And Josiah held a passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem; and they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the first month.
This Passover came at the very end of Judah's story, with judgement close at hand. The verse fixes the day, and that date carries the lesson: why the first month and not the second.
The timing of this Passover is striking.
Time was running out for guilty Israel. Soon the righteous judgement of God would wipe out their "place and nation", and nothing would restore it until Christ appears. Yet before the blow fell, the remnant left in the land experienced one of the brightest moments Israel had ever known. As far as human instruments go, this came about through the faith of the king. The Word of God had reached his mind and heart, and he wanted both himself and his people to be fully obedient to it.
One writer asks what such a moment teaches us.
It teaches us very clearly what the darkest times cannot take away. Even then the faithful soul has the privilege of acting on divine principles and enjoying divine privileges. Suppose the spirit that seems to drive so many in our own day had influenced Josiah. Then he could never have attempted to celebrate the Passover at all. He would have folded his arms and said, "It is useless to think of keeping up our great national institutions any longer."
The feast came only after years of hard, unglamorous work.
The king was right to feel that the LORD must be worshipped in pure surroundings. Every household in Israel had to search the house for any trace of leaven. Only then could they keep the Passover properly (Exodus 12:15). In Josiah's day the land was full of detestable things — not only the idols themselves, but also the filthy practices that always go with idolatry. It apparently took eight years of energetic action to clear all this away. Josiah's order of procedure is instructive. First he purged the land and the temple. Next he "repaired the house of the LORD his God." Then he felt ready to call the people together to keep the feast.
An earlier king had kept the same feast a month late.
This was acting on the very highest principles of the institution. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month, taking advantage of the provision grace had made for a defiled state of things. But Josiah took the very highest ground, as simple faith always does. God's grace can meet us in the very lowest condition we may be found in. But He is always glorified and pleased when faith plants its foot on the highest ground that divine revelation sets out. Nothing so delights the heart of God as the fullest use faith makes of what He has given.
Another writer traces the difference to the state of the people.
At the time of Hezekiah's revival, the Passover fell in the second month, not on the fourteenth day of the first. The Word allowed that later date for anyone unclean or away on a journey at the time of the feast. The priests were in the first of these situations. They lacked the zeal to sanctify themselves, so they were unclean, and Hezekiah acted on that. Josiah's Passover was celebrated on the appointed date of the first month. Far more people now felt the need to sanctify themselves for the Lord than under Hezekiah. They understood the Word of God better, and their desire to obey Him was more real.
Sin and failure raise a question: does the standard come down with them?
It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith. Unbelief will find in the state of things around it an excuse to lower the standard, loosen the grip, slacken the pace, drop the tone. Faith says "No!" — emphatically and decidedly, "No!" Let us bow our heads in shame and sorrow over our sin and failure, but keep the standard up. The failure is ours: the standard is God's.
The day itself points two ways.
The Passover was the first of the yearly feasts to the LORD. It was kept on the fourteenth day of the first month — the month of Abib. The Passover brought back to memory every year the redemption and deliverance from Egypt. "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." The Passover lamb was a picture of Christ. Every time it was sacrificed, it pointed forward to Him who was to come — the Lamb of God, "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
- Word first. The Word of God reached Josiah's heart. The feast, the date and the place all flow from a king who wanted full obedience to it.
- Cleansing next. Leaven had to go before any Passover was right. Josiah purged the land, repaired the house, and only then called the people together.
- Date matters. The fourteenth day of the first month was the appointed time. Hezekiah's second month was grace meeting defilement. Josiah's first month was faith on the highest ground.
- Standard held. Bow the head over failure, but keep the standard up. The failure is ours; the standard is God's.
- Lamb remembered. Each Passover lamb looked back to redemption out of Egypt and forward to Christ, our Passover lamb, sacrificed for us.
And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah.
Josiah's great Passover does not open with a lamb. It opens with people. The king puts the priests back in the duties God gave them, and urges them on in the work of the temple. So what makes restored worship real — good organisation, or obedience to what God had written long before?
The feast came at the end of a long clean-up, not at the start of one.
The order Josiah followed teaches us something. First he cleared the evil out of the land and the temple. Next he "repaired the house of Jehovah his God." Only then did he feel ready to call the people together to keep the feast. A hundred years earlier Hezekiah kept a great Passover in Jerusalem, but much of it was not done properly, and Hezekiah humbly asked Jehovah to pardon His people for it (2 Chron. 30:18-20). Josiah made sure the people did everything exactly as the written Word said.
Josiah did not invent these posts. He found them in a book, and he would not step outside it.
Josiah prepared with care, so that everything would follow the written word of God… "He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD." … All of it had to follow what was written. Josiah clearly took great care over this. So he became a beautiful example for all who long to please the Lord. Like this godly king, they want to follow Him and turn aside "neither to the right hand nor to the left." Some in the kingdom might think him too bound to the letter of these writings. But he would have God's approval, and that was quite enough. No one can say where one deliberate step aside, even by a hair's breadth, may lead in the end.
The priests' offices were fixed long before Josiah. Every step of the feast had a written rule behind it, and one commentator lists them.
Nothing about this memorial should be done without the Word. They were to prepare it "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon" (2 Chr. 35:4). They were to bring the sacrifice to the Lord "according to the word of Jehovah through Moses" (vv. 6, 12). They were to roast it with fire "according to the ordinance" (v. 13). Each man took his place in the singing and praising, keeping the right order, "according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer" (v. 15). And all was done "according to the commandment of king Josiah" (v. 16). That is, the man God used in this revival had the good sense to tell the people to do nothing except what agreed with Scripture.
Josiah urged the priests on in "the service of the house of the LORD." In that house, small jobs count.
How many different duties these humble servants carried out! Modest duties, yes, but without them the whole order of the Lord's service would have been interrupted, or even stopped altogether! Let us think about this. When the Lord entrusts a service to us, however unimportant it may seem, let us carry it out with zeal. It is needed for the order of the house of God.
The kingdom was close to collapse when Josiah did all this. The timing is the lesson.
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the people of Jerusalem. All gathered together. All in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." And all this "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the whole Jewish system was about to fall apart… It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith… Unbelief takes the state of things around us as an excuse to lower the standard, to loosen the grip, to slacken the pace, to lower the tone. Faith says "No!"… Let us bow our heads in shame and sorrow over our sin and failure, but keep the standard up. The failure is ours: the standard is God's.
- Cleansed — Josiah cleared the land, then repaired the house, then gathered the people. He prepared for worship before he held it.
- Placed — the king did not invent the priests' posts. Scripture had already fixed them, and he would not move a hair's breadth from it.
- Encouraged — he set them there for "the service of the house of the LORD," where even the smallest duty holds up the order of the whole.
- Written — each part of the feast had its own written rule: the writing of David, of Solomon, of Moses. The king commanded nothing that Scripture had not commanded first.
- Highest — the kingdom was collapsing, and that is the point. The failure is ours, the standard is God's, and faith keeps it up.
And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, [and] who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; ye have not to carry it upon your shoulders. Serve now Jehovah your God, and his people Israel;
Josiah's great Passover opens with a surprise: his first order is not about the lamb but about the ark. Why was it out of place, and what were the Levites to do once they stopped carrying it?
Writers describe what worship in the land had become by the time Josiah took the throne:
The kings of Judah gave horses to the sun, and those horses are stabled at the entrance of the house of the Lord. Meanwhile the ark of the Lord has been thrown out of the sanctuary. It is at this point, an hour of all but total apostasy, that the son of Amon, a child eight years old, comes to the throne.
One writer asks who dared to move the ark, and explains why Josiah called it holy:
This command is startling to read! There has been no previous mention of the ark being displaced. Who did it? What king was evil enough to remove the sacred vessel from the Most Holy Place? And where was the ark during the years of its dishonour? It is true that the ark was only a chest of acacia wood, overlaid with gold. Its cover was made for the sprinkling of the atoning blood. But the ark spoke to God of Christ, and Josiah was right to call it "the holy ark."… The acacia wood pictures our Lord's incorruptible humanity. The gold that covered it pictures His Deity. The blood on the Mercy Seat, where the golden cherubim looked down, points to His finished sacrifice.
