2 Chronicles 35 · a question people ask
30:26 said that since the time of Solomon there had been nothing like Hezekiah's feast in Jerusalem. Now 35:18 says there was no Passover like Josiah's since Samuel. How do these fit?
Here are the verses as the WEB has them. Of Hezekiah's feast: "So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem" (30:26). Of Josiah's: "There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept—with the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (35:18). 2 Kings tells Josiah's Passover in its own words: "Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 23:22). 2 Chronicles doesn't compare its two feasts, and these notes set the verses side by side without reconciling them.
The verses
“So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.”
“There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept—with the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
“Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;”