2. Chronik 35:23 Kommentar

We are here to attend Josiah, I. To the temple, where we see his religious care for the due observance of the ordinance of the passover, according to the law (v. 1-19). II. To the field of battle, where we see his rashness in engaging with the king of Egypt, and how dearly it cost him (Ch2 35:20-23). III. To the grave, where we see him bitterly lamented (Ch2 35:24-27). And so we must take our leave of Josiah.

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 35 In this chapter we have an account of the keeping of the passover and its preparation, for which the priests and Levites were ordered to prepare, and to which Josiah, and his princes, gave liberally, and such an one was kept as had not been for ages past, Ch2 35:1, and of Josiah's rash engagement in battle with the king of Egypt, in which he was slain, Ch2 35:20 and of the great lamentations that were made for him, Ch2 35:24.

And his servants therefore took him out of that chariot,.... Dead, and had him to Jerusalem, and buried him; See Gill on Kg2 23:30, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; he having been so good a king, so tender of them, and such an happy instrument in restoring the true religion, and the service of God; this was the sense of the generality of them, who were sincere in their mourning; but it is not improbable that those who were inclined to idolatry were secretly glad, though they dissembled mourning with the rest.

Finally, Josiah is killed by Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, because he would not listen to the words of the Lord from the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, or, as it is written in the Paralipomenon: “Josiah would not return but prepared to fight against him and did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God.” And it is stated, “And he died and was buried in the monument of his ancestors. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him, particularly Jeremiah, whose lamentations for Josiah all the singing men and singing women repeat to this day. And it became like a law in Israel: ‘Behold, it is found written in the Lamentations.’ ”

It is true that in the holy Scriptures many are called righteous, as Zachariah and Elizabeth, Job, Jehosaphat, Josiah, and many others who are mentioned in the sacred writings. Of this fact I shall, if God gives me grace, give a full explanation in the work that I have promised; in this letter it must suffice to say that they are called righteous, not because they are faultless but because their faults are eclipsed by their virtues. In fact Zachariah is punished with dumbness, Job is condemned out of his own mouth, and Jehoshaphat and Josiah who are beyond a doubt described as righteous are narrated to have done things displeasing to the Lord. The first aligned himself with the ungodly Ahab and brought on himself the rebuke of Micaiah; and the second, though forbidden by the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, went against Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, and was killed by him.

Josiah celebrates a passover, Ch2 35:1; regulates the courses of the priests; assigns them, the Levites, and the people, their portions; and completes the greatest passover ever celebrated since the days of Solomon, vv. 2-19. Pharaoh Necho passes with his army through Judea, Ch2 35:20. Josiah meets and fights with him at Megiddo, and is mortally wounded, Ch2 35:21-23. He is carried to Jerusalem, where he dies, Ch2 35:24. Jeremiah laments for him, Ch2 35:25. Of his acts and deeds, and where recorded, Ch2 35:26, Ch2 35:27.

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 Solomon did build." Their duty was to transport the ark from place to place according to circumstances. Some think that it had been ignominiously put away from the sanctuary by order of some idolatrous king, probably Manasseh, who set a carved image in the house of God (Ch2 33:7), or Amon; while others are of opinion that it had been temporarily removed by Josiah himself into some adjoining chamber, during the repairs on the temple. In replacing it, the Levites had evidently carried it upon their shoulders, deeming that still to be the duty which the law imposed on them. But Josiah reminded them of the change of circumstances. As the service of God was now performed in a fixed and permanent temple, they were not required to be bearers of the ark any longer; and, being released from the service, they should address themselves with the greater alacrity to the discharge of other functions.