Then the Levites arose, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by Yahweh’s words, to cleanse Yahweh’s house. The priests went into the inner part of Yahweh’s house to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in Yahweh’s temple into the court of Yahweh’s house. The Levites took it from there to carry it out to the brook Kidron. Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to Yahweh’s porch. They sanctified Yahweh’s house in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, “We have cleansed all Yahweh’s house, including the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the table of show bread with all its vessels. Moreover have we prepared and sanctified all the vessels which king Ahaz threw away in his reign, when he was unfaithful. Behold, they are before Yahweh’s altar.”
Then Hezekiah the king arose early, gathered the princes of the city, and went up to Yahweh’s house. 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. He commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on Yahweh’s altar. So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They brought near the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them. Then the priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
He set the Levites in Yahweh’s house with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was from Yahweh by his prophets. The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests with the trumpets. Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, Yahweh’s song also began, along with the trumpets and David king of Israel’s instruments. All the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
When they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Then Hezekiah answered, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into Yahweh’s house.” The assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to Yahweh. The consecrated things were six hundred head of cattle and three thousand sheep. But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of Yahweh’s house was set in order. Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced, because of that which God had prepared for the people; for the thing was done suddenly.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36 Or, concerning the things of the Lord.
Or, concerning the things of the Lord.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 2Ch 29:12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son…
2Ch 29:12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:
Ver. 12. Then the Levite, arose.] How could they do less? The Popish clergy, pressed by their prince to a reformation, would have boasted of their immunities, and have given out that the king had not to do in matters of religion, &c. In the colloquy at Possiacum, a Spanish Jesuit told the queen-mother of France to her face that she did ill to meddle in matters that belonged not to her, but to the Pope, cardinals, and bishops: the zeal of which Jesuit pleased the Pope, who said he might be compared to the ancient saints, having, without respect of the young king and princes there present, maintained God’s cause, and upbraided the queen to her face. {a}
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Mahath the son of Amasai, &c.] These were renowned reformers then, as of late years were Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, Farellus, Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, and others, whose names are written in the book of life.
{a} Hist. of Coun. of Trent, 455.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 21, 23, 24, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36 The inner part of the house of the Lord;…
The inner part of the house of the Lord; not the holy of holies, into which only the high priest might enter, and that but once in a year; but the holy place.
Into the court, to wit, the priests’ court, called here the court, by way of eminency.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv12, 20 We have here busy work, good work, and needful…
We have here busy work, good work, and needful work, the cleansing of the house of the Lord.
I. The persons employed in this work were the priests and Levites, who should have kept the temple clean, but, not having done that, were concerned to make it clean. Several of the Levites are here named, two of each of the three principal houses, Kohath, Gershon, and Merari (Ch2 29:12), and two of each of the three families of singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, Ch2 29:13, Ch2 29:14. We cannot think these are named merely because they were chief in place (for then surely the high priest, or some of the heads of the courses of the priests, would have been mentioned), but because they were more zealous and active than the rest. When God has work to do he will raise up leading men to preside in it. And it is not always that the first in place and rank are most fit for service or most forward to it. These Levites not only bestirred themselves, but gathered their brethren, and quickened them to do according to the commandment of the king by the word of the Lord. Observe, They did according to the king's command, but with an eye to God's word. The king commanded them what was already their duty by the word of God, and, in doing it, they regarded God's word as a rule to them and the king's commandment as a spur to them.
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II. The work was cleansing the house of God, 1. From the common dirt it had contracted while it was shut up - dust, and cobwebs, and the rust of the vessels. 2. From the idols and idolatrous altars that were set up in it, which, though kept ever so neat, were a greater pollution to it than if it had been made the common sewer of the city. The priests were none of them mentioned as leading men in this work, yet none but they durst go into the inner part of the house, no, not to cleanse it, which they did, and perhaps the high priest into the holy of holies, to cleanse that. And, though the Levites had the honour to be the leaders in the work, they did not disdain to be servitors to the priests according to their office; for what filth the priests brought into the court the Levites carried to the brook Kidron. Let not men's usefulness, be it ever so eminent, make them forget their place.
III. The expedition with which they did this work was very remarkable. They began on the first day of the first month, a happy beginning of the new-year, and one that promised a good year. Thus should every year begin with the reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away, by true repentance, of all the defilements contracted the foregoing year. In eight days they cleared and cleansed the temple, and in eight days more the courts of the temple, Ch2 29:17. Let those that do good work learn to rid work and get it done. Let what is amiss be amended quickly.
