A verse by verse commentary on 2 Chronicles 29 dealing with Hezekiah Purifies the Temple.

1. 2 CHRO ICLES 29 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Hezekiah Purifies the Temple
1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-
nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah
daughter of Zechariah.
BAR ES, "The treatment of Hezekiah’s reign by the author of Chronicles is in
marked contrast with that followed in the Book of Kings. The writer of Kings describes
mainly civil affairs; the author of Chronicles gives a full account of Hezekiah’s religious
reformation. 2 Chr. 29–31 contain matter, therefore, which is almost wholly new.
GILL, "Hezekiah began to reign,.... Of these two verses; see Gill on 2Ki_18:2; see
Gill on 2Ki_18:3.
HE RY, "Here is, I. Hezekiah's age when he came to the crown. He was twenty-five
years old. Joash, who came to the crown after two bad reigns, was but seven years old;
Josiah, who came after two bad reigns, was but eight, which occasioned the delay of the
reformation; but Hezekiah had come to years, and so applied himself immediately to it.
We may well think with what a sorrowful heart he beheld his father's idolatry and
profaneness, how it troubled him to see the doors of the temple shut, though, while his
father lived, he durst not open them. His soul no doubt wept in secret for it, and he
vowed that when he should receive the congregation he would redress these grievances,
which made him do it with more readiness and resolution.
JAMISO , "2Ch_29:1, 2Ch_29:2. Hezekiah’s good reign.
Hezekiah began to reign, etc. — (see on 2Ki_18:1). His mother’s name, which, in
2Ki_18:2, appears in an abridged form, is here given in full.
K&D, "The beginning of his reign (2Ch_29:1, 2Ch_29:2). Purification and
consecration of the temple (vv. 3-36). - 2Ch_29:1 and 2Ch_29:2. Age of Hezekiah,

2. duration and spirit of his reign, as in 2Ki_18:1-3. With 2Ch_29:3 the account of the
restoration of the Jahve-worship begins. In the first year of his reign, in the first month,
Hezekiah caused the temple doors to be opened, and the priests and Levites to assemble,
in order that he might rouse them by an energetic address to purify the house of God
from all the uncleannesses of idolatry (2Ch_29:3-11). They, vigorously commencing the
work, completed the purification of the temple with its courts and vessels in sixteen
days, and reported to the king what had been done (2Ch_29:12-19); and then the king
and the chiefs of the city offered a great sacrifice to consecrate the purified sanctuary,
upon which followed burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and thankofferings of the whole
assembly (vv. 20-36).
COFFMA , "Practically all of this chapter is without parallel in Kings. It
supplements the record of Hezekiah's extensive reforms that are mentioned there.
We see here that his work was not merely negative, in such things as destroying the
high places and cutting down the Asherim. He also did many positive things toward
pointing Israel back to the true worship of God.
"Carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place" (2 Chronicles 29:5). "This was the
accumulated dirt from years of neglect."[1]
"They have not burned incense nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place unto
the God of Israel" (2 Chronicles 29:7). But does not 2 Kings 16:14-16 state that
Ahaz himself made offerings on that special altar? Yes, indeed; but there is no
contradiction here. The Chronicler is merely telling us (and those Levites) that those
sacrifices that Ahaz offered on an Assyrian altar, were, in no sense, offered unto the
God of Israel, but were actually sacrifices to Assyrian gods.[2] ote the underlined
words in this paragraph.
"Jehovah hath chosen you (the Levites) to stand before him" (2 Chronicles 11).
Here again we find an acute consciousness of the Law of God through Moses in the
Pentateuch, especially in Exodus, Leviticus and umbers, where the choice of the
Levites and the sons of Aaron was first revealed. It is the proliferation of dozens of
such references as these in Chronicles that sends the radical critics into frantic
screams of "Midrash"!
This single chapter is a complete contradiction of the critical denials of it with
abundant proof of the existence of the whole Pentateuch in the reign of Hezekiah,
generations prior to Josiah and that fairy tale about the P Code.
It is the conviction of this writer that the author of whatever source was quoted by
the Chronicler here (see our introduction for a list of these) had a complete copy of
the Law of Moses (the whole Pentateuch) before him when he wrote down the events
related in this chapter.
U DE IABLE REFLECTIO S OF THE PE TATEUCH I THIS CHAPTER

3. (1) "The wrath of Jehovah was upon Judah" (2 Chronicles 29:8). "This word
(wrath) is used in Deuteronomy 28:25,"[3] where Moses had predicted this very
disaster that befell Judah.
(2) "For Jehovah hath chosen you" (2 Chronicles 29:11). This is stated in umbers
3:6,8:6, and in Deuteronomy 10:8.
(3) "They brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-
goats for a sin-offering for the kingdom" (2 Chronicles 29:21). The use of these
animals for that purpose was authorized in Leviticus 1:3f; 14:20; and 16:24. "Seven
victims were offered because seven was a sacred number."[4]
(4) The use of seven victims instead of one in certain sacrifices was authorized in
umbers 28:11ff.
(5) "The priests received the blood and sprinkled it upon the altar" (2 Chronicles
29:22). The ritual for this action is found in the law of Moses in Exodus 29:16, and
in Leviticus 1:5,11.
(6) "The king and the assembly laid their hands upon them (the sacrifices)" (2
Chronicles 29:23). This ceremony is described in Leviticus 1:4.
(7) "And they made a sin-offering with their blood upon the altar" (2 Chronicles
29:24) In Leviticus 4:25,34 is found the description of exactly how this was done.
(8) "Come near, ... and bring thank-offerings into the house of Jehovah" (2
Chronicles 29:31) "The thanksgiving here was for the joy over the renewal of the
worship of Jehovah."[5] Instructions for the offerings and ceremonies for such an
occasion are found in Leviticus 7:12ff.
(9) "The burnt-offerings ... with the fat of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-
offerings for every burnt-offering ... so the service for the house of Jehovah was set
in order" (2 Chronicles 29:35). "The drink offerings were of wine and probably
poured like the blood at the base of the altar."[6] Very complete and detailed
instructions for these sacrifices, including the drink-offerings, are found in umbers
15:1-15.
ote here that Hezekiah followed instructions for the services of the house of
Jehovah, instructions that are detailed in the Mosaic writings of the Pentateuch.
Before leaving this analysis, we must ask, "How do the critics attempt to get rid of
such proof as this? Curtis has this succinct statement of their only answer.
It must be remembered that the writer was drawing largely upon his imagination,
and evidently cared little about accuracy of detail.[7]
To such so-called scholarship as this, we wish to say O! It is the evil radical critics,

