GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 35:15-19
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15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not need to leave their posts because their brother Levites prepared the Passover for them. 16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared on that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 The people of Israel who were there kept the Passover at that time, and also the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were there, and the people who lived in Jerusalem. 19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.
The positions of the singers are given in 1 Chronicles 6:39-47, to the right and left of the leader, and the musicians’ positions are also indicated in 1 Chronicles 15:17-21. Some translations like the NIV have “musicians” at the beginning of verse 15, but “singers” is correct. The denominative polel form (similar to a piel) is used for both male and female singers (Ezra 2:65) as well as the singing of birds (Zephaniah 2:14).
The prophet tells us that even the doorkeepers did not need to leave their posts to celebrate this Passover; they were served the meal where they stood watch. This verse could be applied to our practice today of bringing the Lord’s Supper to some of our people who are on military duty, or also in their homes, in hospitals, or in nursing homes, since they cannot get to church for the sacrament. But it also stands as a reminder to those who have fallen into the habit of staying away from church that it is there that we hear the word of God preached, receive the forgiveness of sins, pray for each other’s needs every week, and receive the sacrament together. Worship is gathering. Even as Paul criticizes the Corinthians for errors they were making in their worship, he still uses the phrases “When you come together” and “when you meet together” many times (1 Corinthians 11:18, 20, 33, 34; 14:26). This is also the description of Christian worship in Acts (2:46; 5:12) and Hebrews: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another– and all the more as your see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
The people of Jerusalem gathered. The songs were sung. The prayers were made. The burnt offerings were consumed in flame and smoke. The Passover lambs were roasted, the unleavened bread was broken and shared, and the other parts of the meal were boiled or served cold. The questions of the children were asked and answered. Tens of thousands of people were there, and the prophet says that none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover.
But the true Passover is Christ. What they celebrated in Jerusalem with Josiah was the memorial of the way God brought his people out of Egypt by his own hand, without any strength from the Israelites, without a single weapon raised from the Israelites, without even a decision among the Israelites. God brought them out even though many of them grumbled and complained all along the way. He led them out with an old man, a man of eighty with a walking stick. All of this was simply the foreshadow of Christ. He brought us out of a different kind of peril, a different kind of slavery. He removed us from our slavery to sin, and from the power of the devil, and from death itself. All of the burdens of sin are removed in Christ, and the promised land he brings us to is not Canaan which is nothing but a small freshwater lake and a bigger dead lake connected by a ditch of a river in the desert, but to a greater, an infinitely greater promised land. The sacrificed Lamb of God brings us to the Paradise of God. Heaven is our true home.
From time to time, we remember that together, week by week, in our regular Sunday worship. We begin with the words of our baptism: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We confess our sins and hear the absolute forgiveness of God. We respond with song. We listen to the regular lessons for the week so that in about three years we have heard most of the New Testament and many of the most important parts of the Old Testament, especially those that point either directly to Christ or illustrate the things he taught. We hear a sermon that was written and is preached for us by our own pastor who knows us and who serves us. We respond once again with song. We pray together about one another and about God’s gifts and promises. We might celebrate the sacrament together depending upon the week. All of this is time spent together, giving praise and honor to Jesus our Lord. As Paul says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2025
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 35:15-19 The Passover Celebrated