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| 1 And Josiah maketh in Jerusalem a passover to Jehovah, and they slaughter the passover-offering on the fourteenth of the first month, |
The fourteenth day – The full of the moon, symbol of the Law covenant and the people under that covenant. Christ's crucifixion at the full of the moon, and the fact that it immediately began to wane, foreshadowed Israel's national decline. F481
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| 2 and he stationeth the priests over their charges, and strengtheneth them for the service of the house of Jehovah, |
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| 3 and saith to the Levites who are teaching all Israel who are sanctified to Jehovah, 'Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David king of Israel built; it is not to you a burden on the shoulder. 'Now, serve Jehovah your God, and His people Israel, |
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| 4 and prepare, by the house of your fathers, according to your courses, by the writing of David king of Israel, and by the writing of Solomon his son, |
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| 5 and stand in the sanctuary, by the divisions of the house of the fathers of your brethren, sons of the people, and the portion of the house of a father of the Levites, |
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| 6 and slaughter the passover-offering and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of Jehovah by the hand of Moses.' |
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| 7 And Josiah lifteth up to the sons of the people a flock of lambs and young goats, the whole for passover-offerings, for every one who is found, to the number of thirty thousand, and oxen three thousand: these [are] from the substance of the king. |
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| 8 And his heads, for a willing-offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites, have lifted up; Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, leaders in the house of God, to the priests have given for passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred, and oxen three hundred; |
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| 9 and Conaniah, and Shemaiah, and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, heads of the Levites, have lifted up to the Levites, for passover-offerings, five thousand, and oxen five hundred. |
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| 10 And the service is prepared, and the priests stand on their station, and the Levites on their courses, according to the command of the king, |
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| 11 and they slaughter the passover-offering, and the priests sprinkle out of their hand, and the Levites are striping; |
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| 12 and they turn aside the burnt-offering, to put them by the divisions of the house of the fathers of the sons of the people, to bring near to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses and so to the oxen. |
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| 13 And they cook the passover with fire, according to the ordinance, and the sanctified things they have cooked in pots, and in kettles, and in pans for all the sons of the people. |
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| 14 And afterward they have prepared for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests, sons of Aaron, [are] in the offering up of the burnt-offering and of the fat till night; and the Levites have prepared for themselves, and for the priests, sons of Aaron. |
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| 15 And the singers, sons of Asaph, [are] on their station, according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun seer of the king, and the gate keepers [are] at gate and gate; it is not for them to turn aside from off their service, for their brethren the Levites have prepared for them. |
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| 16 And all the service of Jehovah is prepared on that day, to keep the passover, and to cause to ascend burnt-offering upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the command of king Josiah. |
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| 17 And the sons of Israel who are found make the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened things, seven days. |
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| 18 And there hath not been made a passover like it in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, and none of the kings of Israel made such a passover as Josiah hath made, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who are found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. |
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| 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah hath this passover been made. |
In the eighteenth year – 641 BC, parallel to 1879 AD, the date of the founding of Zion's Watch Tower. R3574:4*
This passover kept – Typifying the great passover, the resurrection of the dead in Christ in the year 1878 AD and the passing over of the feet members of the Body since that date at the moment of death. R3574:4*
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| 20 After all this, when Josiah hath prepared the house, come up hath Necho king of Egypt, to fight against Carchemish by Phrat, and Josiah goeth forth to meet him; |
Josiah went out – Acting contrary to the Lord's will. Q765:2
What a lesson to all--to mind their own business and not to meddle in the affairs of others. Q765:2
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| 21 and he sendeth unto him messengers, saying, 'What to me and to thee, O king of Judah not against thee do I come to-day, but unto the house with which I have war, and God said to haste me; cease for thee from God who [is] with me, and He doth not destroy thee.' |
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| 22 And Josiah hath not turned round his face from him, but to fight against him hath disguised himself, and hath not hearkened unto the words of Necho, from the mouth of God, and cometh in to fight in the valley of Megiddo; |
Valley of Megiddo – These battles were, in a sense, typical. OV268:2
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| 23 and the archers shoot at king Josiah, and the king saith to his servants, 'Remove me, for I have become very sick.' |
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| 24 And his servants remove him from the chariot, and cause him to ride on the second chariot that he hath, and cause him to go to Jerusalem, and he dieth, and is buried in the graves of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem are mourning for Josiah, |
And he died – Despite the promise of 2 Kings 22:20 that he would die in peaceontinued faith and obedience to the Lord. Q765:2
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| 25 and Jeremiah lamenteth for Josiah, and all the singers and the songstresses speak in their lamentations of Josiah unto this day, and set them for a statute on Israel, and lo, they are written beside the lamentations. |
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| 26 And the rest of the matters of Josiah, and his kind acts, according as it is written in the law of Jehovah, |
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| 27 even his matters, the first and the last, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. |
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