2 Kings 23:21

THE CELEBRATION OF THAT WONDERFUL PASSOVER

"And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto Jehovah your God, as it is written in the book of the covenant. Surely there was not kept such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover kept to Jehovah in Jerusalem."

The Passover as a home festival is unduly stressed by critics, vainly seeking to establish their "Deuteronomic Code," as the origin of the passover. The Passover was never a home festival, except in the case of the first one, which was necessarily so in the absence of any other possibility. But Moses, writing in Deuteronomy 16:1-8, instructed the children of Israel to observe the Passover in the place that "Jehovah should choose, for his name to dwell there." (Deuteronomy 16:2). The Book of Deuteronomy is ABSOLUTELY Mosaic, there being no evidence of any kind whatever of any other author having ever touched it. The instructions which the king ordered to be followed in the observance of this passover were not in that alleged "D" document, but in "this book of the covenant," namely, the Torah, or Pentateuch.

It is also a gross mistake to suppose that no Passover had ever been observed throughout the long history from the Judges to the times of Josiah. The text states that there had not been throughout that long period "such a passover" as this one. This merely means that there were marked differences in this one. Keil noted that, "What distinguished this passover was: (1) that all the Jews of all the tribes were invited to participate in it; and (2) that it was kept in strict accordance with the precepts of the Mosaic book of the law. In the reign of Hezekiah a great passover had been observed, but there were many violations of the Mosaic precepts, especially in the fact that it had to be delayed for a whole month to give the priests time to purify themselves."[21] It is important to notice that the Divine regulations for the Passover were known by Josiah's grandfather Hezekiah, and that there was nothing new about the regulations observed by the people of Josiah's Passover.

The Word of God that required a central sanctuary for the great festivals of Israel was known and observed even in the times of the Judges. The text here virtually says that.

The short account of this passover in Kings is supplemented by a much fuller record of it in some nineteen verses of 2 Chronicles 35. "In those verses we learn that this Passover duly observed all the rites prescribed in the Pentateuch, whether written in Exodus, Leviticus or Deuteronomy."[22]

The false theory regarding that "discovery" alleges that this Passover was the FIRST one celebrated at a central sanctuary, but the fact of Hezekiah's passover being also celebrated in Jerusalem contradicts the theory. Therefore, the die-hard critics assert that, " 2 Kings 23:22 here denies that Hezekiah kept a similar feast."[23] This is a good illustration of what must be recognized as "dishonesty" in the advocates of the false theory. Note:

2 Chronicles 30 says that Hezekiah kept a Passover in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:22 here says prior to Josiah's passover for a long while, "There was not kept such a Passover."

Does this deny what is said in Chronicles? Certainly not! What is stated is merely that Josiah's Passover was uniquely different in some ways from previous Passovers reaching back for generations. And how was that? All of the twelve tribes attended it! In no sense whatever does this DENY that Hezekiah kept the Passover, only that this one was different.