Josiah keeps a B. C. 623. B. C. 623. A. M. 3381. 6 So kill the passover, and sanc- || the families of the people, to offer A. M. 3381. tify yourselves, and prepare your bre- unto the LORD, as it is written in thren, that they may do according to the word the book of Moses. And so did they with the of the LORD by the hand of Moses. oxen. in their courses, according to the king's compared the same day, to keep the passover, and mandment. 11 And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them. r 12 And they removed the burnt-offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of Chap. xxix. 5, 15; xxx. 3, 15; Ezra vi. 20. 3 Heb. offered. -P Ezra Lev. iii. 3. • Chap. xxx. 24.- Heb. offered.- s Heb offered.- lies-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. Verses 6, 7. Prepare your brethren-By purifying them, and exciting them to fit themselves for so great and solemn a work. Josiah gave to the people lambs and kids-For either of these might be used for the paschal-offering. And three thousand bullocks--Which were to be offered after the lambs upon the several days of the feast of unleavened bread. Verse 8. And his princes gave willingly--Not the political, but ecclesiastical princes, or the chief of the priests and Levites, whose names here follow. Unto the people, priests, and Levites-For the use of any of the families of them, as need should be. | to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of King Josiah. 17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. For they supposed the thirty thousand, which the king had given, were not sufficient for all the families. Verse 11. And the Levites flayed them-Which they did, (though properly that work belonged to the priests,) because the priests, who were sanctified, were not sufficient for it, there being so many thousands of the cattle; and they were fully em ployed in the killing of the sacrifices, and the sprinkling of the blood, which was more properly the priests' work than the other. Verse 12. And they removed the burnt-offerings-That part of the paschal lambs which was to be burned, which they despatched as soon as possible, that they might give that part which was to be eaten to each family. And so they did with the oxen—All of which were not given for peace-offerings, but some for burnt-offerings: which they also offered as fast as they could, that they might give to each family a portion sufficient for them to feast on. Verses 13, 14. But the other holy offerings sod they in pots-Those from which the burnt-offerings were Josiah is slain, fighting A. M. 3381. B. C. 610. 18 And there was no passover like || God commanded me to make haste: A. M. 3394. to that kept in Israel from the days forbear thee from meddling with of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings God, who is with me, that he destroy thee of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, not. and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. с 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. was this passover kept. B. C. 610, b 20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against 10 the house wherewith I have war: for 12 Kings xxiii. 22, 23.- b2 Kings xxiii. 29; Jer. xlvi. 2. 'Heb. house.- 10 Heb. the house of my war. -c 1 Kings xxii. 34. removed, (verse 12,) namely, the peace-offerings, part of which fell to the share of the offerer, who was Josiah, and, by his gift, to the people. Afterward they made ready-To wit, the paschal lambs, and their part of the peace-offerings. Verse 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. Verse 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple-When he and his people hoped that God was reconciled, and the foundation of a lasting happiness laid, their hopes were quickly blasted. So much are men often mistaken in their judgments about the designs of God's providence. To fight against Charchemish-Which the Assyrian had lately taken from the king of Egypt, of which he boasts, Isa. x. 9. Verse 21. I come not against thee, but against the|| house wherewith I have war-. -Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. For God commanded me to make hasteTherefore, give me no hinderance. Some think he only pretended this, because he knew Josiah had a great reverence for God, and in obedience to him might desist from his purpose. And the Targum, with some of the Jews, thinks he called his own idol by the name of God; though Kimchi thinks, and the event makes it most probable, that he spoke of the true God, who perhaps admonished him in a dream, as he did Abimelech, or sent him a message to go against the Assyrians by the Prophet Jeremiah, many of whose prophecies are directed to foreign nations. Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, &c.—It is at thy peril if thou en 23 And the archers shot at King Josiah ; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore 11 wounded. 24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried 12 in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 11 Hebrew, made sick, 1 Kings xxii. 34. — 2 Kings xxiii. 30. 12 Or, among the sepulchres.- f Zech. xii. 11. gage against one who has both a better army, and a better cause, and God on his side. Verse 22. Josiah would not turn his face from him -Being, peradventure, encouraged to go out against him by a misinterpretation of that promise made to him, chap. xxxiv. 28, Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace. Thus God overrules the errors and miscarriages of men to the accomplishment of his own counsels. But disguised himself—Changed his habit, that he might not give his enemies the advantage of aiming at his person, which he wisely thought they would do, that being a likely course to end their trouble, as indeed it proved. And hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God-Either, 1st, which Pharaoh sent to him in the name of God; or rather, 2d, which Pharaoh received from the mouth of God; who was pleased, some way or other, to impart his mind to him, and which Pharaoh acquainted him with by the command of God. And therefore Josiah is here blamed for not hearkening to this message: although, if he sinned herein, it was only a sin of ignorance, for he did not know that God had spoken this to Pharaoh, and was not bound to believe his testimony, which he had good reason to suspect in this matter. Yet, it seems, he ought so far to have regarded it, as to have inquired into the mind of God about it, which he neglected to do, and therefore cannot be wholly excused. How can we think to prosper in our ways, if we do not acknowledge God in them? Verse 24. And put him in the second chariot-It was the custom of war, in former times, for great officers to have led horses with them in battle, that if one failed they might mount another. And, in like manner, we may presume, that when it became a fashion to fight in chariots, all great commanders had an empty one following them, to which they deeply affected with his subject, or more capable of carrying it through all the tender sentiments of sorrow and compassion, than Jeremiah." All the singing-men and singing-women spake of Josiah in their lamentations-Among the Jews men and wo might betake themselves, if any mischief befell the other. They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died-Bishop Sherlock observes, that Josiah had so good a character in Scripture, that both Jews and Christians have been at a loss to account for his unfortunate end. The learned Dr. Prideaux endeav-men were usually employed to mourn at funerals, ours to justify his conduct in opposing the passage and to sing the praises of the dead. And so real of the king of Egypt, because it was a service due to and great was the mourning for Josiah, that for ages the king of Assyria, to whom Josiah was a vassal. afterward they always remembered it in their "Be it so," says Dr. Dodd, "yet his duty to the king lamentations for the dead, saying of the person of Assyria could not dissolve his dependance on a deceased, Thou art worthy to be lamented for, as higher Master. He went to war as vassal of the good Josiah was, or words to the same purpose. king of Assyria, but did he ask counsel of God as Or, as Poole thinks, the meaning may be, that in all king of Judah? Or was he attended to the war with their succeeding lamentations for their public calamsuch forces only as the kings of Judah might law-ities, they remembered Josiah's death as their first fully use? That he had chariots and horsemen, and fatal blow, which opened the flood-gates to all appears plainly from this account of his death. That their following miseries. And made them an ordithis was the true or only cause of his misfortune, Inance in Israel-Ordained that the mournful pieces, dare not affirm; for I have no express authority to penned on this sad occasion, should be learned and support me in affirming it: but this I see, that he sung by all sorts of people. And, behold, they are was found in the day of battle, not with the equipage written in the Lamentations-Not in the book termed of a king of Judah, but surrounded with forces The Lamentations of Jeremiah, which was written which the law of his God had forbidden him to on another occasion; but in some collection of trust to, and which had often proved a strength || mournful poems, now lost. fatal to his ancestors." See Bishop Sherlock's Dissertation on the Use and Intent of Prophecy, at|| the end. Verse 25. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah-Sorrowed much on account of the immature death of this good king, foreseeing that the utter ruin of his country would follow upon it. And as it was usual with the Jews to make lamentations, elegies, or mournful pieces upon the death of great men, princes, and others that had distinguished themselves among them, and deserved well of their country, it is probable Jeremiah wrote such a piece on the occasion of Josiah's death. If he did so, the loss of it is very much to be deplored, because, as Dr. Dodd observes, it was, no doubt, "a masterpiece of its kind as there never was an author more Verse 26. The rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness-His piety toward God, and his benignity, clemency, and kindness toward all his subjects, being of a most tender and mild disposition, both toward God and toward men, chap. xxxiv. 27. According to that which was written in the lawWhich he made his rule in all his actions. The revelation which God has given us of his mind and will is the only true standard by which we can safely walk. All other rules may deceive us, and will often either leave us in doubt or uncertainty how to act, or will lead us wrong. But the word of God is a sure and unerring guide, a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths. Let us walk by this, and we shall please God in time and enjoy him in eternity. CHAPTER XXXVI. The wicked reigns of Jehoahaz, 1–4; Jehoiakim, 5-8; Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, 9-13. The wickedness of the people, 14-16. Jerusalem destroyed, Judah laid waste, the people slain or led away captive, according to God's word, 17-21. The proclamation of Cyrus, 22, 23. 384 2 Reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, B. C. 606. CHAPTER XXXVI. A. M. 3398. THEN the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 And the king of Egypt 1put him down at Jerusalem, and 2 condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. 5 ¶ Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. B. C. 610. 6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in 3fetters, to carry him to Babylon. B. C. 607. 7 'Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. || Jehoiachin, and Zedekian. B. C. 607. and his abominations which he did, A. M. 3397. and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. 9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 5 10 And when the year was expired, h King Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. 11 ¶1Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. B. C. 593. 13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he "stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. 14 ¶ Moreover, all the chief of the priests, 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the people, transgressed very much after NOTES ON CHAPTER XXXVI. Verse 1. The people of the land took Jehoahaz, &c.-The principal contents of this chapter are explained in the notes on 2 Kings xxiii. 