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2
Chronicles Chapter Thirty-five
2 Chronicles 35
Chapter Contents
The passover kept by Josiah. (1-19) Josiah slain in
battle. (20-27)
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 35:1-19
(Read 2 Chronicles 35:1-19)
The destruction Josiah made of idolatry, was more largely
related in the book of Kings. His solemnizing the passover is related here. The
Lord's supper resembles the passover more than any other of the Jewish
festivals; and the due observance of that ordinance, is a proof of growing
piety and devotion. God alone can truly make our hearts holy, and prepare them
for his holy services; but there are duties belonging to us, in doing which we
obtain this blessing from the Lord.
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 35:20-27
(Read 2 Chronicles 35:20-27)
The Scripture does not condemn Josiah's conduct in
opposing Pharaoh. Yet Josiah seems to deserve blame for not inquiring of the
Lord after he was warned; his death might be a rebuke for his rashness, but it
was a judgment on a hypocritical and wicked people. He that lives a life of
repentance, faith, and obedience, cannot be affected by the sudden manner in
which he is removed. The people lamented him. Many mourn over sufferings, who
will not forsake the sins that caused God to send them. Yet this alone can turn
away judgments. If we blame Josiah's conduct, we should be watchful, lest we be
cut down in a way dishonourable to our profession.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Chronicles》
2 Chronicles 35
Verse 3
[3] And
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,
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
out to the utmost, both for the honour and glory of God, and for the benefit of
his people, not as having dominion over their faith, but as helpers of their
holiness and joy.
Verse 5
[5] And 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.
Stand —
Or, minister, (as that word is frequently used) in the court of the priests.
According —
According to the several families both of the people, whom he calls their
brethren, lest they should despise them, or grudge to serve them, and of the
Levites. For the passover was to be eaten by the several families according to
their numbers, and therefore he commands these persons, that when the paschal
lambs were brought to them to be killed, they might so order the matter, that
they might be distributed to the several families whether of the Levitical or
other tribes.
Verse 8
[8] And
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.
Princes —
Not the political, but ecclesiastical princes, or the chief of the priests and
Levites, whose names here follow.
Levites —
For the use of any of the families of them, as need should be. For they
supposed the thirty thousand which the king had given were not sufficient for
all the families.
Verse 12
[12] And
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.
Removed —
Some of the lesser cattle; for these also might be offered as burnt-offerings, Leviticus 1:10, and hence it may seem that all
these small cattle were not given for paschal-lambs, but were to be offered as
burnt-offerings for the people. And these they put apart lest they should be
confounded with them which were for another use; and, that they might not be
hindered from that which was their present work, that they might give, the
paschal-lambs or kids.
To offer —
These words may belong to the last words, and to the paschal-lambs, which they
were first to offer to the Lord, by killing them and sprinkling the blood, and
then to give to the people; though the giving be here mentioned before the
offering, such transpositions being usual in scripture.
Oxen — As
they did with the lesser cattle; they removed those oxen which were to be
offered as burnt-offerings, from those which were to be offered as
peace-offerings.
Verse 18
[18] And 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.
Like to that —
The whole solemnity was performed exactly according to the law, whereas in
Hezekiah's passover there were several irregularities: likewise Josiah
furnished the whole congregation with beasts for sacrifice at his own charge,
which no king ever did before him.
Verse 20
[20]
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came
up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
After all —
When he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a
lasting happiness laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men often
mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God's providence.
Verse 21
[21] But
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.
The house —
Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. It
is at thy peril, if thou engage against one who has both a better army, and a
better cause and God on his side.
Verse 22
[22]
Nevertheless 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.
Hearkened not —
How can we think to prosper in our ways, if we do not acknowledge God in them!
Verse 25
[25] And
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.
To this day — In
all their succeeding lamentations for their publick calamities, they remembered
Josiah's death as their first and fatal blow, which opened the flood-gates to
all their following miseries.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Chronicles》
35 Chapter 35
Verses 1-27
Verse 2
And encouraged them.
