Chapter Thirty-Five

(see 2 Kgs 23:21-30).

1–6. The celebration of Passover under Josiah according to the law of Jehovah and according to the statutes of David and Solomon. 7–17. The abundance of Passover sacrifices. 15–19. The participation of singers in the celebration, a general remark about the exceptional solemnity of the Passover under Josiah. 20–27. Josiah’s death in battle with the Egyptian pharaoh, the grief of the people, and the mournful song of the prophet Jeremiah.

2 Chronicles 35:1. And Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 Chronicles 35:2. And he set the priests in their positions and encouraged them concerning the service of the house of the Lord, 2 Chronicles 35:3. and he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the Lord: Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built; you need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel; 2 Chronicles 35:4. Stand in your positions according to your divisions, according to the direction of David, king of Israel, and according to the direction of Solomon his son, 2 Chronicles 35:5. and stand in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the families of your kinfolk, the children of the people, and according to the divisions of the Levites, 2 Chronicles 35:6. and slaughter the Passover lamb, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare it for your brothers, according to the word of the Lord by Moses. The celebration of Passover under Josiah is devoted to only 3 verses in 2 Kings (2 Kgs 23:21-23); in 2 Chronicles it is described in great detail (verses 1–19), which fully corresponds to the exceptional solemnity of this festival under Josiah noted by both books (according to (2 Kgs 23:22) “no Passover like it had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah”; according to (2 Chr 35:18) “no Passover like this had been kept in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept.” Of course, there is no need to insist on strict literalist precision of these remarks in application to the entire previous history of Israel). The greater detail of the account in 2 Chronicles is already evident in the indication (verse 1) of the day of the celebration of Passover: the 14th of Nisan, that is, on the day appointed for this by the law of Moses (Exod 12:6; Lev 23:5; Num 23:16). Then there follows the organization by Josiah of the priestly and Levitical orders (verses 2, 4–5) and an instruction to the Levites to put the ark of the covenant in its place in the Temple (verse 3). “But we must ask,” remarks Saint Theodoret, “how, when the ark of the covenant was inside in the Holy of Holies, did Josiah instruct the Levites to sanctify themselves in order to place the holy ark in the house of God? This, it seems, means the following (remark): ‘And they set the holy ark in the house which Solomon son of David built.’ I for my part believe that either the Assyrian, when he took the city under Manasseh, took the ark out, or one of the impious kings after Hezekiah did so—Manasseh or Amon—and then Josiah, learning of this circumstance, restored the ark to its place.” (Quaestiones in II Paralipomenon. Patrologia Graeca, T. 80, Col. 855–856). Some rabbis, on the contrary, arbitrarily interpreted Josiah’s words in verse 3 as an order to put the ark away—in view of impending dangers from the Chaldeans—in one of the annexes of Solomon’s Temple. The text, on the contrary, clearly speaks of the restoration of the ark to the Temple from some other place. Such a temporary abode of the ark was considered by some to be either some secret place in the Temple itself among its annexes, or else some private house (for example, the house of Shallum, the husband of the prophetess Huldah). This, of course, is only a supposition, which should decidedly be preferred to the indication of the text of verse 3: from Josiah’s words to the Levites: “you need not carry it on your shoulders” it is evident that for some reason the ark had also been carried by the Levites, as it had been in the time of the wandering of the Hebrews in the wilderness (cf. Prof. Gulyaev, “Historical Books,” p. 582).

2 Chronicles 35:7. And Josiah gave to the people, all who were present, from the flocks, lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offering, thirty thousand in number, and three thousand cattle. These were from the king’s own property. 2 Chronicles 35:8. And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offering two thousand six hundred sheep, goats, and lambs, and three hundred cattle; 2 Chronicles 35:9. and Conaniah, Shemaiah, and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave five thousand sheep, goats, and lambs, and five hundred cattle to the Levites for the Passover offering. The entire sum of sacrifices offered at the Passover festival in the 18th year of Josiah’s reign and designated by the general name “Passover sacrifice” (Hebrew plural pesachim, verse 9) consisted (verses 7, 8, 9) of 37,600 animals from the small livestock (sheep and goats) and 3,800 from the large livestock, which significantly exceeded even the number of sacrifices during the Passover of Hezekiah (2 Chr 30).

