Moreover, Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem,.... Where only it was to be kept:

and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month; the month Nisan, as the Targum, which was the exact time of killing the passover lamb, according to the law of Moses, Exodus 12:6, in the Vulgate Latin version of the Apocrypha in:"And Josias held the feast of the passover in Jerusalem unto his Lord, and offered the passover the fourteenth day of the first month;'' (1 Esdras 1:1)it is called the fourteenth moon of the first month; a phrase often used in ecclesiastical writers, when speaking of the time of the passover; and so we now call one of the days of the week "dies lunae", Monday.

2 Chronicles 35:1 contains the superscription-like statement, that Josiah held a passover to the Lord; and they held the passover in the 14th day of the first month, consequently at the time fixed in the law. It happened otherwise under Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30:2, 2 Chronicles 30:13, and 2 Chronicles 30:15). With 2 Chronicles 35:2 commences the description of the festival: and first we have the preparations, the appointment of the priests and Levites to perform the various services connected with the festival (2 Chronicles 35:2-6), and the procuring of the necessary beasts for sacrifice (2 Chronicles 35:10-15); then the offering of the sacrifices and the preparation of the meals (2 Chronicles 35:10-15); and finally the characterization of the whole festival (2 Chronicles 35:16-19).

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

(a) The scripture in various places calls the lamb the passover even though it is only the sign of the passover for in all sacraments the signs have the names of the things signified.

Margin first month

i.e. April.

CHAPTER 35

2Ch 35:1-19. Josiah Keeps a Solemn Passover.

1-3. Moreover Josiah kept a passover-(See on [477]2Ki 23:21). The first nine verses give an account of the preparations made for the celebration of the solemn feast [2Ch 35:1-9]. The day appointed by the law was kept on this occasion (compare 2Ch 30:2, 13). The priests were ranged in their courses and exhorted to be ready for their duties in the manner that legal purity required (compare 2Ch 29:5). The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded (2Ch 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 (2Ch 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.

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.