1Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2And he did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father David had done. 3In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Jehovah and repaired them. 4And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together in the east plaza, 5and said to them: Hear me, you Levites. Now consecrate yourselves, consecrate the house of Jehovah the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the holy place. 6For our fathers have been unfaithful and done evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of Jehovah, and turned their backs on Him. 7They have also shut up the doors of the porch, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. 8Therefore the wrath of Jehovah is upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trembling and terror, to horror, and to hissing, as you see with your eyes. 9For behold, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity. 10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Jehovah the God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11Now my sons, do not be negligent, for Jehovah has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should serve Him and burn incense. 12Then these Levites rose up: Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; 13of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15And they gathered their brethren, consecrated themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king, by the words of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah. 16And the priests went into the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah, to the court of the house of Jehovah. And the Levites took it out and carried it to the Brook Kidron. 17And they began to consecrate on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Jehovah. Then they consecrated the house of Jehovah in eight days, and by the sixteenth day of the first month they had finished. 18And they went in to King Hezekiah and said, We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, the altar of burnt offerings with all its utensils, and the table of the Bread in Rows with all its utensils. 19Moreover all the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had cast aside in his unfaithfulness we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of Jehovah. 20Then King Hezekiah arose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of Jehovah. 21And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Jehovah. 22So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24And the priests killed them; and they offered their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make atonement for all Israel; for the king had commanded the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel. 25And he stationed the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with lutes, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of Jehovah by the hand of his prophets. 26The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27And Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of Jehovah also began, with the trumpets and by the hand of the instruments of David, king of Israel. 28So all the assembly bowed down, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this until the burnt offering was finished. 29And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and prostrated themselves. 30Moreover King Hezekiah and the rulers commanded the Levites to praise Jehovah with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they praised with gladness, and they bowed down and prostrated themselves. 31Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now that you have confirmed your hands unto Jehovah, come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of Jehovah. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these for a burnt offering unto Jehovah. 33The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. 34But the priests were too few, so that they were not able to flay all the burnt offerings; therefore their brethren the Levites supported them until the work was ended and until the other priests had consecrated themselves, for the Levites were more upright in heart to consecrate themselves than the priests. 35Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order. 36And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the thing came about suddenly.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 HEZEKIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (
2Chr 29:1-2)
Hezekiah began to reign, &c.--(see on
2Kgs 18:1). His mother's name, which, in
2Kgs 18:2, appears in an abridged form, is here given in full.
3 HE RESTORES RELIGION. (
2Chr 29:3-11)
in the first year of his reign, in the first month--not the first month after his accession to the throne, but in Nisan, the first month of the sacred year, the season appointed for the celebration of the passover.
he opened the doors of the house of the Lord--which had been closed up by his father (
2Chr 28:24).
and repaired them--or embellished them (compare
2Kgs 18:16).
4 the east street--the court of the priests, which fronted the eastern gate of the temple. Assembling the priests and Levites there, he enjoined them to set about the immediate purification of the temple. It does not appear that the order referred to the removal of idols, for objects of idolatrous homage could scarcely have been put there, seeing the doors had been shut up [
2Chr 29:3]; but in its forsaken and desolate state the temple and its courts had been polluted by every kind of impurity.
6 our fathers have trespassed--Ahaz and the generation contemporary with him were specially meant, for they "turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord," and whether or not they turned east to the rising sun, they abandoned the worship of God. They "shut up the doors of the porch," so that the sacred ritual was entirely discontinued.
8 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem--This pious king had the discernment to ascribe all the national calamities that had befallen the kingdom to the true cause, namely, apostasy from God. The country had been laid waste by successive wars of invasion, and its resources drained. Many families mourned members of their household still suffering the miseries of foreign captivity; all their former prosperity and glory had fled; and to what was this painful and humiliating state of affairs to be traced, but to the manifest judgment of God upon the kingdom for its sins?