4. seeking to destroy faith in the Word of God, who are drawing upon their
imagination. The real Biblical Midrash is that imaginary P Code, that alleged
discovery in the reign of Josiah, the Jehovist, the Elohist, the Deuteronomist, and
the Second, Third, or Twentieth ISAIAH, and all the rest of those fraudulent,
imaginary, ephemeral and constantly changing "documents" invented by evil men
and imposed upon believers under the guise of their being scholarly. And may it be
said again that until all of those alleged documents (or any single one of them, for
that matter) can be produced and scientifically evaluated, the truly intelligent
person may safely reject them.
ELLICOTT, "HEZEKIAH (chaps, 29-32.; 2 Kings 18-20); Chap. 29.
LE GTH A D SPIRIT OF THE REIG . THE SOLEM PURGATIO A D
HALLOWI G OF THE TEMPLE.
(1) Hezekiah.—Heb., Yĕhizqîyâhu, as if “Strong is Iahu.” 2 Kings writes Hizkîyâh,
“My strength is Iah;” Isaiah 27, sqq., Hizkîyâhu. The annals of Sennacherib present
the form Hazakiyahu.
Abijan.—2 Kings has the shortened form Abi. (This verse closely corresponds with 2
Kings 18:2.)
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 29:1 Hezekiah began to reign [when he was] five and twenty
years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s
name [was] Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
Ver. 1. Hezekiah began to reign.] See 2 Kings 18:1-2.
And his mother’s name was Abijah.] He was the better man for the good
instructions of his mother, though she could do no good on her husband Ahaz; such
was his pertinacy, not moved at all by her piety.
GUZIK, "A. The cleansing of the temple.
1. (2 Chronicles 29:1-2) The general assessment of his reign.
Hezekiah 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.
And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father
David had done.
a. Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old: Hezekiah came to the
throne of Judah at the very end of the Kingdom of Israel. Three years after the start
of his reign the Assyrian armies set siege to Samaria, and three years after that the

5. northern kingdom was conquered.
i. The sad fate of the northern kingdom was a valuable lesson to Hezekiah. He saw
first hand what happened when the people of God rejected their God and His word,
and worshipped other gods.
b. He reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: Hezekiah was one of the better kings
of Judah, and thus had a long and mostly blessed reign. o doubt his mother Abijah
was a godly and important influence on his life.
i. “His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, probably the person
mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 8:2) as a ‘faithful witness.’ This possible
friendship of his mother for the prophet, combined with the certainty that up to this
time he had been under the influence of Isaiah’s ministry, may account for
Hezekiah’s action on coming to the throne.” (Morgan)
c. He did what was right in the sight of the LORD: Hezekiah was one of Judah’s
most zealous reformers, even prohibiting worship on the high places (2 Kings 18:4).
These were popular altars for sacrifice set up as the worshipper desired, not
according to God’s direction.
i. “God was never happy about this practice, but none of the other good kings ever
found the courage to forbid it. Hezekiah did.” (Dilday)
ii. 2 Kings 18:5 makes this remarkable statement about Hezekiah: He trusted in the
LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of
Judah, nor who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD he did not depart
from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had
commanded Moses.
PULPIT, "The important reign of Hezekiah extends over this and the following
three chapters, counting in all ninety-seven verses. The parallel, for the contents of
the first three of these chapters, with their sixty-four verses, is limited to the small
number of six verses (2 Kings 18:1-6), which in its turn is very much fuller (2 Kings
18:7-20.) in the subject of our 2 Chronicles 32:1-33. The reason of this so various
disposition of matter is by no means wrapt in mystery, our writer's main object
being clearly best subserved in exhibiting the moral and religious aspects of the
inner history of Judah, as distinguished from its foreign politics—so, for brevity's
sake, to denominate them. The chapter contains Hezekiah's pious inauguration of
reign and appeal to priests and Levites (2 Chronicles 29:1-11); the cleansing (2
Chronicles 29:12-19), reconsecration (2 Chronicles 29:20-30), and thank offerings (2
Chronicles 29:31 -37) of the temple.
2 Chronicles 29:1
Hezekiah. The Ezekias of Matthew 1:9. Five and twenty years old. We have been

6. told (2 Chronicles 28:1) that Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and
reigned sixteen years. So that, if these numbers be correct, and the numbers of our
verse correct, Hezekiah must have been born when his father was only eleven years
old. Of which all that can be said is, with Keil, that such a thing was not impossible
and not unknown. It is far more probable, however, that one of the determining
figures is wrong, but we have nothing to guide us to say which. Abijah. The parallel
spells this name "Abi," omitting the final he, and dagesh in yod. Zechariah. This
may, perhaps, have been the Zechariah whose name accompanies the mention of the
name of "Uriah the priest" in Isaiah 8:2, where we may be surprised to find Uriah
called a "faithful witness," when we remember his associations with Ahaz, as told in
our foregoing chapter. Some refer our Zechariah, however, to him of 2 Chronicles
26:5.
EBC, "HEZEKIAH: THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF MUSIC
2 Chronicles 29:1-36; 2 Chronicles 30:1-27; 2 Chronicles 31:1-21; 2 Chronicles 32:1-
33
THE bent of the chronicler’s mind is well illustrated by the proportion of space
assigned to ritual by him and by the book of Kings respectively. In the latter a few
lines only are devoted to ritual, and the bulk of the space is given to the invasion of
Sennacherib, the embassy from Babylon, etc., while in Chronicles ritual occupies
about three times as many verses as personal and public affairs.
Hezekiah, though not blameless, was all but perfect in his loyalty to Jehovah. The
chronicler reproduces the customary formula for a good king: "He did that which
was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done";
but his cautious judgment rejects the somewhat rhetorical statement in Kings that
"after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were
before him."
Hezekiah’s policy was made clear immediately after his accession. His zeal for
reformation could tolerate no delay; the first month of the first year of his reign saw
him actively engaged in the good work. It was no light task that lay before him. ot
only were there altars in every corner of Jerusalem and idolatrous high places in
every city of Judah, but the Temple services had ceased, the lamps were put out, the
sacred vessels cut in pieces, the Temple had been polluted and then closed, and the
priests and Levites were scattered. Sixteen years of licensed idolatry must have
fostered all that was vile in the country, have put wicked men in authority, and
created numerous vested interests connected by close ties with idolatry, notably the
priests of all the altars and high places. On the other hand, the reign of Ahaz had
been an unbroken series of disasters; the people had repeatedly endured the horrors
of invasion. His government as time went on must have become more and more
unpopular, for when he died he was not buried in the sepulchers of the kings. As
idolatry was a prominent feature of his policy, there would be a reaction in favor of
the worship of Jehovah, and there would not be wanting true believers to tell the

