Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem. This shows that Josiah must begin the reformation very early that year, since he did all that is before recorded in this and the preceding chapter by the fourteenth of Nisan, the day on which the passover was kept, which month answers to part of our March and part of April, see 2 Kings 22:3 and was the same year the repairs of the temple were finished.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Kings 23:23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, [wherein] this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Ver. 23. But in the eighteenth year,] viz., Of his reign, but in the twenty-sixth of his age.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Wherein.—Omit this word. As Ewald says, the meaning of these two verses is, that the passover was never so celebrated before, especially as regards (1) the offerings over and above the paschal lamb (Deuteronomy 16:2), and (2) the strict unity of the place of this festival (Deuteronomy 16:5). The assumption that no passover had ever been held before (De Wette), is obsolete, even among “advanced critics,” and does not merit serious discussion.