The ark was on the move again — and moving is not resting:
In the days of Josiah, the ark had left its resting place. The Levites were plainly carrying it on their shoulders again… How very sad that through all the ups and downs of Israel's history, the Lord's rest was broken. He could not rest where His people cared nothing for His claims and His holiness.
Once the ark was down, other work was waiting for them:
It appears that even the ark had been moved out of its place. But now the ark is back at rest, and the Levites give themselves to their service. They even make things ready for the priests, so that they might keep the feast. Those who taught all Israel no longer carried the ark, but they ministered to God and to His people.
Teaching people and worshipping God are not two ranks of service:
When a Levite taught his brothers, it pleased God as much as burning incense before Him. Both were just as truly a divine exercise of his office. This is very important. We should never separate these two things.
Josiah puts the ark back before anyone kills a lamb:
2 Chronicles 35:3, 6 is an outstanding reference. It shows that the feast cannot be rightly kept unless Christ has His true place in the affections of His own… The ark was in its true place, and the people prepared and sanctified according to the word of God. That produced an occasion of which it is written, "There was no Passover like it kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet."
Josiah speaks to "the Levites who taught all Israel" — not Judah only. Writers see a man who would not let a broken situation lower his aim:
Here Josiah goes back to God's own standard for the great central feast of Israel. Everything had to be done "according to the word of the Lord by Moses." Nothing less, nothing lower, would do. Unbelief might raise a thousand difficulties. With things in such a state, aiming that high might look presumptuous. But Josiah was enabled to plant his foot on the highest ground. He took the widest possible range… nothing less than the whole Israel of God.
- Displaced. Worship had all but collapsed, and the ark itself was thrown out of the sanctuary. That is why a king had to order it back.
- Holy. Josiah called it "the holy ark." It spoke to God of Christ: acacia wood, gold, and blood on the mercy seat.
- Restored. The ark back on Levite shoulders meant the Lord's rest was broken. Putting it in Solomon's house gave that rest back.
- Released. The Levites lost a load, not a job. They served God and His people — and teaching them ranks with burning incense before Him.
- Rewarded. Christ in His place first, then the feast. With the ark restored and the people prepared by the word, Israel kept a Passover unlike any since Samuel.
and prepare yourselves by your fathers' houses, in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son;
Josiah's great Passover does not begin with the lamb but with a roster. Before anyone kills anything, he sends the Levites back to their family lines and to what David and Solomon had written — the care that set this feast apart from every Passover before it.
Older translations call these groupings "courses"; the ESV calls them divisions. One reference work sets out where they came from:
David divided the priests into 24 courses: 16 of them were from the house of Eleazar, and 8 from Ithamar. 1 Chronicles 24:6-19 lists them under the name of each head. David divided the Levites in a similar way (1 Chronicles 23).
Josiah's word to the Levites is "prepare." Each man had to find his own family line before he could take up any task:
Josiah also told the Levites to prepare themselves by the houses of their fathers (v. 4). Their fathers were Kohath, Gershon and Merari. Numbers 4:2, 24 and 42 record their distinct services. So, having prepared themselves, they were to "stand in the holy place according to the divisions of their families" (v. 5). There they kept an order according to God when they killed the Passover according to God's word by Moses (v. 6).
The phrase "as prescribed in the writing" is not a stray detail. It starts a chain that runs through the whole chapter, and one writer traces every link of it:
Nothing that belongs to this memorial should be done without the Word. They were to prepare it "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon" (2 Chronicles 35:4). They were to present the sacrifice to the Lord (v. 12) "according to the word of Jehovah through Moses" (v. 6). They were to roast it with fire "according to the ordinance" (v. 13). Each man took his place in singing and praising "according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer" (v. 15), keeping the due order according to God. And all was done "according to the commandment of king Josiah" (v. 16). That is, the man God used in this revival had the good sense neither to pass on nor to order anything for the people except what agreed with Scripture.
Why should David's and Solomon's arrangements carry the weight of the law of Moses? Because God spoke through all three. One writer compares Josiah with Hezekiah, an earlier king who also kept a Passover:
What made this Passover different from all that had gone before it was the careful keeping of the Word of Jehovah by both king and people. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon about the ordinances of divine worship, and Josiah was determined to carry it all out. They did not let the failures and shortcomings of earlier days influence things now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the purification of the people and the sanctuary was only partial. Josiah made sure it was thorough and complete.
A king this careful about rosters invites the charge of fussiness. One writer raises that objection and answers it:
It was all to be done according to what was written. Josiah clearly took great care about this. So he became a beautiful example for all who long to please the Lord. Like this godly king, they want to follow Him and turn aside "neither to the right hand nor to the left." Some in the kingdom might think him too tied to the letter of these writings, but he would have God's approval, which was quite enough. No one can say where a deliberate departure of a hair's breadth may eventually lead.
Look at what the sorting produced, and when. The nation was near collapse:
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — all gathered together, all in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." All this happened "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the whole Jewish order was on the very edge of collapse... It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith... The failure is ours; the standard is God's.
- Written. Josiah acted on what was written, not on instinct. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon, and he meant to carry all of it out.
- Prepared. The Levites' first duty was not activity but getting ready. Each man traced himself back to his father's house.
- Placed. The divisions told each man where to stand. That order was obedience, because the arrangement came from God.
- Exact. Some thought him too bound to the letter. But no one can say where a deliberate drift of a hair's breadth may lead.
- Unequalled. All of this happened on the eve of national collapse. No age or circumstance can change the truth of God.
and stand in the sanctuary for the classes of the fathers' houses, for your brethren, the children of the people, and [according] to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the Levites;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and slaughter the passover, and hallow yourselves, and prepare it for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of Jehovah through Moses.
Josiah's order to the Levites comes at the very end of Judah's history, just after the law book came to light and Josiah had cleansed the land. Why did that book carry such weight, and why did the Levites have to be clean before they could serve others?
The last clause governs everything before it. Commentators see Josiah reaching back to the original instructions. He would not let the nation's condition set the level of his obedience.
And Josiah was right. Israel's condition had changed for the worse, but no change had come over "the word of the Lord by Moses." The truth of God is always the same. Faith will always shape its way by that truth, and nothing else. God had not varied His instructions for the celebration of the Passover. There was not one way for Moses and another way for Josiah, but God's way for both. Josiah felt this, and he acted on it.
Hezekiah had held a great Passover in an earlier revival, so the comparison is worth making. One writer lists what Josiah did differently, and why.
What made this Passover different from all that had gone before it was the careful observance of the word of Jehovah by both king and people. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon about the ordinances of divine worship. Josiah was determined to carry it all out. The failures and shortcomings of earlier days did not shape things now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; but Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the people and the sanctuary were only partly purified. Josiah made sure the purifying was thorough and complete. Jehovah graciously pardoned the irregularities in Hezekiah's reign. But since then the book of the law had come into fresh prominence, and Josiah wanted every rule in it carefully kept.
Another writer explains why the two dates differed.
When Hezekiah revived the nation, the Passover fell in the second month, not the first. The Word allowed that later date for anyone who was unclean or away on a journey at the time of the feast (Numbers 9:11). The priests were in the first case: they had lacked the zeal to sanctify themselves, so they were unclean, and Hezekiah acted in view of that. Josiah's Passover was kept on the appointed date of the first month. Far more people felt the need of sanctifying themselves for the Lord than under Hezekiah, because the word of God was better understood, and the desire to obey Him was more real.
The order in the verse matters: consecrate yourselves, and then prepare for your brothers. The same order appears elsewhere in Scripture.