7. people that their sufferings were a consequence of idolatry. To a large party in
Judah Hezekiah’s reversal of his father’s religious policy would be as welcome as
Elizabeth’s declaration against Rome was to most Englishmen.
Hezekiah began by opening and repairing the doors of the Temple. Its closed doors
had been a symbol of the national repudiation of Jehovah; to reopen them was
necessarily the first step in the reconciliation of Judah to its God, but only the first
step. The doors were open as a sign that Jehovah was invited to return to His people
and again to manifest His presence in the Holy of holies, so that through those open
doors Israel might have access to Him by means of the priests. But the Temple was
as yet no fit place for the presence of Jehovah. With its lamps extinguished, its
sacred vessels destroyed, its floors and walls thick with dust and full of all filthiness,
it was rather a symbol of the apostasy of Judah. Accordingly Hezekiah sought the
help of the Levites. It is true that he is first said to have collected together priests
and Levites, but from that point onward the priests are almost entirely ignored.
Hezekiah reminded the Levites of the misdoings of Ahaz and his adherents and the
wrath which they had brought upon Judah and Jerusalem; he told them it was his
purpose to conciliate Jehovah by making a covenant with Him; he appealed to them
as the chosen ministers of Jehovah and His temple to co-operate heartily in this good
work.
The Levites responded to his appeal apparently rather in acts than words. o
spokesman replies to the king’s speech, but with prompt obedience they set about
their work forthwith; they arose, Kohathites, sons of Merari, Gershonites, sons of
Elizaphan, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun-the chronicler has a Homeric fondness for
catalogues of high-sounding names - the leaders of all these divisions are duly
mentioned. Kohath, Gershon, and Merari are well known as the three great clans of
the house of Levi; and here we find the three guilds of singers-Asaph, Heman, and
Jeduthun-placed on a level with the older clans. Elizaphan was apparently a
division of the clan Kohath, which, like the guilds of singers, had obtained an
independent status. The result is to recognize seven divisions of the tribe.
The chiefs of the Levites gathered their brethren together, and having performed
the necessary rites of ceremonial cleansing for themselves, went in to cleanse the
Temple; that is to say, the priests went into the holy place and the Holy of holies and
brought out "all the uncleanness" into the court, and the Levites carried it away to
the brook Kidron: but before the building itself could be reached eight days were
spent in cleansing the courts, and then the priests went into the Temple itself and
spent eight days in cleansing it, in the manner described above. Then they reported-
to the king that the cleansing was finished, and especially that "all the vessels which
King Ahaz cast away" had been recovered and reconsecrated with due ceremony.
We were told in the previous chapter that Ahaz had cut to pieces the vessels of the
Temple, but these may have been other vessels.
Then Hezekiah celebrated a great dedication feast; seven bullocks, seven rams,
seven lambs, and seven he-goats were offered as a sin-offering for the dynasty, for

8. the Temple, for Judah, and (by special command of the king) for all Israel, i.e., for
the northern tribes as well as for Judah and Benjamin. Apparently this sin-offering
was made in silence, but afterwards the king set the Levites and priests in their
places with their musical instruments, and when the burnt-offering began the song
of Jehovah began with the trumpets together with the instruments of David king of
Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the
trumpeters sounded, and all this continued till the burnt-offering was finished.
When the people had been formally reconciled to Jehovah by this representative
national sacrifice, and thus purified from the uncleanness of idolatry and
consecrated afresh to their God, they were permitted and invited to make individual
sacrifices, thank-offerings and burnt-offerings. Each man might enjoy for himself
the renewed privilege of access to Jehovah, and obtain the assurance of pardon for
his sins, and offer thanksgiving for his own special blessings. And they brought
offerings in abundance: seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs
for a burnt-offering; and six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep for thank-
offerings. Thus were the Temple services restored and re-inaugurated; and
Hezekiah and the people rejoiced because they felt that this unpremeditated
outburst of enthusiasm was due to the gracious influence of the Spirit of Jehovah.
The chronicler’s narrative is somewhat marred by a touch of professional jealousy.
According to the ordinary ritual, [Leviticus 1:6] the offerer flayed the burnt-
offerings; but for some special reason, perhaps because of the exceptional solemnity
of the occasion, this duty now devolved upon the priests. But the burnt-offerings
were abundant beyond all precedent; the priests were too few for the work, and the
Levites were called in to help them, "for the Levites were more upright in heart to
purify themselves than the priests." Apparently even in the second Temple brethren
did not always dwell together in unity.
Hezekiah had now provided for the regular services of the Temple, and had given
the inhabitants of Jerusalem a full opportunity of returning to Jehovah; but the
people of the provinces were chiefly acquainted with the Temple through the great
annual festivals. These, too, had long been in abeyance; and special steps had to be
taken to secure their future observance. In order to do this, it was necessary to recall
the provincials to their allegiance to Jehovah. Under ordinary circumstances the
great festival of the Passover would have been observed in the first month, but at the
time appointed for the paschal feast the Temple was still unclean, and the priests
and Levites were occupied in its purification, But Hezekiah could not endure that
the first year of his reign should be marked by the omission of this great feast. He
took counsel with the princes and public assembly-nothing is said about the priests-
and they decided to hold the Passover in the second month instead of the first. We
gather from casual allusions in 2 Chronicles 30:6-8 that the kingdom of Samaria
had already come to an end; the people had been carried into captivity, and only a
remnant were left. in the land. From this point the kings of Judah act as religious
heads of the whole nation and territory of Israel. Hezekiah sent invitations to all
Israel from Dan to Beersheba. He made special efforts to secure a favorable
response from the northern tribes, sending letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, i.e., to

