENCE. (2Ch 9:1-12)
• HIS RICHES. (2Ch. 9:13-28)
• REHOBOAM REFUSING THE OLD MEN'S GOOD COUNSEL. (2Ch 10:1-15)
• REHOBOAM, RAISING AN ARMY TO SUBDUE ISRAEL, IS FORBIDDEN BY SHEMAIAH. (2Ch. 11:1-17)
• HIS WIVES AND CHILDREN. (2Ch 11:18-23)
• REHOBOAM, FORSAKING GOD, IS PUNISHED BY SHISHAK. (2Ch 12:1-12)
• HIS REIGN AND DEATH. (2Ch 12:13-16)
• ABIJAH, SUCCEEDING, MAKES WAR AGAINST JEROBOAM, AND OVERCOMES HIM. (2Ch. 13:1-20)
• ASA DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (2Ch 14:1-5)
• HAVING PEACE, HE STRENGTHENS HIS KINGDOM WITH FORTS AND ARMIES. (2Ch 14:6-8)
• HE OVERCOMES ZERAH, AND SPOILS THE ETHIOPIANS. (2Ch 14:9-15)
• JUDAH MAKES A SOLEMN COVENANT WITH GOD. (2Ch 15:1-15)
• ASA, BY A LEAGUE WITH THE SYRIANS, DIVERTS BAASHA FROM BUILDING RAMAH. (2Ch 16:1-14)
• JEHOSHAPHAT REIGNS WELL AND PROSPERS. (2Ch 17:1-6)
• HE SENDS LEVITES TO TEACH IN JUDAH. (2Ch 17:7-11)
• HIS GREATNESS, CAPTAINS, AND ARMIES. (2Ch 17:12-19)
• JEHOSHAPHAT AND AHAB GO AGAINST RAMOTH-GILEAD. (2Ch. 18:1-34)
• JEHOSHAPHAT VISITS HIS KINGDOM. (2Ch 19:1-4)
• HIS INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JUDGES. (2Ch 19:5-7)
• TO THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES. (2Ch 19:8-11)
• JEHOSHAPHAT, INVADED BY THE MOABITES, PROCLAIMS A FAST. (2Ch. 20:1-21)
• THE OVERTHROW OF HIS ENEMIES. (2Ch 20:22-30)
• HIS REIGN. (2Ch 20:31-37)
• JEHORAM SUCCEEDS JEHOSHAPHAT. (2Ch 21:1-4)
• HIS WICKED REIGN. (2Ch 21:5-7)
• EDOM AND LIBNAH REVOLT. (2Ch 21:8-17)
• AHAZIAH SUCCEEDING JEHORAM, REIGNS WICKEDLY. (2Ch 22:1-9)
• ATHALIAH, DESTROYING THE SEED ROYAL SAVE JOASH, USURPS THE KINGDOM. (2Ch 22:10-12)
• JEHOIADA MAKES JOASH KING. (2Ch 23:1-11)
• ATHALIAH SLAIN. (2Ch 23:12-15)
• JEHOIADA RESTORES THE WORSHIP OF GOD, AND SETTLES THE KING. (2Ch 23:16)
• JOASH REIGNS WELL ALL THE DAYS OF JEHOIADA. (2Ch 24:1-14)
• JEHOIADA BEING DEAD. (2Ch 24:15-16)
• JOASH FALLS INTO IDOLATRY. (2Ch 24:17-22)
• HE IS SLAIN BY HIS SERVANTS. (2Ch 24:23-27)
• AMAZIAH BEGINS TO REIGN WELL. (2Ch 25:1-4)
• HAVING HIRED AN ARMY OF ISRAELITES AGAINST THE EDOMITES, AT THE WORD OF A PROPHET HE LOSES A HUNDRED TALENTS AND DISMISSES THEM. (2Ch 25:5-10)