Here again is the order already mentioned, and it is most instructive. We may also learn that unless we have "purified" ourselves, it is useless to try to "purify" others. Scripture affirms this truth everywhere. For example, anyone whose own feet were not washed (John 13) could not wash the feet of fellow believers. And the Lord Himself taught that before we could take the speck out of our brother's eye, the log must come out of our own eye.
Josiah's word "brothers" reached wider than the shrunken kingdom he ruled.
In speaking to the Levites, he charged them, at the opening of that marvellous day, to serve the Lord and His people Israel. Get hold of that point. He charges the Levites to serve Jehovah, and not His people Judah, but "His people Israel." He can only speak of the nation, and act toward it, by the revealed mind of God. He will not go by their practical condition.
Preparing meant something concrete. Each Levite had a place, fixed by his family line.
The Levites were told also to prepare themselves by the houses of their fathers (v. 4). Their fathers were Kohath, Gershon and Merari, and Numbers 4:2, 24, 42 records their distinct services. Having prepared themselves, they were to "stand in the holy place according to the divisions of their families" (v. 5). They kept an order according to God when they killed the Passover according to God's word by Moses (v. 6).
Josiah obeyed at the latest possible hour. The result was not modest.
Look at Josiah, just before the captivity. What do we see? A man simply taking the word as his guide. He judged himself and all around him by its light. He rejected all that was contrary to it. He sought, with earnest purpose of heart, to carry out what he found written there. And what was the result? The most blessed Passover that had been celebrated since the days of Samuel.
- Word — The measure was not the nation's condition but the written word. There was not one way for Moses and another for Josiah.
- Wholeness — Hezekiah's purification was partial and a month late. Josiah's was thorough and on time, because the word was better understood and the wish to obey stronger.
- Order — Purify yourself first; it is useless to try to purify others while your own feet need washing.
- Reach — Josiah sent the Levites to serve not Judah only but "His people Israel" — the whole people as God still counted them.
- Result — Obedience at the last hour produced the best Passover since the days of Samuel.
And Josiah gave for the children of the people a heave-offering of the flocks, lambs and goats, all for the passover-offerings, for all that were present -- to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks these were of the king's substance.
Josiah's great Passover was not only ordered correctly — the king paid for it himself. He emptied his own flocks so that everyone who came to Jerusalem had an animal to offer, and Scripture makes a point of naming whose animals they were.
Josiah did everything by the book, and the failures of past generations did not stop him. One writer ranks his generosity right alongside that obedience.
Josiah felt it was his high and holy privilege to match God's standard, despite all the errors and evils that had crept in over the generations. God's truth must stand forever. Faith accepts this precious fact, acts on it, and reaps the harvest that follows. Nothing could be lovelier than the scene we are looking at now. Josiah's strict obedience to the Word of the Lord deserves no more admiration than his large-hearted devotion and generosity.
The verses that follow list what others gave. Josiah's share dwarfs all of it, and one writer sees Christ in that proportion.
Josiah's gift for the Passover far outnumbered the gifts of the princes and of the chief of the Levites. For the king pictures the Lord Jesus, whose giving far exceeds the willing-hearted giving of the most devoted servants. Josiah gave 30,000 lambs and kids and 3,000 bulls (v. 7). The rulers gave 2,600 small animals (sheep, etc.) and 300 oxen (v. 8). The chief of the Levites gave 5,000 small animals and 500 oxen. This was more than the rulers gave, but only one-sixth of Josiah's gift.
The gift had a practical purpose: the poor could keep the feast too. One writer sets that care beside two other things that marked the week.
During Josiah's Passover week the rich helped the poor to provide all that was needed for the great feast. The singers led the praises of the people. The gatekeepers guarded the door against all intruders (2 Chron. 35:7-8, 15). When the hearts of the people are right with God they are generous, praiseful and watchful. May the Holy Spirit make all these things true of us at this time also.
The verse names two kinds of animal, and each had its own use. One writer explains why the bulls could not be treated like the lambs.
The burnt offerings were kept separate from the Passover sacrifice, which was a peace offering that the offerers were to share. The burnt offerings were clearly gifts given to the people to offer. They were not to eat them, but to offer them all in fire to the Lord. This signifies the glory God receives from the value of the sacrifice of Christ.
This crowd was small next to earlier national gatherings. The king still poured out his flocks on it.
The Passover gathering in Jerusalem in Josiah's day was a small affair compared with the gathering in Solomon's day to keep the feast of Tabernacles… In Josiah's day the nation was broken. Gentile powers had carried large numbers of the people out of the land. Only a remnant was left. But it was very precious to Jehovah to see them come together at that late moment in the nation's history. In their danger and need, they placed themselves once more under the shelter of the blood of the lamb. A precious lesson for us in this day!
- Substance — The animals came from the king's own flocks. Obeying Scripture cost him something, and his devotion to the Word came with an open hand.
- Surplus — His gift was many times larger than the princes' and the Levite leaders'. It pictures Christ, who gives far beyond His most willing servants.
- Supply — The gift reached "all who were present". The rich covered the poor, so no one missed the feast for lack of a lamb.
- Shared and surrendered — The worshippers ate the lambs. The cattle went up whole in fire, speaking of the glory God Himself receives from the sacrifice of Christ.
- Sheltered — The king poured all this out on a broken remnant near the end of the nation's story. God valued their coming under the blood of the lamb at that late hour.
And his princes gave a voluntary heave-offering for the people, for the priests, and for the Levites Hilkijah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand six hundred [small cattle] and three hundred oxen;
Josiah's Passover is the high point of his reign, and the king's huge gift of animals did not stand alone. This verse adds his officials and three named temple leaders, which raises the question of what moves leaders to give, and who gains when they do.
One commentator lines up the three gifts and compares the totals.
Verses 7-10 show the provision for the Passover, before the killing itself. Josiah's gift for this far outnumbered the gifts of the princes and of the chief of the Levites. The king is a picture of the Lord Jesus. His giving far exceeds the willing hearts of the most devoted servants. Josiah gave 30,000 lambs and kids and 3,000 bulls (v.7). The rulers gave 2,600 small animals (sheep, etc.) and 300 oxen (v. 8). The chief of the Levites gave 5,000 small animals and 500 oxen. This was more than the rulers gave, but only one-sixth of Josiah's gift.
One writer ties the word for a leader to the idea of generosity, and shows how God treats such a gift.
Prince, in Numbers 7:2, means liberality. "My people shall be willing" (Psalm 110). "Willing" and "liberal" are the same word. Again, in 2 Corinthians 8:5, the Gentiles had been made willing: "they gave themselves first to the Lord." The Lord recognised and owned them. Then comes the generosity. Grace produced it in them, and God calls it their own voluntary will.
He quotes Psalm 110:3 from an older translation. The ESV reads, "your people will offer themselves freely" — the same idea of a willing gift.
One writer holds Josiah's generosity to be as admirable as his obedience to the written Word.
Josiah felt it to be his high and holy privilege to conform to the divine standard, despite all the errors and evils which had crept in from age to age. God's truth must stand forever. Faith owns and acts on this precious fact, and reaps accordingly. Nothing can be more lovely than the scene enacted on the occasion we are now looking at. Josiah's strict adherence to the Word of the Lord is not more to be admired than his large-hearted devotedness and liberality.
The gifts went to people who could not supply themselves, and one writer turns that into a prayer for his readers.
During Josiah's Passover week the rich helped the poor to provide all that the great feast needed. The singers led the praises of the people. The gatekeepers guarded the door against all intruders (2 Chronicles 35:7-8, 15). When the hearts of the people are right with God they are generous, praiseful and watchful. May the Holy Spirit make all these things true of us at this time also.
The three men named here are not private donors but men in office. A reference work identifies them by their post in the temple:
Prince of Judah, and one of the rulers of the house of God. 2 Chronicles 35:8.