9. the ten tribes under their leadership. He reminded them that their brethren had
gone into captivity because the northern tribes had deserted the Temple; and held
out to them the hope that, if they worshipped at the Temple and served Jehovah,
they should themselves escape further calamity, and their brethren and children
who had gone into captivity should return to their own land.
"So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and
Manasseh, even unto Zebulun." Either Zebulun is used in a broad sense for all the
Galilean tribes, or the phrase "from Beersheba to Dan" is merely rhetorical, for to
the north, between Zebulun and Dan, lay the territories of Asher and aphtali. It is
to be noticed that the tribes beyond Jordan are nowhere referred to; they had
already fallen out of the history of Israel, and were scarcely remembered in the time
of the chronicler.
Hezekiah’s appeal to the surviving communities of the orthern Kingdom failed;
they laughed his messengers to scorn, and mocked them; but individuals responded
to his invitation in such numbers that they are spoken of as "a multitude of the
people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun." There were
also men of Asher among the northern pilgrims. {Cf. 2 Chronicles 30:11; 2
Chronicles 30:18}
The pious enthusiasm of Judah stood out in vivid contrast to the stubborn
impenitence of the majority of the ten tribes. By the grace of God, Judah was of one
heart to observe the feast appointed by Jehovah through the king and princes, so
that there was gathered in Jerusalem a very great assembly of worshippers,
surpassing even the great gatherings which the chronicler had witnessed at the
annual feasts.
But though the Temple had been cleansed, the Holy City was not yet free from the
taint of idolatry. The character of the Passover demanded that not only the Temple,
but the whole city, should be pure. The paschal lamb was eaten at home, and the
doorposts of the house were sprinkled with its blood. But Ahaz had set up altars at
every corner of the city; no devout Israelite could tolerate the symbols of idolatrous
worship close to the house in which he celebrated the solemn rites Of the Passover.
Accordingly before the Passover was killed these altars were removed.
Then the great feast began; but after long years of idolatry neither the people nor
the priests and Levites were sufficiently familiar with the rites of the festival to be
able to perform them without some difficulty and confusion. As a rule each head of
a household killed his own lamb; but many of the worshippers, especially those from
the north, were not ceremonially clean: and this task devolved upon the Levites. The
immense concourse of worshippers and the additional work thrown upon the
Temple ministry must have made extraordinary demands on their zeal and energy.
{Cf. 2 Chronicles 29:34; 2 Chronicles 30:3} At first apparently they hesitated, and
were inclined to abstain from discharging their usual duties. A passover in a month
not appointed by Moses, but decided on by the civil authorities without consulting
the priesthood, might seem a doubtful and dangerous innovation. Recollecting

10. Azariah’s successful assertion of hierarchical prerogative against Uzziah, they might
be inclined to attempt a similar resistance to Hezekiah. But the pious enthusiasm of
the people clearly showed that the Spirit of Jehovah inspired their somewhat
irregular zeal; so that the ecclesiastical officials were shamed out of their
unsympathetic attitude, and came forward to take their full share and even more
than their full share in this glorious rededication of Israel to Jehovah.
But a further difficulty remained: uncleanness not only disqualified from killing the
paschal lambs, but from taking any part in the Passover; and a multitude of the
people were unclean. Yet it would have been ungracious and even dangerous to
discourage their newborn zeal by excluding them from the festival; moreover, many
of them were worshippers from among the ten tribes, who had come in response to a
special invitation, which most of their fellow-country-men had rejected with scorn
and contempt. If they had been sent back because they had failed to cleanse
themselves according to a ritual of which they were ignorant, and of which
Hezekiah might have known they would be ignorant, both the king and his guests
would have incurred measureless ridicule from the impious northerners.
Accordingly they were allowed to take part in the Passover despite their
uncleanness. But this permission could only be granted with serious apprehensions
as to its consequences. The Law threatened with death any one who attended the
services of the sanctuary in a state of uncleanness. [Leviticus 15:31] Possibly there
were already signs of an outbreak of pestilence; at any rate, the dread of Divine
punishment for sacrilegious presumption would distress the whole assembly and
mar their enjoyment of Divine fellowship. Again it is no priest or prophet, but the
king, the Messiah, who comes forward as the mediator between God and man.
Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "Jehovah, in His grace and mercy, pardon every
one that setteth his heart to seek Elohim Jehovah, the God of his fathers, though he
be not cleansed according to the ritual of the Temple. And Jehovah hearkened to
Hezekiah, and healed the people," i.e., either healed them from actual disease or
relieved them from the fear of pestilence.
And so the feast went on happily and prosperously, and was prolonged by
acclamation for an additional seven days. During fourteen days king and princes,
priests and Levites, Jews and Israelites, rejoiced before Jehovah; thousands of
bullocks and sheep smoked upon the altar; and now the priests were not backward:
great numbers purified themselves to serve the popular devotion. The priests and
Levites sang and made melody to Jehovah, so that the Levites earned the king’s
special commendation. The great festival ended with a solemn benediction: "The
priests arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer
came to His holy habitation, even unto heaven." The priests, and through them the
people, received the assurance that their solemn and prolonged worship had met
with gracious acceptance.
We have already more than once had occasion to consider the chronicler’s main
theme: the importance of the Temple, its ritual, and its ministers. Incidentally and
perhaps unconsciously, he here suggests another lesson, which is specially
significant as coming from an ardent ritualist, namely the necessary limitations of

11. uniformity in ritual. Hezekiah’s celebration of the Passover is full of irregularities:
it is held in the wrong month; it is prolonged to twice the usual period; there are
amongst the worshippers multitudes of unclean persons, whose presence at these
services ought to have been visited with terrible punishment. All is condoned on the
ground of emergency, and the ritual laws are set aside without consulting the
ecclesiastical officials. Everything serves to emphasize the lesson we touched on in
connection with David’s sacrifices at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite:
ritual is made for man, and not man for ritual. Complete uniformity may be insisted
on in ordinary times, but can be dispensed with in any pressing emergency;
necessity knows no law, not even the Torah of the Pentateuch. Moreover, in such
emergencies it is not necessary to wait for the initiative or even the sanction of
ecclesiastical officials; the supreme authority in the Church in all its great crises
resides in the whole body of believers. o one is entitled to speak with greater
authority on the limitations of ritual than a strong advocate of the sanctity of ritual
like the chronicler; and we may well note, as one of the most conspicuous marks of
his inspiration, the sanctified common sense shown by his frank and sympathetic
record of the irregularities of Hezekiah’s passover. Doubtless emergencies had
arisen even in his own experience of the great feasts of the Temple that had taught
him this lesson; and it says much for the healthy tone of the Temple community in
his day that he does not attempt to reconcile the practice of Hezekiah with the law of
Moses by any harmonistic quibbles.
The work of purification and restoration, however, was still incomplete: the Temple
had been cleansed from the pollutions of idolatry, the heathen altars had been
removed from Jerusalem, but the high places remained in all the cities of Judah.
When the Passover was at last finished, the assembled multitude, "all Israel that
were present," set out, like the English or Scotch Puritans, on a great iconoclastic
expedition. Throughout the length and breadth of the Land of Promise, throughout
Judah and Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, they brake in pieces the sacred
pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the high places and altars;
then they went home.
Meanwhile Hezekiah was engaged in reorganizing the priests and Levites and
arranging for the payment and distribution of the sacred dues. The king set an
example of liberality by making provision for the daily, weekly, monthly, and
festival offerings. The people were not slow to imitate him; they brought first-fruits
and tithes in such abundance that four months were spent in piling up heaps of
offerings.
"Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he wrought that which was good,
and right, and faithful before Jehovah his God; and in every work that he began in
the service of the Temple, and in the Law, and in the commandments, to seek his
God, he did it with all his heart, and brought it to a successful issue."
Then follow an account of the deliverance from Sennacherib and of Hezekiah’s
recovery from sickness, a reference to his undue pride in the matter of the embassy
from Babylon, and a description of the prosperity of his reign, all for the most part

