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á . Hezekiah’s Beginnings; the Cleansing and Consecration of the Temple: 2 Chronicles 29
3He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and renewed them. 4And he brought in the priests and Levites, and assembled them in the broad way of the east, 5And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites; now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and remove the filthiness out of the holy place. 6For our fathers have transgressed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned 7their face from the dwelling of the Lord, and shown the back. They have also shut the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt-offering in the holy place unto the God of Israel. 8And the displeasure of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He delivered them to horror, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with 9your eyes. And lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that the hotness of 11His anger may turn away from us. My sons, now delay not; for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him to serve Him, and to be His ministers and incense-burners.
12Then the Levites arose, Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehalelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah. 13And of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; 14and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah. And of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimi; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came at the command of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. 16And the priests went into the interior of the house of the Lord to cleanse, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; and the 17Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron. And they began on the first of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the Lord; and they sanctified the house of the Lord eight days, and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made 18an end. And they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt-offering and all its vessels, 19and the table of shew-bread and all its vessels. And all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign cast away in his infidelity we have prepared and sanctified, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.
20And Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. 21And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats for a sin-offering for the kingdom; and for the sanctuary, and for Judah, and he bade the sons of 22Aaron the priests to offer them on the altar of the Lord. And they killed the cattle, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar; and they killed the rams, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar; and they killed the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. 23And they brought the he-goats of the sin-offering before the king and the congregation, and they laid their hands upon them. 24And the priests killed them, and offered their blood for sin upon the altar, to atone for all Israel; for the king had ordered the burnt-offering and the sin-offering for all Israel. 25And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, by the command of David, and Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; for by the Lord was the commandment by His prophets. 26And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests 27with the trumpets. And Hezekiah said to offer the burnt-offering on the altar; and when the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and after the instruments of David king of Israel. 28And all the congregation worshipped, and the song was sung, and the trumpets sounded; the whole until the burnt-offering was ended. 29And when they made an end of offering, the king and all that were with him bowed down 30and worshipped. And Hezekiah the king and the princes said to the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer; and they praised with gladness, and bowed down and worshipped.
31And Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have filled your hand unto the Lord, draw nigh and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord: and the congregation brought sacrifices and thank-offerings, and every one that was willing of heart, burnt-offerings. 32And the number of the burnt-offerings, which the congregation brought, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs; all these for a burnt-offering to the Lord. 33And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand 34sheep. Only the priests were too few, and they could not flay all the burnt-offerings, and their brethren the Levites assisted them till the work was ended, and till the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright of heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. 35And also the burnt-offering was in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and the libations for the burnt-offering: and the service of the house of the 36Lord was established. And Hezekiah and all the people were glad that God had prepared the people; for the thing was done suddenly.
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10And the posts passed from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh 11and unto Zebulun; and they scoffed at them and mocked them. But some men of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves, and 12came to Jerusalem. Also the hand of God was upon Judah to give them one heart to do the command of the king and the princes, by the word of the Lord.
13And much people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. 14And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and all the altars for incense 15they took away, and cast into the brook Kidron. And they killed the pass-over on the fourteenth of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt-offerings into the house of the Lord. 16And they stood in their place after their rule, according to the law of Moses the man of God, the priests sprinkling the blood from the hand of the Levites. 17For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified; and the Levites took charge of the killing of the passovers for all that were unclean, to sanctify them unto the Lord. 18For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the passover not as it was written: for 19Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one That hath prepared his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though 20not in the cleanness of the sanctuary. And the Lord heard Hezekiah, and 21healed the people. And the sons of Israel that were in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests were praising the Lord day by day, with instruments of might to the Lord. 22And Hezekiah spake to the heart of all the Levites who had good understanding of the Lord: and they ate the feast seven days, offering sacrifices of peace, and confessing to the Lord God of their fathers.
23And the whole congregation resolved to keep other seven days with gladness. 24For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great many priests sanctified themselves. 25And all the congregation of Judah, and the priests and Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers 26that came from the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, were glad. And there was great gladness in Jerusalem; for since the days of Solomon son of 27David king of Israel was not the like in Jerusalem. And the priests [and] the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling, to heaven.
