2 Chronicles 35:1-19--Josiah Keeps the Passover

2 Chronicles 35:1-19
English Standard Version

Josiah Keeps the Passover
35 Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD. 3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses by your divisions, as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers' household. 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses.”

7 Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king's possessions. 8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command. 11 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests threw the blood that they received from them while the Levites flayed the sacrifices. 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of the lay people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. 13 And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

---

In reading the Law, Josiah realized that they needed to keep the Passover, so they did so on the prescribed day--the fourteenth day of the first month.  He followed the example of the previous kings and celebrated it in Jerusalem at the Temple.  He made sure the priests and Levites were consecrated before the event so that they could make the appropriate sacrifices and eat the Passover meal.

I don't understand his instructions to the priests to move the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and then telling them to not worry about carrying it on their shoulders--they were not to touch the Ark with their hands, but maybe they simply used the poles to carry it without putting the poles on their shoulders.  I'm really not sure.  Honestly, that doesn't make sense to me if I'm being honest.

He then divided the priests and Levites up into their divisions as David and Solomon had prescribed, and he commanded them to kill the Passover lamb for themselves and then be ready to slaughter the Passover lambs for the people who were not consecrated.

Many of the lay people did not have their own lambs or bulls to use as sacrifices that do, so Josiah made an offering of 30,000 lambs and goats from his flocks and 3,000 bulls to be used for the sacrifices that day.  Other government officials did likewise and together they also supplied 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls.  The chiefs of the Levites also contributed 5,000 lambs and goats and 500 bulls.  Everyone who came without a sacrifice of their own flock or herd had one available to them because of these gifts from the leaders of the people so that everyone could celebrate the LORD's Passover, and no one would be cut off for refusing to celebrate it.

As before, there were so many sacrifices to be made that all the priests and all the Levites had to work together to make these sacrifices all day long to try to get them all done before the sun set.  They not only killed and flayed the sacrifices, but they roasted the Passover lambs and goats so that they could be distributed to the people to eat the LORD's Passover meal together.  Any of the regular offerings that were to be eaten by the priests, they boiled the meat in the pots as was commanded in the Law, and the priests had to eat those offerings to take the sin and guilt of the people upon themselves.  The singers, musicians, and gatekeepers also remained at their posts until all the sacrifices had been offered.

Everyone then celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread together for the next week (Passover was the evening before this Feast and was seen kind of as a "kick off" for the Feast of Unleavened Bread).  This was the first time since the death of the prophet Samuel (a long time ago during the time of King Saul, before there was ever a Temple) that that all the LORD's people had gathered together in one place (back then, it was the Tabernacle) to participate in the LORD's Passover.  None of the kings of Israel, not even David Solomon or any of the good kings of Judah, had been careful to keep this commandment in the way Josiah had been.  So it was that in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, he and the priests, and the Levites, and the people of the LORD kept the Passover.  This is a good sign, but is it enough to stay the wrath of God which was just prophesied last time?  We'll start to see the answer to that question next time.