2 Chronicles 35 - Introduction
_A.M. 3381. B.C. 623._ Josiah keeps a solemn passover, 2 Chronicles 35:1. He goes against Pharaoh-necho, and is slain, 2 Chronicles 35:20. He is bitterly lamented, 2 Chronicles 35:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A.M. 3381. B.C. 623._ Josiah keeps a solemn passover, 2 Chronicles 35:1. He goes against Pharaoh-necho, and is slain, 2 Chronicles 35:20. He is bitterly lamented, 2 Chronicles 35:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_That taught all Israel which were holy_ That is, the Levites were holy unto the Lord. And therefore it may be rendered, _and were holy,_ &c., that is, peculiarly dedicated to this service, of ministering to the priests, and instructing the people. _Put the holy ark in the house_, &c. It appears fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_And stand in the holy place_ Or minister (as that word is frequently used) in the court of the priests. _According to the division of the families_ 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 t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Prepare your brethren_ By purifying them, and exciting them to fit themselves for so great and solemn a work. _Josiah gave to the people lambs and kids_ For either of these might be used for the paschal- offering. _And three thousand bullocks_ Which were to be offered after the lambs upon the sever... [ Continue Reading ]
_And his princes gave willingly_ Not the political, but ecclesiastical princes, or the chief of the priests and Levites, whose names here follow. _Unto the people, priests, and Levites_ For the use of any of the families of them, as need should be. For they supposed the thirty- thousand, which the k... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Levites flayed them_ Which they did, (though properly that work belonged to the priests,) because the priests, who were sanctified, were not sufficient for it, there being so many thousands of the cattle; and they were fully employed in the killing of the sacrifices, and the sprinkling of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they removed the burnt-offerings_ That part of the paschal lambs which was to be burned, which they despatched as soon as possible, that they might give that part which was to be eaten to each family. _And so they did with the oxen_ All of which were not given for peace-offerings, but some for... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the other holy offerings sod they in pots_ Those from which the burnt-offerings were removed, (2 Chronicles 35:12,) namely, the peace- offerings, part of which fell to the share of the offerer, who was Josiah, and, by his gift, to the people. _Afterward they made ready_ To wit, the paschal lamb... [ Continue Reading ]
_There was no passover 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 this, when Josiah had prepared the temple_ 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. _To fight against Cha... [ Continue Reading ]
_I come not against thee, but against the house wherewith I have war_ Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. _For God commanded me to make haste_ Therefore, give me no hinderance. Some think he only pretended this, because he knew Josiah had a great reverence for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Josiah would not turn his face from him_ Being, peradventure, encouraged to go out against him by a misinterpretation of that promise made to him, chap. 2 Chronicles 34:28, _Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace._ Thus God overrules the errors and miscarriages of men to the accomplishment of... [ Continue Reading ]
_And put him in the second chariot_ It was the custom of war, in former times, for great officers to have led horses with them in battle, that if one failed they might mount another. And, in like manner, we may presume, that when it became a fashion to fight in chariots, all great commanders had an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jeremiah lamented for Josiah_ Sorrowed much on account of the immature death of this good king, foreseeing that the utter ruin of his country would follow upon it. And as it was usual with the Jews to make lamentations, elegies, or mournful pieces upon the death of great men, princes, and others th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness_ His piety toward God, and his benignity, clemency, and kindness toward all his subjects, being of a most tender and mild disposition, both toward God and toward men, 2 Chronicles 34:27. _According to that which was written in the law_ Which he made... [ Continue Reading ]