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2And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, of the priests and the Levites for burnt-offering and peace-offering, to minister, and to thank, and to 3praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord. And the king’s portion of his property for burnt-offerings, for the burnt-offerings of the morning and of the evening, and the burnt-offerings for the sabbaths, and the new moons, and 4the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the Lord. And he said to the people, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests and 5the Levites, that they might be stedfast in the law of the Lord. And when the word came forth, the sons of Israel brought abundantly the first-fruits of corn, must, and oil, and honey, and all the increase of the field; and the tithe 6of all they brought in abundance. And the sons of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps. 7In the third month they began to lay down the heaps, and 8in the seventh month they finished them. And Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, and they blessed the Lord and His people Israel. 9And Hezekiah inquired of the priests and Levites concerning the heaps. 10And Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, Since they began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and been satisfied, and left in abundance; for the Lord hath blessed His 11people, and this great store is left. And Hezekiah said to prepare chambers 12in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. And they brought in the offerings and the tithe and the consecrated things faithfully; and over them Conaniah the Levite was ruler, and Shimi was second. 13And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under Conaniah12 and his brother Shimi, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah 14the ruler of the house of God. And Kore, son of Jimnah the Levite, the porter toward the east, was over the freewill-offerings of God, to distribute 15the offering of the Lord, and the most holy things. And by him stood Eden, and Minjamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shechaniah in the cities of the priests, with truth to give to their brethren, in the courses, to the 16great as to the small. Beside their register of males from three years old and upward, to every one that entereth into the house of the Lord, for the 17rate of each day, for their service in their charges by their courses. And the register of the priests by their father-houses; and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges by their courses. 18And to the register of all their little ones, their wives, sons, and daughters, for all the congregation; for in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in the holy thing. 19And for the sons of Aaron the priests, in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every city [were appointed] men who were expressed by name, to give portions to every male among the priests, and to all the register of the Levites. 20And Hezekiah did thus in all Judah, and did that which was good and right and true before the Lord his God. 21And in every work which he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and the commandment to seek his God, with all his heart he did, and prospered.
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9After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, and he himself stood against Lachish, and all his power with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah, and against all Judah that was at Jerusalem, saying, 10Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, and why sit ye in restraint in Jerusalem? 11Doth not Hezekiah mislead you to deliver you to die by hunger and thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us from 12the hand of the king of Assyria? Hath not this Hezekiah removed his high places and his altars, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, Before one altar shall ye worship, and burn incense upon it? 13Know ye not what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of the nations of the lands been at all able to deliver their lands from my hand? 14Who was there among all the gods of these nations, that my fathers extirpated, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to 15deliver you from my hand? And now let not Hezekiah deceive you nor seduce you in this way, neither believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand, nor the hand of my fathers; much more your God shall not deliver you from my hand. 16And his servants spake yet more against the Lord, and against Hezekiah His servant. 17And he wrote a letter to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver His 18people from my hand. And they cried with a loud voice, in the Jewish tongue, to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them and trouble them, that they might take the city. 19And they spake to the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men’s hands.
20And for this Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet, 21prayed and cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel, and cut off every valiant hero and leader and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria: and he returned with shame of face to his own land; and he came into the house of his god, and they that came out of his own bowels there slew him with 22the sword. And the Lord saved Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and from the hand of all, and defended them around. 23And many brought a gift to the Lord at Jerusalem, and jewels to Hezekiah king of Judah; and he was exalted in the eyes of all nations thereafter.
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27And Hezekiah had very much riches and glory; and he made himself treasuries for silver, and gold, and precious stones, and spices, and shields, and 28all articles of desire. And storehouses for the increase of corn, and must, and 29oil; and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and flocks for the folds. And he made him cities, and possession of flocks and herds in abundance; for God 30had given him very much substance. And this Hezekiah stopped the upper outflow of the water of Gihon, and led it straight down to the west of the 31city of David: and Hezekiah prospered in all his work. And so in the case of the ambassadors of the princes of Babel, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, to know all that was in his heart.
32And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his kindness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 33And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the height of the sepulchres of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem gave him glory in his death: and Manasseh his son became king in his stead.
1. Hezekiah’s Beginnings: the Cleansing and Consecration of the Temple: 2 Chronicles 29.—Hezekiah became king. éְçִæְ÷ִéָּäåּ , the fullest form of this name, signifies “whom Jehovah strengthens,” as the somewhat shortened çִæְ÷ִéָּäåּ , Isa_37:1 ff., or çִæְ÷ִéָּä , 2Ki_18:1 ff., means “strength of Jehovah.” The Assyrian monuments present the form Ha-Za-ki-ya-hu, corresponding to that of Isaiah; see Schrader, p. 168 ff. Moreover, 2Ch_29:1-2 agree almost throughout with 2Ki_18:1-3. for the chronology see Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2Ch_29:3-19. The Cleansing of the Temple.—He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, that is, in Nisan, the first month of the ecclesiastical year, not (as Caspari thinks, Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Buch Jesaia, p. 111) in the first month of the reign of Hezekiah. How long, that is, how many months, he had reigned when he in the first month of the new year began his measures of reform, remains uncertain; the assumption of Von Gumpach (Die Zeitrechn. der Babylonier und Assyrer, p. 99) and Bertheau, that Hezekiah’s reign began with the first month (Tisri) of the previous year, appears a bare conjecture in face of the indefiniteness of the statement in our text.—And renewed them, repaired them—a renovating process which is more exactly described in 2Ki_18:16 as an overlaying with gold plate.
