2 Chronicles 35

Ver.l. JjjlOREOVER, Josiah kept a Passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem. This was in the eighteenth year of his reign, immediately after he had made a glorious reformation, by abolishing all idolatry. And accordingly it is. related next to that in 2 Kings xxiii. 21 — 23. but very briefly, as the other is very largely. And they killed thepassover on the fourteenth day oftlie first month.] At the time prescribed by the law, Exod. xii. 6. For there was no need, it seems, to adjourn it till the second, as they did in the days of Hezekiah. And three hundred oxen.] That through the whole festival they might be able to rejoice with their brethren.

2 Chronicles 35:2

And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house oftlie Lord. To do their duty in their several places, so that nothing might be omitted, which was required to be done at this great festival.;

2 Chronicles 35:3

And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord. That is, the Levites were holy unto the Lord. And therefore may be rendered, and were holy, &c. t. e. peculiarly dedicated to this service of ministering to the priests, and instructing the people. * Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David king of Israel, did build.] Jarchi thinks that Manasseh, or his son Amon, had removed the ark from its place, as other enormous things had been done by such wicked kings (2 Kings xvi. 14. xxviii. 24. of this book), which may give a more probable sense of those words, xxxiii. 23. that Amon trespassed more and more, than that which some of the Jews mention: for it was a great addition to his sin, if he displaced the ark. Other Jews, indeed, interpret it after another manner, and make a fable out of these words, as Const. L’Empereur observes upon Codex Middoth, p. 97. and Dr. Lightfootof the Temple, p. 91. But nothing is more natural than to think that Hilkiah himself had removed the ark while the temple was repairing, there being defects in the most holy place as well as other parts of it: and it was not fit to let the ark be exposed to the workmen. Yet Jacobus Capellus. thinks it better to say, the word tenu ought not to be translated put, but keep, or look after, the ark in the house which Solomon built. For now, that they were eased of carrying it on their shoulders, they ought to employ themselves more carefully in all other offices about it; ad A. Mundi 3374. It shall not be a burden upon your shoulders.] That is, hereafter: for they were to carry it to a settled place, there to remain; and then they would be obliged no further to bear it on their shoulders, as they had done before it was fixed in the temple.. Serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel] Serve God in singing, and playing upon instruments, when the sacrifices of God’s people are offered, arid you shall be excused from your former burdens.

2 Chronicles 35:4

And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel. See 1 Chron. xxiii. xxiv. and the following chapters. And according to the tvriting of Solomon his son.] See 2 Chron. viii. 14.

2 Chronicles 35:5

And stand in the holy place.* In the court of the priests, where they were wont to stand when they ministered unto God. According to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people.] Who were to bring for every family a lamb, as Moses commanded, Exod. xii. 3.. * And after the division of the families of the Levites.] Who were appointed to kill the lamb for them.

2 Chronicles 35:6

So kill thepassover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren. That they might be capable to eat of it. Tltat they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.] Who commanded it to be eaten in one house, Exod, xii. 46. He seems to require, that as the rest of the tribes came according to their families, into which they were divided; so the Levites wonld give them a good example, and come according to their families.

2 Chronicles 35:7

And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids. For the lamb might be taken either from the sheep or from the goats, (Exod. xii. 5.) All for the Passover-offenngs, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand.] That the people might be at no charge: at least thirty thousand families were provided for, at the king’s charge. And three thousand bullocks: these were of the king’s sub’ stance.] These bullpcks.werc for offerings upon the seven days of unleavened bread which followed the Passover.

2 Chronicles 35:8

And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. As Josiah provided paschal lambs for the people, so some great men provided not only for them, but for the priests and the Levites, that they also might offer without charge. * ■ Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and JehieL] It appears by these words, that the princes here mentioned were not rulers of the people, but the chief of the priests. For Hilkiah was the high-priest; and the other two were the heads of the two great families of the priests, Eleazar and Ithamar: who are called the captains of the host, as I observed upon 1 Chron. xxv. 1. (Sec my annotations there.) This is a little more largely and distinctly expressed by Bertram, in his Republica Judaica, cap. 15. where he saith, Zechariah was the chief among the second priests of the race of Eleazar, who was properly called Nagid, the captain of the temple: as Jehicl was the most illustrious person among the second priests, who were the progeny of Ithamar, and was properly called Pakid; and was set over the Gcrshonites and Merarites, as Zechariah was over the Kohathites. Rulers of the house of God.] Who were the same with those who in the New Testament are called the arpaTriyol of the temple, who governed the rest of the priests. (So Bertram, de Republica Judaica, p. 29G. 300.) Gave unto the priests for the Passover-offerings Mo thousand and six hundred small cattle.] That is, lambs and kids.

