Josiah, The Great Passover
And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 35:18)
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. (2 Kings 23:21) Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; (2 Kings 23:22)
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. (Proverbs 1:23)
In the history of Israel throughout all their many kings (both the northern and southern kingdoms) there are only a few times that the Passover is recorded in Scripture. The Passover was a divine commandment to be followed every year by the entire nation of Israel. It was a reminder of their exodus out of Egypt and deliverance out of the evil hand of Pharaoh; however, throughout all of Israel’s history the Holy Spirit records only a very few of these grand moments. Surely there were many more Passover’s, but divine history tells us there were times when the passover was neglected, yea, even forgotten by the children of Israel. Why now at the end of Judah does the Holy Spirit give us such a great and wonderful Passover during the reign of Josiah? This Passover joined all of Israel once more, and drew men, women, and children to the Temple of Solomon that was in Jerusalem. Out of every tribe of the sons of Jacob, one by one, they came to celebrate the Passover as it was written in the law of Moses.
At this time the ark of the testimony or covenant had been removed by the ungodly kings who had reigned before Josiah. Josiah had come to the throne in a day of ruin. The ark of God had become a stranger in a strange land. According to 2 Chronicles 35:3 and 4 it was the king’s command to return the ark of the covenant to the Temple of the Lord. Josiah . . . said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel, And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. It was at the king’s command that the Levites were to return the ark of the covenant, it was to be put in its proper place in the Temple that Solomon had built unto the Lord. It was to be place in the Holy of Holies. This would remove the burden upon the shoulders of the Levites. From the text, we believe that the Levites were moving the ark of the covenant from place to place; the ark of the covenant had become a transit object among the people of Judah. Under Josiah’s directive they were to place the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies and remove the staves. This is the last mention of the ark of the covenant in the history of Israel, and God made sure it was returned to its proper place at the end of that age. It would no longer be a burden on the shoulders of the Levites, all this shows a time period of absence, but now at the instruction from the king, not the high priest, the ark was returned in preparation for the great Passover.
In the description of this Passover, we behold the knowledge that the Holy Spirit and the law of Moses, and the book of the law had given to Josiah. He had made himself familiar with what was required to celebrate the Passover unto the redeeming God who had redeemed them centuries ago out of the land of Egypt. All must be done according to the book that was found, the law of Moses. This book was given to the children of Israel to meditate therein day and night. When the ark of the covenant was returned to the Holy of Holies the king required the Levites and priests to give an account of their genealogy as written in the law. Their genealogy would establish the proper place of each one in the service of God. They would be established to fulfill their courses. This would show them worthy of their office. As far as we are in this day of history this also has to be dealt with among the children of God. Those who are called by God into His service must have the anointing of the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ. Each and every servant should have the mark of the Holy Spirit upon their ministry (enough said!). Being ordained by man and being anointed of God are two entirely different concepts. It is God alone who ordains and anoints.
The Ark in its Place
In returning the ark to its proper place, Christ must also have His proper place in the hearts of the servants of God. This must be priority number one. Christ, the True Ark, must be placed in the Holy of Holies of one’s heart, and the staves drawn out never more to leave its final resting place. God must be seen in the heart with all glory and majesty. In the case of Josiah, he did not make the same mistake that David his father had made centuries before. David in bringing up the Ark placed it upon a new cart and allowed it to be pulled by the beasts of the earth. When the cart shook because of the stumbling of the beasts Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the ark of God and touched the ark; and God smote Uzzah that day. This ended the journey of the ark, for David went back and counseled with God over his trespass. Josiah, however, knew that the ark must be born on the shoulders of the Levites not placed on a cart. The Levites had been commanded by God that they only should bear the burden of the ark of the covenant. There would be no new cart, there would be no beasts pulling the ark of God for man must bear his burden before an Almighty God, and before the ark of His covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a spiritual lesson for us with the ark of God being on the shoulders of the Levites. As the staves rested upon their shoulders the ark of God would be above the Levites, above the men who were carrying the ark. In this position we see the preeminence of the ark of the covenant placing God in His proper position above man. The true Ark who is settled in heaven should have the preeminence in all things. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)
And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. (2 Samuel 6:2)
And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. (2 Samuel 6:3)
And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. (2 Samuel 6:4)
And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. (2 Samuel 6:5)
And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. (2 Samuel 6:6)
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:7)
And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. (2 Samuel 6:8)
And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? (2 Samuel 6:9)
So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. (2 Samuel 6:10)
The New Cart
In our world today the new cart would be the vast ways of neo-liberal evangelism, saving everyone and condemning no one, a completely different Jesus on a new cart. The new cart would be another gospel, another Jesus, another God; a God who is complacent in judgment, a God who condones the blasphemy and perversion of His Word. (Ye fools). The new cart and the beast will lead you to Perezuzzah (that is the breach of Uzzah). For in that fatal day when Uzzah put forth his hand God smote him, and he died. In Uzzah’s heart God did not have the proper place, he was holding the God of Israel from falling off the new cart. The foundation of God standeth sure.
