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.

He assembled all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the settlers ¹  from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had come to live with them. Many people from Israel had come there to live ²  when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem; ¹  he built up these fortified cities throughout Judah:

Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he lives in thick darkness.

O Lord, ¹  I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently.”

“God does not really live with humankind on the earth! ¹  Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. ¹  He went out among the people from Beer Sheba to the hill country of Ephraim and encouraged them to follow ²  the Lord God of their ancestors. ³