II Chronicles 35:6
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Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your fellow countrymen to carry out the word of the LORD given by Moses.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Josiah celebrates a passover, Ch2 35:1; regulates the courses of the priests; assigns them, the Levites, and the people, their portions; and completes the greatest passover ever celebrated since the days of Solomon, vv. 2-19. Pharaoh Necho passes with his army through Judea, Ch2 35:20. Josiah meets and fights with him at Megiddo, and is mortally wounded, Ch2 35:21-23. He is carried to Jerusalem, where he dies, Ch2 35:24. Jeremiah laments for him, Ch2 35:25. Of his acts and deeds, and where recorded, Ch2 35:26, Ch2 35:27.
Open source ↗So kill the passover, &c.--The design of the minute directions given here was to facilitate the distribution of the paschal lambs. These were to be eaten by the respective families according to their numbers (Exo 12:3). But multitudes of the people, especially those from Israel, having been reduced to poverty through the Assyrian devastations, were to be provided with the means of commemorating the passover. Therefore, the king enjoined the Levites that when the paschal lambs were brought to them to be killed (Ch2 35:7-9) they should take care to have everything put in so orderly a train, that the lambs, after due presentation, might be easily delivered to the various families to be roasted and eaten by themselves apart.
Open source ↗So kill the passover,.... In the manner, time, and place, and for the persons it should be killed: and sanctify yourselves: by washing themselves and garments, that they might be fit for this service: and prepare your brethren; prepare a lamb for your brethren, or instruct them how to perform their office that needed instruction: that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses; celebrate the ordinance of the passover in all its rites, according to the law of Moses, at least in every rite in which they were more peculiarly concerned.
Open source ↗We are here to attend Josiah, I. To the temple, where we see his religious care for the due observance of the ordinance of the passover, according to the law (v. 1-19). II. To the field of battle, where we see his rashness in engaging with the king of Egypt, and how dearly it cost him (Ch2 35:20-23). III. To the grave, where we see him bitterly lamented (Ch2 35:24-27). And so we must take our leave of Josiah.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.
When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of the LORD, according to the command of the king by the words of the LORD.
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.
“Be prepared for the third day,” he said to the people. “Do not draw near to a woman.”
since they had been unable to observe it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.