The Proper Place
Let us consider faith today ‘What is man that thou art mindful of him.’ Are you holding the Lord Jesus Christ in His proper place? The new cart of the world, this liberal evangelism is not the true ark. Only Christ is the propitiation of God, He is the only sacrifice, and He is the only one to enter into the Holy of Holies of one’s heart. There have been many false arks over the centuries, but there is only one gospel, and one true Ark of the covenant and that is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. King Josiah made sure the ark was held high and lifted up, he made sure that the Levites filled their courses as it was written, and he made sure that the ark of the covenant was returned to the Holy of Holies upon holy ground. For all must begin with God in His proper place of holiness. It is from there that the Holy Spirit begins His divine work. We have the same thought in God the Father declaring to the world, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ This was to show man the proper place of the Son of God. The proper place is in the bosom of the Father surrounded by the love of God. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18) In beholding the Son of God we see the position of Him pleasing the Father as a great example for us to please the Father. We see Him as the obedient servant, so we should follow in His steps. We see Him as the worthy man laying His life down for us, so we should cast our lives before Him as an offering of sweet savor unto God the Father. God held in the proper place brings a proper and glorious salvation. Josiah made sure all was done in order of the Word of God; so much so, that he counseled with the writings of David and Solomon. Even the glorious psalms of Asaph were to be sung in the Temple according to the Word of God. The Levites would skillfully play their instruments to show forth the glory of the Lord God of heaven. It would be the Levites, the priests, ministering in the Holy place according to the families and their genealogy. This gave them their rightful position before God. As their fathers had been appointed of God from Aaron throughout the long ages, they would now take their proper place. If they violated the word of God that was given by Moses, they would be committing a sin against the sanctuary of God (Psalm 74:3,4,7). So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. (2 Chronicles 35:6) Remember Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, and their strange fire — this was not the fire of God, but a substitute of man. This sin against the sanctuary brought forth their death.
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. (Leviticus 10:1)
And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. (Leviticus 10:1)
In the dispensation of grace Paul reminds us that there is still a righteous Judge on His throne of grace. This Judge is a consuming fire. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (Hebrews 12:28) For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29) This is a warning to all the children of God not to bring strange fire into the presence of the sanctuary or in the presence of God Himself. The text in the Book of Hebrews tells us we should serve God acceptably. The word ‘acceptably’ is to point us to do everything according to the Word of God, just as Josiah had the book of Moses to guide him in acceptable service. So, we have 66 books to guide us by the Holy Spirit into all truth and holy service before the Lord. This is not a light thing for we must show our genealogy which is in the blood of Christ. Then we should serve Him in reverence and godly fear. Let us always remember who we were and who we are now, and who has placed us as a royal priesthood before an Almighty God. It is Christ our high priest who leads His children in worship in the Holy of Holies. For He is the counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the prince of peace, and the King of Salem which is peace. (Isaiah 9:6) In 2 Chronicles 35:6 we have the number of man and man is to be in obedience to the Word of God. It is for man that the Passover was given. It was to protect the Israelites in Egypt who believed and obeyed by placing the blood of a lamb upon the posts of the doors from the destroying angel, or the angel of death. (Exodus 12) It was a remembrance to bring man back to that point of deliverance, and to see the mighty hand of God working for man to deliver him from this angel of death. They were delivered by the blood of the lamb. This lamb is the same lamb as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world and sent forth in the fullness of time to be our Savior. Although it was in type in Exodus, it was fulfilled by God the Son on Calvary’s cross for He has delivered us from the angel of death.