• HE PROVOKES JOASH TO HIS OVERTHROW. (2Ch 25:17)
• UZZIAH SUCCEEDS AMAZIAH AND REIGNS WELL IN THE DAYS OF ZECHARIAH. (2Ch 26:1-8)
• HIS BUILDINGS. (2Ch 26:9-10)
• HIS HOST, AND ENGINES OF WAR. (2Ch 26:11-15)
• HE INVADES THE PRIEST'S OFFICE, AND IS SMITTEN WITH LEPROSY. (2Ch 26:16-21)
• JOTHAM, REIGNING WELL, PROSPERS. (2Ch 27:1-4)
• HE SUBDUES THE AMMONITES. (2Ch 27:5-9)
• AHAZ, REIGNING WICKEDLY, IS AFFLICTED BY THE SYRIANS. (2Ch. 28:1-21)
• HIS IDOLATRY IN HIS DISTRESS. (2Ch 28:22-27)
• HEZEKIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (2Ch 29:1-2)
• HE RESTORES RELIGION. (2Ch 29:3-11)
• THE HOUSE OF GOD CLEANSED. (2Ch. 29:12-36)
• HEZEKIAH PROCLAIMS A PASSOVER. (2Ch 30:1-12)
• THE ASSEMBLY DESTROYS THE ALTARS OF IDOLATRY. (2Ch 30:13-27)
• THE PEOPLE FORWARD IN DESTROYING IDOLATRY. (2Ch 31:1-10)
• HEZEKIAH APPOINTS OFFICERS TO DISPOSE OF THE TITHES. (2Ch 31:11-19)
• HIS SINCERITY OF HEART. (2Ch 31:20-21)
• SENNACHERIB INVADES JUDAH. (2Ch. 32:1-20)
• AN ANGEL DESTROYS THE ASSYRIANS. (2Ch 32:21-23)
• HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS AND RECOVERY. (2Ch 32:24-26)
• HIS RICHES AND WORKS. (2Ch 32:27-33)
• MANASSEH'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ch 33:1-10)
• HE IS CARRIED UNTO BABYLON, WHERE HE HUMBLES HIMSELF BEFORE GOD, AND IS RESTORED TO HIS KINGDOM. (2Ch 33:11-19)
• HE DIES AND AMON SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ch 33:20-25)
• JOSIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (2Ch 34:1-2)
• HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (2Ch 34:3-7)
• HE REPAIRS THE TEMPLE. (2Ch 34:8-18)
• AND, CAUSING THE LAW TO BE READ, RENEWS THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND THE PEOPLE. (2Ch 34:19-33)
• JOSIAH KEEPS A SOLEMN PASSOVER. (2Ch. 35:1-19)
• HIS DEATH. (2Ch 35:20-27)
• JEHOAHAZ, SUCCEEDING, IS DEPOSED BY PHARAOH. (2Ch 36:1-4)
• JEHOIAKIM, REIGNING ILL, IS CARRIED INTO BABYLON. (2Ch 36:5-8)
• ZEDEKIAH'S REIGN. (2Ch 36:11-21)
• CYRUS' PROCLAMATION. (2Ch 36:22-23)

