Study Desk

When everything was arranged for the Passover, the priests and the Levites took their posts, as commanded by the king.

Then they divided among the people, by family groups, the animals for burnt offerings, so that they could offer them according to the instructions in the Law of Moses.

After this was done, the Levites provided meat for themselves and for the priests descended from Aaron, for the priests were kept busy until night, burning the animals that were burned whole and the fat of the sacrifices.

The following musicians of the Levite clan of Asaph were in the places assigned to them by King David's instructions: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's prophet. The guards at the Temple gates did not need to leave their posts, because the other Levites prepared the Passover for them.

So, as King Josiah had commanded, everything was done that day for the worship of the Lord , the keeping of the Passover Festival, and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar.

For seven days all the people of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

After King Josiah had done all this for the Temple, King Neco of Egypt led an army to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. Josiah tried to stop him,

The prophet Jeremiah composed a lament for King Josiah. It has become a custom in Israel for the singers, both men and women, to use this song when they mourn for him. The song is found in the collection of laments.

Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. He sinned against the Lord his God.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He too sinned against the Lord .

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years.

And so what the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed."

"This is the command of Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. The Lord , the God of Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and has given me the responsibility of building a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah. Now, all of you who are God's people, go there, and may the Lord your God be with you."

They celebrated the Festival of Shelters according to the regulations; each day they offered the sacrifices required for that day;

The people gave money to pay the stonemasons and the carpenters and gave food, drink, and olive oil to be sent to the cities of Tyre and Sidon in exchange for cedar trees from Lebanon, which were to be brought by sea to Joppa. All this was done with the permission of Emperor Cyrus of Persia.

They sang the Lord 's praises, repeating the refrain: "The Lord is good, and his love for Israel is eternal." Everyone shouted with all their might, praising the Lord , because the work on the foundation of the Temple had been started.

Many of the older priests, Levites, and heads of clans had seen the first Temple, and as they watched the foundation of this Temple being laid, they cried and wailed. But the others who were there shouted for joy.

No one could distinguish between the joyful shouts and the crying, because the noise they made was so loud that it could be heard for miles.

Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the heads of the clans told them, "We don't need your help to build a temple for the Lord our God. We will build it ourselves, just as Emperor Cyrus of Persia commanded us."