XCII.]

JOSIAH'S PASSOVER.

125

LESSON XCII.

JOSIAH'S PASSOVER.

B.C. 625.-2 CHRON. XXXV. I-19 (abridged).

Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the 14th day of the first month.

And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,

And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God and his people Israel,

And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.

So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

*

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in the courses, according to the king's commandment.

And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.

And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so they did with the oxen.

And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthan, the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

LESSON XCIII.

THE DEATH OF JOSIAH.

B.C. 610.-2 CHRON. XXXV. 20-xxxvi. 4.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.

His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD.

And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.

Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!
Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save?
Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance ?
For spoiling and violence are before me :

And there are that raise up strife and contention.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth:

For the wicked doth compass about the righteous;

Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously:
For I will work a work in your days,

Which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,
Which shall march through the breadth of the land,

To possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs.

They are terrible and dreadful :

Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards,

And are more fierce than the evening wolves:
And their horsemen shall spread themselves,
And their horsemen shall come from far:
They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
They shall come all for violence :

Their faces shall sup up as the east wind;
And they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
And they shall scoff at the kings,

And the princes shall be a scorn unto them :

They shall deride every strong hold;

For they shall heap dust, and take it.

Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend,
Imputing this his power unto his God.

Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One?
We shall not die.

O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment:

And, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:

Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously;

And holdest thy tongue

When the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
And makest men as the fishes of the sea;

As the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

*Not for the younger ones.

LESSON XCV.*

THE SENTENCE ON THE WICKED PRINCES.

JER. xxii. abridged.

Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:

But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with

him?

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him : was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence to do it.

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Not for the younger.

XCVI.]

THE DEATH OF URIJAH.

129

As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence : And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not

return.

Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him saying, Thou shalt surely die.

Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house.

Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die, for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.

Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.

Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

As for me, behold, I am in your hand : do with me as scemeth good and

meet unto you.

But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the in+ VOL. III.

K