Put the Holy Ark. Perhaps Manasseh removed it from there when he placed the idol in the House of God (2 Chr 33:7). But there is a problem: How could he have failed to return it there after he had humbled himself and removed the image from the House of the Lord (ibid. vv. 12, 15)? Our Sages, of blessed memory (cf. b. Yoma 52b, Horayot 12a), explain that [Josiah] ordered that the Ark be hid away so that it not be taken away with the exile. They say that there was a stone in the Holy of Holies, at its west side: the Ark was placed on top of it, and the container of manna and the staff of Aaron in front of it. For when Solomon built the Temple knowing that it would eventually be destroyed, he built an area underneath in which to hide away the Ark—in deep and windy hidden compartments; and this stone was the cover for that place. So on King Josiah’s order, the Ark was hidden away in that area that Solomon hadbuilt—as it says, “Put the Holy Ark …”—and the staff of Aaron, the container of manna, and the anointing oil were hidden away with it.

They roasted (vayvashelu) the paschal sacrifice in fire, as prescribed. Nowhere else do we find the term bishul for roasting; so to indicate that it was in fact roasted, the text says “in fire.” But the rest of the sacred offerings they cooked in water, in pots.

In sirot, devadim, and ṣelaḥot. These are types of pots.

Since the time of the prophet Samuel, no Passover like that one had ever been kept in Israel. In Kings it says, “since the days of the chieftains” (2 Kgs 23:22), because Samuel was a chieftain (1 Sam 7:15). When the text says that no Passover like that had ever been kept, it means in which all Israel were of one mind to worship the Lord. Indeed, it says in Samuel, “and all the house of Israel came together to devote themselves to the Lord” (1 Sam 7:2), and, “And the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and they served the Lord alone” (ibid. 7:4). For even in the context of the Passover that Hezekiah made, there were many Israelites who were not there. Not only that, but they mocked the couriers whom Hezekiah had sent (2 Chr 30:10). And even many of those who were in Jerusalem were unclean, and they ate the paschal sacrifice in their unclean state (ibid. 30:17–18).

Neco (Nekhoh) came up. “Neco” is a nickname, as it says in Kings, “Pharaoh Neco” (2 Kgs 23:29). He was called that because he was nekheh raglayim (=crippled in his feet). That is how Targum Jonathan (ibid.) renders it: “Pharaoh the lame.”

And Elohim (=God) said that I should hurry; refrain, then, from interfering with Elohim who is with me. In the rabbinic literature there is a debate: some say (Tractate Soferim 4:9) that both [references to the Divine] are to the Holy One—and it indeed appears so when the text says, “and he did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of Elohim” (v. 22).

For [Josiah] had changed in order to fight [Neco]. He had changed his clothes, dressing in clothes of war in order to fight him.

To the words of Neco from the mouth of God. Perhaps the prophet Jeremiah had indicated that Neco was to fight in Carchemish. And while he was still there, fighting in Carchemish on the Euphrates (v. 20), God, may He be blessed, exacted King Josiah’s revenge when Nebuchadnezzar attacked [Neco]. That is the point when Jeremiah prophesies, “Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was at the Euphrates River near Carchemish, and which was defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon …” (Jer 46:2), followed by, “That day shall be for the Lord … of Hosts a day when He exacts revenge on His enemies” (ibid. v. 10). This refers to the revenge of King Josiah.

And [Jeremiah] made them an institution for Israel. This refers to the book of Lamentations in which there appears a eulogy for Josiah; namely, “The breath of our life, the Lord’s anointed, was captured in their traps” (Lam 4:20).