2 Chronicles 35:1-19
Josiah Keeps the Passover (2 Kings 23:21–23)
1 Now Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 And he set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service of the house of the LORD. 3 Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD: “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses, according to your divisions, following the written instruction of David king of Israel and the written instruction of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brethren the lay people, and according to the division of the father’s house of the Levites. 6 So slaughter the Passover offerings, consecrate yourselves, and prepare them for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.”
7 Then Josiah gave the lay people lambs and young goats from the flock, all for Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, as well as three thousand cattle; these were from the king’s possessions. 8 And his leaders gave willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred from the flock, and three hundred cattle. 9 Also Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings five thousand from the flock and five hundred cattle.
10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king’s command. 11 And they slaughtered the Passover offerings; and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hands, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the cattle. 13 Also they roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the ordinance; but the other holy offerings they boiled in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly among all the lay people. 14 Then afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering burnt offerings and fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places, according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. Also the gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not have to leave their position, because their brethren the Levites prepared portions for them.
16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
Josiah celebrated the remembrance of the deliverance of the LORD (Exodus 12:23, 27) when He passed over the death of Israel’s firstborn in Egypt when protected by the blood of the lamb on their dwellings. We now likewise should rejoice and celebrate Jesus Christ who is our Passover Lamb of God (Isaiah 53:7, 1 Corinthians 5:7) for His deliverance of us from the wrath of God on our sin in a similar manner. We do this by daily thanksgiving and proclamation of the good news of His grace on the doorways of our lives passed over from judgment and also as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper of communion with Him as the disciples celebrated in advance by partaking of the Lamb slain for them at the Passover meal (Luke 22:7-8, 19-20) in the upper room before His sacrifice of Himself as the Lamb of God slain for the sins (John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Revelation 13:8) of all who come to Him in repentance and faith. King Josiah must have had some understanding of the implications of the Passover which the Scriptures told of in Egypt that Isaiah spoke of, but even if he had no idea of what was to come, the Spirit of God moved him to thankful celebration of the deliverance from the bondage in Egypt that was also freedom from sin’s bondage on us all. Josiah had the Ark of God’s co promises put in the most holy place in God’s house by the hands of the priests as our Lord put Himself on the mercy seat for us as His house built for worship (Hebrews 4:16, 1 Peter 2:4-5) with the same joy (1 Peter 1:8-9, 10), inexpressible and full of glory. Josiah gave the lambs to the individual people to offer as Passover offering to be sprinkled with their blood in remembrance of the Passover lamb’s lifeblood on the doorways just as Christ the Lamb of God gave His own blood to apply to our lives, marking us as kept from death by His own offered in our place. Such a wonderful mystery revealed in due time through the scriptures! Here we read that “There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet,” and we now keep the true Passover in Jesus Christ as only intimated then and should keep our remembrance of His salvation for us through His blood ever in our hearts and souls to express in even more unlimited joy than that of the time recorded here in return, as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1, Galatians 2:20) conforming (Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18) to be like Him in holiness and with joy inexpressible and full of His glory. Remember the Lord’s deliverance!
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