2 Reis 23
Ambrose of Milan · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
2 Reis 23:21-23
Love faith. For by his devotion and faith Josiah won great love for himself from his enemies. For he celebrated the Lord's Passover when he was eighteen years old, as no one had done it before him. As then in zeal he was superior to those who went before him, so do you, my children, show zeal for God. Let zeal for God search you through and devour you, so that each one of you may say, "The zeal of your house has eaten me up." An apostle of Christ was called the zealot. But why do I speak of an apostle? The Lord himself said, "The zeal of your house has eaten me up." Let it then be real zeal for God, not mean earthly zeal, for that causes jealousy. — On the Duties of the Clergy 2.30.154
2 Reis 23:25-30
Nobody must think that anything was detracted to the celerity of death because of one's merits. Enoch was kidnapped, lest malice might spoil his heart, and Josiah, who celebrated the Passover of the Lord in the eighteenth year of his reign in such a manner that he overcame in piousness all the previous kings, did not survive longer through the merits of his faith. No, rather, because grievous destruction threatened the Jewish people, the just king was taken away beforehand. I fear that you, too, were snatched away from us because of some offense on our part, so that, as a just person, you might escape in the eighteenth year of your reign the bitterness of impending evil. — CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF EMPEROR VALENTINIAN 57