2Ch_29:4. And assembled them in the broad way of the east, not perhaps, in the inner court (Bertheau, Kamph.), but in an open area outside the whole temple building, on the south-east or east; comp. Ezr_10:9, Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3; Neh_8:16.
2Ch_29:5. Now sanctify yourselves, an indispensable prerequisite for a worthy and effectual performance of the business of cleansing the temple; comp. 2Ch_29:15 and Exo_19:10. On ðִãָּä , filthiness as a designation of idolatry, comp. Lam_1:17; Ezr_9:11; and the synonym èֻîְàָä in 2Ch_29:16.
2Ch_29:6. For our fathers have transgressed—Ahaz and his contemporaries, for the statement in 2Ch_29:7 suits these only. On “to turn the back” (properly “give”), comp. Neh_9:29.
2Ch_29:7. They have also shut the doors of the porch, and thus of the whole temple, for only through the porch was there access to the holy and most holy place; comp. 2Ch_28:24, where also the new alter of burnt-offering erected by Ahaz in the court after the heathenish model is mentioned, which the Chronist, according to our passage (“nor offered burnt-offering”) regarded by no means as a lawful place of worship.
2Ch_29:8. And the displeasure of the Lord, etc.; comp. 2Ch_19:2; 2Ch_19:10, 2Ch_29:18, 2Ch_32:25; and for the following strong terms: “horror, astonishment, and hissing,” Deu_28:25; Jer_19:8; Jer_24:9; Jer_25:9; Lam_2:15; and also 2Ch_30:7. For 2Ch_29:9 comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections on the verse before, No. 3
2Ch_29:10. Now it is in my heart; comp. 2Ch_6:7, 2Ch_9:1;1Ch_22:7; 1Ch_28:2.
2Ch_29:11. My sons, familiar, persuasive address, as in Pro_1:8, etc.—Now delay not, literally, “withdraw yourselves not” ( úִּùָּׁìåּ , Niph. of ùָׁìָä ; comp. Job_27:8). on b, comp. 2Ch_26:18; 1Ch_23:13; Deu_10:8.
2Ch_29:12. Then the Levites arose. Of the following fourteen names, Joah son of Zimmah, and Kish son of Abdi, occur already in the Levitical genealogy, 1Ch_6:5 f., 29; Mahath, Eden, and Jehiel recur in 2Ch_31:13-15.
2Ch_29:13. And of the son of Elizaphan, Shimri. That of this family two Levites are expressly mentioned, is explained by the high repute which Elizaphan or Elzaphan, son of Uzziel, son of Kohath (Exo_6:18), enjoyed as prince of the house of Kohath in the time of Moses (Num_3:30). Hence their co-ordination here, on the hand, with the three Levitical head families, and on the other with the three singing families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun.
2Ch_29:15. And they gathered their brethren, the remaining Levites present in Jerusalem.—At the command of the king by the words of the Lord; comp. 2Ch_30:12; 1Ch_25:5. The king’s command was founded on the divine prescription of the law.
2Ch_29:16. And the priests… brought out all the uncleanness … into the court, all the sacrificial vessels employed in idolatry, perhaps also the remains of the idolatrous offerings, and the like. For èֻîְàָä , see on 2Ch_29:5; for the brook Kidron, comp. 2Ch_15:16, 2Ch_30:14.
2Ch_29:17. They began on the first of the first month. On the first eight days of the month they employed themselves in the cleansing of the court, the eight following in that of the temple itself, so that they ha finished on the sixteenth.
2Ch_29:19. And all the vessels which King Ahaz … cast away; comp. 2Ch_11:14. These are the brazen altar of burnt-offering, the brazen sea, and lavers on the stands; see 2Ki_16:14; 2Ki_16:17. For äֵáַðּåּ , abbreviated form of äֲáéðåֹðåּ (1Ch_29:16), see Ew. § 196, b.—And behold, they are before the altar of the Lord, the altar of burnt-offering.
2Ch_29:20-30. The sacrifices at the Reconsecration of the Temple.
2Ch_29:21. And they brought seven bullocks. The seven bullocks, rams, and lambs were, as the sequel shows, to serve as a burnt-offering, the seven he-goats, 2Ch_29:23, as a sin-offering; comp. Ezr_8:35.
2Ch_29:22. And the priests received the blood, “took it,” as in 2Ch_29:16.
2Ch_29:23. Laid their hands upon them, “leaned their hands upon them,” comp. Lev_1:4, from which it moreover follows that this laying on of hands took place also in the burnt-offerings. Perhaps it is specially mentioned only in the case of the sin-offering, because the circumstance that the king and the congregation (naturally its representatives, the princes) directly laid their hands on the sin-offering clearly exhibited the relation of the expiatory act to the whole of Israel; comp. the following verse.
