The house — In the holy of holies. Whence, it may seem, it had been removed, by some of the wicked kings of Judah, possibly by Josiah's father Amon. A burden — Or, that it might not be a burden, so these words are to be joined with the former, as the reason why Solomon built this house, that the ark... [ Continue Reading ]
Stand — Or, minister, (as that word is frequently used) in the court of the priests. According — According to the several families both of the people, whom he calls their brethren, lest they should despise them, or grudge to serve them, and of the Levites. For the passover was to be eaten by the sev... [ Continue Reading ]
Princes — Not the political, but ecclesiastical princes, or the chief of the priests and Levites, whose names here follow. Levites — For the use of any of the families of them, as need should be. For they supposed the thirty thousand which the king had given were not sufficient for all the families.... [ Continue Reading ]
Removed — Some of the lesser cattle; for these also might be offered as burnt — offerings, Leviticus 1:10, and hence it may seem that all these small cattle were not given for paschal — lambs, but were to be offered as burnt — offerings for the people. And these they put apart lest they should be co... [ Continue Reading ]
Like to that — 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
After all — 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
The house — 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hearkened not — How can we think to prosper in our ways, if we do not acknowledge God in them!... [ Continue Reading ]
To this day — 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.... [ Continue Reading ]