The Passover Observed Again
35 Then Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3 He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by your fathers’ households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of his son Solomon. 5 Moreover, stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your brethren the [a]lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household. 6 Now slaughter the Passover animals, sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.”
7 Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering 30,000 plus 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. 8 His officers also contributed a freewill offering to the people, the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 from the flocks and 300 bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 from the flocks and 500 bulls.
10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 [b]They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while the priests sprinkled [c]the blood received from their hand, the Levites skinned them. 12 Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls. 13 So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people. 14 Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service, because the Levites their brethren prepared for them.
16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah. 17 Thus the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign this Passover was celebrated.
It’s difficult to imagine the 30,000 lambs and goats that Josiah offered, but then the priests, levites and officials brought another 7,600, and it’s possible that the people brought more besides. At any rate, there were over 40,000 animals brought to be offerings and provision at the Passover feast. We are told that no other king had celebrated Passover like this since the days of Samuel, which includes David and Solomon, who followed God and had great wealth.
God had indeed blessed Josiah as he devoted himself and the people to following God’s ways. It reminds me that God desires good things for his children, but we’re really good at messing things up. We need to look for whatever things God has gifted us and bless us with, and use them for His glory. No, God doesn’t give all of us the same amount of blessings, because we are all different and not all of us can handle the same things. One might say, “that’s not fair!”
But it’s more than fair… it is just, and it is compassion, and it is wisdom that does not wish to burden us with more than we can handle. For the unwary, wealth can be a trap and a prison that destroys life and relationships. So with whatever you do possess, show yourself faithful, without thinking of the rewards. Do all for God’s kingdom, and let him worry about what comes next. He will indeed use both trials and blessings to test us in the fire, and to make us more like Jesus, but he also will not give us more than we can bear, lest it overwhelm and destroy our character.
Again, God wants good things for his children, and some things we call “good” are not good for us as individuals. “Trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus.”