The giving in this verse is one part of a larger scene. Every group is at its own appointed work, and the nation is about to fall.
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the people of Jerusalem — all gathered together, all in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." All this happened "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the whole Jewish system was on the very eve of collapse. ... No age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith. ... Unbelief will draw a plea from the condition of things around to lower the standard, to relax the grasp, to slacken the pace, to lower the tone. Faith says "No!" The failure is ours: the standard is God's.
- Word first. Josiah bowed to the written Word, and the same heart that kept God's standard also opened his hand.
- King first. The king's gift outweighed every other — six times the gift of the chief Levites. He pictures the Lord Jesus, whose giving outruns the most devoted servant's.
- Willingly. "Willing" and "liberal" are the same word. Grace produces the generosity, and God still calls it the giver's own free choice.
- Downward. The gifts went to the people, the priests and the Levites. The rich supplied the poor, so nobody was shut out of the feast.
- Everyone in place. The result was a whole nation at its appointed work on the eve of ruin: dark days are no reason to lower the standard.
and Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave as heave-offering to the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand [small cattle] and five hundred oxen.
Verse 9 names six leading Levites and lists what they gave for Josiah's Passover: thousands of lambs, young goats and bulls. Why does Scripture bother to record who gave, and how much?
One writer lays the chapter out as a sequence of stages. Verse 9 falls in the stage he calls the Provision. The stages after it show what the animals were for:
The Time (v. 1) — what Scripture had prescribed. The Centre (v. 3) — the ark, a picture of Christ, to whom the people were to gather. The Preparation (v. 4) — every house finding its place according to the instructions of David and Solomon. The Order (v. 5) — priests and Levites standing in their place to kill the Passover according to the word of the Lord by Moses. The Provision (vv. 7-9) — Josiah, the princes and the chief of the Levites willingly giving to the people the offerings needed for the Passover. The Death (v. 11) — the Passover killed, the blood sprinkled, with burnt offerings going along with the sacrifice. The Roasting (v. 13) — speaking of the severe judgment of the Lord Jesus, exposed directly to the flame of God's wrath.
The figures in verses 7 to 9 are not equal. One writer sets them side by side:
Josiah's gift for this far outnumbered the gifts of the princes and of the chief of the Levites. For the king is a picture of the Lord Jesus, whose giving far exceeds the willingness of the most devoted servants. Josiah gave 30,000 lambs and kids and 3,000 bulls (v. 7). The rulers gave 2,600 small animals (sheep, etc.) and 300 oxen (v. 8). The chief of the Levites gave 5,000 small animals and 500 oxen. This was more than the rulers gave, but only one sixth of Josiah's gift.
The gift here goes "to the Levites" — the men whose whole work was serving God's house. One writer shows how their supply rose and fell with the nation's devotion:
Look through the history of Israel. Whenever things were in anything like a healthy condition, the people cared well for the altar of God. As a result, the priests and Levites were well supplied. If Jehovah had His portion, His servants were sure to have theirs. If He was neglected, so were they. They were bound up together. The people were to bring their offerings to God, and He shared them with His servants. The priests and the Levites were not to demand anything of the people. Instead, the people had the privilege of bringing their gifts to the altar of God. And He allowed His servants to feed on the fruit of His people's devotion to Him.
The same chapter that shows Josiah's careful obedience also shows this flow of giving. One writer will not rank one above the other:
Nothing could be lovelier than the scene we are looking at here. Josiah held strictly to the Word of the Lord, and his large-hearted devotion and generosity deserve just as much admiration.
The giving in verses 7 to 9 meant the poor could keep the feast too. One writer sets the gifts beside the singing and the gatekeeping as three marks of one inward condition:
During Josiah's Passover week the rich helped the poor to provide everything the great feast needed. The singers led the praises of the congregation. The gatekeepers guarded the door against all intruders (2 Chron. 35:7-8, 15). When the hearts of the people are right with God they are generous, praiseful and watchful. May the Holy Spirit make all these things true of us at this time also.
- Provision. Verses 7-9 form one stage of the feast: supplying the animals the offerings needed. It sits between the ordering of the priests and Levites and the killing of the Passover.
- Proportion. The chief Levites gave more than the rulers did, yet only a sixth of the king's gift. One writer sees in the king a picture of the Lord Jesus, whose giving outruns the willingness of His most devoted servants.
- Partnership. The gift went to the Levites. Whenever Israel cared for God's altar, His servants had plenty. The two rose and fell together.
- Practice. Josiah kept strictly to the written word, and he also gave with an open hand. One writer admires the second as much as the first.
- Proof. The rich supplied the poor, so every worshipper could keep the feast. Generosity, praise and watchfulness together show hearts that are right with God.
And the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's commandment.
The preparation is over and the great Passover can begin. Each group now stands where it belongs, and the verse traces that order back to the king's command — so the first question is what that command rested on.
One writer traces the whole day back to written instructions. Nothing in the service came from Josiah's own ideas.
Nothing that belongs to this memorial should be done without the Word. It was "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon" that they were to prepare it (2 Chr. 35:4). It was "according to the word of Jehovah through Moses" (v. 6) that they were to present the sacrifice to the Lord (v. 12). It was "according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer" that each took his place to keep the order God wanted in singing and praising (v. 15). And all of it followed "the commandment of king Josiah" (v. 16). That is, the man God used in this revival had the wisdom to command nothing except what agreed with Scripture.
Because Josiah's orders simply repeated God's orders, obeying him was obeying God. Some would have found this level of care excessive.
It was all to be done according to what was written. Josiah took great care over this. So he became a beautiful example for everyone who longs to please the Lord and wants to turn aside "neither to the right hand nor to the left" from following Him, as this godly king did. Some in the kingdom might think him too tied to the letter of these writings. But he would have God's approval, and that was quite enough. No one can say where a deliberate departure of a hair's breadth may eventually lead.
Every group in the nation stands at its post, and the date matters.
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the people of Jerusalem — all gathered together, all in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." And all this happened "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the whole Jewish system stood on the very edge of collapse. Surely this must speak to the heart of the thoughtful reader… It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith.
The service could be prepared only because someone paid for the animals. One writer weighs the figures in the verses just before, and the king's share dwarfs everyone else's.
Before the actual killing of the Passover, verses 7-10 show the provision for it. Josiah's gift for this far outweighed the gifts of the princes and of the chief of the Levites. For the king is a picture of the Lord Jesus. His giving goes far beyond the willingness of the most devoted servants.
The giving was not the king's alone. Another writer shows what it looked like among the people.
During Josiah's Passover week the rich helped the poor to provide everything needed for the great feast. The singers led the praises of the congregation. The gatekeepers guarded the door against all intruders. When the hearts of the people are right with God they are generous, full of praise, and watchful.
A nation near its end kept a Passover that outshone its golden age.
Josiah has a "Thus says the Lord" for everything he does. What a wonderfully lovely picture!… A backslidden people came back to God and His word. They were the ones left to keep such a remembrance of that unforgettable night, when the blood of the "lamb" was under His holy eye for His Israel — a Passover that even Solomon in all his glory never kept.
- Word first. Every detail traced back to a written instruction — David, Solomon, Moses. The king commanded nothing that Scripture had not commanded first.
- Gift next. Someone had to pay for the service, and the king gave more than all the rest. He pictures the Lord Jesus, whose giving outdoes His servants'.
- Place then. Priests, Levites, singers and gatekeepers each stood at their appointed work. That order held even as the kingdom neared its fall.
- Heart shows. Right hearts made the people generous, full of praise, and watchful. The rich supplied the poor, so nobody was left out of the feast.
- Result last. A nation that had wandered came back to God's word. It kept a Passover Solomon never matched. Circumstances never lower God's standard.
And they slaughtered the passover, and the priests sprinkled [the blood] from their hand, and the Levites flayed them.
Josiah's Passover reaches its centre here, with the work at the altar split between priests and Levites. Why do priests handle the blood at a feast first kept in family homes, and why does the record tell us who did which task?
