2 Chronicles 35:5

And stand in the holy place,.... The court of the priests, where their ministrations were: according to the divisions of the families of your brethren the people; of the other tribes, who were according to their families to provide a lamb for the passover: and after the division of the families of the Levites; who were obliged to observe the same ordinance in their respective families, and for whom, as well as for the other families of Israel, they were to slay the lamb.

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 35:5 . And stand in the holy place — Or minister (as that word is frequently used) in the court of the priests. According to the division of the families — According to the several families, both of the people, whom he calls their brethren, lest they should despise them, or grudge to serve them, and of the Levites. For the passover was to be eaten by the several families according to their numbers, and therefore he commands these persons, that when the paschal lambs were brought to them to be killed, they should so order the matter, that they might be distributed to the several families, whether of the Levites or other tribes.

5 . of the families of the fathers ] R.V. of the fathers’ houses . the people ] R.V. the children of the people , i.e. the laity. The same phrase is translated in 2 Kings 23:6 “the common people” (without any invidious meaning). and after the division of the families of the Levites ] R.V. and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ house of the Levites . Each great division of the laity is to be served by a small division of the Levites.

Stand in the place, or, minister , as that word is frequently used, in the court of the priests, which is so called elsewhere, as hath been noted before. After the division of the families of the Levites, i.e. according to the several families both of the people, whom he calls their brethren, lest they should despise them, or grudge to serve them, and of the Levites. For the passover was to be eaten by the several families according to their numbers, Exodus 12:3 . And therefore he commands these persons, that when the paschal lambs were brought to them to be killed, as they were, 2 Chronicles 35:7-9 , they might so order the matter, that they might be distributed to the several families, whether of the Levitical or other tribes.

Verse 5. - In brief, this verse purports to say that, for this special occasion of the Passover, the Levites shall take special care that, as stationed in the holy precincts, there shall be a family of themselves ready to minister to a family... of the people , each to each. 2 Chronicles 35:5

Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the {b} feast which was in the seventh {c} month. (b) When the things were dedicated and brought into the temple. (c) Called in Hebrew Ethanim, containing part of September and part of October, 1Ki 8:2, which moves the Jews called the first month, because they say that the world was created in that month, and after they came from Egypt, they began at March: but because this opinion is uncertain, we always make March the first as the best writers do.

(5) Stand in the holy place. —In the Temple court. According to the divisions . . . the Levites.—Rather, according to the sections of the father-houses of your brethren the sons of the people (as opposed to “the sons of Levi”); and, in fact, a portion of a father-house of the Levites; scil., beside every entire father-house of laymen. The Levites were to slay and skin the lambs, and hand the blood to the priests, and to give their share of the roasted flesh to the people (2Chronicles 35:11-12).

5. stand in the holy place—in the court of the priests, the place where the victims were killed. 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. The Levites stood in rows from the slaughtering places to the altar, and handed the blood and fat from one to another of the officiating priests (2Ch 30:16-18).

"Stand in the sanctuary for the divisions of the fathers'-houses of your brethren, the people of the nation, and indeed a part of a father's-house of the Levites;" i.e., Serve your brethren the laymen, according to their fathers'-houses, in the court of the temple, in such fashion that a division of the Levites shall fall to each father's-house of the laymen; cf. 2 Chronicles 35:12 . So Bertheau correctly; but he would erase the ו before הלקּת without sufficient reason. Older commentators have supplied the preposition ל before הלקּת: Stand, according to the divisions of the fathers'-houses, and according to the division of a father's-house of the Levites; which gives the same sense, but can hardly be justified grammatically.