2 Chronicles · chapter 35 of 36
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2 Chronicles 35 tells of the great Passover Josiah keeps in Jerusalem, with priests and Levites organized according to David and Solomon and with generous offerings from the king and officials. Years later Josiah goes out to face Pharaoh Neco at Megiddo, does not heed a warning the Chronicler presents as the word of God, is struck by archers and dies. All Judah mourns him, and Jeremiah composes a lament.
After renewing the covenant (chapter 34), Josiah puts into practice what the law says with a Passover the Chronicler regards as unique. But the chapter has two halves: a joyful celebration and a sudden end. The story of the good king who falls in battle raises a difficult question about how to listen to God, even when he comes by an unexpected voice.
Josiah keeps the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the lamb is slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. He sets the priests in their offices and tells the Levites, who taught Israel, to put the ark in the house Solomon built, for they are no longer to carry it on their shoulders. He commands them to consecrate themselves and prepare by divisions as David and Solomon wrote, and to slaughter the Passover for their brothers according to the word of the Lord by Moses.
Josiah gives the people, from his own possessions, thirty thousand lambs and young goats and three thousand bulls, and his officials also give generously to the people, the priests and the Levites. The priests throw the blood and the Levites skin the animals. They roast the Passover with fire according to the rule, boil the holy offerings in pots and carry them quickly to the people; afterward they prepare for themselves and for the priests, who offered burnt offerings until night. The singers and gatekeepers stay at their posts. Those present keep the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. No Passover like it had been kept since the days of the prophet Samuel, and it was in Josiah's eighteenth year.
After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt goes up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah goes out against him. Neco sends messengers: I am not coming against you, and God has told me to hurry; stop opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you. Josiah does not turn away, disguises himself to fight and does not listen to Neco's words from the mouth of God. In the valley of Megiddo archers strike him; he is brought to Jerusalem, where he dies and is buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourn him, and Jeremiah composes a lament for him.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Josiah tells the Levites to put the ark in the temple Solomon built, for they no longer have to carry it on their shoulders. Their service is now to serve the Lord and his people Israel from God's permanent house.
No Passover like this had been kept since the days of the prophet Samuel. The Chronicler highlights the people's unity, the right ordering of worship and the king's generosity.
Neco says God has commanded him to hurry and that Josiah must stop opposing God. Josiah does not listen and enters battle. The Chronicler presents this as a warning from God the king ignored.
Judah and Jerusalem mourn Josiah, and Jeremiah composes a lament for him. The death of a good king is a national grief that acknowledges what his faithfulness meant.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: On the fourteenth day of the first month. — 2 Chronicles 35:1
Answer: Put it in the house Solomon had built, since they were no longer to carry it on their shoulders. — 2 Chronicles 35:3
Answer: Thirty thousand lambs and young goats and three thousand bulls, from his own possessions. — 2 Chronicles 35:7
Answer: Since the days of the prophet Samuel. — 2 Chronicles 35:18
Answer: Against Neco, king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddo. — 2 Chronicles 35:20-22
Answer: Jeremiah. — 2 Chronicles 35:25
Josiah's Passover shows worship that is orderly, generous and joyful. The king does not merely command; he gives from his own. A group can talk about how leaders can model generosity and serve first, and how order in worship is not coldness but a way to honor God.
The second half of the chapter is sober. Josiah, a godly king, did not heed a warning the Chronicler attributes to God. That does not mean every strange word is from God, but we must stay humble and attentive in discerning. Past success does not guarantee the future either. And his death reminds us that even the faithful face hard endings and that God's people can mourn with hope.
2 Chronicles 35 ends with mourning for a beloved king, and with him the last great hope of reform for Judah fades. In chapter 36, the last, the Chronicler will tell the final reigns, the fall of Jerusalem, the exile in Babylon and, to close, the promise of a new beginning with Cyrus.
The text does not fully explain. The Chronicler says Josiah did not listen to Neco's words, which came from the mouth of God, and entered battle in disguise. It is a warning about the importance of discernment, and a reminder that past faithfulness does not make anyone infallible.
It happens elsewhere in the Bible that God uses people outside Israel to communicate his will or carry out his purpose. The text does not detail how Neco knew what he said; it only affirms that his words came from God.
The Chronicler says Jeremiah composed a lament for Josiah and that the singers remember it to this day. We do not know exactly what text it was. It is a sign of how much the king was valued and of the people's sorrow.