Every step of this celebration followed what was written. One commentator names the difference between this Passover and earlier ones:
What made this Passover different from all that had gone before it was the careful keeping of the Word of Jehovah by both king and people. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon about the rules for worship. Josiah was determined to carry all of it out. The failures and shortcomings of earlier days were not allowed to influence things now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; but Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the purification of the people and the sanctuary was only partial. Josiah made sure it was thorough and complete.
At the first Passover in Egypt, each household killed its own lamb. So priests sprinkling the blood here is unusual:
If, as they naturally would, they kept it as they had in Egypt, every house killed the lamb for itself... At any rate that Passover in Hezekiah's day, and Josiah's Passover, when the priest did sprinkle the blood of the Passover lamb, were special exceptional cases. There were plenty of priests and Levites attending in their places. As far as the New Testament goes, it would seem each prepared it for himself.
The direction the blood travels is the point, not what the worshipper sees:
The blood of the slain lamb on the Passover night was sprinkled outside, not inside. It went on the lintel and doorposts, not for Israel to see, but for God. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." So in the sacrifices the blood was put on the horns of God's altar, presented to God, never to man.
Flaying means skinning. That job usually belonged to the person who brought the offering. One reference work notes who else could do it, and what it pictures:
From Leviticus 1 it would appear that the offerer also skinned it, cut it in pieces, and washed the inward parts and legs in water. But the expressions can also be read as "Let it be skinned." So the priests or the Levites may have done these acts. (The Levites skinned the sacrifices in 2 Chronicles 29:34, when there were too few priests.) ... It was typical of Christ's perfect offering up of Himself, being tested in His inmost parts by the searching fire of divine judgement.
Burnt offerings were brought that day too, and one commentator keeps them separate:
The burnt offerings were removed from the Passover sacrifice, which was a peace offering that the offerers were to share. But the burnt offerings were evidently gifts given to the people to offer — not to eat, but to offer all in fire to the Lord. This stands for the glory that God receives from the value of the sacrifice of Christ.
Every group here is at its appointed task, and the timing matters:
King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — all gathered together. All in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." And all this "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the whole Jewish order was about to collapse... It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith.
The Levites set food aside for the priests, who had been caring for the people. The order of eating carries a lesson:
The Levites afterwards prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, all of whom had been unselfishly occupied with caring for the people (v. 14). What a lovely example for the Church of God! Those who are prominent are to remember they are servants to the need of others, not masters who demand first consideration.
- Word first. What set this Passover apart was obedience. Josiah carried out every rule given through Moses, David and Solomon, and treated past failure as no excuse.
- Blood next. The blood travels Godward — onto the altar, presented to God, never to man.
- Hands assigned. Priests took the blood, Levites did the skinning. One writer calls this sprinkling by priests exceptional, since each house killed its own lamb in Egypt.
- Order held. King, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, people — each in his true place at his appointed work. And this on the eve of the nation's collapse.
- Service last. The Levites and priests ate last, after caring for the people. Prominence means serving others' need, not claiming first place.
And they set apart the burnt-offerings to give them to the classes of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to present them to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so [did they] with the oxen.
Chronicles walks through Josiah's great Passover step by step, and ties every step to a written instruction. This verse catches the moment when the Levites set the burnt offerings aside and hand them out family by family — so why did such detail matter?
In this chapter no act stands on its own authority. One writer traces the chain of written references phrase by phrase, and verse 12 is one link in it.
Let us return now to Josiah's Passover. The account in our book, though very brief, is marked by an important expression: "As it is written in this book of the covenant" (v. 21). Under Hezekiah the people had also kept it according to "the word of Jehovah" and "the law of Moses" (2 Chron. 30:12, 16). But under Josiah the written Word, wonderfully preserved and rediscovered in the temple, takes on a much greater importance. Nothing that belongs to this memorial should be done without the Word. They were to prepare it "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon" (2 Chron. 35:4). They were to present the sacrifice to the Lord (v. 12) "according to the word of Jehovah through Moses" (v. 6). They were to roast it with fire "according to the ordinance" (v. 13).
The offerings went out along family lines. The same family order ran through the whole service, as one writer shows from earlier in the chapter.
The Levites were told also to prepare themselves by the houses of their fathers (v. 4). Their fathers were Kohath, Gershon and Merari, whose distinct services are recorded in Numbers 4:2,24,42. So, having prepared themselves, they were to "stand in the holy place according to the divisions of their families" (v. 5). This kept an order according to God when they killed the Passover according to God's word by Moses (v. 6).
This verse separates one kind of offering from another. The people ate the Passover lamb, but not these offerings, and one commentator explains why that matters.
Verse 12 records the killing of the Passover, the priests sprinkling the blood and the Levites skinning the animals. The burnt offerings were however removed from the Passover sacrifice, which was a peace offering of which the offerers were to share. But the burnt offerings were evidently gifts given to the people to offer — not to eat, but to offer all in fire to the Lord, signifying the glory that God receives from the value of the sacrifice of Christ.
The people offered animals they did not own. Josiah supplied them out of his own property, and one writer prizes that generosity as highly as his care for the written Word. He quotes the record in an older translation:
Josiah's strict obedience to the Word of the Lord deserves no more admiration than his large-hearted devotion and generosity. "He gave to the people of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the Passover-offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance. And his princes gave willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites…"
Josiah kept this feast when the nation was almost finished. One writer reads God's hand in that timing.
There had never been such a Passover as the one kept by Josiah at the very close of the nation's history. What is the meaning of that?... It is God's answer to the faith of His servant. Josiah took his stand upon faith in God, and God answered the faith. There had not been such a Passover kept during all the days of the kings. Just think of that! There had been all the glories of Solomon's reign, and all the victories of David's reign. Yet the Holy Spirit testifies that there never had been such a Passover as the one kept in Josiah's reign.
Commentators differ on how to weigh such exactness. One writer sets Josiah beside Hezekiah, whose people kept the Passover without cleansing themselves first.
What moved Josiah was due preparation "according to the law of Moses." What occupied and filled Hezekiah, it seems, was the mercy of God beyond law. So when Hezekiah heard that some had taken the Passover without having cleansed themselves, he looks higher than the law, to the sovereign mercy of God, and prays, "the good Lord pardon every one." Josiah cleaves to the law, and acts rightly in cleaving. But it did not bring him the joy and gladness that came to Hezekiah and the people with him.
- Written — Every action in this Passover traces to a text: Moses, David, Solomon. The Word governed every part of the memorial.
- Ordered — The offerings went out by fathers' houses. Service done God's way keeps the order He assigns.
- Divided — The offerers shared the Passover. The burnt offerings went up whole in fire, speaking of the glory God Himself receives from Christ's sacrifice.
- Supplied — The people offered what the king first gave them out of his own property — they gave back what they had received.
- Answered — All this came at the end of the nation's story. God answered that faith with a Passover greater than any in all the days of the kings. Commentators differ on whether Josiah's exactness or Hezekiah's appeal to mercy stands higher.
And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the consecrated things they boiled in pots and in cauldrons and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the children of the people.
Josiah's great Passover reaches the moment of cooking, and even here nothing is left to choice. Every detail follows a written instruction, and each one says something about the death this feast pictures.
Through the whole chapter, Josiah checks each step against Scripture, not against custom. One writer lines up the repeated phrase and shows where the roasting fits into it. (Older translations read "according to the ordinance" where the ESV has "according to the rule".)
The Passover is roasted, "according to the ordinance." The singers, the sons of Asaph, stand in their places, "according to the commandment of David." Josiah has a "Thus says the Lord" for all he does. What a wonderfully lovely picture!
