2 Chronicles 35:18

And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel,.... So exactly according to the law, so universally by Israel and Judah, and with such liberality shown by the king, and the chief of the priests and Levites; of this, and the following verse; see Gill on 2 Kings 23:22 ; see Gill on 2 Kings 23:23

35:1-19 The destruction Josiah made of idolatry, was more largely related in the book of Kings. His solemnizing the passover is related here. The Lord's supper resembles the passover more than any other of the Jewish festivals; and the due observance of that ordinance, is a proof of growing piety and devotion. God alone can truly make our hearts holy, and prepare them for his holy services; but there are duties belonging to us, in doing which we obtain this blessing from the Lord.

2 Chronicles 35:18 . There was no passover like to that — The whole solemnity was performed exactly according to the law, whereas in Hezekiah’s passover there were several irregularities: likewise Josiah furnished the whole congregation with beasts for sacrifice at his own charge, which no king ever did before him.

18 . there was no passover ] Cp. what is said of Hezekiah’s Passover, 2 Chronicles 30:26 . from the days of Samuel ] Perhaps in allusion to 1 Samuel 9:12-13 , though there is no word there to identify the feast mentioned with the Passover. In 2 Kings 23:22 “from the days of the judges.”

Verse 18. - Upon this verse Professor Murphy says, "The Passover in Hezekiah's time was great ( 2 Chronicles 30:26 ), but this was greater. For it was kept on the proper day in the first month, and was not a mere supplementary Passover; it was observed with due regularity, and not by worshippers some of whom were unclean; and if we allow thirteen persons for each lamb or kid, there were upwards of half a million communicants; while, so far as we know, there were only seventeen thousand sheep presented by Hezekiah and his princes ( 2 Chronicles 30:24 ), which would not supply more than half the number of partakers. 2 Chronicles 35:18

(18) And there was no Passover like to that. — 2Kings 23:22 . From the days of Samuel the prophet—Kings, “from the days of the judges that judged Israel,” of whom Samuel was the last and greatest (1Samuel 7:15). Neither did all the kings of Israel.—Kings, “and (from) all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.” (Comp. 2chron xxx 26). And the priests . . . Jerusalem.—Not in Kings. A characteristic addition. Israel that were present.—Rather, Israel that was present, i.e., the remnant who had come from the ruined kingdom of the ten tribes. (Comp. 2Chronicles 34:33).

18. there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel—One feature by which this passover was distinguished was the liberality of Josiah. But what distinguished it above all preceding solemnities was, not the imposing grandeur of the ceremonies, nor the immensity of the assembled concourse of worshippers; for these, with the exception of a few from the kingdom of Israel, were confined to two tribes; but it was the ardent devotion of the king and people, the disregard of purely traditional customs, and the unusually strict adherence, even in the smallest minutiæ, to the forms of observance prescribed in the book of the law, the discovery of an original copy of which had produced so great a sensation. Instead of "from the days of Samuel," the author of the Book of Kings says, "from the days of the judges who judged Israel" [2Ki 23:22]. The meaning is the same in both passages, for Samuel concluded the era of the judges. all Judah and Israel that were present—The great majority of the people of the northern kingdom were in exile, but some of the remaining inhabitants performed the journey to Jerusalem on this occasion. 37,600 paschal lambs and kids were used, which [2Ch 35:7], at ten to a company, would make 376,000 persons attending the feast.

2 Chronicles 35:18 contains the remark that the Israelites had not held such a passover since the days of the prophet Samuel and all the kings; cf. 2 Kings 23:22 , where, instead of the days of Samuel, the days of the judges are mentioned. On the points which distinguished this passover above others, see the remarks on 2 Kings 23:22 . In the concluding clause we have a rhetorical enumeration of those who participated in the festival, beginning with the king and ending with the inhabitants of Jerusalem. הנּמצא ישׂראל are the remnant of the kingdom of the ten tribes who had come to the festival; cf. 2 Chronicles 34:33 . - In 2 Chronicles 35:19 the year of this passover is mentioned in conclusion. The statement, "in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah," refers back to the same date at the beginning of the account of the cultus reform ( 2 Chronicles 34:8 and 2 Kings 22:3 ), and indicates that Josiah's cultus reform culminated in this passover. Now since the passover fell in the middle of the first month of the year, and, according to 2 Chronicles 34 and 2 Kings 22 , the book of the law was also found in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, many commentators have imagined that the eighteenth year of the king is dated from the autumn; so that all that is narrated in 2 Chronicles, from 34:8-35:19, happened within a period of six months and a half.

This might possibly be the case; since the purification and repair of the temple may have been near their completion when the book of the law was found, so that they might hold the passover six months afterwards. But our passage does not require that the years of the king's reign should be dated from the autumn, and there are not sufficient grounds for believing that such was the case. Neither in our narrative, nor in 2 Kings 22 and 23, is it said that the passover was resolved upon or arrange din consequence of the finding of the book of the law. Josiah may therefore have thought of closing and ratifying the restoration of the Jahve-worship by a solemn passover festival, even before the finding of the book; and the two events need not be widely separated from each other. But from the way in which the account in 2 Kings 22 and 23 is arranged, it is not improbable that the finding of the book of the law may have occurred before the beginning of the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, and that date may have been placed at the beginning and end of the narrative, because the cultus reform was completed with the celebration of the passover in his eighteenth year. (Note: The addition of the lxx to 2 Kings 22:3, "in the eighth month," to which Thenius and Berth. attach some weight, as a proof that the years of Josiah's reign are dated from autumn, is utterly useless for that purpose.