2 Chronicles 35:1-9, Jeremiah 3:10, Religious Pretense (2)

As we consider the keeping of the Passover in Josiah’s day we must say that certainly there was no problem with the heart of King Josiah.  He responded to the word of the Lord.  His desire for a big celebration was for the glory of God.  There is nothing in the account to deny his integrity.

The instructions from the Law concerning Passover are found in Ex. 12.  Each family (you could join with others) was to get a lamb on the 10^th of the first month, keep the lamb with them in the home, and then sacrifice it on the 14^th of the first month.  The familiarity with the lamb is a great picture of the ultimate “Lamb of God” who become one of us, lived among us, and then died for us.  In the case of Josiah’s Passover, the paschal lamb was certainly sacrificed on the right day; but there is no record of families having the connection with their lamb that the Law required.

The primarily irregularity was that there is no record that families actually purchased a lamb.  Out of the kindness and generosity of the King, Josiah, and other wealthy donors, provided the lambs for everyone.  As to why it was done this way we cannot say for sure.  Perhaps the people generally could not afford a lamb.  Perhaps the supply of lambs was in the hands of the king and a few wealthy individuals. 

But the most likely possibility is that Josiah provided all the lambs because he required everyone to participate.  His zeal for the Lord, in response to the reading of Deuteronomy (34:29-33), moved him to want this Passover to be a show of national unity.  Note how Josiah responded.

·        According to the summary statement after it was all over, the Scripture says “Joaish had prepared the temple” (35:20).  There had been no opportunity for the people to contribute, as with the chest in the days of Joash (243:8-11).

·        Josiah made a covenant with the Lord, with all his heart and soul; then he made all the people in Judah and Benjamin take a stand for the covenant (34:31-32).

·        Josiah made all the Israel diligently serve the LORD their God (34:33).

·        Josiah did this not only in Judah and Jerusalem but throughout what had been the northern kingdom (34:5-6). 

Note the conclusion of all this: All his (Josiah’s) days they did not depart from the LORD God of their fathers.  Did the people have a choice in this matter?  Yes, they did.  They had the control over their hearts, though not their actions.  It makes it easy to see why, in the end, this “revival” was one of pretense, outward appearance.

Jeremiah’s descriptive words are powerful.  The word for pretense is sheqer which means “a lie.”  It is the same word that is in the Ten Commandments: thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor (Ex. 20:16).  Jeremiah, whose ministry began in the reign of Josiah but continued on after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, could see the lying lives of those who had taken a stand for the covenant earlier.

There is a powerful message here concerning the relationship of the King and the High Priest and Prophet.  It is a good thing when the King hears the word of God and obeys by removing the instruments of idolatry and disobedience in the land.  But the King cannot bring about, in the lives of his subjects, a love for God that involves all the heart, mind, soul and strength. 

Even as a political party cannot, by the enactment of a platform change the hearts of the members of the party.  Nor can a good government, by the passing of laws, bring about a change of heart.

Tomorrow we will look at a different Passover, under Hezekiah.