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.