IV. The report they made of it to Hezekiah was very agreeable, Ch2 29:18, Ch2 29:19. They gave him an account of what they had done, because it was he that set them on work, boasted not of their own care and pains, nor did they come to him to be paid, but to let him know that all things that had been profaned were now sanctified according to law, and were ready to be used again whenever he pleased. They knew the good king had set his heart upon God's altar, and longed to be attending that, and therefore they insisted most upon the readiness they had put that into - that the vessels for the altar were scoured and brightened. Those vessels which Ahaz, in his transgression, had cast away as vessels in which there was no pleasure, they gathered together, sanctified them, and laid them in their place before the altar. Though the vessels of the sanctuary may be profaned for a while, God will find a time and a way to sanctify them. Neither his ordinances nor his people shall be suffered to fail for ever.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 And the priests went into the inner part of…
And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it,.... Into the holy place, where the candlesticks and shewbread tables stood, into which none but priests might enter, but not into the most holy place, the innermost of all; for none but the high priest might go into that, and only on the day of atonement; though in case of necessity, as for repairs, others might go into it, and so perhaps now to cleanse it, if any pollution was there:
and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; into the court of the priests, where the Levites might be, and were:
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and the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron; which ran through the valley of the son of Hinnom, into which all unclean things, and the filth of the temple and sacrifices, were usually carried and cast, see Kg2 18:12.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 31, 33, 34, 36 To cleanse - From the dirt it had contracted,…
To cleanse - From the dirt it had contracted, while it was so long shut up; from dust, cobwebs, and the rust of the vessels. Much more from the idols, and idolatrous altars which had been set up therein.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 34, 36 Verse 16. And the priests went] The priests and…
Verse 16. And the priests went] The priests and Levites cleansed first the courts both of the priests and of the people. On this labour they spent eight days. Then they cleansed the interior of the temple; but as the Levites had no right to enter the temple, the priests carried all the dirt and rubbish to the porch, whence they were collected by the Levites, carried away, and cast into the brook Kidron; in this work eight days more were occupied, and thus the temple was purified in sixteen days.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 36 2Ch 29:15-16. To cleanse the house of the Lord…
2Ch 29:15-16. To cleanse the house of the Lord — From the dirt it had contracted while it was so long shut up; from dust, cobwebs, and the rust of the vessels. Much more from the idols, and idolatrous altars, which had been set up therein. The priests went into the inner part of the house — Not the holy of holies, into which only the high-priest might go, and he only once in a year, but into the holy place. And brought out all the uncleanness into the court — To wit, the priests’ court, called here the court, by way of eminence.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 27, 31, 34 On the triple division of the Levites, see 1Ch…
On the triple division of the Levites, see 1Ch 23:6; and on the musical Levites, see 1Ch 25:1-6.
2Ch 29:13
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The descendants of Elizaphan - a grandson of Kohath Exo 6:22, and chief of the Kohathites at the time of the census in the wilderness Num 3:30 - appear at all times to have formed a distinct branch of the Kohathites with special privileges 1Ch 15:8.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36 Cedron, as Josias did with the idolatrous altars, 4…
Cedron, as Josias did with the idolatrous altars, 4 K. xxiii. 12. The priests brought what was unclean from the inner temple into the porch. H. --- This labour lasted eight days, as the cleansing of the porches had done. C. D.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 20, 31, 34 THE HOUSE OF GOD CLEANSED. (2Ch. 29:12-36)
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."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 19 15. By the words of the Lord — The…
15. By the words of the Lord — The exact sense of this phrase is here doubtful. It may mean, either that the king’s commandment was given by inspiration of God or was based upon the words of his law; or דברי, rendered words, may here mean things, and the meaning be as expressed in the margin, in the business of the Lord: that is, the king’s commandment in respect to the Lord’s matters, namely, the cleansing of the temple. This last is on the whole the more preferable exposition. Comp. chap. 2Ch_30:12.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 12. the Levites] The fourteen persons mentioned in these…
12. the Levites] The fourteen persons mentioned in these three verses comprise (a) two representatives each of the three great branches of Levi, namely, Kohath, Merari, and Gershon, (b) two representatives of the great Kohathite family of Elizaphan (cp. Num_3:30 and 1Ch_15:8), (c) two representatives each of the three divisions of the singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (1Ch_25:1).