The verse sets two cooking methods side by side. The lamb had to be roasted, never boiled, and one writer explains what each method pictures:
First, roasted with fire, not boiled with water. To boil is to apply the heat indirectly, through water. To roast is to put the body of the lamb under the direct fierceness of the flame, and flame always pictures the searching judgment of God. If the precious blood of Christ shelters us from judgment, we are always to take to heart, as applying to ourselves, the fierceness of that judgment which He endured to bring about our deliverance.
The fire stands for judgment. So the roasted lamb rules out a softer view of the cross, one that praises Christ's death as self-giving but never calls it judgment falling on a substitute:
Roast with fire signifies the inflicted judgment of God, and the lamb roast with fire brings before us the Lord Jesus as the One who came under the judgment of God on our behalf. More and more this is being denied. Many talk of the sacrifice of Christ, but they use the term in the sense of giving up something, or denying oneself for the benefit of others. They will not admit that we deserved the judgment of God, or that it fell on Jesus when He suffered for us on the cross as our Substitute. Naturally we would shrink from the thought of the judgment of God, and we would find no food in that. Death is what we shrink from. But here the lamb roast with fire, the death of Christ, in this special character under the judgment of God, becomes our food.
The pots, cauldrons and pans held something other than the Passover lamb. The people shared what came out of them, and that sharing tells us what those offerings were:
After being killed, the Passover offering was roasted as prescribed in Exodus 12:8. Other offerings were made at the same time, some boiled in pots or cauldrons, some baked in pans. These were divided among the people, which shows they were peace offerings (see Leviticus 7:11-16).
The food went out to the crowds first. Those who served ate last, and that order carries a lesson:
Afterward the Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests. All of them had been busy caring for the people, with no thought for themselves. What a lovely example for the Church of God! Those who are prominent are to remember that they serve the needs of others. They are not masters who demand to be considered first.
One writer notes when all this care was taken:
King, priests, Levites, singers, all Israel and Judah — all gathered, each in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." And all this in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, when the whole Jewish nation was about to collapse. It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith. "The word of the Lord endures forever." Faith grasps that Word and holds it fast in the face of everything… Unbelief looks at the state of things around and makes it an excuse to lower the standard, loosen the grasp, slow the pace, drop the tone. Faith says "No!" — emphatically and decidedly, "No!" Let us bow our heads in shame and sorrow because of our sin and failure, but keep the standard up. The failure is ours: the standard is God's.
- Ordinance — the lamb is roasted "according to the rule". Josiah has a "Thus says the Lord" for every detail, down to the cooking.
- Fire — boiling works through water, but roasting puts the lamb in the flame. That direct flame pictures the searching judgment of God.
- Substitute — we deserved that judgment, and it fell on Jesus. The roasted lamb rules out a cross that is only self-denial for the good of others.
- Food — the roasted lamb was eaten. Christ's death under judgment feeds the believer; it does not only shelter him.
- Share — the boiled portions were peace offerings, shared among the people. Those who served ate last, because leaders serve the needs of others instead of claiming first place.
And afterwards they made ready for themselves and for the priests; because the priests, the sons of Aaron, [were engaged] in offering up the burnt-offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
Josiah's great Passover is told in careful detail: the killing, the sprinkling, the roasting, the singers in their places. This verse is the small note at the end, after the crowd has eaten. It tells us who ate last, and why.
All day the Levites and priests had worked for everyone else. Only when the people had their portions did anyone think of himself.
The Levites afterward prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, who had all been busy caring for the people and thinking nothing of themselves (v. 14). How lovely an example for the Church of God! Those who are prominent must remember that they serve the needs of others. They are not masters who demand first place.
The verse gives the reason: the sons of Aaron were still offering at the altar. One writer draws a point of timing from that. Men whose hands were full of sacrifice could not sit down to eat.
The priests were so busy serving at the altar until night that the Levites prepared for them. Clearly they did not eat the Passover meal until the fifteenth day of the month Nisan had begun. At that Passover everything was done in order… Nothing out of order, we may be sure, would have been allowed on that occasion.
The verse names what held them there: burnt offerings and the fat parts, offered until night. The men who handled them ate last of all.
The verse keeps the two groups distinct — Levites preparing, priests offering. Both sides of that distinction still belong to the Christian.
The Levites were therefore servants of the priests, who were Aaron's family. In one very real sense all believers today are both priests and Levites. As priests they present acceptable sacrifices to God. As Levites they serve the needs of people. As the priests are worshipers, so the Levites have the privilege of ministry, but the two functions are distinct.
A day like this could have gone very differently. Twelve of Jesus' closest followers once argued over who was the greatest at a supper table. The same instinct sits in us.
We are strange creatures. It is astonishing how selfish we can be despite the grace of God that has saved us… We often speak of the Twelve, who argued on the road to Jerusalem, and at the supper table itself, about which of them should be the greatest. We wonder how they could do this in the company of the Lord. But who wonders when we do exactly the same, we who have the Holy Spirit living in us?… If the Levites had been of that spirit there would have been strife and bitterness in the courts instead of harmony and happy fellowship in the work of God. We need a pattern, a standard, and the Lord Himself has given us one. "I am among you as the one who serves," said He, and we are told that even Christ did not please Himself.
Why is a detail this small even recorded? Because the whole day was measured by what stood written.
The Levites get ready by their family groups, in their divisions, "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son." They kill the Passover lamb, sanctify themselves, prepare their brothers, and the priests sprinkle the blood from their hand… The Passover is roasted, "according to the ordinance." The singers, the sons of Asaph, stand in their places, "according to the commandment of David." Josiah has a "Thus says the Lord" for all he does. What a wonderfully lovely picture!
- Written first. Every part of this Passover followed what God had already said. Josiah had an authority to point to for all he did.
- Offered next. The priests stayed at the altar until night. The offerings went up to God before anyone sat down to eat.
- Served then. The priests could not stop, so the Levites prepared for them. Service here meant covering someone else's need.
- Self last. The Levites took their own portions only after the people and the priests had theirs. Those in front serve the needs of others; they do not expect first place.
- Fellowship as the fruit. Had the Levites argued over rank, as the Twelve once did at a supper table, the courts would have held strife instead of harmony. The pattern set against that is Christ, who is among us as the one who serves.
And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the doorkeepers were at every gate; they had not to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
Josiah's Passover ends with a roll-call of servants, each in his appointed place: the singers at their music, the gatekeepers at the doors, none of them needing to leave. Why does Scripture record who stood where, and what does order have to do with real worship?
The verse names singers and gatekeepers, but they were part of a much larger scene.
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the people of Jerusalem — all gathered together. All were in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the LORD." And all this "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the whole Jewish nation was about to fall apart. Surely this must speak to the heart of the thoughtful reader. It tells us that no age, no circumstances, no influence, can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith.
The phrase "according to the command of David" is not a stray detail. It is the last link in a chain. All through the chapter, each action matches something already written down.
Nothing about this memorial should be done without the Word. They were to prepare it "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and the writing of Solomon." They were to present the sacrifice to the Lord "according to the word of the LORD by Moses." They were to roast it with fire "according to the rule." And each man took his place, keeping the order God wanted in singing and praising, "according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer."
Jeduthun, named here with an unusual title, was no court official but a musician:
Son of Berechiah, a Levite, and one of David's chief musicians; he is also called the king's seer.
Animals had just been killed. Singing might seem out of place beside that, but the two belong together.
We see the singers in their place, for the occasion was one of real joy in praising the Lord. The death of the animals is of course a symbol of the death of the Lord Jesus, and this does fill believers with deep sorrow. Yet the results of that matchless death are so great and wonderful that we should be filled with joy beyond words in the very face of the greatest sorrow. Is this not true when we remember the Lord in the breaking of bread?
The second half of the verse names a less visible task. One summary of the chapter counts it among the day's works.
The Guarding — gatekeepers were needed at every gate, to let in what should be in and keep out all that should be out.
These two duties are not just side by side. One protects the other.