12. abridged from the book of Kings. The prophet Isaiah, however, is almost ignored. A
few of the more important modifications deserve some little attention. We are told
that the Assyrian invasion was "after these things and this faithfulness," in order
that we may not forget that the Divine deliverance was a recompense for Hezekiah’s
loyalty to Jehovah. While the book of Kings tells us that Sennacherib took all the
fenced cities of Judah, the chronicler feels that even this measure of misfortune
would not have been allowed to befall a king who had just reconciled Israel to
Jehovah, and merely says that Sennacherib purposed to break these cities up.
The chronicler has preserved an account of the measures taken by Hezekiah for the
defense of his capital: how he stopped up the fountains and water-courses outside
the city, so that a besieging army might not find water, and repaired and
strengthened the walls, and encouraged his people to trust in Jehovah.
Probably the stopping of the water supply outside the walls was connected with an
operation mentioned at the close of the narrative of Hezekiah’s reign: "Hezekiah
also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight
down on the west side of the city of David." [2 Chronicles 32:30] Moreover, the
chronicler’s statements are based upon 2 Kings 20:20, where it is said that
"Hezekiah made the pool and the conduit and brought water to the city." The
chronicler was of course intimately acquainted with the topography of Jerusalem in
his own days, and uses his knowledge to interpret and expand the statement in the
book of Kings. He was possibly guided in part by Isaiah 22:9; Isaiah 22:11, where
the "gathering together the waters of the lower pool" and the "making a reservoir
between the two walls for the water of the old pool" are mentioned as precautions
taken in view of a probable Assyrian siege. The recent investigations of the Palestine
Exploration Fund have led to the discovery of aqueducts, and stoppages, and
diversions of watercourses which are said to correspond to the operations
mentioned by the chronicler. If this be the case, they show a very accurate
knowledge on his part of the topography of Jerusalem in his own day, and also
illustrate his care to utilize all existing evidence in order to obtain a clear and
accurate interpretation of the statements of his authority.
The reign of Hezekiah appears a suitable opportunity to introduce a few remarks on
the importance which the chronicler attaches to the music of the Temple services.
Though the music is not more prominent with him than with some earlier kings, yet
in the case of David, Solomon, and Jehoshaphat other subjects presented themselves
for special treatment; and Hezekiah’s reign being the last in which the music of the
sanctuary is specially dwelt upon, we are able here to review the various references
to this subject. For the most part the chronicler tells his story of the virtuous days of
the good kings to a continual accompaniment of Temple music. We hear of the
playing and singing when the Ark was brought to the house of Obed-edom; when it
was taken into the city of David; at the dedication of the Temple; at the battle
between Abijah and Jeroboam; at Asa’s reformation; in connection with the
overthrow of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunim in the reign of Jehoshaphat; at
the coronation of Joash; at Hezekiah’s feasts; and again, though less emphatically,
at Josiah’s passover. o doubt the special prominence given to the subject indicates

13. a professional interest on the part of the author. If, however, music occupies an
undue proportion of his space, and he has abridged accounts of more important
matters to make room for his favorite theme, yet there is no reason to suppose that
his actual statements overrate the extent to which music was used in worship or the
importance attached to it. The older narratives refer to the music in the case of
David and Joash, and assign psalms and songs to David and Solomon. Moreover,
Judaism is by no means alone in its fondness for music, but shares this
characteristic with almost all religions.
We have spoken of the chronicler so far chiefly as a professional musician, but it
should be clearly understood that the term must be taken in its best sense. He was
by no means so absorbed in the technique of his art as to forget its sacred
significance; he was not less a worshipper himself because he was the minister or
agent of the common worship. His accounts of the festivals show a hearty
appreciation of the entire ritual; and his references to the music do not give us the
technical circumstances of its production, but rather emphasize its general effect.
The chronicler’s sense of the religious value of music is largely that of a devout
worshipper, who is led to set forth for the benefit of others a truth which is the fruit
of his own experience. This experience is not confined to trained musicians; indeed,
a scientific knowledge of the art may sometimes interfere with its devotional
influence. Criticism may take the place of worship; and the hearer, instead of
yielding to the sacred suggestions of hymn or anthem, may be distracted by his
esthetic judgment as to the merits of the composition and the skill shown by its
rendering. In the same way critical appreciation of voice, elocution, literary style,
and intellectual power does not always conduce to edification from a sermon. In the
truest culture, however, sensitiveness to these secondary qualities has become
habitual and automatic, and blends itself imperceptibly with the religious
consciousness of spiritual influence. The latter is thus helped by excellence and only
slightly hindered by minor defects in the natural means. But the very absence of any
great scientific knowledge of music may leave the spirit open to the spell which
sacred music is intended to exercise, so that all cheerful and guileless souls may be
"moved with concord of sweet sounds," and sad and weary hearts find comfort in
subdued strains that breathe sympathy of which words are incapable.
Music, as a mode of utterance moving within the restraints of a regular order,
naturally attaches itself to ritual. As the earliest literature is poetry, the earliest
liturgy is musical. Melody is the simplest and most obvious means by which the
utterances of a body of worshippers can be combined into a seemly act of worship.
The mere repetition of the same words by a congregation in ordinary speech is apt
to he wanting in impressiveness or even in decorum; the use of tune enables a
congregation to unite in worship even when many of its members are strangers to
each other.
Again, music may be regarded as an expansion of language: not new dialect, but a
collection of symbols that can express thought, and more especially emotion, for
which mere speech has no vocabulary. This new form of language naturally
becomes an auxiliary of religion. Words are clumsy instruments for the expression

