35:3 In Moses’ day, one of the duties of the Levites was to carry the Ark of the Covenant whenever Israel traveled. The Ark was now permanently housed in the Temple and would no longer be carried about in procession as it was in the wilderness. Josiah was telling the Levites that they were now free to take on other responsibilities (1 Chronicles 24).
35:15 The Temple porters, or gatekeepers, who were all Levites, guarded the four main entrances to the Temple and opened the gates each morning. They also did other day-to-day chores, such as cleaning and preparing the offerings for sacrifice and accounting for the gifts given to the Temple. (For more on porters, see 1 Chronicles 26:1ff.)
35:17 The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven-day celebration beginning the day after Passover. Like Passover, it commemorated the Exodus from Egypt. For seven days the people ate bread without yeast, just as their ancestors did while leaving Egypt, because it could be made quickly in preparation for their swift departure (Exodus 12:14-20). This feast reminded the people that they had left slavery behind and had come to the land God promised them.
35:20 This event occurred in 609 B.C. Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, had been destroyed three years earlier by the Babylonians. The defeated Assyrians regrouped at Haran and Charchemish, but Babylon sent its army to destroy them once and for all. Pharaoh Necho, who wanted to make Egypt a world power, was worried about Babylon’s growing strength, so he marched his army north through Judah to help the Assyrians at Charchemish. But King Josiah of Judah tried to prevent Necho from passing through his land on his way to Charchemish. Josiah was killed, and Judah became subject to Egypt. (Second Kings 23:25-30 helps explain the tragedy. Even though Josiah followed the Lord, God did not turn from his judgment on Judah because of Manasseh’s sin and Judah’s superficial repentance.) Necho went on to Charchemish and held off the Babylonians for four years, but in 605 he was soundly defeated, and Babylon moved into the spotlight as the dominant world power.
35:21-24 Josiah ignored Necho’s message because of who Necho was—king of a pagan nation. The mistaken assumption that Necho could not be part of God’s larger plan cost Josiah his life. While not everyone who claims to have a message from God really does, God’s messages may come in unexpected ways. God had spoken to pagan kings in the past (Genesis 12:17-20; 20:3-7; see also Daniel 4:1-3). Don’t let prejudice or false assumptions blind you to God’s message.
35:25 Though Jeremiah recorded these laments for the death of Josiah, they are not the same as the book of Lamentations.