2Ch_29:24. And the priests … offered their blood for sin upon the altar, literally, “made their blood to atone”; çִèֵּà , as in Lev_4:30; Lev_4:34; Lev_9:15. The whole of Israel is not merely the southern kingdom (Judah and Benjamin), but, as 2Ch_30:5 ff. shows, the whole of the twelve tribes; Hezekiah’s great expiatory act was intended to affect even the Ephraimites.
2Ch_29:25. And he set the Levites … with cymbals; comp. 1Ch_15:16, and with respect to the command of David, 2Ch_8:14. For Gad and Nathan as counsellors and assistants of David in his arrangement of the temple service, comp. 1Ch_21:29. —By His prophets, “by the hand of His prophets,” is an explanatory apposition to áְּéַã éְäåָֹä , and denotes that the divine commandment is accomplished by the instrumentality of the prophets.
2Ch_29:26. With the instruments of David, with the instruments introduced into the divine service by David; comp. 1Ch_23:5; 1Ch_15:16.
2Ch_29:27. And when the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began, that is, the praise of the Lord by singing with musical accompaniment; comp. 1Ch_16:42; 1Ch_25:7.—And after the instruments of David, literally, at the hands of the instruments of David; comp. 1Ch_6:16; 1Ch_25:2-3; 1Ch_25:6; 2Ch_23:18. The instruments of David appear, accordingly, as governing and leading the whole musical performance, according to a view of the relation between singing and music somewhat different from the modern.
2Ch_29:28. And the song was sung, properly, “was singing, sounded.” The sense of the whole verse is obvious: during the whole time of the offering the praising musical performance continued. Accordingly 2Ch_29:30 also must be understood not as if the Levites had struck up a song of praise on the close of the offering at the command of the king, but in the sense of a supplementary notice of this, that they were Davidic and Asaphic songs, which the Levitical singers performed during the solemnity. Asaph is here called a seer ( çֹæֶä ), as elsewhere also Heman (1Ch_25:5) and Jeduthun (2Ch_35:15).—And they praised with gladness, “even unto gladness,” as in 1Ch_15:16.
2Ch_29:31-36. The Presenting of Sacrifices, Thank-Offerings, and Free-Will Offerings, as the Closing Act of the Consecration.—Now ye have filled your hand unto the Lord, “have consecrated yourselves to His service”; comp. 2Ch_8:9; Exo_28:41; Exo_32:29, etc. The words appear addressed only to the priests; but as the following sentence; “Draw nigh and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings,” etc., according to 2Ch_29:32 ff., applies to the whole community, this is to be considered as included with the priests, and participating in their office. Our passage belongs, therefore, to the Old Testament testimonies for the universality of the priestly dignity in the kingdom of God, like Exo_19:6; Hos_4:6; Isa_61:6.—Sacrifices and thank-offerings, that is, perhaps, “sacrifices even thank-offerings,” or “sacrifices as thank-offerings”; for, according to Lev_7:11; Lev_7:16, the thank-offerings ( úּåֹãåֹú ) appear as a special class of sacrifices ( æְáָçִéí or æִáְçֵé ùְׁìָîִéí ), along with vows and free-will offerings.
2Ch_29:33. And the consecrated things, äַ÷ָּãָùִׁéí , the holy things; here the animals presented as thank-offerings. This is clear not only from 2Ch_29:32, but also from such passages as 2Ch_35:13; Neh_10:34.
2Ch_29:34. Only the priests were too few, and they could not flay all the burnt-offerings. “In private burnt-offerings the flaying of the animal was the business of the worshipper, Lev_1:6; but in those presented on festivals in the name of the community, it was the business of the priests, in which, because it had no specially priestly character, the Levites might help” (Keil).—On çִæֵּ÷ , “strengthen,” here “assist,” comp. 2Ch_28:20; Ezr_6:22.—For the Levites were more upright of heart to sanctify themselves than the priests, who, perhaps because they were nearer the court, were more deeply involved in the idolatrous movement under Ahaz. éִùְׁøֵé ìֵá , properly, rectiores animo, better inclined, under a more righteous impulse.
2Ch_29:35. And also the burnt-offering was in abundance, the voluntary burnt-offerings, 2Ch_29:31 f. (70 oxen, 100 rams, 200 lambs in number), which were added to the proper sacrifice of consecration; and hence the burden of labour on the priests was very great. For the fat pieces next mentioned, comp. Lev_3:3-5; for the libations as an accompaniment of the burnt - offering, Num_15:1-16.—And the service of the house of the Lord was established, prepared, arranged; comp. 2Ch_29:36; 2Ch_35:10; 2Ch_35:16. The “service” ( òֲáãָä ) is the regular sacrificial worship in the temple, not its cleansing and consecration, as Berth, thinks.
