2 Chronicles 35
Josiah keeps Passover
Josiah kept the Passover for the Existing One in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them to serve the Existing One’s house. The Levites who were set apart for the Existing One and taught Israel, and Josiah told them, “Put the holy ark in the temple house that Solomon (King David’s son) built. Don’t carry it on your shoulders. Serve the Existing One your God and his people Israel. Group yourselves by your ancestors like Israel’s King David and Solomon (his son) ordered. Then stand in the Holy Place according to your groups, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Dedicate yourselves and prepare your brothers to follow the instructions the Existing One gave through Moses.”
Then Josiah gave the common people a total of 30,000 young lambs and goats plus 3,000 bulls from his own wealth. His officials also willingly gave to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel (the chief officers of God’s house) gave the priests 2,600 lambs and 300 bulls for the Passover offerings. Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and the Levite chiefs Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad gave 5,000 lambs and goats plus 500 bulls for the Passover offerings.
When everything was prepared for the service, the priests and Levites took their positions like the king had ordered. They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests threw the blood while the Levites cut the meat. They set aside the burnt offerings to be distributed among the common people according to their patriarchs like Moses’s book describes. That’s what they did with the bull meat. And they roasted the Passover lamb following procedure and boiled the sacred offerings in pots, cauldrons, and pans, quickly distributing them to the common people. Afterward they prepared for themselves and the priests since the priests were performing burnt offerings until nightfall. So the Levites prepared for themselves and the priests. The singers (Asaph’s descendants) were in their places following orders from David, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun (the king’s seer). The gatekeepers kept watch at each gate; they didn’t need to leave since their Levite brothers prepared offerings for them.
So everything was prepared for the Existing One’s service that day in order to keep the Passover and offer burnt offerings on the altar just like King Josiah had commanded. And the Israelites who were there kept the Passover and the No-Yeast Bread Feast for seven days. Israel hadn’t seen a Passover like this since Samuel the prophet was alive. None of Israel’s kings had kept a Passover like this one held by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. This Passover took place in the 18th year of Josiah’s reign.
Josiah battles Egypt against God’s warning, dies
After all of this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Egypt’s King Neco went to fight Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went to meet him. He sent envoys saying, “What do you want from me, king of Judah? You’re not the one I want to fight today—I’m fighting another country who’s at war with me. And God ordered me to hurry. Don’t challenge God who is on my side, or he might destroy you.” Nevertheless, Josiah didn’t back down, but instead disguised himself intending to fight him. He didn’t listen to the words God spoke through Neco, but instead went to fight in the Megiddo plain where the archers shot him. The king told his servants, “Take me away, because I am badly wounded.” So his servants swapped out his chariot and took him back to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his forefathers. All of Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah wrote a lament for him, and all the singers still include them in their laments to this day. They made these laments a norm in Israel, and they are recorded in the Laments. The rest of Josiah’s history including all the ways he followed the Law, his good deeds, and all his actions are recorded in the Book of Kings.