2 Chronicles Chapter 35

“Moreover, Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem, etc.] Where only it was to be kept: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month; the month Nisan, as the Targum, which was the exact time of killing the passover lamb, according to the law of Moses, (<021206>Exodus 12:6), in the Vulgate Latin version of the Apocrypha in: ''And Josias held the feast of the passover in Jerusalem unto his Lord, and offered the passover the fourteenth day of the first month;” (1 Esdras 1:1) it is called the fourteenth moon of the first month; a phrase often used in ecclesiastical writers, when…”

“JOSIAH KEEPS A SOLEMN PASSOVER. (2Ch. 35:1-19) Moreover Josiah kept a passover--(See on Kg2 23:21). The first nine verses give an account of the preparations made for the celebration of the solemn feast [Ch2 35:1-9]. The day appointed by the law was kept on this occasion (compare Ch2 30:2, Ch2 30:13). The priests were ranged in their courses and exhorted to be ready for their duties in the manner that legal purity required (compare Ch2 29:5). The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded (Ch2 35:3) to "put the holy ark in the house which…”

“Put the holy ark etc - The ark of the covenant may have been temporarily removed from the holy of holies while Josiah effected necessary repairs. It shall not be a burden upon your shoulders - The removing and replacing the ark Josiah means “shall not henceforth be your duty. The ark shall remain undisturbed in the holy of holies. You shall return to your old employments, to the service of God and the instruction of the people.” return to 'Top of Page'”

“The house - In the holy of holies. Whence, it may seem, it had been removed, by some of the wicked kings of Judah, possibly by Josiah's father Amon. A burden - Or, that it might not be a burden, so these words are to be joined with the former, as the reason why Solomon built this house, that the ark might have a constant and fixed habitation, and not need to be carried from place to place upon their shoulders, as it had been done while it was in the tabernacle. Ministers must look upon themselves as servants both to Christ, and to the people, for his sake. They must take care and take pains, and lay themselves…”

“35:3 The holy Ark might have been removed from the Temple during the apostasy of Manasseh or Amon.”

“Josiah: The whole solemnity was performed with great exactness according to the law, and upon that account there was none like it since Samuel's time; for even in Hezekiah's passover there were several irregularities. Bp. Patrick observes, that in this also it exceeded the other passovers which preceding things had kept, that though Josiah was by no means so rich as David, or Solomon, or Jehoshaphat, yet he furnished the congregation with beasts for sacrifice, both paschal and eucharistical, at his own proper cost and charge, which was more than any king ever did before. 2Chr. 30:1-27; Kg2 23:21-23 the…”

“The solemnization of the passover. - To ratify the renewal of the covenant, and to confirm the people in the communion with the Lord into which it had entered by the making of the covenant, Josiah, immediately after the finding of the book of the law and the renewal of the covenant, appointed a solemn passover to be held at the legal time, which is only briefly mentioned in Kg2 23:21-23, but in the Chronicle is minutely described. Ch2 35:1 Ch2 35:1 contains the superscription-like statement, that Josiah held a passover to the Lord; and they held the passover in the 14th day of the first month, consequently at the…”