12–19 (not in 2 Kin.). The Cleansing of the Temple
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With this passage cp. 1Ma_4:36-51 (the cleansing of the Temple by Judas Maccabaeus).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36 (12) Mahath the son of Amasai.—The verse enumerates two…
(12) Mahath the son of Amasai.—The verse enumerates two members of each of the three great Levitical subtribes—Kohath, Merari, and Gershon. Mahath and Eden recur (2Ch_31:13; 2Ch_31:15). Kish ben Abdi and Joah ben Zimmah occurred (1Ch_6:21; 1Ch_6:44). They appear to be family rather than personal names.
(12-14) The names of the Levites who received the royal charge.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 Then the Levites arose. This verse gives two apiece…
Then the Levites arose. This verse gives two apiece of the three divisions or "families Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, "sons of 1Ch_6:1, 1Ch_6:2, 16-20 23:6, 7, 12, 21, 24; comp. (Gen_46:11; Exo_6:16) Though some of the names of this and the following two verses are known, they do not designate, of course, the same persons. Through many a generation of Levites, the same names were, no doubt intentionally, reproduced.
Vers. 12-19.
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Doing duty.
The way in which these Levites received and executed the commission of the king may indicate to us the way in which we should enter upon and discharge our duty.
I UNDERTAKE IT IN A RIGHT SPIRIT. These men "arose" and went forth to do what Hezekiah called upon them to execute. It will not be presuming much if, judging from the account which follows, we conclude that they undertook their work in a spirit of
(1) obedience to the king, and
(2) devotion to their God. Certainly that would have become them and have honoured them.
And that is, undoubtedly, the spirit in which we should go forth to any duty with which we are charged; we should
(1) realize our obligation to man to do what is just and fair toward him;
(2) our responsibility to God; for in diligence and fidelity we may do everything unto him also. (Col_3:23)
II BE UNDISTURBED BY ITS UNPLEASANTNESS. This duty laid upon the Levites and upon the priests was not inviting work. To "bring out all the uncleanness" from the temple, and to "carry it out into the brook Kidron," could not be very agreeable occupation. But they did not hesitate to do it. And, indeed, they could not possibly have been better occupied. In that act they were carrying forth a curse; they were bearing away the wrath of their God. They were not merely cleansing an edifice; they were clearing their conscience; they were righting their record in the books of heaven.
No fair hand was doing that week in Jerusalem any work of refinement that more graced its owner than did the hands of those Levites as they stripped the false altar of its clothing, or as they swept the accumulated dust from the courts of the sanctuary. Let us not despise any true work of any kind. Even if it is not of a kind that answers to our taste or to our training; even if it should be uncongenial to our spirit. If it be that work which the emergency requires of us, or if it be that which Divine providence assigns us at the time; if it be that which our Master himself asks of us in order to serve his cause or to help one of his little ones, it is honourable employment, it should be accounted holy in our esteem.
Do thy little; though it be Dreariness and drudgery. They whom Christ apostles made Gathered fragments when he bade.
The twelve apostles gathering broken bits of bread and fish, or Paul going about the island of Malta gathering sticks, in these incidents we have illustrations of the truth that all work which is timely and helpful is work that is honourable and excellent.
III CALL TO OUR AID EVERY WILLING WORKER. It may be taken that those whose names are given (vers. 12-14) were the foremost in offering themselves for the work required. But they did not propose to do it by themselves; they called in all who would join them (ver. 15), and then, as a strong united band, they set about their task. In the work of the Lord we should engage all who have a heart and a hand to help. We should do so:
1. For the works sake; that it may be more rapidly and more effectually done.
2. For their sake; because they will be blessed in their deed, and after 2:3. For our own sake; that we may not be overburdened, and may do all that we do more carefully and thoroughly.
IV KNOW WHEN TO STOP, AND WHEN TO PROCEED; when to draw a boundary-line, and when to cross it. These dutiful Levites understood their duty well.
1. They did not intrude into the priests" domain; they stopped short "at theinner part of the house" (ver. 16).
2. At the same time, they went beyond the actual letter of instruction by"preparing and sanctifying the vessels which Ahaz had cast away," and by bringing these "before the altar of the Lord." It is a great thing to know what are the limits beyond which it is not right or wise for us to go. But it is a still greater thing to have so deep an interest in our work and so fervent a love for our Lord that we are not to be confined to any limits by literal instructions; that we gladly and eagerly go beyond these, if we can only render a larger and fuller service to our Master and to his cause.