2Ch_29:36. Were glad that God had, etc.; òַì àֲùֶׁø äֵëִéï = òַì äַäֵëּéï ; comp.1Ch_26:28. This refers not, perhaps, to the willingness of the people, which God effected by His grace (Ramb., Berth.), but the cleansing of the temple and restoration of the true theocratic worship, which was accomplished by the willing part taken by the people.—For the thing was done suddenly, with unexpected readiness; comp. 2Ch_29:3.
2. The Passover: 2 Chronicles 30.
2Ch_30:1-12. Preparations for it.—And wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, to those belonging to the northern kingdom, who are here named by their chief tribes; comp. 2Ch_30:5; 2Ch_30:10.
2Ch_30:2. And the king took counsel (comp. 2Ch_25:17) … to keep the pass-over in the second month. Such an after-celebration of the passover is permitted by the law, Num_9:6-13, to those who, from Levitical defilement, or being on a journey, were prevented from celebrating it at the right time, on the 14th Nisan. On this decision of the law Hezekiah here rests in transferring the whole celebration from the first to the second month, because, as is expressly stated, 2Ch_30:3, those two cases of hindrance (impurity of the priests, and distance of the greater part of the people from Jerusalem) were actually involved. Peculiar, yet destitute of sufficient ground, is the assumption of Hitzig (Gesch. p. 219), that the law in Num_9:6 ff. was first occasioned by Hezekiah’s after-celebration of the passover, even as almost all the laws of the fourth book of Moses originated in the times of Hezekiah.
2Ch_30:3. Because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently. ìְîַãַּé , compounded of ì , îָä , and ãַּé , signifies properly, “to that which was enough,” ad sufficientiam, and, in connection with ìֹà , expresses here the thought that a sufficient number of sanctified Levitically clean priests could not be ready in the month of Nisan to celebrate the passover at that time ( áָּòֵú äַäִéà ); comp. 2Ch_29:34. Observe, moreover, how clearly the contents of this verse, as well as the following, point to this, that the celebration of the passover, of which it treats, was to take place, and did take place, in the next month, after the consecration of the temple, and therefore in the first year of Hezekiah’s reign. Comp. at the close of this chapter.
2Ch_30:5. And they settled the thing, resolved upon it; comp. 2Ch_33:8; Neh_10:33. For the proverbial form: “from Beer-sheba even to Dan,” to designate the whole territory of Israel, comp. Jdg_20:1; 1Sa_3:20; 2Sa_3:10, etc.; see above on 2Ch_19:4.—For they had not kept it with a multitude; so is ìֹà ìָøֹá most probably to be taken. The celebration should take place with a numerous concourse of people; comp. 2Ch_30:13; Ezr_3:4. The explanation followed by Kimchi, then by Luther, and recently by de Wette: “For not for a long time,” is verbally inadmissible (comp. for ìָøֹá , in the sense of “in multitude, numerous,” also 2Ch_30:24). A statement also follows in 2Ch_30:26 of the length of time during which the passover had not been celebrated by great numbers.
2Ch_30:6. And the posts went, the royal couriers (whether belonging directly to the king’s guards is, notwithstanding 2Ch_23:1 ff., uncertain); comp. Est_3:13; Est_3:15; Est_8:14.—Remaining to you from the hand of the kings of Assyria, of Tiglath-pileser and his viceroys (archons, eponyms); see on 2Ch_28:16. Pul (whether different from Tiglath-pileser, comp. on 1Ch_5:26) cannot be here intended, because he led no Israelites captive; see 2Ki_15:19. Neither can Shalmaneser be meant, as he came to the throne almost at the same time with Hezekiah, and his invasion took place in the sixth year of this king, while that which is here recorded belongs to the first year; see under 2Ch_30:27.
2Ch_30:8. Now be not stiffnecked like your fathers, since the time of Jeroboam. On “making the neck stiff ” = being stiffnecked, comp. 2Ki_17:14; Neh_9:16 f.; on “giving the hand,” for yielding oneself, vowing allegiance to, 2Ki_10:15; Ezr_10:19; Eze_17:18 (as also 1Ch_29:24, Lam_5:6, “submit to”); for the close of the verse, 2Ch_29:10.—Your brethren and your children shall find compassion before, literally, “shall be for compassion before your captors;” comp. Neh_1:11.
2Ch_30:10. And unto Zebulun; thus not quite to the extreme north border (not literally even to Dan, 2Ch_30:5). Observe the concrete historical character of this notice, by no means favouring the suspicion of a pure fiction of these reports on the part of our author. The messengers also might very easily reach Zebulun (and the southern Asher, 2Ch_30:11) in the interval between the 16th Nisan (2Ch_29:17) and the 14th of the following month; they could scarcely have travelled to the more northern Naphtali, next to Dan (Laish), and North Asher. But these most northern parts of the country had been quite wasted and depopulated by Tiglath-pileser; see 2Ki_15:29. That which is here stated (2Ch_30:10-11) agrees still less with the hypothesis of Caspari and Keil, that all that is related in our chapter happened in the time after the fall of Samaria (see under 2Ch_30:27), as the artificial attempts at adaptation by Keil show.