2 Chronicles 35:10. And when the service was arranged, the priests stood in their places and the Levites in their courses according to the king’s command; 2 Chronicles 35:11. and they slaughtered the Passover lamb. And the priests sprinkled the blood, receiving it from the hands of the Levites, while the Levites flayed the animals; 2 Chronicles 35:12. and set apart the burnt offerings to give them according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the cattle. 2 Chronicles 35:13. And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance; and the holy offerings they boiled in pots, caldrons, and pans, and carried them quickly to all the people, 2 Chronicles 35:14. and afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were occupied in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. To skin the sacrificial animal was the duty of the priests (Lev 1:6), but in this case, because of the multitude of sacrifices, the Levites performed this task (verse 11), as was also the case at the celebration of Passover during Hezekiah (2 Chr 30). Overall, the account in 2 Chronicles 35 concerning the Passover of Josiah, in comparison with the data in the Pentateuch about Passover ((Exod 12:1-20), (Deut 16:1-8), etc.), presents considerable differences that bring this festival closer to post-exilic and generally later Jewish practice of its celebration. This concerns first and foremost the fact that in this case (verse 11), as also after, following the return of the Judeans from exile (Ezra 6:20), the slaughtering of Passover lambs is performed by Levites and priests, whereas according to the original ordinance of Moses concerning Passover, the slaughtering of the lamb was left to each individual family (Exod 12:6). In connection with this, in (2 Chr 35:11) it is specifically stated that the priests performed the sprinkling of blood in this sacrifice, that is, the specifically sacrificial significance of the Passover lamb is emphasized (see commentary on blood sprinkling in (Lev 1:5), “The Interpretive Bible,” vol. I, p. 411). In the Mishnah (tractate Pesachim, V, 5–6), the sprinkling of blood is also represented as a necessary element of the Passover sacrifice. The sacrificial character of Passover is brought out even more clearly in (2 Chr 35:6-9) in that the Passover lamb is placed in direct connection with the festive peace offerings, so-called in later times chagiga (from Heb. chag, “festival,” “festive,” that is, sacrifice; cf. Mishnah Pesachim VI, 3–4). The only lawful place for the slaughter of both Passover and festive offerings in later times was recognized to be the Temple court (Mishnah Pesachim, V, 8). And in (2 Chr 35:10) only this place is in view. At the basis of all these peculiarities of the celebration of Passover under Josiah lies the increased centralization in religious and national life under him of the importance of the Jerusalem Temple—as a result of the religious reform carried out by this king ((2 Kgs 23:4-20); cf. W. Nowack, Lehrbuch der hebraischen Archaologie, 2-ter Bd. 1894, pp. 172–175).

2 Chronicles 35:15. And the singers, the sons of Asaph, remained in their places according to the ordinance of David and Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king’s seer, and the gatekeepers at each gate; they did not need to leave their service, because their brothers the Levites prepared for them. In the Hebrew Masoretic text and in the Russian Synodal translation, the name seer (Heb. chozeh) is applied only to Jeduthun, while the LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Slavonic versions apply this honorable title to all three singers or psalmists, collaborators of David and creators of inspired hymns similar to his psalms.

2 Chronicles 35:17. And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. Concerning the duration of the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, see (Exod 12:15; Lev 23:6; Num 28:17).

2 Chronicles 35:18. No Passover like this had ever been kept in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; indeed, none of the kings of Israel kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 35:19. This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign. See (2 Kgs 23:22-23).

