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2 Chronicles 35:23-27
The closing unit reports Josiah’s wounding and death, communal mourning and laments, and ends by pointing to further written sources.
Meaning in context
The closing unit reports Josiah’s wounding and death, communal mourning and laments, and ends by pointing to further written sources.
Section 6 of 6
Wounding, death, and lasting record
The closing unit reports Josiah’s wounding and death, communal mourning and laments, and ends by pointing to further written sources.
Movement
Temple, reform, exile, and return
Artifact
Temple-centered history
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
2 Chronicles context: 586 BC - 400 BC
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
2 Chronicles context
Exile & Return / 586 BC - 400 BC
2 Chronicles context is set in the exile and return, where Babylonian exile, return, rebuilding, and renewed covenant life under Persian rule.
Scripture Text
Thesis
The closing unit reports Josiah’s wounding and death, communal mourning and laments, and ends by pointing to further written sources.
Verse by Verse
Josiah is hit and orders retreat Archers shoot King Josiah, and he tells his servants to take him away because his wound is severe. The verse focuses on immediate danger and the king’s own assessment that he cannot remain where he is.
Transport to Jerusalem, death, burial, and public mourning Josiah’s servants remove him from his first chariot, place him in a second one, and bring him to Jerusalem. There he dies and is buried in the tombs associated with his ancestors. The response is collective: all Judah and Jerusalem mourn for him.
Laments become a lasting public practice and written record Jeremiah laments Josiah, and singers continue to speak of Josiah in their laments “to this day.” The text says this was made an ordinance in Israel, and it adds that these laments are written in “the lamentations,” presenting Josiah’s remembrance as both performed and documented.
Literary Context
This section finishes the account of Josiah’s last days after his confrontation on the battlefield. It moves from the moment of injury to death, burial, and communal grief, then to the preservation of memory through song and writing. The narrative tightens around two concerns: what happened to Josiah’s body and what happened to Josiah’s reputation. The closing verses match a common pattern in Kings/Chronicles-style storytelling, where a ruler’s end is narrated and then the reader is directed to additional records for the rest of the story.
Historical Context
Josiah belongs to Judah’s late monarchy period, when regional powers and shifting alliances affected small kingdoms’ security. The scene assumes battlefield archers, royal chariots, attendants able to extract the king, and a rapid retreat to Jerusalem. Mourning includes organized, public lament led by recognized voices, suggesting a court and temple culture where music and memory play civic roles. The mention of written sources reflects a scribal setting that values archives, official records, and established commemorations as part of how national history and identity are maintained.
Theological Significance
These verses present a king’s end in three linked ways: physical harm (he is hit and badly wounded), immediate evacuation and death in Jerusalem, and then public remembrance through mourning, song, and written record. The text’s emphasis is not only on what happened to Josiah’s body (transport, death, burial) but also on what happened to his memory (lament, ordinance, archives).
Questions
Keep Studying
Closing notice pointing to other sources The writer refers to the rest of Josiah’s acts, highlighting his good deeds in line with what is written in the law of Yahweh. The account then points to a broader record of his acts “first and last,” said to be written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
The passage also treats public grief as communal and organized: “all Judah and Jerusalem” mourn, Jeremiah laments, and other singers keep the lament tradition going “to this day.” It closes by directing readers to additional sources for Josiah’s deeds, highlighting that his “good deeds” aligned with “the law of Yahweh,” and that fuller coverage exists in royal records.
Two points invite different readings.
First, “they are written in the lamentations.” Some take this to mean a known written collection of laments (possibly connected to the kind of material found in the book commonly called Lamentations), used here as a supporting citation. Others think it refers more generally to a recognized corpus or archive of lament-songs, without identifying a specific biblical book.
Second, “they made them an ordinance in Israel.” Some read “ordinance” as an official, ongoing public commemoration—something like an established national practice for remembering Josiah in song. Others understand it more modestly as a customary practice that became fixed over time, without implying a formal legal decree.
The passage mentions “the lamentations” and an “ordinance” without explaining what document is meant, how it was compiled, or how the practice was enforced. The narrator’s “to this day” also depends on when the account was finalized. Because the text itself stays brief, readers must infer how formal the commemoration was and what specific written source is being referenced.
Explicitly, it reports Josiah’s mortal wounding by archers, his removal from one chariot to another, his return to Jerusalem, his death and burial, and widespread mourning. It also explicitly links his remembrance to both performance (laments by Jeremiah and singers) and documentation (laments written down; other acts recorded elsewhere). Theologically by inference, the passage portrays communal memory as a meaningful part of Israel’s life: grief and evaluation of a king are preserved through accepted public practices and through curated records, alongside the claim that Josiah’s good deeds corresponded to the written divine instruction (2 Chronicles 35:26).
written (kə·ṯū·ḇîm)