14. of the heart, and are least efficient when they undertake to set forth moral and
spiritual ideas. Music can transcend mere speech in touching the soul to fine issues,
suggesting visions of things ineffable and unseen.
Browning makes Abt Vogler say of the most enduring and supreme hopes that God
has granted to men, "Tis we musicians know"; but the message of music comes
home with power to many who have no skill in its art.
PARKER, "Hezekiah: A True King
2 Chronicles 29
WE have not spared condemnation in the case of Ahaz. In this chapter we have once
more the mystery of a bad father having a good son. There were few worse men
than Ahaz; there were few better men than Hezekiah. There is a law in this
progression and retrogression which we cannot understand. It is wholly bewildering
that a philosopher should have a fool for a Song of Solomon , and that a fool should
have a philosopher for his firstborn. There is one thing absolutely certain, and that
is that God will have nothing to do with family respectability. When shall we learn
with our heart that we cannot have respectable families, in the conventional and
superficial sense of that term? Some of the most respectable families in the world
have had members of the household who have been hanged; these are never spoken
about. The whole mystery of family development shows that we cannot grow plants
pure, wholly beautiful, and entirely perfect, outside the walls of paradise; we may
cover up a good deal, we have skill in the uses of concealment; but there is the
striking historical fact that God will not allow one family to boast over any other
family as to its respectability in his sight: for no flesh shall glory in the presence of
God. What we have termed natural logic would seem to have required that the son
of Ahaz should be a degree worse than himself. Instead of the operation of that
natural logic, that external philosophy of heredity, here is a man who stands up a
very prince of heaven, his heart burning with the fire of piety, his whole soul
troubled because of the corruptness of the nation, and his spirit bowed down within
him because the temple is like a sealed tomb. Let us look steadfastly at facts, and
never boast; for the respectability that culminates in us may suffer an appalling
collapse in the man who comes next.
Hezekiah no sooner began to reign than he began to make his influence felt.
"He in the first year of his reign, in the first month [that Isaiah , in the first sacred
month], opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them" ( 2
Chronicles 29:3).
All this is negative. There must have been some man who had closed the doors. That
man was Hezekiah"s own father; yet the very first thing which Hezekiah does is to
undo what his father did. There are precedents that are only to be shattered. There
is a law of continuity which must be broken. The only true continuity is a continuity

15. of righteousness, truth, pureness—real, healthy, honest piety. Continuance in
anything else is but an aggravation of blasphemy; it is the consistency of evil; it is
the monotony of darkness. Sometimes all that we can do is to open the doors. Even
that, however, is a work of mercy, and means much more than is made evident in
the letter. When the father leaves the door open at night, it is that some wandering
child may be permitted to enter, should he return in the darkness. The father, when
he leaves that door open, offers a whole liturgy of prayer, looks heaven in the face
with an expression that means the very eloquence of intercession, so eloquent as to
be silent, so sublime as to be mute. When the poor cottier lights the little candle and
sets it in the little window, it is more than a candle, it is a beacon: it is a welcome, it
is a sign; it means longing, expectation, hospitality; it means all that can be meant
by love that bleeds itself to death. He does no small good to the nation who opens the
doors of the sanctuary. They are doors which ought never to be shut. There is a
cipher which men ought to be able to understand; there need not be written upon
the church doors welcome to all who would come in; it will be enough to have the
doors standing open. Open doors mean welcome, offers of light and truth, and all
the hospitality of grace. Hezekiah, therefore, begins well, though he begins
negatively.
Then he must still continue his negative course, even though he seek co-operation.
Bringing in the priests and the Levites, and gathering them together, as if in public
meeting, he says:
MACLARE , "A GODLY REFORMATION
Hezekiah, the best of the later kings, had the worst for his father, and another almost as
bad for his son. His own piety was probably deepened by the mad extravagance of his
father’s boundless idolatry, which brought the kingdom to the verge of ruin. Action and
reaction are equal and contrary. Saints grown amidst fashionable and deep corruption
are generally strong, and reformers usually arise from the midst of the systems which
they overthrow. Hezekiah came to a tottering throne and an all but beggared nation,
ringed around by triumphant enemies. His brave young heart did not quail. He sought
‘first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,’ and of the two pressing needs for
Judah, political peace and religious purity, he began with the last. The Book of Kings
tells at most length the civil history; the Book of Chronicles, as usual, lays most stress on
the ecclesiastical. The two complete each other. The present passage gives a beautiful
picture of the vigorous, devout young king setting about the work of reformation.
We may note, first, his prompt action. Joash had to whip up the reluctant priests with
his ‘See that ye hasten the matter!’ Hezekiah lets no grass grow under his feet, but begins
his reforms with his reign. ‘The first month’ (2Ch_29:3) possibly, indeed, means the first
month of the calendar, not of Hezekiah, who may have come to the throne in the later
part of the Jewish year; but, in any case, no time was lost. The statement in 2Ch_29:3
may be taken as a general resume of what follows in detail, but this vigorous speech to
the priests was clearly among the new king’s first acts. No doubt his purpose had slowly
grown while his father was affronting Heaven with his mania for idols. Such decisive,
swift action does not come without protracted, previous brooding. The hidden fires
gather slowly in the silent crater, however rapidly they burst out at last.

