1. Concerning the priests. These were set in their charges and encouraged to the service of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 35:2). Following the example of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 23:18), Josiah distributed among the divisions of the priesthood as arranged by David (1 Chronicles 24:1-31.) the different parts of work required by the Law of Moses in the celebration of the Passover, i.e. he set them "according to their daily courses, Being arrayed in long garments, in the temple of the Lord' (1 Esdr. 1:2); after which he strengthened them for their labours by detailed instructions as to their duties, and by encouraging exhortations to its faithful performance.
2. Concerning the Levites. These were:
3. Concerning the people. These, i.e. such of them as were poor, or had come from a distance without having brought the necessary sacrificial animals, were furnished with lambs, kids, and bullocks, or small cattle and oxen (verses 7-9), without which they could not have taken part in the celebration. At least the poor would have been excluded, which would have marred both the completeness and hilarity of the celebration.
III. GREAT IN RESPECT OF ITS ACCOMPANYING LIBERALITY.
1. On the part of the king. From the royal revenues Josiah contributed for the Passover offerings
2. On the part of the royal princes. These, copying the action of their sovereign, likewise made donations
3. On the part of the rulers of the temple. Hilkiah the high priest (2 Chronicles 34:9), Zechariah, perhaps the next in rank to him, "the second priest" (2 Kings 25:18; Jeremiah 52:24), and Jehiel, the chief of the line of Ithamar (Ezra 8:2), exhibited a similar praiseworthy liberality (verse 8).
4. On the part of the Levite princes. Six of these whose names are recorded—Conaniah, with his two brothers Shemaiah and Nethaneel, with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozahad also displayed a high degree of generosity (verse 9).
IV. GREAT IN RESPECT OF ITS CO-OPERATING ACTIVITY. Each had his part to perform, and each performed it in such a way as not to hinder, but to accelerate the progress; and not to mar, but to increase the effect of the whole.
1. The priests. These
2. The Levites. These
3. The singers. These, the sons of Asaph, stood in their places, in the court of the temple, discoursing music with harps, psalteries, and cymbals (1 Chronicles 25:1), without once leaving their ranks even to eat the Passover, the Levites preparing for and fetching to them their portion (verse 15).
4. The porters. At every gate these watched, never departing from their service, because the Levites did for them as for the musicians (verse 15). Thus each contributed his part, and all worked harmoniously towards the production of the general result.
V. GREAT IN RESPECT OF ITS CELEBRATING NUMBERS. The feast was attended by:
1. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, including Josiah and his princes, with the priests and the Levites.
2. All Judah, meaning the population beyond the metropolis, in the country districts.
3. The children of Israel; i.e. the members of the northern kingdom who had not been carried into exile, and who had come to Jerusalem to be present at the feast.
Learn:
1. The duty of observing the public ordinances of religion.
2. The beauty and value of unity and co-operation in Christian work and worship.
3. The propriety of having special seasons of religious service.—W.
2 Chronicles 35:20-27
The death of Josiah.
I. JOSIAH'S MILITARY EXPEDITION. (2 Chronicles 35:20.) Seemingly the only expedition in his reign.
1. When it took place. "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple;" i.e. after the eighteenth year of his reign, in point of fact, thirteen years after (2 Chronicles 34:1).
2. Against whom it was directed. Necho King of Egypt; in Egyptian, Neku, son of Psammatik I the illustrious founder of the Saitic or twenty-sixth dynasty, and grandson of Necho I of the twenty-fifth or Ethiopian dynasty, Necho II. ascended the throne of the Pharaohs in B.C. 612, and reigned sixteen years. A warlike and adventurous prince, he was likewise devoted to commercial pursuits; he possessed two fleets of Greek-made triremes, one in the Mediterranean and another in the Red Sea. In his service Phoenician sailors were the first to circumnavigate Africa (Herod; 4:44).
3. For what reason it was projected. To oppose Necho, who was on his way through Palestine towards Carchemish on the Euphrates, to fight against the King of Assyria. Whether this sovereign was "King of Assyria proper"—in which case he would most likely be Esarhaddon II; the last ruler of Nineveh—or whether he was the Babylonian monarch Nahopolassar, who seized the empire after the overthrow of the Assyrian power, cannot be conclusively determined, although the best authorities favour the latter hypothesis (Ebers, Sayce, Rawlinson). In any ease, Necho, taking advantage either of the declining power of Nineveh, or of the still unsettled state of Babylonian affairs, resolved to strike a blow for the recovery of those Asiatic provinces which had formerly been subject to the Pharaohs; and Josiah, still regarding himself as a tributary of the Assyrian crown, and probably under Jeremiah's teaching (Jeremiah 47:1-7:25), dreading the rise of the Egyptian power, hastened to resist his advance.
II. JOSIAH'S PROVIDENTIAL WARNING. (Verse 21.)
1. The purport of this warning. Before the two armies met, Necho despatched an embassy to Josiah, requesting him to desist from offering opposition.