The singers gave the Lord His portion. Only the redeemed can sing the songs of Zion. So the gatekeepers must carry out their duty faithfully, if the Lord is to have His portion. To let in those without divine qualifications is to admit those who cannot sing. Slackness in the gatekeepers will mean loss to the singers. Worship is lost where the gatekeepers are slack. When an assembly of God's people loses its worship today, that usually goes together with careless reception.
One writer draws the whole week together: giving, singing and guarding.
During Josiah's Passover week the rich helped the poor to provide all that was needed for the great feast. The singers led the praises of the people. The gatekeepers guarded the door against all intruders. When the hearts of the people are right with God they are generous, praiseful and watchful. May the Holy Spirit make all these things true of us at this time also.
- Written first. The music itself followed written instruction — from David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun — so nothing in this memorial happened without the Word.
- Placed next. King, priests, Levites, singers and gatekeepers each stood at his appointed work, just as the nation was about to fall apart.
- Praise then. A death had just taken place, and the singers sang. The results of that death fill believers with joy even in the deepest sorrow.
- Guarded always. The gatekeepers let in what should be in and kept out what should be out. Slack gatekeeping costs the singers their song.
- Generous, praiseful, watchful. These three mark hearts that are right with God, in our day as much as in Josiah's.
And all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to hold the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar of Jehovah according to the commandment of king Josiah.
This verse closes the account of Josiah's Passover: in one day the whole service of the LORD stood ready. Two questions follow — how did a king's command come to shape the worship of God, and how was such a day possible so late in the nation's decline?
Nothing in that day was half-done. One writer gathers up the whole scene this verse closes, then draws the lesson:
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — all gathered together. All in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the LORD." And all this "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," when the entire Jewish system was on the very eve of collapse. This must speak to the heart of the thoughtful reader. It tells its own story and teaches its own lesson. It tells us that no age, no circumstances, and no influence can ever change the truth of God or dim the vision of faith.
The verse names two things kept together: the Passover and burnt offerings. They are different gifts, and the difference matters.
The burnt offerings were separate from the Passover sacrifice. The Passover was a peace offering, and the offerers were to share in it. The burnt offerings were clearly gifts given to the people to offer. They were not to eat them, but to offer them all in fire to the Lord. This signifies the glory that God receives from the value of the sacrifice of Christ.
"According to the command of King Josiah" could sound as though a man had put his own stamp on God's service. Read alongside the rest of the chapter, it says the opposite:
Nothing that belongs to this memorial should be done without the Word. It was "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon" that they were to prepare it (2 Chr. 35:4). It was "according to the word of the LORD by Moses" (v. 6) that one should present the sacrifice to the Lord (v. 12). Each man took his place in singing and praising, keeping the order God had set, "according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer" (v. 15). And all was done "according to the commandment of king Josiah" (v. 16). That is to say, the man God used in this revival was wise enough to pass on and command nothing except what agreed with Scripture.
One writer notes when the feast fell, and ties its obedience to our own time:
At the appointed time, on the fourteenth day of the first month, they kept the memorial feast — the last one before the house of Judah was carried into captivity. And all was done by the godly king "according to the word of the LORD" — "as it is written in the Book of Moses." It was obedience to the Word. And such obedience is needed in the days of decline in the professing Church. It is this which pleases God.
Another writer states the rule for any generation:
The prerequisite of revival in any day must be a whole-hearted acceptance of that Word, shown in an unqualified obedience to it. We can only affect others in the measure in which we ourselves are recovered to God. The measure of our obedience to the Word of God will be the measure of our moral power with others.
The timing is striking. This day came when the kingdom was almost over.
Look at the days of Josiah, when the whole Jewish system was on the very eve of collapse. Is it not magnificent to see a Passover kept then, greater in its blessedness than any kept since the days of Samuel the prophet? Does it not prove to our poor, narrow, unbelieving hearts that there is no limit to the grace of God, and no limit to the range of faith?
One writer applies the scene to the way Christians remember the Lord Jesus today:
Josiah made sure that this Passover kept every detail of order. Today this reminds us that for centuries people ignored the simple service of breaking of bread in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. As we come near His coming, He would surely desire us to give Him honour in this simple way.
- Word. The day rested on a book, not on a new plan. They kept the feast as it was written, and such obedience is what pleases God in a day of decline.
- Command. Josiah's command carried weight because it added nothing. He told the people to do only what Scripture already said.
- Order. Each one stood in his own appointed place — king, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, people. Obedience gave each one a place, not only a task.
- Offering. The offerers shared the Passover. The burnt offerings went up wholly in fire, showing the glory God receives from the sacrifice of Christ.
- Result. They kept the best Passover since Samuel in the nation's worst hour. God's grace has no limit, and the range of faith has none either.
And the children of Israel that were present held the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
The nation is broken, and only a remnant of Israel is left to keep this feast in Jerusalem. Two questions rise from this verse: why was so small a gathering so precious to God, and what did those seven days without leaven mean?
The phrase "who were present" is not filler. Most of Israel was gone. Writers on this passage stress how small the gathering was — and how much God valued it.
In Josiah's day the nation was broken. Gentile powers had carried large numbers of the people away from the land. Only a remnant was left. But it was very precious to the Lord to see them come together at that late moment in the nation's history. In their danger and need, they placed themselves once more under the shelter of the blood of the lamb. Precious lesson for us in this day!
Josiah did not shrink his words to fit the size of the gathering. He told the Levites to serve the Lord and His people Israel, though only a fragment of that people stood in front of him.
He acted according to the unchanging truth of God, and not according to the practical state of God's people... He charges the Levites to serve the Lord — and not His people Judah, but "His people Israel." He can only speak of the nation, and act toward it, according to the revealed mind of God. He does not go by their practical condition... It is the Israel of God as faith sees it.
Commentators trace the greatness of this Passover to one thing: Josiah adjusted nothing. Hezekiah's Passover had fallen short in places, and Josiah refused to let past shortcomings set his standard.
What made this Passover different from all that had gone before was the careful observance of the Word of the Lord by both king and people. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon about the ordinances of divine worship. Josiah was determined to carry all of it out. The failures and shortcomings of earlier days had no influence now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month, but Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the purification of the people and the sanctuary was only partial. Josiah made sure that this purification was thorough and complete.
Behind that care lay a settled conviction about Scripture. One writer states it plainly:
Israel's condition had changed for the worse, but no change had come over "the Word of the Lord by Moses." The truth of God is always the same. Faith shapes its way by that truth, and by nothing else... There was not one way for Moses and another way for Josiah, but God's way for both.
The Passover itself lasted one day. The seven days named here belong to the feast joined to it. Two rules governed that week, and each one carried a meaning.
No work and no leaven were the divine rules for the week of the Passover. No work, because the great work of Calvary was in view (as a picture), and no human effort may stand alongside it. Christ is not a mere helper of sinners who makes up for what they lack. He is Saviour, and He does all that is needed to save us from eternal ruin.
One writer explains what leaven pictures, then applies those seven days to the whole of a believer's life:
No leaven, because all through the Scriptures leaven suggests evil. In 1 Corinthians 5 the apostle applies these instructions to Christians, and he has in mind the whole life of believers in Jesus. Israel's seven days of unleavened bread picture the whole period of our "sojourning here" (1 Peter 1:17). We are to keep ourselves free from everything that leaven suggests, not only on the first day of the week, but every day in every week in every year. All that is hateful to God, and which cost His beloved Son His precious life, must have no place at all in our lives.
Writers find the glory of this Passover not in the size of the crowd, but in its setting.
What threw such a halo of glory around Josiah's Passover? We believe it was the fruit of holy and reverent obedience to the Word of God in the middle of abounding ruin and corruption, error and confusion. The dark background of the nation's condition threw into relief the activity of faith in an obedient and devoted heart.
- Word first. Josiah took his standard from Scripture, not from the state of the people around him. God's instructions for the Passover had never changed.
- Remnant next. Only those "who were present" could come, yet that small gathering under the blood was precious to God.