16. We can never begin good things too early, and when we come into new positions, it is
always prudence as well as bravery to show our colours unmistakably from the first.
Many a young man, launched among fresh associations, has been ruined because of
beginning with temporising timidity. It is easier to take the right standing at first than to
shift to it afterwards. Hezekiah might have been excused if he had thought that the
wretched state of political affairs left by Ahaz needed his first attention. Edomites on the
east, Philistines on the west and south, Syrians and Assyrians on the north, ‘compassed
him about like bees,’ and worldly prudence would have said, ‘Look after these enemies
today, and the Temple tomorrow.’ He was wiser than that, knowing that these were
effects of the religious corruption, and so he went at that first. It is useless trying to
mend a nation’s fortunes unless you mend its morals and religion.
And there are some things which are best done quickly, both in individual and national
life. Leaving off bad habits by degrees is not hopeful. The only thing to be done is to
break with them utterly and at once. One strong, swift blow, right through the heart, kills
the wild beast. Slighter cuts may make him bleed to death, but he may kill you first. The
existing state was undeniably sinful. There was no need for deliberation as to that.
Therefore there was no reason for delay. Let us learn the lesson that, where conscience
has no doubts, we should have no dawdling. ‘I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy
commandment.’
Note, too, in Hezekiah’s speech, the true order of religious reformation. The priests and
Levites were not foremost in it, as indeed is only too often the case with ecclesiastics in
all ages. Probably many of them had been content to serve Ahaz as priests of his
multiform idolatry. At all events, they needed ‘sanctifying,’ though no doubt the word is
here used in reference to merely ceremonial uncleanness. Still the requirement that they
should cleanse themselves before they cleansed the Temple has more than ceremonial
significance. Impure hands are not fit for the work of religious reformation, though they
have often been employed in it. What was the weakness of the Reformation but that the
passions of princes and nobles were so soon and generally enlisted for it, and marred it?
He that enters into the holy place, especially if his errand be to cleanse it, must have
‘clean hands, and a pure heart.’ The hands that wielded the whip of small cords, and
drove out the money-changers, were stainless, and therefore strong. Some of us are very
fond of trying to set churches to rights. Let us begin with ourselves, lest, like careless
servants, we leave dirty finger-marks where we have been ‘cleaning.’
The next point in the speech is the profound and painful sense of existing corruption.
Note the long-drawn-out enumeration of evils in 2Ch_29:6-7, starting with the general
recognition of the father’s trespass, advancing to the more specific sin of forsaking Him
and His house, and dwelling, finally, as with fascinated horror, on all the details of
closed shrine and quenched lamps and cold altars. The historical truth of the picture is
confirmed by the close of the previous chapter, and its vividness shows how deeply
Hezekiah had felt the shame and sin of Ahaz. It is not easy to keep clear of the influence
of prevailing corruptions of religion. Familiarity weakens abhorrence, and the stained
embodiments of the ideal hide its purity from most eyes. But no man will be God’s
instrument to make society, the church, or the home, better, unless he feels keenly the
existing evils. We do not need to cherish a censorious spirit, but we do need to guard
against an unthinking acquiescence in the present state of things, and a self-complacent
reluctance to admit their departure from the divine purpose for the church. There is
need to-day for a like profound consciousness of evil, and like efforts after new purity. If
we individually lived nearer God, we should be less acclimatised to the Church’s
imperfections. No doubt Hezekiah’s clear sight of the sinfulness of the idolatry so
universal round him was largely owing to Isaiah’s influence. Eyes which have caught

17. sight of the true King of Israel, and of the pure light of His kingdom, will be purged to
discern the sore need for purifying the Lord’s house.
The clear insight into the national sin gives as clear understanding of the national
suffering. Hezekiah speaks, in 2Ch_29:8-9, as the Law and the Prophets had been
speaking for centuries, and as God’s providence had been uttering in act all through the
national history. But so slow are men to learn familiar truths that Ahaz had grasped at
idol after idol to rescue him; ‘but they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.’ How
difficult it is to hammer plain truths, even with the mallet of troubles, into men’s heads!
How blind we all are to the causal connection between sin and sorrow! Hezekiah saw the
iron link uniting them, and his whole policy was based upon that ‘wherefore.’ Of course,
if we accept the Biblical statements as to the divine dealing with Israel and Judah,
obedience and disobedience were there followed by reward and suffering more certainly
and directly than is now the case in either national or individual life. But it still remains
true that it is a ‘bitter’ as well as an ‘evil’ thing to depart from the living God. If we would
find the cause of our own or of a nation’s sorrows, we had better begin our search among
our or its sins.
That phrase ‘an astonishment, and an hissing’ (2Ch_29:8) is new. It appears for the first
time in Micah (Micah vi. l6), and he, we know, exercised influence on Hezekiah (Jer_
26:18-19). Perhaps the king is here quoting the prophet.
The exposition of the sin and its fruit is followed by the king’s resolve for himself, and, so
far as may be, for his people. The phrase ‘it is in my heart’ expresses fixed determination,
not mere wish. It is used by David and of him, in reference to his resolve to build the
Temple. ‘To make a covenant’ probably means to renew the covenant, made long ago at
Sinai, but broken by sin. The king has made up his mind, and announces his
determination. He does not consult priests or people, but expects their acquiescence. So,
in the early days of Christianity, the ‘conversion’ of a king meant that of his people. Of
course, the power of the kings of Israel and Judah to change the national religion at their
pleasure shows how slightly any religion had penetrated, and how much, at the best, it
was a matter of mere ceremonial worship with the masses. People who worshipped
Ahaz’s rabble of gods and godlings to-day because he bade them, and Hezekiah’s God to-
morrow, had little worship for either, and were much the same through all changes.
Hezekiah was in earnest, and his resolve was none the less right because it was moved by
a desire to turn away the fierce anger of the Lord. Dread of sin’s consequences and a
desire to escape these is no unworthy motive, however some superfine moralists
nowadays may call it so. It is becoming unfashionable to preach ‘the terror of the Lord.’
The more is the pity, and the less is the likelihood of persuading men. But, however
kindled, the firm determination (which does not wait for others to concur) that ‘As for
me, I will serve the Lord,’ is the grand thing for us all to imitate. That strong young heart
showed itself kingly in its resolve, as it had shown itself sensitive to evil and tender in
contemplating the widespread sorrow. If we would brace our feeble wills, and screw
them to the sticking-point of immovable determination to make a covenant with God, let
us meditate on our departures from Him, the Lover and Benefactor of our souls, and on
the dreadfulness of His anger and the misery of those who forsake Him.
Once more the king turns to the priests. He began and he finishes with them, as if he
were not sure of their reliableness. His tone is kindly, ‘My sons,’ but yet monitory. They
would not have been warned against ‘negligence’ unless they had obviously needed it,
nor would they have been stimulated to their duties by reminding them of their
prerogatives, unless they had been apt to slight these. Officials, whose business is
concerned with the things of God, are often apt to drop into an easy-going pace.