2Ch_30:12. Also the hand of God was upon Judah to give them one heart. The phrase: éַã äָàֱìֹäִéí äָֽéְúָä áְ , here sensu bono of the blessed effect of the divine power (comp. Ezr_8:22), otherwise usually in the sense of judicial punishment (Exo_9:3; Deu_2:15, etc.).—By the word of the Lord; comp. 2Ch_29:15.
2Ch_30:13-22. The Festival itself.—Took away the altars; those erected by Ahaz for idolatrous burnt-offerings and incense; comp. 2Ch_28:24.
2Ch_30:15. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed; a clause referring to 2Ch_30:3, which points by way of supplement to this, that the present full participation of the Levitical spirituality, in contrast with the former deficiency (especially with regard to the priests, 2Ch_29:34), was owing to the feeling of shame meanwhile awakened in the whole order on account of their former participation in idolatry.
2Ch_30:16. And they stood in their place. òֹîֶã , “place, stand,” as 2Ch_35:10; Dan_8:17-18.—After their rule; comp. 1Ch_6:17.—The priests sprinkling the blood from the hand of the Levites, that is, the Levites handed them the blood to sprinkle on the altar. That the Levites here did this, whereas this handing of the blood was the part of the several worshipping householders (2Ch_35:6; Ezr_6:20), is explained, 2Ch_30:17, by pointing out that only the Levites were as yet all properly cleansed, and not the remaining multitude ( øַáַּú here, and 2Ch_30:18, a neuter substantive before the preposition, and not an adverb, as in Psa_120:6).
2Ch_30:18. Many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun. The Chronist reports this not from “an excess of national feeling,” as if he wished to represent the whole northern kingdom as subjected to the Jewish king Hezekiah (H. Schultz, Theologie des Alten T. ii. 309), but simply because some of the tribes of the northern kingdom, then governed by Hosea, and already on the verge of total ruin, had sent representatives to the passover of Hezekiah, to signify that the feeling of national guilt was awakened in them in all its strength. That in 2Ch_30:11 the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun, but here Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, are named as “humbled” (returning penitent to the theocratic centre of worship), appears to rest on definite historical grounds, the nature of which we cannot now determine.—Yet they ate the pass-over not as it was written, as Levitically unclean, and thus contrary to the precept, Num_9:6; comp. Josephus, de B. Jud.vi. 9.3, and under 2Ch_30:26.—The good Lord pardon. “With these closing words of 2Ch_30:18 ( éäåä äèåá éëôø áòã ) are to be immediately connected, notwithstanding the Masoretic division of the verses, the initial words of 2Ch_30:19 : “Every one that hath prepared his heart to seek God.” áְּòַã stands thus before the relative sentence, 2Ch_30:19 [rather before ëָּìÎ ], without àֲùֶׁø (as àì , 1Ch_15:12). On ëִּôֶּø , in the sense of forgiving, comp. Psa_65:4; Lev_16:6; Lev_16:11.—Though not in the cleanness of the sanctuary, though they did not strictly comply with the legal prescriptions concerning the purity to be observed in approaching the sanctuary. A remarkable mildness and almost evangelical freedom of view are expressed in these words.
2Ch_30:20. And healed the people, forgave their guilt, healed them in an ethical respect; comp. Psa_41:5; Hos_14:5; Jer_3:22. The healing of disease or of death, that was to be apprehended as punishment for their guilt (Lev_15:31), is scarcely intended (against Berth. and Kamph.).
2Ch_30:21. And the sons of Israel that were in Jerusalem, “were found”; comp. 2Ch_29:29, 2Ch_31:1.—With instruments of might to the Lord, instruments by which they ascribed might to the Lord, glorified His might (comp. Psa_29:1), therefore with instruments for praising the might of the Lord. Interesting, but not quite certain, is the interpretation of Kamphausen, who takes áִּëְìֵé òæ by itself in the sense: “with instruments of might,” that is, with loud sound.
2Ch_30:22. And Hezekiah spake to the heart of all the Levites, spake hearty, loving, encouraging words to them.—Who had good understanding of the Lord, of the service of the Lord.—And they ate the feast seven days. We are scarcely to read, with the Sept. (see Crit. Note): “And they completed the feast;” for the reading: “eat the feast,” appears simply modelled after the known: “eat the passover,” as the following: “offering sacrifices of peace,” clearly shows (comp. also Psa_118:27). Moreover, the collective worshippers, not merely the Levites and priests, are the subject.—And confessing to the Lord God of their fathers, namely, with praise and thanksgiving—not, perhaps, with penitent confession of their guilt, as some of the ancients thought. äִúְåַãָּä is quite the ἐîïìïëïãåῖóèáé of the Hellenistic Greek (and so of the Sept. in our passage).