TSK: 2 Chronicles 35 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

2Ch 35:1, Josiah keeps a most solemn passover; 2Ch 35:20, He provoking Pharaoh-necho, is slain at Megiddo; 2Ch 35:25, Lamentations for Josiah.

Poole: 2 Chronicles 35 (Chapter Introduction)

CHRONICLES CHAPTER 35

Josiah keepeth a solemn passover, 2Ch 35:1-19 . He provoketh Pharaoh-necho, and is slain at Megiddo, 2Ch 35:20-24 . Lamentations for Josiah, 2Ch 35:25-27 .

MHCC: 2 Chronicles 35 (Chapter Introduction)

(v. 1-19) The passover kept by Josiah.

(2Ch 35:20-27) Josiah slain in battle.

Matthew Henry: 2 Chronicles (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Book of Chronicles

This book begins with the reign of Solomon and the building of the temple, and continues the history of the kings of Judah thenceforward to the captivity and so concludes with the fall of that illustrious monarchy and the destruction of the temple. That monarchy of the house of David, as it was prior in time, so it was superior in worth and dignity to all those four celebrated ones of which Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. The Babylonian monarchy I reckon to begin in Nebuchadnezzar himself - Thou art that head of gold, and that lasted but about seventy years; The Persian monarchy, in several families, about 130; the Grecian, in their several branches, about 300; and 300 more went far with the Roman. But as I reckon David a greater hero than any of the founders of those monarchies, and Solomon a more magnificent prince than any of those that were the glories of them, so the succession was kept up in a lineal descent throughout the whole monarchy, which continued considerable between 400 and 500 years, and, after a long eclipse, shone forth again in the kingdom of the Messiah, of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. This history of the Jewish monarchy, as it is more authentic, so it is more entertaining and more instructive, than the histories of any of those monarchies. We had the story of the house of David before, in the first and second books of Kings, intermixed with that of the kings of Israel, which there took more room than that of Judah; but here we have it entire. Much is repeated here which we had before, yet many of the passages of the story are enlarged upon, and divers added, which we had not before, especially relating to the affairs of religion; for it is a church-history, and it is written for our learning, to let nations and families know that then, and then only, they can expect to prosper, when they keep in the way of their duty to God: for all along the good kings prospered and the wicked kings suffered. The peaceable reign of Solomon we have (ch. 1-9), the blemished reign of Rehoboam (ch. 10-12), the short but busy reign of Abijah (ch. 13), the long and happy reign of Asa (ch. 14-16), the pious and prosperous reign of Jehoshaphat (ch. 17-20), the impious and infamous reigns of Jehoram and Ahaziah (ch. 21-22), the unsteady reigns of Joash and Amaziah (ch. 24, 25), the long and prosperous reign of Uzziah (ch. 26), the regular reign of Jotham (2Ch 27:1-9), the profane and wicked reign of Ahaz (ch. 28), the gracious glorious reign of Hezekiah (ch. 29-32), the wicked reigns of Manasseh and Amon (ch. 33), the reforming reign of Josiah (ch. 34, 35), the ruining reigns of his sons (ch. 36). Put all these together, and the truth of that word of God will appear, Those that honour me I will honour, but those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. The learned Mr. Whiston, in his chronology, suggests that the historical books which were written after the captivity (namely, the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah) have more mistakes in names and numbers than all the books of the Old Testament besides, through the carelessness of transcribers: but, though that should be allowed, the things are so very minute that we may be confident the foundation of God stands sure notwithstanding.

Matthew Henry: 2 Chronicles 35 (Chapter Introduction)

We are here to attend Josiah, I. To the temple, where we see his religious care for the due observance of the ordinance of the passover, according to the law (v. 1-19). II. To the field of battle, where we see his rashness in engaging with the king of Egypt, and how dearly it cost him (2Ch 35:20-23). III. To the grave, where we see him bitterly lamented (2Ch 35:24-27). And so we must take our leave of Josiah.

Constable: 2 Chronicles (Book Introduction)

Introduction

For an explanation of the title, writer, date, scope, and purpose of this book, see my comments in my notes on 1 Chronicles. Second Chronicles continues the historical narrative begun in 1 Chronicles.

Message¹

Even though 1 and 2 Chronicles give one continuous story the emphasis in 2 Chronicles is different from that in 1 Chronicles. In 1 Chronicles the emphasis is the importance of the temple in national life. However in 2 Chronicles the emphasis is the impotence of the temple in national life. First Chronicles condemns rationalism in national life, the idea that we can get along without God. Second Chronicles condemns ritualism in national life, the idea that what satisfies God is external conformity rather than internal reality. First Chronicles emphasizes the importance of recognizing God in national life. Second Chronicles emphasizes the importance of following up that formal recognition with actual recognition in attitudes and actions. Second Chronicles is a negative lesson because in it we see that the Israelites' recognition of God was only formal, not actual.

In the first part of the book (chs. 1-9) we have the story of Solomon. It is a demonstration of the impotence and uselessness of merely formal religion. This comes through in four respects.

First, Solomon's inheritance was more than the throne of Israel. His throne only gave him the opportunity to fulfill God's purpose for his life. That purpose was to enable the people to acknowledge Yahweh's rule over them that the temple symbolized. This had been David's great passion in life. He wanted the people to realize that national strength came from submission to God's heavenly throne. Solomon appreciated that fact. When he offered his first sacrifice as king to God he did so at the old tabernacle, not at the temporary tent where the ark resided. He realized that Israel's strength lay in her relationship to God that the tabernacle symbolized. His temple was to become the tabernacle's successor. Solomon's real inheritance then was his opportunity to build the temple as a reminder to the people of how important it was for them to recognize Yahweh as their real Ruler.

Second, Solomon's greatness was not really his wealth and political influence. These were the results of his greatness. His real greatness lay in his humility before God and in his intercession for the people with God. He got away from these things, but when he began to reign he had the essentials of greatness.

Third, Solomon's service was not most importantly the administration of Israel, though he did that well. His primary service to the nation was the erection of the temple, which the writer emphasized.

