"The king gave the order to all the people: 'Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.' Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem." (2 Kings 23:21-23) We've seen some large Passover celebrations held before but Josiah observes the occasion on a larger scale than anyone before him ever has. The author of 2 Chronicles adds extra details about this Passover. The last time we heard of Passover being observed was during the reign of Josiah's great-grandfather Hezekiah.
"Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord's temple. He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: 'Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.'" (2 Chronicles 35:1-4)
Apparently during the wicked reigns of King Amon and King Manasseh, the ark had been removed from its proper place, perhaps to protect it just as presumably the Book of the Law had been hidden to protect it. Ancient tradition has it that it had been housed at the home of Shallum, the husband of the prophetess Huldah whom Josiah's top officials consulted earlier in our study this week. We don't know any of this for certain, however; we only know that the ark must not have been in the temple (or at least not in the Most Holy Place within the temple) at this time or else Josiah would not be telling the priests to put it where it belongs.
He continues giving instructions: "Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people. Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses. His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God's temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle. Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for the Levites." (2 Chronicles 35:5-9)
The Lord gave Moses the instructions for observing Passover each year and Josiah is directing the proceedings from these instructions. The instructions stated that a lamb was to be prepared for every household and the king and his top officials (who are wealthy) make certain every household has a lamb. Everyone is able to participate whether they can afford a lamb or not. This makes sense because it doesn't seem apparent, from the text, how much advance notice the people were given that Josiah was going to observe Passover. They have not been observing it for decades, as far as we can tell, and Josiah doesn't want to place any hardship on them. By the time the next Passover rolls around they will have had a year to prepare for it.
In tomorrow's text we will study the second half of this portion of Scripture regarding the first Passover held during King Josiah's reign.
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