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Dave Burnette's Commentary

2 Chronicles Chapter 35

 

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Ezra
Date Penned: (430 BC)
Overview: A History of God's Chosen People (c 1-36)
Theme: The Kingdom of Judah (c 10-36)
Message: Josiah Proclaims a Celebration of the Passover (1-33)

2 Chronicles 35 Commentary 

(35:3) The Ark is Housed in the Temple - In Moses' day, one of the duties of the Levites was to carry the ark of the covenant whenever Israel traveled. "Put the holy ark in the house" implies that it may have been moved during the reigns of the previous evil kings, Manasseh and Amon. The ark was now permanently housed in the temple and would no longer be carried about in procession as it had been in the wilderness. Josiah was telling the Levites that they were now free to take on other responsibilities (1 Chronicles 24).


(3515) The Porters - The temple porters (or gatekeepers), who were all Levites, guarded the four main entrances to the temple and opened the gates each morning. They also did other day-to-day chores, such as cleaning and preparing the offerings for sacrifice and accounting for the gifts given to the temple. (For more on the porters, see 1 Chronicles 26.)


(35:17) The Feast of Unleavened Bread - The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven-day celebration beginning the day after Passover. Like Passover, it commemorated the exodus from Egypt. For seven days the people would eat bread made without yeast (Exodus 12:14-20). Their ancestors had eaten unleavened bread on the eve of their hurried departure from Egypt because it could be made quickly--since they did not have to wait for the dough to rise--and they could leave at any time. This feast reminded the people that they had left slavery behind and had come to the land God had promised them.


(35:20)  Josiah is Killed - This event occurred in 609 BC. Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, had been destroyed three years earlier by the Babylonians. The defeated Assyrians regrouped at Haran and Charchemish, but Babylon sent its army to destroy them once and for all. Pharaoh Necho, who wanted to make Egypt a world power, was worried about Babylon's growing strength, so he marched his army north through Judah to help the Assyrians at Charchemish. But King Josiah of Judah tried to prevent Necho from passing through his land on his way to Charchemish. Josiah was killed, and Judah became subject to Egypt. (Second Kings 23:25-30 helps explain the tragedy. Even though Josiah followed the Lord, God did not turn from his judgment on Judah because of Manasseh's sin and Judah's superficial repentance.) Necho went on to Charchemish and held off the Babylonians for four years, but in 605 he was soundly defeated, and Babylon moved into the spotlight as the dominant world power.


(35:21-24) A Missed Message - Josiah ignored Necho's message because of who Necho was--the king of a pagan nation. The mistaken assumption that Necho could not be part of God's larger plan cost Josiah his life. While not everyone who claims to have a message from God really does, God's messages may come in unexpected ways. God had communicated with pagan kings in the past (Genesis 12:17-20; 20:3-7; Daniel 4:1-3). Don't let prejudice or false assumptions blind you to a message from God.


(35:25) Laments For Joaish - Though Jeremiah recorded these laments for the death of Josiah, they are not the same as the book of Lamentations.


Dave Burnette's Life Application

Steps to Victory

 Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we Continue in the book of 2 Chronicles with Chapter 35 and we see Josiah keeping the Passover and later dies in battle. What catches my eye is how Josiah ignored the word of Necho because he was a ungodly King which cost him His own life. In making application we see how God uses the just and unjust to accomplish His Will. As Christians we need to not try to figure out the Lord's plan but rather simply be obedient to His Steps and His Works in our lives. Many times we will only be obedient if we know all the details but waiting to figure things out could cost us our steps to victory. How about you? Do you see how we are to be obedient even when we don't understand the completed plan of our Lord? Let us learn from our text today and the life of Josiah to remember to be obedient even when we don't understand the completed plan of our Lord.

 

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2 Chronicles 35

2 Chronicles 35

 1Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

 2And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,

 3And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,

 4And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

 5And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.

 6So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

 7And Josiah 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.

 8And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen.

 9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

 10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.

 11And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.

 12And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

 13And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.

 14And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

 15And 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 porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

 16So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

 17And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

 18And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

 19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

 20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

 21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

 22Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

 23And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.

 24His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

 25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

 26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

 27And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.