Passing Over – Number 4 – Number 7
The ark of the covenant has been returned to the Holy of Holies. The Levites were in their proper position according to the word of Moses. Now, we are about to stand on holy ground. We stand before an Omnipotent God, a God of fire and judgment, a God of heaven and earth, and a God of grace and truth. Let us enter into the word ‘passover.’ The divine position of God in displaying His grace to man, passing over their iniquity and sin that He by the blood of His Son could give grace to us. The word passover is used in the New Testament 28 times. If you divide 28 by 7 you get 4, the number of the world, north, east, south and west. Four corners of a round mass hurtling through space, and the people who dwell there upon. If you divide 28 by the number 4 you acquire the number 7, and on the 7th day God ended His work and rested.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Genesis 2:1)
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2)
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:3)
Verse 3 of Genesis 2 ends as the capstone for the final touch and the goodness of God. How does this relate to the Passover? ‘Ye shall keep it seven days, and ye shall eat unleavened bread.’ So, Josiah kept the Passover as it was written in the book of the law of Moses.
The Passing Over – in the Gospels
The feast of unleavened bread and the Passover were complimentary. The bread spoke of the smitten body of the lamb, or in our day the body of Christ. The blood of the lamb of the passover spoke of the cup which we now take in remembrance of Him. Remember, the Passover was a remembrance feast because it prefigured our passover who is Jesus Christ. They kept it 7 days, the number of completion, God rested on the 7th day. The Lord Jesus died and went into His rest in the tomb on the 7th day. The work was completed, He entered into His rest, and so we, by dying with Him, enter into God’s rest for ‘it is finished.’
Let’s turn to Matthew, in Matthew the word ‘Passover’ is mentioned 4 times. Christ, as King of the Jews, will one day rule the world, and the number 4 signifies the earth. His throne will be in Jerusalem, but because He finished all things on Calvary, He will rule over the four corners of the earth. He came to be King and was crucified. Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. (Matthew 26:2) Verse 2 of Matthew 26 fixes the time of the Lord’s crucifixion on the Passover, then in Matthew 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? we have the first day of unleavened bread, so that the Passover would be on the 7th day. The Lamb of God the true Passover would be offered and out of darkness as the angel of death had come over Egypt, the Son of God on the 7th day humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8) On the cross of Calvary the Lord Jesus gave up His spirit, and saw the travail of His soul, and cried, ‘it is finished.’ His glorious work of salvation had been completed on the 7th day and He rested in the earth, or the tomb, which is number 4.
In the Gospel of Luke, we have the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover as one. It was defined by Luke as being one feast. You can’t have one without the other. Christ declared to His disciples that it was His desire to eat the Passover with them before He suffered. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: (Luke 22:15)
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. (Matthew 26:26)
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; (Matthew 26:27)
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28)
Christ kept the Passover with them, they ate of the lamb and the unleavened bread. Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. (John 13:1) And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; (John 13:2)
When the Passover was concluded the Lord Jesus gave a tremendous amount of His last ministry to His disciples in the upper room. He identified Himself as the true Passover, He took the bread and the cup in the same night He was betrayed and gave thanks.
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: (1 Corinthians 11:23)
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (1 Corinthians 11:24)
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (1 Corinthians 11:25)
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:26)
The Unleavened Bread
The disciples and the Lord Jesus had just finished the Passover, think where their minds had traveled. Did they think back to the days of Moses how that God had led them out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb? Did they take the unleavened bread, which speaks of humility, for there is no leaven in it, for there is nothing to make it rise? It is a symbol of the humility of Christ. Now their minds are moved by the Lord Jesus, He took them from Moses to His own Person, His own body as the Lamb of God. ‘Take this bread, it is my body given for you,’ then the cup, ‘it is my blood and this cup is the new Testament in my blood.’ They were to remember that night for in this remembrance they would soon be aware of the complete work that was done for them on the cross of Calvary. He would be their Passover, and they would do this in remembrance of the Lord, and we too until He comes. (Matthew 26:26-30) Meditate on this in Matthew 26.
The 7th day dawns and the Jews hand over the Lamb without blemish. Remember the Jewish day begins at evening, so it was the evening and the morning of the 7th day. Christ was handed over to Pilate by the Jews. This action of the Jews drew the Gentile world into all the transgressions of both Jew and Gentile, all of Adams sin from the garden to the fullness of time, and beyond, would be placed upon the Lamb of God. The True Passover Lamb would give His body that was smitten for us as a sacrifice unto God and a sweet savor to God the Father. He laid down His life and shed His blood for the remission of our sin. That blood was placed on the eternal mercy seat in heaven on the 7th day — ‘it was finished.’
