Josiah Keeps the Passover

GOLDEN TEXT: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” —Psalm 122:1

II CHRONICLES 35:1-19

IT IS always a joy for the Lord’s consecrated people to “go into the house of the Lord.” With the ancient Israelites the “house of the Lord” was first the tabernacle, and later the temple. Synagogues were subsequently used as places of worship. Antitypically, during the present age, God’s house is in reality a “household,” a family—the household of faith, the children of God. For us to “go into the house of the Lord” is to fellowship with the Lord’s people.

Having done his best to destroy idol worship throughout the land, Josiah then called upon the people to keep the passover as enjoined upon them in the law of Moses. Verse 18 of the lesson reads, “There was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover.” The passover had been generally neglected, but this statement cannot be construed to mean that it had not been kept at all since the days of Samuel, for Josiah’s great-grandfather, in his religious reforms, had the people observe the passover.

The proper thought seems to be that it had not been observed so correctly, and so much in keeping upon the with the proper spirit. Under Hezekiah, for example, it was observed in the second month instead of the first, and the people were quite unprepared for it.

But with Josiah it was different. Then the passover was held on the proper date, and the people were properly prepared. Everything was done, the record indicates, according to the instructions of the Lord. Verse 6 reads, “Kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.” This was possible in Josiah’s day, for the book of the law had been found in the temple, and they would have it as a guide. Verse 12 contains the statement, “as it is written in the book of Moses.”

Evidently the newly discovered book of the law was put to good use by order of Josiah. Probably it was from this book that he learned the importance of the passover, and that it had been instituted as a permanent ceremony for the Israelites to observe each year. And, while many years had passed since it had been properly kept, Josiah reasoned that this was no excuse for him to continue to ignore what the Lord had enjoined upon the nation.

In the original passover, the night before the Israelites left Egypt, each family slew its own passover lamb and ate it in the home, the blood being sprinkled upon the lintels and doorposts of the house. But this was before the institution of the priesthood. Later this was changed. The lamb was to be slain in the holy place, and its blood sprinkled on the altar. First this was in the holy place, or court of the tabernacle, and later the temple—the “place” chosen by the Lord.—Deut. 16:2

There must still, however, be a lamb for each family, so the passover celebration took on tremendous proportions. At the passover ordered by Josiah, he personally provided for those present thirty thousand “lambs and kids.” (vs. 7) He also furnished three thousand bullocks for burnt offerings, while others provided “five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.”

The slaying of all these animals, the sprinkling of the blood on the altar, and the offerings of the burnt offerings in connection therewith, were tremendous undertakings. The priests and the Levites all served as directed, and the account indicates that the whole ceremony was accomplished in an orderly way, and with a sincere desire to honor the Lord, and to call into remembrance the miraculous manner in which their fathers were delivered from Egyptian bondage.

While the passover celebration was important to Israel of old, its significance is still more important to spiritual Israelites of the Gospel age. The Scriptures speak of Christ as being our “Passover” Lamb, the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (I Cor. 5:7; John 1:29) Typical Israel was delivered from bondage in Egypt following the slaying of their passover lamb, but by faith we see all mankind delivered from bondage to sin and death in the morning of earth’s new day.

Prior to the deliverance of all Israel from Egyptian bondage, their firstborn were saved from death under the protection of the blood of the passover lamb. In Hebrews 12:23 Paul speaks of the “church of the firstborn,” the word church being a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, meaning “a calling out,” or a called-out class. So, during this entire Gospel age, corresponding antitypically to the passover night, there has been a calling out from mankind of a class prefigured by Israel’s firstborn. These, by faith, are under the protection of the blood of the antitypical passover Lamb—that is, Jesus.

QUESTIONS

Antitypically, how do the Lord’s people today “go into the house of the Lord”?

What enabled Josiah to have the passover kept in strict accordance with the instructions contained in the law?

What change was made in the manner of observing the passover after the priesthood was inaugurated?

Why were so many thousands of lambs needed in keeping the passover, as directed by Josiah?

What lessons are pictured for us in the passover celebration?

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