2 Chronicles 35:20. After all that Josiah had done for the house of God [and how King Josiah burned out the mediums, the wizards, the household idols, the images, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, to establish the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord—there was none like him before him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any arise after him like him. Yet the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”] Necho, king of Egypt, went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates; and Josiah went out to meet him. 2 Chronicles 35:21. And Necho sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; and God has commanded me to make haste. Cease opposing God, who is with me, or He will destroy you. 2 Chronicles 35:22. But Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him, and did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo. 2 Chronicles 35:23. And the archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants: Take me away, for I am severely wounded. 2 Chronicles 35:24. So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him in the other chariot that was his, and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 2 Chronicles 35:25. Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah; and all the singers and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, which have become customary in Israel, and they are recorded in the Book of Lamentations. The circumstances of Josiah’s death are described here in considerably more detail than in (2 Kgs 23:29-30), and indications are given of the unanimous grief with which the country, led by the prophet Jeremiah, honored the memory of the best of the kings of Judah. Concerning the location of Carchemish (verse 20, Onomasticon, 954), see the commentary to (2 Kgs 23:29) (“The Interpretive Bible,” vol. II, p. 573), where, however, this city is not named, and not without reason: the defeat of Pharaoh Necho by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish on the Euphrates occurred four years after Josiah’s death—in the fourth year of Jehoiakim king of Judah’s reign (Jer 46:2); at that time, Carchemish may not have been and probably was not the objective of Necho, who in general was directing his movement only toward the territories of Assyria (verse 21), with which Egypt had military conflicts continuously since the time of Sennacherib. The name Carchemish does not appear here (verse 20) in the accepted Greek text of the LXX, but only in codices 19, 108 in Holmes and in the Complutensian Bible, as well as in the Vulgate, Slavonic, and Russian texts. The accepted LXX text (verse 19), the Slavonic, and Russian Synodal translations (verse 20) have, compared to the Hebrew text, a large addition (in the Russian Synodal text in brackets), which in content corresponds to (2 Kgs 23:24-26), in form somewhat different from the biblical passage just mentioned, but probably borrowed from the latter, as suggests the apparently generalizing character of this addition. In this addition, it is said, among other things, that Josiah “burned... the idols and the groves” (LXX: τὰ καρησίμ). The latter word is clearly a mistake instead of κασησίμ; in codex 121, καδησείμ actually appears, which serves (for example, in (2 Kgs 23:7) according to the LXX translation) as a transcription of Heb. kedeshim, the sacred prostitutes of Astarte-Asherah, whose cult was concentrated in groves or woods (which is why in LXX, Slavonic, and Russian languages, the proper name Astarte-Asherah is often replaced by the common noun ἄλσος, grove). Blessed Theodoret similarly explains the word καρησίμ: “I believe that Κερεσίμ (so Blessed Theodoret reads this word) is a special type of divination, because it stands in connection with ventriloquists, sorcerers, and teraphim” (Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series graeca, vol. LXXX, col. 857–858). As for Necho’s reference (verse 21) to the will of God, which impelled him to go against Assyria and necessarily required him to pass through the territories of Josiah, this reference is directly confirmed by the sacred writer himself in verse 22, and besides is very probable in itself in view of the historically known great significance of oracles in ancient Egypt. Because some commentators (Keil) justly discern in this characteristic feature of the narrative proof of its authenticity. Concerning the location of Megiddo, see the commentary to (1 Kgs 4:12), “The Interpretive Bible,” vol. II, p. 380. The description of Josiah’s last moments (verses 23–24) is particularly characterized by vivid truth (according to verse 22 from the Hebrew original, gitkhapass—hid himself, changed appearance, Josiah before battle