31, and xxiv., and xxv., to which the reader is referred. What is peculiar to this chapter shall be noticed here. Verse 6. And bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon-But he did not carry him thither, for Nebuchadnezzar altered his mind, and permitted him to reign at Jerusalem as his tributary, though be carried away, as it follows, some of the vessels of the temple, and also certain principal persons, as we read in the first of Daniel. Verse 8. That which was found in him-That crime of rebellion against the king of Babylon, which for a time he kept in his own breast, but when he saw fit, discovered it and was convicted of it. Verse 9. Jehoiachin was eight years old-See the note on 2 Kings xxiv. 8, in which it is said that he was eighteen years old when he began to reign, which is probably the right reading. Verse 10. When the year was expired-Hebrew, 2 Kings xxiv. 8.- - Hebrew, at the return of the year. h2 Kings xxiv. 10-17. Daniel i. 1, 2; v. 2.- 6 Hebrew, vessels of desire.— -7 Or, Mattaniah his father's brother, 2 Kings xxiv. 17.- Jer. xxxvii. 1. 2 Kings xxiv. 18; Jer. lii. 1, &c. Jer. lii. 3; Ezek. xvii. 15, 18. 2 Kings xvii. 14. At the return of the year. At the beginning of the next year, according to the sacred account of the Hebrews, at the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, as is elsewhere said, when Nebuchadnezzar, among others, went forth to settle and enlarge his conquests. His brotherLargely so called, for this was his uncle, or his father's brother, being the son of Josiah. Verse 12. And humbled not himself-By repentance for his past errors and obedience to God's express commands, which he would not yield to, through the pride of his heart, as is intimated by this phrase, and expressed Jer. xxxviii. 19, Verse 13. Who had made him swear by GodWho had required him to swear fealty and constant obedience to him, by the true God, whom he called upon to be a witness against him if he broke his oath. So his rebellion was aggravated with perjury and horrid contempt of God. But he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart-He added obstinacy and incorrigibleness to his sins. Verses 14, 15. The people transgressed very much -They were universally corrupt, and therefore God 15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: justly brought upon them a general destruction. Rising up betimes, and sending them-Sending them early and diligently, as a careful householder, who rises betimes about his business. God sent them many prophets and messages, some at the very beginning of their apostacy, and others afterward, till the very day of their captivity. Verse 16. But they mocked the messengers of God-Of which see instances Ezek. xi. 3, and xx. 49. Misused his prophets-Imprisoning and persecuting them as they did Jeremiah; or, seduced themselves by his prophets; that is, by the prophecies of his prophets, which they perverted, or misconstrued. An eminent instance of which we have in this, that because Jeremiah prophesied that Zedekiah should be led to Babylon, (Jer. xxxii. 5,) and Ezekiel, that he should not see Babylon, (Ezek. xii. 13,) and therefore they believed neither, as the Hebrew writers relate. Till there was no remedy -Because the people would not repent, and God would not pardon them without repentance. Verse 17. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees-The king of the Chaldeans marched against them out of some political view; but we are taught in the Holy Scriptures to ascribe all these events to the agency of the Divine Providence, and therefore it is said here, not that the king of the Chaldeans went against them, but that the Lord brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, Who slew their young men in the house of their sanctuary-Either in Jerusalem, which was the dwelling-place of God's sanctuary, or in the house which was their sanctuary. It is probable they killed some of them in the very courts and house of God, to which they had fled for refuge, such places being es Jewish state for its iniquity. 18 And all the vessels of the house A. M. 3414 B. C. 590. of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. B. C. 588. a 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20 And them that had escaped from the 11 sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the word of the LORD B. C. 588. by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. u Psalm lxxiv. 20; lxxix. 2, 3. 2 Kings xxv. 13, &c. y 1 Kings xxv. 9; Psa. lxxiv. 6, 7; lxxix. 1, 7.-11 Heb. the remainder from the sword. 2 Kings xxv. 11.- a Jer. xxvii. 7. b Jer. xxv. 9, 11, 12; xxvi. 6, 7; xxix. 10.- - Lev. xxvi. 34, 35, 43; Dan. ix, 2.- d Lev. xxv. 4, 5, teemed sacred and inviolable by the heathen themselves. He gave them all into his hand-To be carried captive into Chaldea. Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, when God took him into covenant with himself. And now his degenerate seed are carried into that country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness wherewith they had been loved for their father's sake, and the benefit of the covenant into which he was called. Verse 18. And the treasures of the king, and of his princes-The treasures of the temple, by a special providence of God, were preserved, and restored, in the reign of Cyrus, to the house of the Lord: but the other, it is likely, were looked upon as spoil, and spent by the king and his great men. Verse 20. Where they were servants to him and his sons-They do not seem to have been made captives to private persons, but to have been taken in one body, and made the servants of the king; that is, to have been employed by him, in one way or other, to his private advantage, which we are not now acquainted with. Until the reign of the kingdom of Persia-Until the reign of the king of Persia, Houb. Respecting the proclamation of Cyrus, see the beginning of the next book. From these words, we may conclude that this book was written after the return from captivity. Verse 21. Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths-"God had commanded them to let their land rest every seventh year; and because the Jews had violated this, as well as other precepts, God gave their land a long sabbath, or rest, for no less than ten times seven years, which Jeremiah threatened, as in the margin. If it be true, that they had ne glected this law for the space of four hundred and |