2. The author of this warning. Though Necho may have had no other idea in using the term "god" than that above explained, and though certainly it cannot be assumed that he understood himself to be the medium of conveying a Divine warning to the King of Judah, it is nevertheless clear that the Chronicler beheld in the incident the finger of God. Whether Jehovah actually put the words into Necho's mouth, or only permitted him to speak as he did, the Hebrew historian, perhaps judging from the fatal issue of the war, regarded the message of Pharaoh as a clear warning from Heaven which Josiah should have accepted. There is no need for supposing either that Necho spoke of Josiah's God or that Josiah's God spoke to Necho.
III. JOSIAH'S LAMENTABLE OBSTINACY. (Verse 22.)
1. His rejection of the warning. "He hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God." To assume Josiah knew that Necho was going against Nabopolassar with the express sanction of Jehovah, and that Necho's dissuasive admonition proceeded straight from Heaven, and to hold moreover that Josiah, cognizant of all this, nevertheless closed his ear against the voice of the Supreme, is to put the worst construction possible on Josiah's conduct; to understand the sacred writer's language as merely importing, that Josiah was not disposed to hearken to Necho's advice, and so failed to recognize it as "from the mouth of God," is probably to put upon the King of Judah's behaviour the best construction it will admit of. Had Josiah not been bent upon this war, he would have quickly discerned the prudence of Necho's counsel.
2. His determination to fight. "Josiah would not turn his face from him" (Necho), but pushed on and offered battle in the valley of Megiddo, Magdol (Herod; 2.159)—the modern Leijun, west of the Plain of Esdraelon, and near Taanach (Robinson), though a claim has been advanced for the modern Mujedd'a, "an important ruin in the Plain of Beisan, at the foot of Gilbea" (Conder). Here had. once stood an old Canaanitish town, of which the king was conquered by Joshua (Joshua 12:21), and which, though within the territory of Issachar, was yet assigned to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). In later years Solomon selected it as one of his fortified cities (1 Kings 9:15). In Megiddo Ahaziah sought refuge when mortally wounded by Jehu (2 Kings 9:27). Megiddo had been the scene of a great battle between Thothmes IIL and one of the confederations of the small kings and princes of Palestine, B.C. 1600 ('Records,' etc; 2:35). Now on this historic ground the forces of Josiah and Necho come into collision.
IV. JOSIAH'S FATAL WOUND. (Verse 23.)
1. The ineffectual disguise Like Ahah at Ramoth-Gilead (2 Chronicles 18:29), Josiah resorted to a customary hut foolish and, in this case, useless artifice. Josiah should have ventured upon no campaign which demanded such an expedient. Had Josiah been sure of the Divine approbation, he would have needed no protection beyond the invisible shield and buckler of Jehovah (Psalms 91:1-16.).
2. The death-winged arrow. No coat of mail can protect a soldier, or stratagem prolong the days of him whose hour is come. Whether the Egyptian bowmen penetrated through Josiah's disguise or not, Jehovah did. If Necho's archers shot at random, the almighty and omniscient Archer (Lamentations 2:4; Job 6:4; Revelation 6:2) did not. Every shaft that flies from his hand hits. Josiah believed he was only fighting against Necho; Necho told him he was fighting against God. In this unequal contest (Isaiah 27:4) Josiah was of course defeated. "The archers shot at King Josiah; and King Josiah said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded."
V. JOSIAH'S UNTIMELY DEATH. (Verse 24.) It was:
1. Immediate. The pious but mistaken monarch felt he had received his death-blow. Obeying his instructions, his soldiers lifted him from his war-chariot, and, placing him "in a second chariot which belonged to him, and was probably more comfortable for a wounded man" (Keil), conveyed him to Jerusalem, where he shortly after expired.
2. Untimely. What Hezekiah feared was about to happen to him in his thirty-ninth year (Isaiah 38:10), happened in reality to Josiah; he was deprived of the residue of his years. What another singer prayed against (Psalms 102:24) befell him, perhaps, notwithstanding his prayers—he was cut off in the midst of his days. In the language of a Hebrew prophet, "his sun had gone down at noon" (Amos 8:9). Considering his elevated character, the quality of the work he had already performed, and the promise of good for his land and people which lay, or seemed to lie, in his prolonged life, his death could scarcely be pronounced other than premature; it was all too soon for Jerusalem and Judah. Yet was it not too soon for God, who best knew the moment in which to fulfil his own promise (2 Chronicles 34:28; Psalms 31:15); or for Josiah, who was thereby removed from the evil to come (Psalms 12:1; Isaiah 57:1), so that his eyes saw not the calamities which forthwith began to descend upon his country (2 Chronicles 36:3).
3. Regretted.
LESSONS.
1. The danger of intermeddling with other people's strife (Proverbs 26:17).
2. The folly of rejecting good advice, even though given by an enemy.
3. The probability that he who runs into danger unbidden will not escape unhurt (Psalms 91:11).
4. The certainty that death will overtake all, in such an hour as they think not (Matthew 24:44).
5. The loss which a good man's death is to a community or nation (2 Kings 2:12).
6. The propriety of perpetuating the recollection of noble lives (Proverbs 10:7)
7. The fitness of song to express sorrowful emotions (2 Samuel 1:17; Micah 2:4).—W.
2 Chronicles
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