The Passover in the Number 5
In the Gospel of Mark, we have the Passover mentioned 5 times. The number 5 is known as the number of grace. The last mention of Passover in Mark’s gospel is the simplicity of the servant — ‘they make ready the passover.’ And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. Mark 14:16
The Passover in the Number 7
In Luke’s gospel we have the number 7, for the Passover is mentioned 7 times in Luke. This is the complete work of the Son of man, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin was condemned in the flesh, but before He suffered, He desired to keep the Passover with his disciples And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: (Luke 22:15)
The Passover in the Number 10
In the Gospel of John, we have the gospel of light and life. The word ‘Passover’ is mentioned 10 times in the gospel of John, and they are very informative. The first mention And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, (John 2:13). This verse shows the heart of the Jews, the Lord’s Passover had become the Jews Passover it would be like calling Easter, America’s Easter. The Jews had taken possession of the Lord’s Passover. Like our present day, they did not believe in the supernatural deliverance of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. They had replaced the supernatural with the tradition of man, and the Lord’s Passover was just a Passover of man and not divine. The number 10 also shows the Jews under the law. The Jews would refer to Moses and not the Lord, they would say, ‘we have Moses and the prophets’; yet they in their traditions would not obey the words of Moses. Their fathers had been the murderers of God’s prophets, but now the very law that they did not uphold, and the very words from the prophets they denied because of their hardened hearts. The Jews would take the Prince of Life and kill God’s only begotten Son. The first mention in John of the word ‘Passover’ brings the Lord to Jerusalem. He came as the divine law giver. He came to the mount of God, to the temple.
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: (John 2:14)
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; (John 2:15)
And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. (John 2:16)
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. (John 2:17)
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? (John 2:18)
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19)
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? (John 2:20)
But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:21)
He had come to reveal their hypocrisy and their ungodly actions. The temple that they had claimed was God’s was made a place of merchandise. It held the spoils of commerce, and this commerce lurked in its halls. Money and wealth were exchanged by the evil heart of man. Man had made this place a den of thieves. Now let us consider this place that they call the temple. Ezra’s temple had been destroyed and a new temple had been rebuilt by Herod, a Gentile despot. He ruled as a tribute of Rome. The temple was built for his own vanity and to appease the Jews, and because of this alliance with the Jews, this temple bore three different names: one was just, ‘temple,’ not the Temple of Jehovah. It was also called Herod’s temple giving tribute to both Herod and his vanity. It also showed his authority over the Jews. The last name is found in Roman lore, it was called ‘Herod’s house.’ By Roman lore certain rulers were considered deity or thought of themselves as such; Herod was one of these. He, as a Gentile, had no respect for the law of God, and used his power and will for his own self gain. In the history of the promised land, there is also the mention of a palace that Herod built, whether fact or fiction, I do not know. According to Roman lore Herod considered his palace as the place of his own divine being and throne. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. This makes the fool a god unto himself, and this was Herod in many ways, but now in the fullness of time the true King of glory had come. He had come unto His own, Israel, and they received Him not. The world of the Gentiles in the Roman empire was in total darkness, and they comprehended Him not. When Christ, however, cracked the divine light and revealed His power in His Deity and performed many miracles they believed in His name, the name Jesus which is Savior. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. (John 2:23) In this verse many of the Jews believed in Him because of what He did in His miracles. It was the miracles that attracted them to Him, not who He was. He was a divine being sent to them by the Father, but they were blind to His Person, and could only see the miracles. Holding the Person of Christ in one’s heart is the true position of Christ in His grace. Truly, His death and His resurrection was a miracle, but our miracle is in Himself. We love Him because of His presence and love for us. We are married to Him in His death, and we are glorified with Him in His resurrection; this the Jews could not see in His day, for the cross was still to come. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. (John 6:4) Once again the Holy Spirit shows the condition of the heart of the Jews. A mere feast of their own more of entertainment than reverence and godly fear. They did not enter into the depths of this solemn feast. They had changed everything — this feast now resembled a carnival and not the solemn feast of Jehovah. In many ways they were making the holy Passover a vain and empty ceremony as we saw in the temple. They had laid claim to it as ‘ours,’ as in ‘it belongs to us,’ in many ways they were no better than Herod or Pilate. Their nation was gone, their Temple was gone, and for all practical purposes the law of Moses was gone; yet they persisted in their reply to the Lord Jesus that they were of God, and the Lord of glory was a devil. How twisted can the heart and mind of men be? Has anything changed? We see the same unbelief, the same criticism, the same statements all over the world today. They will talk of God; and yet, will not receive or acknowledge His divine nature, or His Person as their Creator. Once again, how twisted can things be? Ten times the Spirit of God speaks to us in the Gospel of John reminding us in the Passover that Christ is the brightness of His glory, and that it is Christ who is our Passover and Sacrifice. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. (1 Corinthians 5:7)