2 Chronicles 35:9

Conaniah also, and Shemaiah, and Nathaneel, his brethren, and Ilashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, chief of the Levites. Who were men of estates, as well as in great offices among their brethren. Gave unto the Levitesfor Passover-offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.] That they might be provided for as well as the priests, tomako it a time of universal joy.

2 Chronicles 35:10

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king*s commandment. All things were disposed for the offering the paschal sacrifice; the priests standing in their place, and the Levites attending them.

2 Chronicles 35:11

And they killed the passover. That is, the Levites killed the lamb, and gave the blood to the priests. And the priests sjmnkled the blood from their hands.] For they alone could perform this part of the service. And the Levites flayed them.] That the priests might have nothing to do, but to sprinkle the blood of every one of them: which took up a great deal of time. (See xxix. 34.)

2 Chronicles 35:12

And they removed the burnt-offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. It seems, some of the lambs were given by Josiah for burnt-offerings: and these they dispatched as fast as they could, that they might give the paschal lamb to every family according to their divisions, after it had been offered to the Lord. For this was the principal offering upon this day. And so they did with the oxen.] All of which were not given for peace-offerings, but some for burnt-offerings: which they also offered as fast as they could, that they might not hinder the paschal lamb from being offered.

2 Chronicles 35:13

And they roasted the passover with fire, according to the ordinance. See Exod. xii. 8, 9. But the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans.] Though the paschal lamb was to be roasted; yet the other eucharistical sacrifices which attended it (as the Targum expounds it) might be boiled in water. And divided them speedily among all the people.] Gave every one of the people a portion of the oxen that were offered for peace-offerings: and did it so speedily, that they had time to take care of themselves, as it here follows.

2 Chronicles 35:14

And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering burnt-offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.] This is a great instance of the zeal and diligence of the priests, for whom the principal persons among them had made a large provision; but they did not eat of the paschal Iamb nor of the peace-offerings till night, being employed in offering burnt-sacrifices, and burning the fat till that time: against which the Levites prepared for them and for themselves.

2 Chronicles 35:15

And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthnn the king’s seer; and the porters waited at every gate: they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levitts prepared for them.] This seems to import, that the singing and music continued till all the sacrifices were offered, that is, till night; and none were suffered to depart from the service, the porters standing at every gate to hinder them, if they attempted it. And their brethren, who were not singers, took care to provide for them their portion, when they had done. Ver. 1G. So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

2 Chronicles 35:17

And the children of Israel that were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. These two verses are a summary account of what wentbefore, that the whole solemnity was performed in every part of it, according to the king’s direction.

2 Chronicles 35:18

And there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel, from the days of Samuel the prophet. We do not read in the book of Samuel of any Passover kept in his days; therefore the book wherein this was recorded is lost, as many other books of the prophets are. Neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.] The last clause shews wherein his Passover went beyond all other. David and Solomon were greater kings than he, and in several respects kept greater festivals; the number of peoplo, while the ten tribes were united to the other two, beiflg greater, and the multitude of sacrifices also greater: but in this Josiah excelled them all, that being nothing so rich, he was notwithstanding so liberal, as to provide all the sacrifices for the priests, the Levites, and the people, at this feastl

2 Chronicles 35:19

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept. In the same year wherein he repaired the house of God, and the book of the law was found and brought to him; which, it is likely, put him in mind of this duty; chap.xxxiv. 8.

2 Chronicles 35:20

After all this, ivhen Josiah had prepared the temple. Some time after the temple was repaired, and made fit for the service of God, and they expected great happiness to ensue such pious works, there was an unexpected change: which is here noted, to teach us not to be confident, nor rashly enterprise any thing, remembering the vicissitude of all earthly things. Necho king of Egypt.] Whom the Targum calls Pharaoh the Lame, f and so Kimchi, who saith he was lame in his feet, and thence called by the name of Claudus, as tho Romans would have expressed it: who, from the like disposition of their bodies, gave names to their emperors; such as Crassus, Barbarosa, and others, as Beckius observes. This lameness proceeded from some wound he had received, for Necho signifies wounded. Came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates.] The city Carcusium stood upon that river, and belonged to the Assyrians, with whose king Necho came to fight, (2 Kings xxiii. 29.) And Josiah went out against him.] See what I have noted there; unto which I shall hero add, that by this it seems probable Josiah was in friendship with the king of Assyria, to whose assistance he seems to have voluntarily gone with his forces, by giving a diversion to the Egyp- Microsoft® CHAP. XXXV.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. tians* Certain it is, the Assyrian empire was not yet fallen; for in Josiah’s days the prophet Zephaniah foretells the destruction of Nineveh, (chap. ii. 13, &c.) Now Josiah reigned in the time of Cyaxarus king of the Medes, by whom Nineveh was destroyed, as Herodotus tells us/ But it was then in a flourishing condition, for Phraortis, the predecessor of Cyaxarus, not contented’with the kingdom of the Medes, but invading the Assyrians, after he had subdued the Persians, was defeated, and lost a vast army before Nineveh: which Hermannus Conringius thinks might possibly mo/e Josiah to court the king of Assyria’s favour, by opposing himself to the king of Egypt when he came to invade him. But a most judicious person in this kind of learning (whom I have often consulted) thinks this all wrong; and that though Nineveh was not yet destroyed, yet the empire was, in the eighteenth year of Josiah; from which some governor got some little part, and kept Nineveh till it was destroyed by Nabopolassar, in the first year of his reign. Therefore I should have said Josiah was a friend of the king of Babylon, rather than of the king of Assyria. But I must leave those that are better skilled than I am in these matters to judge of them.

