JOSIAH KEEPS A SOLEMN PASSOVER. (2Ch. 35:1-19) Moreover Josiah kept a passover--(See on Kg2 23:21). The first nine verses give an account of the preparations made for the celebration of the solemn feast [Ch2 35:1-9]. The day appointed by the law was kept on this occasion (compare Ch2 30:2, Ch2 30:13). The priests were ranged in their courses and exhorted to be ready for their duties in the manner that legal purity required (compare Ch2 29:5). The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded (Ch2 35:3) to "put the holy ark in the house which Solomon did build." Their duty was to transport the ark from place to place according to circumstances. Some think that it had been ignominiously put away from the sanctuary by order of some idolatrous king, probably Manasseh, who set a carved image in the house of God (Ch2 33:7), or Amon; while others are of opinion that it had been temporarily removed by Josiah himself into some adjoining chamber, during the repairs on the temple. In replacing it, the Levites had evidently carried it upon their shoulders, deeming that still to be the duty which the law imposed on them. But Josiah reminded them of the change of circumstances. As the service of God was now performed in a fixed and permanent temple, they were not required to be bearers of the ark any longer; and, being released from the service, they should address themselves with the greater alacrity to the discharge of other functions.