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 read more
There was no passover like to that - "That which distinguished this passover from all the former was," says Calmet, "the great liberality of Josiah, who distributed to his people a greater number of victims than either David or Solomon had done." read more
solemn celebration of the Passover. (For the homiletics of this passage, or the subject of it, see those written on 2 Chronicles 30:1-27 .) read more
The great Passover of Josiah. I. GREAT IN RESPECT OF ITS CONFORMITY TO THE LAW . To suppose (De Wette, Thenius, and others) that never before had a Passover been observed in Israel or Judah since the days of Samuel ( 2 Chronicles 35:18 ; 1 Esdras 1:20, 21) or of the judges ( 2 Kings 23:22 ), is not only to extract an unwarrantable inference from the sacred text, but is contradicted by the fact that Hezekiah, a former King of Judah, celebrated a Passover in Jerusalem... read more
The moral of the Passover. The keeping of this Passover is very particularly described in this chapter, and we may be sure that it was entered into and enjoyed, as a religious festival, with exceeding zest. We naturally ask—What was its significance? What did it mean to those who celebrated it? We reply that in it and by it— I. THEY RECOGNIZED THEIR UNITY AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD . They went back in thought to the time when they were bound together in the strong bond of a... read more
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... read more
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. read more
The final reform (34:1-35:27)Another reform swept Judah during the reign of Josiah (34:1-33; see notes on 2 Kings 22:1-23:20). As with the reform of Hezekiah, the climax in the eyes of the Chronicler was a great Passover Feast in Jerusalem.After returning the ark to its rightful place in the temple, the priests and Levites prepared themselves for their duties. Josiah arranged them in divisions as Hezekiah had done earlier, so that the music, singing, sacrifices and other rituals could be... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 35:1-19
The destruction which Josiah made of idols and idolatry was more largely related in the Kings, but just mentioned here in the foregoing chapter (2 Chron. 34:33); but his solemnizing the passover, which was touched upon there (2 Kgs. 23:21), is very particularly related here. Many were the feasts of the Lord, appointed by the ceremonial law, but the passover was the chief. It began them all in the night wherein Israel came out of Egypt; it concluded them all in the night wherein Christ was... read more