2Ch_30:23-27. The Feast of Seven Days after the Passover.—Resolved to keep (“make”) other seven days with gladness. ùִׂîְçָä , adverbial accusative for áְּùִׂîְçָä
2Ch_30:24. For Hezekiah . . . gave to the congregation (properly, heaved, gave as a heave-offering; comp. 2Ch_35:7) a thousand bullocks, etc.; that is, the king and princes had contributed victims so liberally for the passover, that they had not consumed the whole during the seven days of the feast, but had still provision for so long an after-feast.—And a great many priests sanctified themselves; the extraordinary abundance of offerings could thus be overtaken; comp. 2Ch_30:3; 2Ch_29:34.
2Ch_30:25. And the strangers that came from the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah. These strangers ( âֵּøִéí ) from Israel and Judah are here, as certainly as they were distinct from “the congregation that came out of Israel” ( = Ephraim), that is, from the Ephraimites mentioned 2Ch_30:11; 2Ch_30:18, actually “strangers,” that is, proselytes. It is otherwise in 2Ch_15:9, where those dwelling as strangers among the Jews, from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon, are simply the Israelites that have migrated thence.
2Ch_30:26. For since the days of Solomon … was not the like in Jerusalem, no so fair and sublime a festival celebrated by so great a multitude. But the point of comparison is perhaps not any passover under Solomon, but rather the feast of the consecration of the temple under this king (2Ch_7:1-10). This resembles the passover of Hezekiah in this respect, that, with the feast of tabernacles following, it lasted also fourteen days. Because this only is intended, and not any passover of Solomon, there is no contradiction between our passage, or in general between that which is depicted in our chapter and 2Ch_35:18, and 2Ki_23:22. If in the latter passage it is said of Josiah’s passover: “There was not holden such a passover from the days of the Judges,” this remark refers, in the first place, to the purity and legitimacy of the feast; and in this respect the present celebration by Hezekiah was defective, just as our author has expressly acknowledged.
2Ch_30:27. And the priests (and) the Levites arose; comp. Crit. Note. That the benediction of the priests was heard, and actually penetrated to His (God’s) dwelling in the heaven, our historian might conclude with sufficient certainty, from the further gladness and elevation of heart which he had to recount in the two following chapters of Hezekiah’s reign (in its inner as well as outer aspect).
On the date of Hezekiah’s passover, first Keil (Komment. zu den Büchern der Könige, 1845, p. 515 f.), then Caspari (Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Buch Jesaia, p. 109 ff.), and again Keil (Komment. zur Chron. p. 343 ff.), laid down the opinion that it was held not in the first year of his reign, in the next month after the cleansing of the temple, but considerably later, namely, after the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes, in his sixth year. Against this assumption, and for the usual view, according to which the Chronist in our chapter means to report something immediately following the feast of the consecration described in 2 Chronicles 29 : speak—1. The å consec. in åַéִּùְׁìַç at the beginning of 2Ch_30:1; 2 Chronicles 2. The statement in 2Ch_30:3, that “the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently,” which clearly refers to 2Ch_29:34, and does not at all permit the interposition of a period of six years between the two chapters; 3. The naming of the second month in 2Ch_30:2, which is certainly to be understood from 2Ch_29:3; 2Ch_29:17 (the “first month,” that is, Nisan, in the first year of his reign), and therefore to be referred to the first year of Hezekiah. To these in themselves decisive grounds, which Keil vainly endeavours in a long discussion to invalidate, are to be added, as further cogent arguments—4. The circumstance that our author, if he had actually meant to represent the passover as instituted after the fall of Samaria and the destruction of the northern kingdom, and even with reference to the condition and necessity of the population occasioned by this catastrophe, must have expressly said so, as such an important motive for including the Ephraimites as partakers in the feast could not have been passed over in silence; 5. The circumstance that the manner in which these northern guests and their seats are mentioned in 2Ch_30:6; 2Ch_30:10 f. and 18 suits only the time after the invasion of Tiglath-pileser, not that after the fall of Samaria (see on these passages, especially 2Ch_30:11); 6. The circumstance that the description given in 2Ch_30:10-12 of the preparations for the festival, compared with the opening of the description of the feast itself in 2Ch_30:13, makes only a short duration of these preparations probable; 7. And lastly, the circumstance that the appearance of a not inconsiderable number of communicants from the northern kingdom agrees very well with that which is attested in 2Ki_17:2 of the comparatively pious and theocratic character of Hosea, the last king of Ephraim, and, on the contrary, can scarcely be reconciled with the report there, 2Ch_30:24 ff., given concerning the moral and religious condition of the population left in the northern kingdom after the defeat of Hosea and the fall of Samaria. The usual assumption, which makes the temple consecration and the passover to take place in immediate succession in the first year of Hezekiah, appears from all this to be most agreeable to the text, and alone truly corresponding with the historical relations that have to be taken into account.
