2 Chronicles 35:1-27

2 Chronicles: God desires loyal people

The *Kingdom called Judah

2 Chronicles Chapter s 10 to 36

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 35

Josiah’s *Passover *feast – 2 Chronicles 35:1-19

v1 Josiah had a *Passover *feast in Jerusalem for the *LORD. The priests killed the young sheep for the *Passover on the 14th day in the first month. v2 Josiah appointed the priests to do their duties. And he encouraged them as they served in the *LORD’s *temple. v3 There were *Levites who taught the *Israelites. These *Levites had made themselves holy to serve the *LORD. Josiah said to them, ‘Bring the holy *ark. Put it in the *temple that David’s son, Solomon built. You should no longer carry it about on your shoulders. Now serve the *LORD your God and his people *Israel. v4 Get yourselves ready to serve in your family groups. King David and his son, Solomon appointed the family groups. Follow the instructions that they recorded.

v5 Stand in the holy place in your family groups on behalf of your relatives and on behalf of the people. v6 Kill the young sheep for the *Passover. Make yourselves holy to the *LORD. Prepare the young sheep for your relatives, *Israel’s people. And do as the *LORD ordered by Moses.’

v7 Josiah gave to the *Israelites 30 000 sheep and goats to kill for the *Passover *sacrifices. And he gave to them 3000 *bulls. These were all from the animals that he owned.

v8 Also, his officials gave animals freely to the people, priests and *Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel were the men in control of the *temple. They gave to the priests 2600 young sheep and goats and 300 *bulls for *Passover *sacrifices. v9 Conaniah and his brothers gave to the *Levites 5000 sheep and goats and 500 *bulls as *Passover *sacrifices. His brothers were Shemaiah, Nethanel, Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad. These men were leaders of the *Levites.

v10 Everything was ready for the *Passover to begin. The priests and the *Levites went to their places, as the king had ordered. v11 The *Levites killed the young sheep for the *Passover. They gave the blood of the sheep to the priests, who put some of it onto the *altar. Also, the *Levites cut the skin off the animals. v12 They set aside the animals for the *sacrifices by fire. Then they gave these animals to the different family groups. So, the people could *sacrifice the animals to the *LORD as in the book of Moses. The *Levites did the same with the *bulls. v13 They cooked the *Passover animals over fire as in the rules. And they boiled the holy *sacrifices in pots, kettles and pans. Then they quickly gave the meat to the people. v14 Later, they prepared the animals for themselves and for the priests. The priests, the *descendants of Aaron, were giving the *sacrifices by fire and the fat *sacrifices until the evening. So, the *Levites prepared the animals for themselves and for the priests.

v15 The singers stood where they should stand. They were *descendants of Asaph. They were in their places as David, Asaph, Heman and the king’s *prophet, Jeduthun had ordered. The guards at each gate did not need to leave their gates. The other *Levites prepared for them.

v16 So, they prepared everything that day to *worship the *LORD. They had the *Passover *feast and they gave the *sacrifices by fire on the *LORD’s *altar. They did everything that King Josiah had ordered them to do.

v17 The *Israelites who were there for the *Passover stayed for the *feast of bread without *yeast. This *feast lasted for 7 days. v18 There had not been a *Passover like this in *Israel since the days of the *prophet Samuel. None of the kings of *Israel had ever had such a *Passover as King Josiah had. With him were the priests, the *Levites and the people who lived in Jerusalem. All the people from Judah and *Israel who were there had the *Passover too. v19 King Josiah had this *Passover in his 18th year as king.

Verses 1-6 After he read the book of the *LORD’s law, Josiah had a *Passover *feast in Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:21). He read in the book about the *Passover. The *LORD had brought the *Israelites out of Egypt many years before. The *LORD ordered the *Israelites to remember about that by this *feast each year. The *LORD told them to do it on the 14th day of the first month of the year. The first month in the *Jewish calendar is about March to April. So, Josiah ordered the people to have this *feast. This was in 622 *BC, his 18th year as king. The priests killed the young sheep on the 14th day of the first month.