10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God--Convinced of the sin and bitter fruits of idolatry, Hezekiah intended to reverse the policy of his father, and to restore, in all its ancient purity and glory, the worship of the true God. His commencement of this resolution at the beginning of his reign attests his sincere piety. It also proves the strength of his conviction that righteousness exalteth a nation; for, instead of waiting till his throne was consolidated, he devised measures of national reformation at the beginning of his reign and vigorously faced all the difficulties which, in such a course, he had to encounter, after the people's habits had so long been moulded to idolatry. His intentions were first disclosed to this meeting of the priests and Levites--for the agency of these officials was to be employed in carrying them into effect.
12 THE HOUSE OF GOD CLEANSED. (2Ch. 29:12-36)
Then the Levites arose--Fourteen chiefs undertook the duty of collecting and preparing their brethren for the important work of cleansing the Lord's house. Beginning with the outer courts--that of the priests and that of the people--the cleansing of these occupied eight days, after which they set themselves to purify the interior; but as the Levites were not allowed to enter within the walls of the temple, the priest brought all the sweepings out to the porch, where they were received by the Levites and thrown into the brook Kedron. This took eight days more. At the end of this period they repaired to the palace and announced that not only had the whole of the sacred edifice, within and without, undergone a thorough purification, but all the vessels which the late king had taken away and applied to a common use in his palace, had been restored, "and sanctified."
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city--His anxiety to enter upon the expiatory service with all possible despatch, now that the temple had been properly prepared for it, prevented his summoning all the representatives of Israel. The requisite number of victims having been provided, and the officers of the temple having sanctified themselves according to the directions of the law, the priests were appointed to offer sacrifices of atonement successively, for "the kingdom," that is, for the sins of the king and his predecessors; for "the sanctuary," that is, for the sins of the priests themselves and for the desecration of the temple; "and for Judah," that is, for the people who, by their voluntary consent, were involved in the guilt of the national apostasy. Animals of the kinds used in sacrifice were offered by sevens, that number indicating completeness. The Levites were ordered to praise God with musical instruments, which, although not originally used in the tabernacle, had been enlisted in the service of divine worship by David on the advice of the prophets Gad and Nathan, as well calculated to animate the devotions of the people. At the close of the special services of the occasion, namely, the offering of atonement sacrifices, the king and all civic rulers who were present joined in the worship. A grand anthem was sung (
2Chr 29:30) by the choir, consisting of some of the psalms of David and Asaph, and a great number of thank offerings, praise offerings, and freewill burnt offerings were presented at the invitation of the king.
31 Hezekiah . . . said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near--This address was made to the priests as being now, by the sacrifice of the expiation offerings, anew consecrated to the service of God and qualified to resume the functions of their sacred office (
Exod 28:41;
Exod 29:32).
the congregation brought in--that is, the body of civic rulers present.
34 the priests were too few, . . . wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them--The skins of beasts intended as peace offerings might be taken off by the officers, because, in such cases, the carcass was not wholly laid upon the altar; but animals meant for burnt offerings which were wholly consumed by fire could be flayed by the priests alone, not even the Levites being allowed to touch them, except in cases of unavoidable necessity (
2Chr 35:11). The duty being assigned by the law to the priests (
Lev 1:6), was construed by consuetudinary practice as an exclusion of all others not connected with the Aaronic family.
for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests--that is, displayed greater alacrity than the priests. This service was hastened by the irrepressible solicitude of the king. Whether it was that many of the priests, being absent in the country, had not arrived in time--whether from the long interruption of the public duties, some of them had relaxed in their wonted attentions to personal cleanliness, and had many preparations to make--or whether from some having participated in the idolatrous services introduced by Ahaz, they were backward in repairing to the temple--a reflection does seem to be cast upon their order as dilatory and not universally ready for duty (compare
2Chr 30:15). Thus was the newly consecrated temple reopened to the no small joy of the pious king and all the people.