2 Chronicles 35:21

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against tJiee this day, but against the hotise wherewith I have, war J. He had no controversy with him, and therefore prays him not to meddle in this war. For God commanded me to make haste.’] And therefore desires him not to give him any stop in his expedition. Some think he only pretended this, because’ he knew Josiah had a great reverence to God, and in obedience to him might desist from his purpose: and the Targum, with some of the Jews, thinks he calls his own idol by the name of God; though Kimchi thinks he speaks of the true God; who perhaps admonished him in a dream, as he did Abimclech, or sent him such a message by the prophet Jeremiah (as Grotius supposes), many of whose prophecies are directed to foreign nations: or, perhaps, he meant, that he felt a strong impulse unto this undertaking, which he took to be from God, Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.] Of which there w r as great danger, if he opposed the Divine command.

2 Chronicles 35:22

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him. And not be known to be the king of Judah. And hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God.] The Targum thinks that Josiah regarded not what Necho said, because he thought he spake only from his idol, for he could not imagine that the God of Israel had spoken to him. But these words import the contrary, and therefore Josiah should at least have inquired of God, whether it was his mind that he should not oppose Necho, And came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.] A place in the tribe of Manasseh, (Josh, xvii. 11;) So that Josiah may seem to have come against him, because he passed through his country without his leave: but I rather think, as I said before, he was in the interests of the king of Assyria. I observed upon 2 Kings xxiii. 29. that Herodotus tells the same story, but mistakes the name of Megiddo, and calls it Magdolim; which was a gTcat city in Egypt, better known to him than the cities in Syria or Phoenicia. He also adds, that after this battle the king’of Egypt took the great city in Syria called Cadytus: which Herm. Conringius thinks was the name of Jerusalem among the old Egyptians: (Adversaria Chronolog. cap. 15.) I think Jacobus Capellus hath well observed (in his Hist. Sacra et Exotica), that the Egyptians,being a vain people, concealed from Herodotus, when he came to consult the affairs of their country, many things that were true, and imposed upon his belief many things that were false. For example, they did not tell him a word of the victory which Nebuchadnezzar got over Pharaoh-Nechoh at Euphrates; but gloried in this victory over the Syrians: ad A. Mundi3425.

2 Chronicles 35:23

And the archers shot at king Josiah: and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His disguise did not secure him; for still he appeared, I suppose, as a great commander, at whom the enemy would sooner aim than at common men.

2 Chronicles 35:24

His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had. As all great captains have led horses, that if one fail they may mount another: (which was the custom in wars in ancient time, as Bochart shews in his Hieroz. par. i. cap, 2. 9.) so when they fought in chariots they had an empty one following them, into which they might go if the other proved unserviceable or inconvenient. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers: and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.] After the example of the prophet Jeremiah. For as bad as they shewed themselves afterward to be, they had some sense of the greatworth of this prince.

2 Chronicles 35:25

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing-men and singing-women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day. Whensoever they bewailed any calamity, they mentioned that as the greatest that had befallen them, l And made them an ordinance in Israel.] That they should never forget this fatal stroke, after which they never saw good days. This statute was made by the supreme authority, and was approved by the prophet Jeremiah, whojoined in this lamentation;.which warrants Christian kings and princes to appoint days for the yearly commemoration of great calamities, or great deliverances. And, behold, they are written in the Lamentations.] Josephus in his tenth book of the Antiquities of the Jews, chap. G. imagines the book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which now remains in the Bible, contains the mournful ditties sung at Josiah’s funeral, and in aftertimes; which opinion St. Jerome follows; at least in those words • Lament, iv. 20. R. Solomon thinks Josiah was bewailed: but it is manifest all this is a mistake; for that book was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, which is lamented in it, and the words now mentioned plainly relate ^ to Zedckiah, not to Josiah; who was not taken but killed. Therefore the Lamentations here mentioned are lost, which were written immediately after Josiah was slain, Ver. 2G. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, &c] That is, his piety, or (as we translate it in the margin) his kindnesses, that is, his great love to his people, » of which there arc great instances in the foregoing part of this history.