V DO OUR WORK THOROUGHLY AND SPEEDILY. "They sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days" (ver. 17). "We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, with all the vessels thereof" (ver. 18). To do all that is required, leaving nothing undone because it is trivial or because it is not likely to be observed; and to do all without delay, losing no time, accomplishing everything within the days expected of us; this is the way to do Christian work, to do our duty as disciples of Jesus Christ.
VI HAVE THE DAY OF ACCOUNT IN VIEW. "They went in to Hezekiah the king," etc. (ver. 18). We may not be accountable to any human master; but to a Divine One we are (Rom_14:12; 2Co_5:10) Then "every work" will be "brought into judgment." Let us therefore labour, that we may then be "accepted of him. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv17, 27, 31, 36 Now they began on the first day of the…
2Ch_29:17
Now they began on the first day of the first month
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A new year in Jerusalem
Let us consider--
I.
The work done (2Ch_29:18-19). What a grand work of an analogous character is thereby suggested--as a work, that may possibly be accomplished in the beginning of this year (1Co_3:16).
II. How it came to pass that it was done, and done suddenly.
1. God has prepared the people (2Ch_29:29).
2. In so doing He had rendered the priests and Levites greatly useful (2Ch_29:12-16).
3. King Hezekiah greatly influenced the spirit of the priests, the Levites, and the people, as evident from the character of his address (2Ch_29:5-11). But there is another king, one Jesus, who builds the temple of the Lord, and cleanses it, to whom we are all invited to look, and who shall bear the glory.
III. Some immediate results.
1. A great impulse given to the spirit of worship (2Ch_29:28-30).
2. Extension of a spirit of liberality in connection with the worship and service of the Lord (verse35).
3. Great joy. And that how valuable!
(1) In itself.
(2) In relation to moral improvement--for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
(3) In relation to trials (Heb_3:17-18).
(4) In relation to usefulness (Psa_51:12-13).
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v18 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
SACRIFICE RENEWED
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2Ch 29:18 - 2Ch 29:31.
Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, had wallowed in idolatry, worshipping any and every god but Jehovah. He had shut up the Temple, defiled the sacred vessels, and ‘made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.’ And the result was that he brought the kingdom very near ruin, was not allowed to be buried in the tombs of the kings, and left his son a heavy task to patch up the mischief he had wrought. Hezekiah began at the right end of his task. ‘In the first year of his reign, in the first month,’ he set about restoring the worship of Jehovah. The relations with Syria and Damascus would come right if the relations with Judah’s God were right. ‘First things first’ was his motto, and perhaps he discerned the true sequence more accurately than some great political pundits do nowadays. So neglected had the Temple been that a strong force of priests and Levites took a fortnight to ‘carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place to the brook Kidron,’ and to cleanse and ceremonially sanctify the sacred vessels. Then followed at once the re-establishment of the Temple worship, which is narrated in the passage.
The first thing to be noted is that the whole movement back to Jehovah was a one-man movement. It was Hezekiah’s doing and his only. No priest is named as prominent in it, and the slowness of the whole order is especially branded in 2Ch 29:34. No prophet is named; was there any one prompting the king? Perhaps Isaiah did, though his Isa 1:1 with its scathing repudiation of ‘the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts,’ suggests that he did not think the restoration of sacrifice so important as that the nation should ‘cease to do evil and learn to do well.’ The people acquiesced in the king’s worship of Jehovah, as they had acquiesced in other kings’ worship of Baal or Moloch or Hadad. When kings take to being religious reformers, they make swift converts, but their work is as slight as it is speedy, and as short-lived as it is rapid. Manasseh was Hezekiah’s successor, and swept away all his work after twenty-nine years, and apparently the mass of his people followed him just as they had followed Hezekiah. Religion must be a matter of personal conviction and individual choice. Imposed from without, or adopted because other people adopt it, it is worthless.