In the last mention of the Passover in John’s gospel we read And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! (John 19:14) The Lord Jesus had completed all His public ministry to the Jews before the cross. It was the preparation of the Passover; little did they know that the Son of the Father’s love was being prepared to be the great eternal Passover in His own body on the tree. It was the 6th hour in His betrayal; thus, the Jews, Pilate, the Roman empire were all brought in under the number of man. They displayed the fullness of man’s evil heart. This was one more testimony to the unbelieving Jews. Even Pilate’s testimony to them ‘Behold, your king,’ fell on deaf ears, and their blind eyes would not see, and the reprobate hearts of the Jews refused their King. They had cast off their God. They had cast off their Messiah and King. They had cast off their sacrifice. They had cast off their Savior, and in turn they had cast off their own salvation. They received a murderer in the place of God’s beloved Son, his name was Barabbas (son of his father). How fitting, the world continues to choose the false, the counterfeit son of the father over and above the true and only Son of the Father blindly accepting without question the directives from religious leaders. How far can you, Adam, run away from God? How far can man sink so low in sin? I would think this is why man thinks he came from slime. Well, if it acts like slime, looks like slime, well then, he must be slime. He definitely doesn’t resemble God in any way. If man desires to be slime let us leave him alone in his stagnant pool of sin and let him willingly drown in his own slime.
The Offering of Josiah
Let us now return to Josiah. In Josiah’s great Passover, the king gave the most. His heart was full for God. And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king’s substance. (2 Chronicles 35:7) Josiah gave 30,000 of both lambs and kids out of his flock for the Passover offering. And he also gave 3,000 bullocks, these most likely were used for a special burnt offering, or sweet savor to the Lord his God. From this portion Josiah displayed his love for Jehovah. For the rest of the princes gave little in comparison, and the Holy Spirit brings this out in the word, ‘little’ or ‘small.’ This was a reflection of their hearts for the Lord in verse 8 and 9.
And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. (2 Chronicles 35:8)
Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen. (2 Chronicles 35:9)
The word ‘small’ describes their offering, these princes were not on the same spiritual plain as Josiah their king; yet, because of Josiah, God placed honor on this particular Passover. Just look at the list of names of the old saints brought in, we have Moses, David, Samuel, Solomon, Asaph, and Aaron all mentioned in the time of this Passover. Through 2 Chronicles 35:18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, we see the Lord God Almighty gave His evaluation of Josiah’s great Passover. We look all the way back to Samuel the prophet and judges, and the Holy Spirit gives more definition and tribute to this Passover in 2 Kings 23:21-23.
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. (2 Kings 23:21)
Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;(2 Kings 23:22)
But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 23:23)
This passage in Scripture takes us all the way back through time to the days of the judges, and this would include Samuel. Not one king had a greater Passover than Josiah: not David, not Solomon, not Hezekiah, or any of the kings of Israel in the northern kingdom. Notice that the Spirit of God includes both the kings of Israel and Judah — all fell short of this great Passover of Josiah.
God’s Earthly King – a Shadow of the Final King to Come
The testimony of the Passover was a shadow of the Spirit of God concerning this godly king. God would not finish this time without a testimony concerning the king himself. And like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose there any like him. (2 Kings 23:25) Like unto Josiah there was none, for he turned neither to the left nor right; both directions were nullified in his love for Jehovah. He stayed on a straight path for God. Josiah’s place in time was at the end of Israel’s history as a nation, God had saved the best for last. Josiah was God’s final godly king and God’s final call to a nation who had turned their backs on Jehovah. But even with such wonder the people did not have the heart of their king. They would not heed the call of God. When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, he saw the glory of God descend and take His abode in the Temple. The glory of God had long departed, but I am sure that Josiah, in his heart, saw the glory of God for God counseled him to walk in His presence, and not turn from the book that was found. Only a book, and yet, what glories come from its pages. The people merely saw the tradition and the formality of the ceremony, but this godly king felt the Passover in his own heart. And like unto him was there no king before him, and neither after him arose there any like him. Josiah was one of a kind. Although on the throne of Judah he embraced all of Israel. They came to keep the passover to their God — the final passover — the final godly king — and their final call.
It is written of Josiah that he turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might. He is the only king who had this mark of distinction. Not all the kings of Israel, or the rest of the kings of Judah loved the Lord with all their hearts and beings. Would be to God that the Holy Spirit could move through us as He did through Josiah. Amen.
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:7)
© Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
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All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)