Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 23
At the time of Moses, God rescued Israel’s families from Egypt, where they had worked as slaves. God told them that they should remember that event with an annual sacred holiday, called the Passover. God gave careful instructions about what the people and their priests should do on the Passover (Exodus 12:1-28; Numbers 28:16-25).
However, since the time of Samuel, 400 years earlier, Israel’s people had not followed those instructions properly. Even such great kings as David and Solomon had not organised a Passover in the way that God had directed. So, there had never been a proper Passover holiday at the temple, the great house of God that Solomon built in Jerusalem.
In all that time, the Bible only records one previous occasion when Israel’s people gathered at the temple for the Passover. It was during the rule of King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles chapter 30). That was a great and wonderful occasion – but it happened in the wrong month (2 Chronicles 30:2-4) and many of the people did not prepare themselves properly for it (2 Chronicles 30:17-20).
Now, at last, in the 18th year of Josiah’s rule, Josiah organised a Passover with the proper arrangements. 2 Chronicles 35:1-19 records the careful plans that he made. He himself provided generously for all the people, so that they could all join in the Passover meal. He had carefully studied what the Book of the Law directed about the Passover. This book contained the first five books in the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The priests had re-discovered the book in the temple during the work to repair it (22:8-10).
Next part: Josiah turned to God with all his heart (2 Kings 23:24-25)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2026, Keith Simons.