seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 35:1 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple.3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lordyour God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions,according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.
5 “Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people. 6 Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”
7 Josiah provided for all the lay people who were there a total of thirty thousand lambs and goats for the Passover offerings, and also three thousand cattle—all from the king’s own possessions.
8 His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle. 9 Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for the Levites.
10 The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions as the king had ordered. 11 The Passover lambs were slaughtered,and the priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. 13 They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans and served them quickly to all the people. 14 After this, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic priests.
15 The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, were in the places prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them.
16 So at that time the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered. 17 The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. 19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
So.... if Josiah was eight when he became king.... and this happened in his 18th year on the throne.... then Josiah was about 26 years old when he held this Passover. He's not much older than some of those boys coming out of college and going into the NFL... for millions of dollars and almost 24/7 stalking for mistakes. He's not much older than some of those boys coming out of college and going into the NBA.... for millions of dollars and almost 24/7 stalking for mistakes. This is a huge party.... thousands and tens of thousands of animals were slaughtered for this feast.
This is from the easy English site....
The Levites prepared the young sheep on behalf of the people. It was the priests’ duty to kill the young sheep on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the people. In the days of Hezekiah, Levites also killed the young sheep. That was because there were not enough priests ready to do it (30:17). So, at this *feast the *Levites killed the sheep (35:11).
Josiah provided sheep and goats enough for 30 000 families. Perhaps these families were poor and they could not bring their own young sheep. The bulls were for sacrifices by fire.
Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel gave young sheep and bulls to the priests. These animals were probably for the poorer priests who could not provide their own animals. Conaniah and his brothers gave sheep, goats and bulls to the Levites. Again, this may have been to provide for the poor Levite families.
When all was ready, the Passover feast began. The Levites killed the animals for the Passover. Priests should have killed the sheep but there were not enough priests to do it. The Levites gave the blood to the priests. The priests put some of the blood onto the altar. The Levites cut the skins off the sheep. Then they cooked these animals and they gave them to the people to eat.
The Levites took some of the sheep and the bulls for sacrifices by fire. The people gave these animals as sacrifices to the LORD. The priests gave these sacrifices by fire on behalf of the people.
Later, the Levites prepared animals on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the priests. Those animals were both to eat at the feast and for sacrifices by fire.
Some Levites had special duties to perform. These Levites were the singers and the guards. The singers had to sing as each group of people came to worship. Therefore, the singers could not leave their place. And the guards could not leave the gates. So, other Levites prepared the Passover and the sacrifices on their behalf.
That day, they worshipped God. They completed the Passover feast and they sacrificed by fire to the LORD. In this way, they obeyed the commands of King Josiah.
Those people who had travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover stayed for the next 7 days. The 7 days after Passover was the feast of bread without yeast.
Everyone was invited..... On the night of the original Passover.... only those who slaughtered a lamb and washed the front door jam with the blood were saved. So.... during the Passover feast.... an animal for each person is slaughtered and the alter is washed with the blood to represent that night. There were bouncers at the doors and music in the air [v. 15]. The number of animals slaughtered tells me that everyone everywhere in Jerusalem could smell the barbeque. There was not need for a street map. People could just follow their noses to the aroma coming form the Temple that day.April 20th this year... the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread will begin.... and it will continue until April 27th.
Unlike the Christians, those who have not accepted Christ as their savior... still have to make amends for their sins... all their sins... the ones they know about and the ones they forgot and the ones they didn't know they committed. The blood of an animal takes the place of the human's blood.... the blood of an animal tries to impersonate the blood of Christ.
Josiah did a good thing.... He reminded everyone that they need to Respect God...... God was the real King of Judah... still is....