3. Further Religious Reforms of Hezekiah: 2 Chronicles 31.—On 2Ch_31:1, comp. 2Ki_18:4, where, however, on the one hand, the destruction of the images and altars also in Ephraim and Manasseh is not mentioned; on the other hand, the breaking of the figure of the brazen serpent (Nehushtan) is narrated, which our report does not expressly mention.—All Israel that were present; comp. 2Ch_30:21. For the statues (monuments) and asherim, comp. on 2Ch_14:2.—And in Ephraim and Manasseh completely. With reference to Ephraim and Manasseh, that is, the northern kingdom (comp. 2Ch_30:10), this “completely” ( òַã ìְëַìֵּä ) is naturally to be understood cumgrano salis, and not to be pressed as a strictly literal statement. The report that in Manasseh and Ephraim also the places of idolatrous worship were removed, could scarcely, on account of 2Ki_17:24 ff., be brought into harmony with the assumption of Keil that these facts are to be placed after 722 b.C.
2Ch_31:2. And Hezekiah appointed . . . after their courses, according to the classification originating with David; comp. 1 Chronicles 24; 2Ch_8:14.—Every man according to his service, properly, “at the mouth of his service”; comp. Num_7:5; Num_7:7.—In the gates of the camp of the Lord, in the temple as well as in the court of the priests; comp: 1Ch_9:18 ff.
2Ch_31:3. And the king’s portion of his property for burnt-offerings, that is, the king furnished what he had to contribute to the burnt-offering in victims out of his possession (which is described underneath, 2Ch_32:27 ff., as very great). Comp. the prescriptions of the law that here come into account, Num_28:3 ff; Num_29:1 ff.
2Ch_31:4. And he said to the people . . . to give the portion of the priests and Levites, namely, the firstlings and tithes of the increase of the cattle and the field; see Exo_23:19; Num_18:12; Num_18:21 ff.; Lev_27:30-33. The motive, “that they might be stedfast in the law of the Lord,” expresses the thought, that in order to fulfil their official duties they must be able to live free and untrammelled by earthly cares; comp. Neh_13:10 ff.; 1Co_9:4 ff.; 2Th_3:9; 1Ti_5:17 f.
2Ch_31:5. And when the word came forth, properly, “spread forth”; comp. Job_1:10. The “sons of Israel” there mentioned are first only the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as 2Ch_31:6 shows, for there first is mention made of the remaining “sons of Israel” (immigrants from the northern kingdom) and “sons of Judah.”
2Ch_31:6. And the tithe of holy things consecrated unto the Lord their God. If in Num_18:8 ff. not tithe ( îַֽòֲùֵׂø ) but heave-offerings ( úְּøåּîåֹú ) of all consecrated things, that is, of all the consecrated gifts of the Israelites, are said to fall to the Levites, this difference from our statement is only apparent, not warranting any emendation of the text after the reading of the Sept. ( ἐðéäÝêáôá áἰãῶí , êáὶ , etc.; see Crit. Note). This is merely a diversity of the phrase; what is called, Numbers 18, “terumoth”, is here designated tithe, because the terumoth were in like manner “a remnant of that which was consecrated to the Lord, as the tithe was a remnant of all the cattle and field produce” (rightly Keil. against Berth, and Kamph.).
2Ch_31:7. In the third month they began to lay down, or found; to form the heaps by gathering together the gifts in grain. The third month, in which Pentecost falls, is the time of the finished harvest, as the seventh month (with the feast of tabernacles) is that of the finished fruit and wine harvest. For the form ìִéñּåֹã , with dag. in ñ , see Ew. § 245 a.
2Ch_31:9-19. The Application and Preservation of the Collected Gifts.—Inquired . . . concerning the heaps, he inquired how it came that so great a quantity of gifts was accumulated. Only to this meaning of his question does the following answer of the high priest correspond, especially the closing sentence of it.
2Ch_31:10. And Azariah the chief priest. Whether this be the same as the Azariah occurring, 2Ch_26:17, in the history of Uzziah, forty years before, is at least very uncertain.—And this great store is left, literally, “and that which is left (forms) this great store.” Perhaps åְðåֹúָø simply is to be read instead of åְäַðּåֹúָø (Kamph.).
2Ch_31:11. And Hezekiah said to prepare in the house of the Lord, perhaps not new store-rooms ( ìְùָׁëåֹú , as 1Ch_9:26), but only a portion of those already built by Solomon (1Ki_6:5) for the reception of the stores ( äֵëִéï , as 1Ki_6:19).
2Ch_31:12. And they brought