Fourth, Solomon's failure was more significant than that he oppressed the people and that he set the stage for the division of the kingdom. It was essentially the fact that he ceased to recognize God's rule over him and his kingdom, the very thing the temple he had built promoted. His life became self-centered rather than God-centered. He stopped submitting to the Word of God. For Solomon the temple became only an outward form, not the expression of his inward life. It became an object of ritual rather than the expression of reality. In the years that followed, what had become true of Solomon became true of the whole nation.

In the second part of the book (chs. 10-36) we have the history of the nation Solomon ruled. It is an illustration of the impotence and uselessness of merely formal religion. Let me point this out in four respects.

First, the division of the kingdom resulted because Rehoboam did not acknowledge God's sovereignty over the nation in reality even though he did so formally. Rehoboam continued the true form of worship in Judah, but Jeroboam substituted a new form of worship in Israel. In both cases the worship was only a matter of formal observance, not a matter of reality. That is why both nations failed.

Second, the degeneracy of the kingdom of Judah, as well as Israel, continued because most of the kings and people that followed continued worship only as a matter of formal observance. This resulted too in increasing neglect of even the form. People do not continue to observe a form of worship that is devoid of power very long. Mere formalism dies eventually, as it should. The real issue in Judah was apostasy, infidelity.

Third, the reformations in the kingdom began at the temple. Asa restored the altar. Jehoshaphat sent messengers throughout the land to read the Word of God to the people. Joash renovated the temple. Hezekiah reopened it and revitalized worship in it. Josiah repaired it. In each case, conditions were appalling when these reformations began. In Asa's day the altar was in disrepair. In Jehoshaphat's day the people were ignorant of God's Word. In Joash's day Athaliah had damaged the temple. In Hezekiah's day no one came to the temple. Its doors were shut and its worship abandoned. In Josiah's day not one copy of the Law was available. When the king heard the copy that someone had found in the rubble of the temple read, he was completely unfamiliar with it. Throughout this period of history, about 350 years in chapters 10-36, the nation moved farther and farther from God.

Fourth, the ultimate disaster in the kingdom was the burning of the temple and the captivity of the people. All through the years Solomon's temple had stood as a reminder to the people to recognize God's rule over them as a nation. It had become a hollow symbol, the symbol of a formal ritualism rather than the symbol of a vital relationship. It was only fitting that when the nation ceased to exist and the people left their land the Babylonians destroyed the temple.

If 1 Chronicles teaches that it was necessary that the people recognize God, 2 Chronicles teaches that if that recognition is only formal and ceremonial it is not only useless but impotent.

That is the message of this book. If our recognition of God is only formal and not real, that recognition will be useless for us and impotent in us.

I would like to apply this lesson to us.

First, let me remind you of the similarity that exists between ourselves and the Israelites. They had a physical, material temple. We are a spiritual temple (1 Cor. 3:16; cf. 1 Pet. 2:4-10, esp. vv. 5, 9-10). As the presence of God filled Solomon's temple at its beginning, God's presence filled the church at its beginning (2 Chron. 5:13-14; Acts 2:1-4). As Solomon's temple was the center of national life in Israel, so the church is to be the center of international life in the world. As God intended Solomon's temple to remind His people of His heavenly rule over them, so God intended the church to remind all people of God's rule over them. As Solomon's temple became simply a symbol of a form of worship, so can the church. We must remember what we are here to do, namely to call people to recognize God's gracious and beneficent rule over them that can result in their blessing.

Second, let me point out some manifestations of formalism in the church today. One of these is insistence on doctrinal orthodoxy without a corresponding vital spiritual life. This is what James called dead faith (James 2:20). This can be the possession of both individual Christians and local churches. I do not mean to suggest that doctrinal orthodoxy is unimportant. I am not suggesting that we tear down the temple. But let us make sure that our theological edifice is having its full effect and not merely giving us a false sense of God's approval. It is possible to argue for the correctness of our views and to curse the person who does not share them. That is an evidence of formalism. It is possible to go to church faithfully and yet to live out of church as though there were no God. That is ritualism. It is possible to worship God earnestly and then to goof off at work. That is formalism, ritualism, empty hypocrisy.