Josiah organised the priests and the *Levites into their groups. And he encouraged them to do their duties in the *temple. The *Levites were ready to serve the *LORD. So, Josiah told them to bring the holy *ark back into the *temple. When Manasseh and Amon ruled, the *ark was probably not in the *temple. Perhaps loyal *Levites had taken it away to keep it safe. But for whatever reason the *ark was not where it should be. The *ark should stay in the most holy place in the *temple.

King David had arranged the priests and the *Levites in 24 groups. These were groups by family (1 Chronicles Chapter s 24-26). The groups served in the *temple in turn. Josiah organised the *Levites again into their groups. Then he told them to get ready to serve the *LORD in their family groups.

The *Levites prepared the young sheep on behalf of the people. It was the priests’ duty to kill the young sheep on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the people. In the days of Hezekiah, *Levites also killed the young sheep. That was because there were not enough priests ready to do it (30:17). So, at this *feast the *Levites killed the sheep (35:11).

Verses 7-9 Josiah provided sheep and goats enough for 30 000 families. Perhaps these families were poor and they could not bring their own young sheep. The *bulls were for *sacrifices by fire.

Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel gave young sheep and *bulls to the priests. These animals were probably for the poorer priests who could not provide their own animals. Conaniah and his brothers gave sheep, goats and *bulls to the *Levites. Again, this may have been to provide for the poor *Levite families.

Verses 10-14 When all was ready, the *Passover *feast began. The *Levites killed the animals for the *Passover. Priests should have killed the sheep but there were not enough priests to do it. The *Levites gave the blood to the priests. The priests put some of the blood onto the *altar. The *Levites cut the skins off the sheep. Then they cooked these animals and they gave them to the people to eat.

The *Levites took some of the sheep and the *bulls for *sacrifices by fire. The people gave these animals as *sacrifices to the *LORD. The priests gave these *sacrifices by fire on behalf of the people.

Later, the *Levites prepared animals on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the priests. Those animals were both to eat at the *feast and for *sacrifices by fire.

Verses 15-16 Some *Levites had special duties to perform. These *Levites were the singers and the guards. The singers had to sing as each group of people came to *worship. Therefore, the singers could not leave their place. And the guards could not leave the gates. So, other *Levites prepared the *Passover and the *sacrifices on their behalf.

That day, they *worshipped God. They completed the *Passover *feast and they *sacrificed by fire to the *LORD. In this way, they obeyed the commands of King Josiah.

Verses 17-19 Those people who had travelled to Jerusalem for the *Passover stayed for the next 7 days. The 7 days after *Passover was the *feast of bread without *yeast.

This *Passover had been the best one since the days of the judges and Samuel. We do not know why this *Passover was better than those of previous kings. Perhaps it was because Josiah provided more animals than either David or Solomon. Perhaps the people were more eager than in previous *Passovers.

This *Passover was in the 18th year of Josiah’s rule. His 18th year was 623 to 622 *BC and this *Passover was in the month Abib in 622 *BC. Another name for Abib is Nisan. This month is about our March to April.

The death of Josiah – 2 Chronicles 35:20-27

v20 Josiah had completed the repairs to the *temple. Then King Neco of Egypt came to fight a battle at Carchemish at the Euphrates River. Josiah went to fight against him. v21 But Neco sent men to Josiah. They said to him, ‘King Josiah, we should not have a war. I did not come to fight you. I came to fight my enemies. God told me to hurry, and he is on my side. So, do not fight against God. Then he will not kill you.’

v22 But Josiah would not stop his attack. He wore different clothes so that nobody would recognise him. He did that so that he could fight with Neco. He refused to listen to Neco’s words, which came from God. Josiah went to fight Neco in the Megiddo valley.

v23 Men with bows and arrows shot King Josiah. He told his officers, ‘Take me away. The arrow has hurt me very badly.’ v24 So, they took him out of his *chariot and they put him in another *chariot. Then they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there. They buried him in the graves of his *ancestors. All the people in Judah and in Jerusalem were sad because Josiah was dead.

v25 Jeremiah wrote songs for Josiah’s funeral. Even to this day, all the men and women singers remember Josiah with these songs. These songs became a tradition in *Israel. They are in the book of funeral songs.

v26-27 The book of the kings of *Israel and Judah records the rest of what Josiah did as king. It shows all that he did from the first to the last. He tried to obey all that he read in the law of the *LORD.