Cheer up, my comrades
The first thing is to get every man into his proper place; the
next thing is for every man to have a good spirit in his present place so as to
occupy it worthily. At this time it shall not be my business to arrange you,
but assuming that it is well for you to keep where you are, my object shall be
to encourage you to do your work for the Lord without’ being cast down. I will
speak--
I. To those who
think they can do nothing.
II. To workers who
are laid aside.
III. To those who
are much discouraged because they have but small talent.
IV. To workers who
are under great difficulties.
V. To those who
are not appreciated.
VI. To those who
are discouraged because they have had so little success. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Encouragement
“I never should have reached success,” Lord Beaconsfield once
wrote, “had it not been for one woman who, in the darkest hour, believed I
could win, and cheered me on.”
Verse 21
For God commanded me to make haste.
Spiritual haste
Haste is not hurry. Hurry implies confusion and disorder. It is
not the same with speed.
I. What it refers
to. We should not err were we to apply it to the duties of relative and secular
life. It applies particularly--
1. To the salvation of the soul.
2. To a course of godliness.
3. To labour for the welfare of others (Proverbs 3:27-28).
II. On what it is
founded.
1. The importance of the thing itself.
2. The limitation of our opportunities.
3. This only season is short. (W. Jay.)
Verse 24-25
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot.
The lamentation for Josiah
I. The nature and
quality of the lamentation.
1. Extensively. All Judah and Jerusalem.
2. Intensively. Bitter lamentation.
3. Protensively. Of long duration, “an ordinance in Israel.”
II. The cause and
ground of it. The loss of a good leader whose life had been useful.
III. Doctrine. That
faithful, active, and public-spirited men in the Church of God should not be
laid in their graves without great lamentations. In replication I will show--
1. Negatively. On what account the death of good men is not to be
lamented.
2. Positively. The true grounds and causes of such lamentation.
(a) In a declining state of religion.
(b) When the numbers of the godly are thinned and lessened.
(c) When the spring and succession of good men is obstructed.
Application. This reproves--
1. The worst of men, such as secretly rejoice at the removal of such
men.
2. The insensibleness of good men, who are apt too slightly to pass
over such tremendous strokes of. God (Isaiah 57:1).
3. The very best of men, who though they do bewail and lament the
loss of such men, yet they do not lament it in the due manner. (John Flavel.)
The death and burial of Josiah
1. That the best of men may err in judgment and in act.
2. The danger of undertaking any work without asking counsel of the
Lord.
3. How universal is the reign of death.
4. That we should be cautious how we attribute sudden and violent
death to the vengeance of the Most High.
5. That it is not wrong to mourn for the dead. (J. S.
Wilkins, B.A.)
The death of Josiah
I. What the people
of God did upon the death of Josiah.
1. There was a general mourning for him.
2. The prophet Jeremiah made a particular office for it.
3. This office was used among others upon the day of lamentation.
4. This use was established by a law upon Israel, which was observed
till the end of the Babylonian Captivity.
II. The reasons of
their doing it.
1. Because it was caused by their sins.
2. Because it was a punishment for their sins. (Bishop W.
Lloyd.)
A nation’s tears
Why does the Jewish nation now weep over Josiah? The
reasons are:
I. The great
national loss which the event involved. Josiah was a prince--
1. Of a reflective nature. His mind was in the quest of the highest
truth.
2. Of a tender spirit.
3. Of reformative disposition.
II. The sad memory
of the moral cause of the calamity.
III. The terribly
distressing mystery associated with the dispensation. Josiah was the most
useful man of his age; yet he dies at thirty-nine. Mystery though it be, it
teaches us--
1. That Heaven’s government is no respecter of persons.
2. The irresistibility of death.
3. That there is nothing on this fleeting earth on which we should
set our hearts.
4. That there must be an after life. (Homilist.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》