Another point to notice is that Hezekiah’s reformation was mainly directed to ritual, and does not seem to have included either theology or ethics. Was be quite right in his estimate of what was the first thing? Isaiah, in the passage already referred to, does not seem to think so. To him, as to all the prophets, foul hands could not bring acceptable sacrifices, and worship was an abomination unless preceded by obedience to the command: ‘Put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes.’ The filth in the hearts of the men of Judah was more ‘rank, and smelt to heaven’ more offensively, than that in the Temple, which took sixteen days to shovel into Kidron. No doubt ceremonial bulked more largely in the days of the Old Covenant than it does in those of the New, and both the then stage of revelation and the then spiritual stature of the recipients of revelation required that it should do so. But the true religious reformers, the prophets, were never weary of insisting that, even in those days, moral and spiritual reformation should come first, and that unless it did, ritual worship, though it were nominally offered to Jehovah, was as abhorrent to Him as if it had been avowedly offered to Baal. Not a little so-called Christian worship today, judged by the same test, is as truly heathen superstition as if it had been paid to Mumbo-Jumbo.
But when all deductions have been made, the scene depicted in the passage is not only an affecting, but an instructive one. Strangely unlike our notions of worship, and to us almost repulsive, must have been the slaying of three hundred and seventy animals and the offering of them as burnt offerings. Try to picture the rivers of blood, the contortions of the dumb brutes, the priests bedaubed with gore, the smell of the burnt flesh, the blare of the trumpets, the shouts of the worshippers, the clashing cymbals, and realise what a world parts it from ‘They went up into the upper chamber where they were abiding . . . these all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer, with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren’! Sacrifice has been the essential feature in all religions before Christ. It has dropped out of worship wherever Christ has been accepted. Why? Because it spoke of a deep, permanent, universal need, and because Christ was recognised as having met the need. People who deny the need, and people who deny that Jesus on the Cross has satisfied it, may be invited to explain these two facts, written large on the history of humanity.
That brings us to the most important aspect of Hezekiah’s great sacrifice. It sets forth the stages by which men can approach to God. It is symbolic of spiritual facts, and prophetic of Christ’s work and of our way of coming to God through Him. The first requisite for Judah’s return to Jehovah, whom they had forsaken, was the presentation of a ‘sin offering.’ The king and the congregation laid their hands on the heads of the goats, thereby, as it were, transferring their own sinful personality to them. Thus laden with the nation’s sins, they were slain, and in their death the nation, as it were, bore the penalty of its sin. Representation and substitution were dramatised in the sacrifice. The blood sprinkled on the altar {which had previously been ‘sanctified’ by sprinkling of blood, and so made capable of presenting what touched it to Jehovah}, made ‘atonement for all Israel.’ We note in passing the emphasis of ‘Israel’ here, extending the benefit of the sacrifice to the separated tribes of the Northern Kingdom, in a gush of yearning love and desire that they, too, might be reconciled to Jehovah. And is not this the first step towards any man’s reconciliation with God? Is not
‘My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,’
the true expression of the first requisite for us all? Jesus is the sin-offering for the world. In His death He bears the world’s sin. His blood is presented to God, and if we have associated ourselves with Him by faith, that blood sprinkled on the altar covers all our sins.
Then followed in this parabolic ceremonial the burnt offering. And that is the second stage of our return to God, for it expresses the consecration of our forgiven selves, as being consumed by the holy and blessed fire of a self-devotion, kindled by the ‘unspeakable gift,’ which fire, burning away all foulness, will make us tenfold ourselves. That fire will burn up only our bonds, and we shall walk at liberty in it. And that burnt-offering will always be accompanied with ‘the song of Jehovah,’ and the joyful sound of the trumpets and ‘the instruments of David.’ The treasures of Christian poetry have always been inspired by the Cross, and the consequent rapture of self-surrender. Calvary is the true fountain of song.
The last stage in Hezekiah’s great sacrifice was ‘thank-offerings,’ brought by ‘as many as were of a willing heart.’ And will not the self-devotion, kindled by the fire of love, speak in daily life by practical service, and the whole activities of the redeemed man be a long thank-offering for the Lamb who ‘bears away the sins of the world’? And if we do not thus offer our whole lives to God, how shall we profess to have taken the priceless benefit of Christ’s death? Hezekiah followed the order laid down in the Law, and it is the only order that leads to the goal. First, the atoning sacrifice of the slain Lamb; next, our identification with Him and it by faith; then the burnt-offering of a surrendered self, with the song of praise sounding ever through it; and last, the life of service, offering all our works to God, and so reaching the perfection of life on earth and antedating the felicities of heaven.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 24 first month
first month
i.e. April.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v20 The Service of the Temple Set in Order
The Service of the Temple Set in Order
v. 20. Then Hezekiah the king rose early, full of anxious zeal to complete the cleansing of the Temple, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. Since all the people of his kingdom could not be reached, he wanted at least the princes of Jerusalem to be the representatives of the people.