Third, let me point out the consequences of formalism. The most serious consequence is not only that a church will fail to be what God wants it to be. It is also that it will fail to do what God has placed it on the earth to do. As Israel failed to bring the light of God's revelation to the world, the church can fail to do so too. Our nation and our world can rush headlong toward godlessness if we are content merely with playing church. We Christians can bear the marks of unworthy conduct, cowardice in the face of wrong, and carelessness about what is right. If we do, we will be useless and impotent. Why is the modern church unlike the Jerusalem church in Acts 2? It is different because of formalism, ritualism, lack of reality. The world has no time or patience with formalism. Why are so many local churches not growing? They are stagnant because the Christians in them are just going through motions. There is no evidence to others that they are anything but useless and impotent. Is your Christian life vital, or are you just going through motions?

Constable: 2 Chronicles (Outline)

Outline

(Continued from notes on 1 Chronicles)

III. The reign of Solomon chs. 1-9

A. Solomon's wisdom and prosperity ch. 1

B. The building of the temple 2:1-5:1

1. Preparations for building the temple ch. 2

2. The temple proper 3:1-9

3. The temple furnishings 3:10-5:1

C. The dedication of the temple 5:2-7:10

1. The installation of the ark 5:2-14

2. Solomon's address 6:1-11

3. Solomon's prayer 6:12-42

4. The celebration of the people 7:1-10

D. God's blessings and curses 7:11-22

E. Solomon's successes chs. 8-9

1. Solomon's political success 8:1-11

2. Solomon's religious success 8:12-16

3. Solomon's economic success 8:17-9:28

4. Solomon's death 9:29-31

IV. The reigns of Solomon's successors chs. 10-36

A. Rehoboam chs. 10-12

1. The division of the nation ch. 10

2. Rehoboam's kingdom ch. 11

3. The invasion by Egypt ch. 12

B. Abijah 13:1-14:1

C. Asa 14:2-16:14

1. Asa's wisdom 14:2-15

2. Asa's reform ch. 15

3. Asa's failure ch. 16

D. Jehoshaphat chs. 17-20

1. Summary of Jehoshaphat's reign 17:1-6

2. The strength of Jehoshaphat's kingdom 17:7-19

3. Jehoshaphat and Ahab ch. 18

4. Jehoshaphat's appointment of judges ch. 19

5. Victory over the Moabite-Ammonite alliance 20:1-30

6. Jehoshaphat's failures 20:31-37

E. Jehoram ch. 21

F. Ahaziah ch. 22

G. Athaliah ch. 23

H. Joash ch. 24

I. Amaziah ch. 25

J. Uzziah ch. 26

K. Jotham ch. 27

L. Ahaz ch. 28

M. Hezekiah chs. 29-32

1. The cleansing and rededication of the temple ch. 29

2. Hezekiah's Passover 30:1-31:1

3. Re-establishment of proper worship 31:2-21

4. The invasion by Sennacherib 32:1-23

5. Hezekiah's humility and greatness 32:24-33

N. Manasseh 33:1-20

O. Amon 33:21-25

P. Josiah chs. 34-35

1. Josiah's reforms ch. 34

2. Josiah's Passover 35:1-19

3. Josiah's death 35:20-27

Q. The last four kings 36:1-21

1. Jehoahaz 36:1-4

2. Jehoiakim 36:5-8

3. Jehoiachin 36:9-10

4. Zedekiah 36:11-21

R. The edict of Cyrus 36:22-23

Constable: 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 2 Chronicles (Book Introduction)

THE SECOND BOOK OF PARALIPOMENON.

INTRODUCTION.

As the former Book shews how David was chosen to rule over God's peculiar people, so this [Book] explains briefly the reign of Solomon, in the nine first chapters; and in the rest, that of nineteen of his successors, who governed two tribes till the captivity, while Israel was divided. (Worthington)

Gill: 2 Chronicles (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES

This, and the preceding, were but one book originally, but divided into two because of the size of it, so that this is only a continuation of the former history; that ends at the death of David; this begins with the reign of Solomon, goes through that, and the reigns of all the kings of the house of David; of the kings of Judah only, after the separation of the ten tribes, quite down to the captivity of Judah in Babylon, and reaches to the deliverance of the Jews from thence by Cyrus, and contains an history of four hundred and seventy nine years. It treats not at all of the kings of Israel, after the separation, only of the kings of Judah, through whom the line of the Messiah was drawn; and though it omits several things recorded of them in the book of Kings, yet it gives abundance of anecdotes not to be met with there, which are of great use and advantage in history to know.

Gill: 2 Chronicles 35 (Chapter Introduction)

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, and of Josiah's rash engagement in battle with the king of Egypt, in which he was slain, 2Ch 35:20 and of the great lamentations that were made for him, 2Ch 35:24.