Verses 20-24 At that time, there were three powerful nations. They were Assyria, Babylon and Egypt. While these nations were about equal in power, Judah could be a free nation. But Assyria was becoming the weakest of the three nations. Babylon was becoming the most powerful and they fought with Assyria. King Neco of Egypt decided to try to help Assyria against Babylon. In 609 *BC he went to fight at Carchemish at the Euphrates River. To do this, Neco and his army had to pass through the territory of *Israel.

Josiah decided that he would not allow the soldiers from Egypt to pass through the territory of *Israel. He took his army to fight against Neco’s army. Neco tried to stop him. Neco did not want to fight against Josiah. He just wanted to pass through the territory. He said that God had sent him. So, to fight against Neco would be to fight against God.

Josiah would not listen to what Neco said. And he did not believe that it was from God. With his army, he set up his position in the open country in the Jezreel Valley. That was near Megiddo town. Josiah changed his clothes so that the enemy would not recognise him. Neco’s men shot arrows at Judah’s army. And an arrow hit Josiah.

Josiah was in a lot of pain. So, his men put him in another *chariot and they took him to Jerusalem. He died in Jerusalem. They buried him in the royal graves. He had been a good king and the people were sad at his death.

The Jezreel Valley has other names. These are the valley or plain of Megiddo and the valley or plain of Esdraelon.

Verses 25-27 Jeremiah was a *prophet during the rule of Josiah. He wrote songs for Josiah’s funeral. These songs were in a book of songs for funerals. This book is not the book of Lamentations, which Jeremiah wrote. We do not now have this book of songs. Later, Jeremiah wrote this about Josiah:

‘He did what was right and fair. So, everything was good for him. He helped people who were poor. And he helped those who needed his help’ (Jeremiah 22:15-16).

As with all the kings of Judah and *Israel, they made a record of his life. He tried to serve the *LORD all his life. He tried to obey all that he read in the book of God’s law.

kingdom ~ the place or territory where a king rules; or, the people that a king rules over.
Passover ~ one of the special feasts when the Jews remember how God brought them out of Egypt.
feast ~ a large meal; but in this book a feast is often a special time when the people came together to worship God.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
feast ~ a large meal; but in this book a feast is often a special time when the people came together to worship God.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It means that God has always been.
lord ~ someone with authority such as the king.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or of other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.
Levite ~ a person who belongs to the tribe of Levi.
tribe ~ the *Israelites were divided into the 12 families of the sons of Jacob. These families are the 12 tribes of *Israel.
ark ~ the ark of the LORD or the ark of God; the Bible also calls it the ark of God’s special promise. It was a wooden box with gold all over the outside and the inside. It had two gold cherubim on the top. (see Exodus 25:10-22.) The *Israelites kept the ark in the most holy place, first in the LORD’s tent and then in the temple.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It means that God has always been.
lord ~ someone with authority such as the king.
cherubim ~ special angels.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or of other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
angel ~ a messenger. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.
sacrifice ~ something that people give to God. If it was an animal, the priests would burn all or part of it on an altar. That was to say thank you to God, or to ask him to forgive. God made Jesus to be a sacrifice because of our sins. To sacrifice is to give a sacrifice.
altar ~ the special table that someone made out of stone or wood or metal; on it they burnt animals or they offered other gifts to God or to false gods.
sin ~ sin is the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. Those who sin are sinners.
bull ~ the male animal that mates with a cow.
altar ~ the special table that someone made out of stone or wood or metal; on it they burnt animals or they offered other gifts to God or to false gods.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or of a nation.
prophet ~ person who speaks on behalf of God. He or she can sometimes say what will happen in the future. Some prophets worshipped false gods. So, not all prophets spoke words from God.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
yeast ~ something that people put into bread; it causes the bread to rise as it bakes.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.
chariot ~ a kind of cart that soldiers use to fight. Horses pulled it.
ancestors ~ people in history that your family has come from.