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v. 21. And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, the number seven being the sacred number, for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sins of the king and his predecessors, and for the Sanctuary, for the priests themselves and for the desecration of the Sanctuary, and for Judah, for all the members of the nation who had consented to the introduction of idolatry. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord, to make an atonement for all the trespasses and sins as indicated.
v. 22. So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar, as the ritual of sacrifices required, Lev 8:14-24; likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. They killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
v. 23. And they brought forth the he-goats for the sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them, thus signifying that the act of atonement, while made directly by the princes, was done for the entire nation.
v. 24. And the priests killed them; and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, for the purpose of obtaining a purification for sin, Lev 14:20, to make an atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel. The sacrifices agreed, in general, with the precepts of Leviticus 4.
v. 25. And he set the Levites, those designated for that work, 1Ch 16:4; 1Ch 25:6, in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, the former being a guitarlike zither or lute, and the latter a small harp, according to the commandment of David and of Gad, the king’s seer, and Nathan, the prophet, for the latter two had advised and assisted David in arranging the Temple service; for so was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets, the Lord Himself having acted through the agency of His prophets.
v. 26. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, those invented and introduced by David, and the priests with the trumpets, for the blowing of these was their special privilege, Numbers 10.
v. 27. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar, when everything was in readiness for the service. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David, king of Israel, the instruments of David governed and led the entire orchestra as it played with full force in the intervals of the psalm or psalms.
v. 28. And all the congregation worshiped, and the singers sang, the psalm was intoned, and the trumpeters sounded; and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished, the musical performance of praise being continued during the whole time of the offering.
v. 29. And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped, in grateful adoration.
v. 30. Moreover, Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded, they had done so before the beginning of the service, the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, some of the psalms composed by the royal singer, and of Asaph, the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, literally, "unto gladness," until their hearts were lifted up in ecstasy; and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
v. 31. Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, by having filled their hands with the sacrifices of atonement; come near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord. The sin and trespass-offerings having been made in order to remove the guilt of the king and the people, peace-offerings were now in order to establish the relation of the covenant between Jehovah and His people once more. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, with which sacrificial meals were connected; and as many as were of a free heart, in making vows to Jehovah, burnt offerings.
v. 32. And the number of the burnt offerings which the congregation brought was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord, presented by the rulers of the people for the nation or congregation.
v. 33. And the consecrated things, the animals presented as thank-offerings, were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.
v. 34. But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings, a task which they were supposed to perform themselves; wherefore their brethren, the Levites, did help them, it being a case of unavoidable necessity, of an emergency, till the work was ended, and until the other priests, those who came in from the outlying cities, had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests, they displayed greater alacrity than the priests, probably because the latter had become more deeply involved in idolatry under Ahaz.
v. 35. And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, that was the second reason why the Levites were drafted into service, with the fat of the peace-offerings and the drink-offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order, the newly consecrated Temple reopened for the service of Jehovah.
v. 36. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people, had made their hearts willing with such promptness; for the thing was done suddenly, with unexpected readiness on the part of the majority of the nation. One of the surest proofs of true piety is the rejection of idolatry in every form and the eager participation in the worship of the true God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35 General Information:
General Information:
These verses list the names of the Levites who began to do the work that Hezekiah had ordered them to do. These are all men's names. (See: How to Translate Names)
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the Levites arose
Here the word "arose" is an idiom that means that the Levites began to act. AT: "the Levites began to work" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Levi
people group
Azariah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 21, 31, 34 29:12-36 To begin the process of sanctifying the Temple,…
29:12-36 To begin the process of sanctifying the Temple, these Levites began with their own sanctification. First, they all purified themselves, probably by bringing offerings (cp. 30:15); then they began to cleanse the Temple. Two separate acts were required to restore the Temple: purification (the removal of pollution, 29:15-17) and sanctification (the rededication of the Temple for holy worship, 29:20-36).
29:12 Kohath . . . Merari . . . Gershon were the three sons of Levi; their descendants had become the three main clans of the tribe of Levites (see Exod 6:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.