Devotions

Consecrate Yourself and Prepare

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Josiah restores not only the covenant with the Lord, but restores the Passover and feasts. But they had never celebrated Passover which is followed by the seven day feast of unleavened bread. There had been a priestly order, but they had not performed these priestly duties. The Levites had become teachers, but they didn’t serve the people. They all learned new roles, they learned to serve each other, and by that, to serve the Lord. Reading these passages you can see the great order, and the diligence, and the service that ended with this statement, in 2 Chronicles 35:18 “there was no Passover like it kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet”. 

Keep the Passover to Yahweh Your God

2 Kings 23:21–28
Once the scroll, the Torah, was found, the king immediately reaffirmed the covenant with God and all of the people. Now, as time progresses, it is the time of the Passover so in 2 Kings 23:21 “the king commanded all of the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as has been written on the scroll of this covenant.””. Just as the Torah had been lost, the nation had also lost the cycle of feasts to the Lord.

After this re-dedication, a deeper level of cleansing took place among the people in 2 Kings 23:24 “the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed”. These things had long been “Forbidden in Lev 20:6 and Deut 18:9–14. People who interacted with the spirit world were expelled from the land by Saul (1 Sam 28:3, 9)”.1

And because of his responsive heart to the Lord, it says of Josiah in

2 Kings 23:25 There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to all of the law of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards.

 

Consecrate Yourself and Prepare

2 Chronicles 35:1–10
The preparations for the Passover begin. This is the first since the Judges as it says in

2 Kings 23:22 “For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel or during the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah”.

So everyone needed to learn their position and understand their role. Josiah took his role as leader and in 2 Chronicles 35:2 “he set the priests at their posts” and in 2 Chronicles 35:3 “he said to the Levites who were teaching all Israel, who were sanctified to Yahweh, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. There is no need to carry it on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel”. There was an existing priesthood and the Levites had become teachers of the people but they didn’t understand the place of the ark, it belongs in the Holy of Holies, and they didn’t understand their role serving the people.

Then the Levites were instructed in 2 Chronicles 35:4-5 “prepare yourselves according to your families, according to your working groups … And stand in the sanctuary according to the clans of your families for your brothers, the lay people”.

The people were admitted according to their families in groups or companies of several households at a time. When the first company entered the court (which consisted commonly of as many as it could well hold), the gates were shut and the offering was made.2

This was highly organized, and the king was empathetic because “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”.2

in 2 Chronicles 35:7 “Josiah provided for the lay people sheep, lambs, and young goats, all for the Passover for all who were found there, to the sum of thirty thousand, along with three thousand bulls. These were the possession of the king”. 

The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread Seven Days

2 Chronicles 35:11–19
As the Passover begins, in 2 Chronicles 35:11 “the priests sprinkled the blood” and in 2 Chronicles 35:12-14 “the Levites … set aside the burnt offerings … roasted the Passover lamb … boiled the holy offerings … and brought it quickly to all the lay people”. And in 2 Chronicles 35:15 “the singers … were at their stations … They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites had made preparations for them”.

Everyone knew their role and everyone served each other and the people so that all the service was completed as it says in 2 Chronicles 35:17-19 “So all the service of Yahweh was prepared on that day to keep the Passover … And the Israelites who were present kept the Passover … And there was no Passover like it kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet”.

Blow the Horn at New Moon

Psalm 81:1–8

Open Wide Your Mouth and I Will Fill It

Psalm 81:9–16

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • 2 Kings 23:21-28
  • 2 Chronicles 35:1-19
  • Psalm 81:1-16

References

  • 1. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (2 Ki 23:24). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 2. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 285). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.