- Faith wider. Josiah still spoke to the whole of Israel. He went by God's revealed mind about His people, not by what he could see.
- Seven days after. No work, because Christ's work needs no human help. No leaven, because leaven pictures evil, and a whole life must stay clear of what cost Him His life.
- Glory last. Obedience in the middle of ruin is what threw a halo of glory around this Passover — a precious lesson for our own day.
And there was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel hold such a passover as Josiah held, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The chapter closes its account of Josiah's Passover with a verdict that reaches back past every king of Israel to the days of Samuel. Why was this feast, kept as the nation neared its end, greater than any kept in its best days?
Chronicles measures two revivals by how far back you must go to find their equal.
It was a dark day in Israel's history when Hezekiah kept his Passover. But to find a parallel to Hezekiah's revival we have to go back two hundred and fifty years to the days of Solomon. It was a yet darker day when Josiah kept his Passover. Yet his revival was so bright that even the glorious days of Solomon offered no such testimony. To find a parallel we have to go back five hundred years, to the days of Samuel the prophet.
The difference lay in exact obedience. Josiah would not let the shortcuts of earlier reigns set his standard.
This Passover differed from all that had gone before because both king and people carefully observed the Word of the Lord. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon about the ordinances of divine worship. Josiah was determined to carry all of it out. He did not let the failures and shortcomings of earlier days influence things now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; but Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the purification of the people and the sanctuary was only partial. Josiah made sure the purification was thorough and complete.
That obedience shone all the brighter because of what surrounded it.
What threw such a halo of glory around Josiah's Passover? We believe it was the fruit of holy and reverent obedience to the Word of God, in the middle of abounding ruin and corruption, error and confusion. The dark background of the nation's condition threw into relief the activities of faith in an obedient and devoted heart.
The verse does not praise the king alone. It lists the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there, and the people of Jerusalem — a whole company restored to its proper work.
What a picture! King, princes, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, all Israel, Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — all gathered together, all in their true place and at their appointed work, "according to the word of the Lord." And all this "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah." The entire Jewish system was then on the very edge of collapse… Unbelief will draw an excuse from the condition of things around it to lower the standard, to loosen the grip, to slacken the pace, to lower the tone. Faith says "No!"… The failure is ours: the standard is God's.
The words "who were present" hint at how few were left.
In Josiah's day the nation was broken. Gentile powers had carried large numbers of the people away from the land. Only a remnant was left. But it was very precious to the Lord to see them coming together at that late moment in the nation's history. They came to place themselves once more, in their danger and need, under the shelter of the blood of the lamb.
Writers repeatedly draw the same lesson: the date of this feast is the point. It came last, not first.
Is it not perfectly magnificent to see, in the days of Josiah, when the whole Jewish system was on the very edge of collapse, the celebration of a Passover exceeding in its blessedness any that had ever been kept from the days of Samuel the prophet? Does it not prove to our poor, narrow, unbelieving hearts that there is no limit to the grace of God, and no limit to the range of faith?
The verse praises what was done. One writer looks under the surface, and at what Josiah did next.
The reformation, therefore, was remarkably complete in appearance. Sadly, what was beneath the surface was corrupt and vile. That was not true of Josiah, nor of certain godly ones who gathered in sympathy around the king, but of the mass of the people. And Josiah himself shows, after this, the usual failure of man, for he goes out unbidden against the king of Egypt.
- Darkest. Josiah kept this feast on a darker day than Hezekiah's, with the whole nation close to collapse.
- Obeyed. Its greatness lay in careful obedience: the first month, not the second; complete purification, not partial.
- Gathered. King, priests, Levites, Judah, Israel and Jerusalem all stood in their true place. The failure was theirs; the standard stayed God's.
- Sheltered. Only a remnant remained, yet God valued their coming under the blood of the lamb at that late hour.
- Surpassed. No Passover since Samuel's day matched it. That proves there is no limit to the grace of God, and no limit to the range of faith.
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover holden.
Two verses earlier the record says no Passover like this had been kept since the days of Samuel the prophet. This verse adds the date. That unequalled feast fell in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign. Why does one year carry so much weight? And what made this Passover greater than any before it?
The date is not filler. Two events share this one year.
This year was one of the most memorable, not only in the history of Josiah, but in the annals of Israel. It was marked by two great facts: the discovery of the book of the law, and the celebration of the feast of the Passover.
The feast did not come first. Years of hard work came before it.
The purging of the land and of the temple took a considerable time. The king was right to feel that people must worship Jehovah in pure surroundings... In Josiah's day the land was full of detestable things. There were the idols themselves, and also the filthy practices that always go with idolatry. It seems it took eight years of energetic action to clear all this away. Josiah let no evil pass if he could prevent it. But he could not look into the hearts of the people. Sadly, many of them still loved these evils. The order Josiah followed teaches us. First he purged the land and the temple. Next he "repaired the house of the LORD his God." Then he felt ready to call the people together to keep the feast.
Hezekiah had kept a Passover before him. The difference between the two lay in the details.
One thing made this Passover different from all that had gone before it. Both king and people carefully obeyed the Word of Jehovah. God had spoken through Moses, David and Solomon about the ordinances of divine worship. Josiah was determined to carry it all out. He did not let the failures and shortcomings of earlier days shape what he did now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; but Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the purifying of the people and the sanctuary went only part of the way. Josiah made sure it was thorough and complete.
Two things stand behind this date: what Josiah had just read, and what was coming on Judah.
In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah, like his great-grandfather Hezekiah, kept the Passover. No doubt the reading of the law had made this feast an urgent necessity once more... So at the appointed time, on the fourteenth day of the first month, they kept the memorial feast. It was the last one before the house of Judah was carried into captivity. The godly king did it all "according to the word of the LORD" — "as it is written in the Book of Moses." It was obedience to the Word. And such obedience is needed in the days of decline in the professing Church. It is this which pleases God.
This feast came in a dark time, not a golden one.
It was a dark day in Israel's history when Hezekiah kept his Passover. But to find a parallel to Hezekiah's revival we have to go back two hundred and fifty years to the days of Solomon (2 Chron. 30:26). It was a still darker day when Josiah kept his Passover. Yet his revival was so bright that even the best days of Solomon offered no such testimony. To find a parallel we have to go back five hundred years, to the days of Samuel the prophet (2 Chron. 35:18).
One writer follows the same line on to the returned captives in Nehemiah's day.
As the darkness increases, so does the blessing of the soul that is faithful to God... the Passover kept in the days of Josiah surpassed any since the days of Samuel. And what of the feast in Nehemiah's day, which the returned captives held after they finished the wall of the city? It excelled any since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun; "and there was very great gladness"... So, whatever the difficulty, the believer who does God's will in the days of decline has joy as deep as in the first days, when all was as God set it up.
The story does not end on this high note. The next verse opens with "After all this."
Thirteen years passed between the Passover Josiah kept and this closing incident of his life. The divine record passes over them in complete silence. Yet the words "After all this" bring the two events together and set them in moral contrast. We may well ask the reason. He was born to do this great reforming work, and it reached its highest point of success in the eighteenth year of his reign. The disaster that closed his life seems to have overshadowed it, if not undone it.
- Word — One year, two great facts: the discovery of the book of the law and the celebration of the Passover. Reading the law made the feast urgent again.
- Cleansing — Eight years of clearing idols and repairing the house came first. Worship followed purification, not the reverse.
- Written — Care made it unequalled. Josiah kept it in the first month, exactly as God had said through Moses, David and Solomon — the last Passover before Judah's captivity.
- Height — The darker the day, the brighter the obedience. Hezekiah's feast had no parallel since Solomon, Josiah's none since Samuel, Nehemiah's none since Joshua. Faithfulness in decline loses nothing of the joy.
- Sequel — "After all this" follows this high point, then a death that overshadowed the reform. A peak reached is not a peak kept.