Deuteronomy 16 · a question people ask
Did Israel keep the Passover at the place, as this chapter says?
The Bible records some Passovers and says little about others. The first one in the land was kept at the camp: "The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho" (Joshua 5:10). Much later, King Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah "that they should come to the LORD’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel" (2 Chronicles 30:1). King Josiah commanded, "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant" (2 Kings 23:21), and the writer adds, "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); "this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem" (2 Kings 23:23). The verse doesn't say in what way earlier Passovers differed, and after Joshua 5 the Hebrew word for Passover doesn't appear again in Judges, Samuel or Kings until Josiah (2 Kings 23:21), or in Chronicles until Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30:1).
The verses
“The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.”
“Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the LORD’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
“The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.” 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; but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.”