changed his clothes, probably into the clothes of a common soldier, that is, used the same precaution that Ahab once had (1 Kgs 22:30)) and touching sincerity. But the last quality is especially evident in the subsequent remarks of the sacred writer (verses 24–25) about the universal mourning of the people, the capital, and the country over the fallen king (cf. Zech 12:11). “Such was the virtue of this king, that even the prophet Jeremiah wrote a lamentation (συνέγραψε Θρῆνον) and transmitted it to the male and female singers, so that they would sing it, commemorating his memory year by year” (Theodoret, Patrologia Cursus Completus. Series Graeca, vol. LXXX, col. 858). In the words just quoted from Blessed Theodoret, the existence of a lamentation song written by the prophet Jeremiah is acknowledged. Josephus affirms the same and testifies that this writing existed in his time: “The prophet Jeremiah composed a funeral elegy on the death of Josiah, which has been preserved to this day” (“Jewish Antiquities,” book X, 5, 1). On this basis, many ancient and modern commentators (J. Lire, Michaelis, Datie, Calovius, and others) identified the elegy of the prophet Jeremiah on Josiah’s death with the book of “Lamentations” ascribed by tradition to this same prophet, in the Talmud called Kinot, qinoth (Berach 57b; Baba Batra 15a; in the LXX: Θρῆνοι or Θρῆνοι Ἰερεμίου), as the collection of lamentation songs by male and female singers (LXX: οἱ ἄρχοντες καὶ αἱ ἄρχοσαι, Slavonic: “princes and princesses”) about Josiah is called here (verse 25) Kinot, Θρῆνοι. But such identification has no basis and must be abandoned. Strictly speaking, at this place in 2 Chronicles one cannot see any indication of the existence of a written work by the prophet Jeremiah: the general expression “lamented” (Heb. jeqonen) may denote either the oral delivery of the prophet’s elegy or only those imitative elegies of male and female singers (concerning the wide development of elegy among professional male and female singers among the Hebrews, see (Amos 5:16; Jer 9:16-19)), for which the elegy of the prophet Jeremiah served as a model. And even if we admit that the elegy of the prophet Jeremiah on Josiah’s death was recorded in this collection, then in any case this collection, dedicated to the memory of King Josiah, had content completely different from the book of “Lamentations,” which is entirely concerned with the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the Judean kingdom. Thus, together with other exegetes (Grotius, Cornelius a Lapide, Calmet, and others), it must be recognized that (2 Chr 35:25) concerns a special work of the prophet Jeremiah, distinct from the book of “Lamentations,” not preserved to our time, similarly to many other sacred Hebrew writings, only cited in the Bible (see Prof. Gulyaev, p. 585; especially M.D. Blagoveshchensky, “The Book of Lamentations. An essay of historical-exegetical research,” Kiev 1899, pp. 78–83). The attempt itself to identify two completely different works has emerged from an illegitimate desire to find in the Old Testament canon all ancient works of the Hebrews which history mentions; in reality, the number of lost ancient Hebrew writings known from the Bible only by name is very great (see “The Interpretive Bible,” vol. II, p. 301). In character and content, the elegies of the prophet Jeremiah and his imitators on Josiah’s death must have resembled the elegies of David preserved in the Bible: on Saul and Jonathan—the so-called “bow,” qesheth (2 Sam 1:18-27), and on Abner (2 Sam 3:33-34).

2 Chronicles 35:26. The rest of the acts of Josiah and his faithfulness, in accordance with what is prescribed in the law of the Lord, 2 Chronicles 35:27. and his deeds, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. But if the elegy of the prophet Jeremiah was perhaps not preserved by the time of the writing of the book of Chronicles, then his historical records concerning the time of Josiah, as also concerning the later kings of Judah, doubtless were included in the composition of the “Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah” (verse 27) and thus were one of the sources for the writing of both 2 and 3 Kings (see “The Interpretive Bible,” vol. II, p. 360), as well as both books of Chronicles. That the prophet Jeremiah wrote, in addition to his prophetic (his own name) and poetic (book of “Lamentations”) books, also historical notes, is evident from (2 Macc 2:1-7) and from the Talmud (Baba batra 15a; Prof. Olesnitsky, “The State Chronicle of the Kings of Judah,” p. 464). * * * Notes The LXX, Slavonic text, instead of the imperative mood in the Hebrew, Vulgate, Russian Synodal translation: “set it,” has the aorist: καὶ ἐθηκαν, “and he set”