18. Negligent work may suit unimportant offices, but is hideously inconsistent with the
tasks and aims of God’s servants. If there is any work which has to be done ‘with both
hands, earnestly,’ it is theirs. Unless we put all our strength into it, we shall get no good
for ourselves or others out of it. The utmost tension of all powers, the utmost
husbanding of every moment, is absolutely demanded by the greatness of the task; and
the voice of the great Master says to all His servants, ‘My sons, be not now negligent.’
Ungirt loins and unlit lamps are fatal.
We should meditate, too, on the prerogatives and lofty offices to which Christ calls those
who love Him; not to minister to self-complacency, as if we were so much better than
other men, but to deepen our sense of responsibility, and stir us to strenuous efforts to
be what we are called to be. If Christian people thought more earnestly on what Jesus
Christ means them to be to the world, they would not so often counterwork His purpose
and shirk their own duties. Crowns are heavy to wear. Gifts are calls to service. If we are
chosen to be His ministers, we have solemn responsibilities. If we are to burn incense
before Him, our censers need to be bright and free from strange fire. If we are the lights
of the world, our business is to shine.
BI, "Hezekiah began to reign.
Hezekiah’s reformation
The surroundings of Hezekiah in his youth seem, at first view, to have been unfavourable
in the extreme. He was the son of a depraved father. He grew up at a corrupt court. Good
kings and bad follow one another in very illogical succession. It must be that there is a
self-acting power at the centre of every personal life. Let us cling to the belief, too, that,
however vast the moral inequalities of human lives may be, no life is allowed by the
Creator to be altogether destitute of gracious influences. In Hezekiah’s case, at least, we
can have no doubt that such influences were present. It is not unnatural to believe that
his mother, presumably the daughter of Zechariah, the faithful prophet of King Uzziah’s
day, was a woman of devout character. To the loving nurture of a mother was added the
faithful counsel of godly men. Moral giants lived in those days. Micah was prophesying,
Nahum was about to begin his work. During the entire lifetime of Hezekiah, Isaiah was
fulfilling his office in Jerusalem. Tradition says that he was Hezekiah’s tutor; there can
be no doubt that he was his faithful counsellor. Repulsed by the father, he would
naturally turn with greater earnestness to the son. But all this touches only the outer
circle of the gracious influences by which Hezekiah was encompassed. It has been said,
and there is a world of truth in the saying, that more than half of the environment of any
man is—God. The God who is not far from every one of us was near to the young prince
in the corrupt capital of Judah. We have good reason for believing that Hezekiah had not
been unresponsive to his heavenly promptings. A work begun so quickly after his
accession to the throne must have been premeditated. We must suppose that Hezekiah
had lived a thoughtful life. The character of the work to which the king addressed
himself is deserving of attention. It was a radical work. Great as was the peril to which
the kingdom was exposed from external attack, great as was its moral unsoundness,
Hezekiah saw that all its trouble was rooted in ungodliness. The king’s initial sot in
“opening the doors of the house of the Lord” was, it is likely, more philosophical than he
himself realised. Reverence for God lies at the basis of all that is trustworthy in private
character and of all that is enduring in public order. Hezekiah’s reform was also positive
in nature. It addressed itself not chiefly to the extermination of idolatry, but to the

19. development of a genuine faith. Of their own accord the people went out to “break in
pieces” the emblems of idolatry. When God wishes to regenerate the soul He does not at
the outset uproot sinful affections, He implants love for Himself. Hezekiah’s was a
thoroughgoing work. The taunting charge of illiberality could not extort from him the
smallest concession to the false religions of other lands. Not only image and “grove”—the
sacred pillar or tree of Astarte—were to be hewn down, but the worship of the “high
places” was to be destroyed. Of Asa and Jehoshaphat we are told both that they did and
that they did not interfere with this form of worship. They probably destroyed such
sanctuaries as had become openly idolatrous, and allowed the others to remain. But
Hezekiah adopted extreme measures. The brazen serpent fashioned by Moses in the
wilderness, and still preserved, the people regarded with superstitious veneration.
Hezekiah declared that the image was like any other “piece of brass,” and broke it in
pieces. Hezekiah would not consent that even the germs of idolatry should remain in the
land. How difficult was the mission to which Hezekiah thus committed himself! In the
mode of procedure adopted by Hezekiah in carrying through his reformation are certain
things worthy of notice.
1. It is peculiarly gratifying to observe that he acted promptly. The die was cast. In
the first month of his reign Hezekiah, like Abraham, who, when bidden to offer
Isaac, “rose up early in the morning and went to the place of which God had told
him,” was wise in allowing himself no time for hesitation. Delay never softens the
hard aspects of duty or lessens its difficulties. For committing one’s self to the service
of Christ no other time is so favourable as the first year, the first month, the first day,
of one’s entrance upon a new sort or period of life.
2. It is instructive to notice that Hezekiah engaged personally in the work of reform.
He did not commit it all to subalterns.
3. Deserving of special mention is the fact that in the prosecution of his policy
Hezekiah relied chiefly upon moral influences. He might have compelled, but he
chose rather to persuade. In this he showed the utmost wisdom. If the reform was to
be real, the hearts of the people must be enlisted in it. We are, finally, prepared to
inquire what results were effected by the king’s determined effort. The immediate
outcome was most gratifying and most wonderful. The officers of religion
responded—the priests somewhat slowly, but the Levites with all their hearts. The
people did the same. The nation felt to its utmost limits the electric thrill of a new
life. The crusade against idolatry waxed strong throughout the kingdom, and “a burst
of spring-time,” as Dean Stanley beautifully calls it, succeeded. “The thing was done
suddenly,” the record says. But is not the same true of well-nigh every successful
reform? Those advocating a righteous cause have at least two excellent reasons for
viewing it with larger hope than external appearances warrant. Something in every
moral being is in secret alliance with truth and justice. The second reason is stronger
still; it is that by which the sacred historian explains the success of Hezekiah: “The
Lord had prepared the people.” We may reckon with confidence upon God’s care
over any work of His. To the reformatory work of King Hezekiah must be attributed a
result still more imposing, though to be sure not more important. It delivered the
southern kingdom from the fearful peril by which the northern kingdom had been
overwhelmed. Is it not a painful thing to have to add that even so thorough a reform
as this did not prove lasting? Some of the people doubtless remained steadfast, but
the most fell away. (T. S. Barbour.)

20. Hezekiah, the good king
I. Hezekiah’s good beginning.
1. Correct in life (verse 2).
2. Prompt in action (verse 8).
3. Holy in influence (verse 5).
II. Hezekiah’s sad confession.
1. The Lord forsaken (verse 6).
2. The sanctuary abandoned (verse 7).
3. The penalty incurred (verse 8).
III. Hezekiah’s wise appeal.
1. To make a covenant (verse 10).
2. To avert wrath (verse 10).
3. To perform duty (verse 11). (Sunday School Times.)
Hezekiah’s reformation
The best way to settle a kingdom is to settle the religion of it, to begin reigning with
reforming. Hezekiah’s reformation went on in a true step and pace, for it began first with
the temple and ministry. It is but Christian prudence to cleanse the spring if we would
have the stream clear; to look to God’s house, and those that should dispense His Word
and ordinances if we would have the people brought into conformity with Him. (T.
Manton, D.D.)
Starting well
A friend, who is deeply interested in work for Christ among our sailors, told me that at
the close of a prayer-meeting of which he had been the leader, a young seaman, who had
only a few nights before been converted, came up to him, and laying a blank card before
him, requested him to write a few words upon it, because, as he said, “You will do it
more plainly than I can.” “What must I write?” said my friend. “Write these words, sir; ‘I
love Jesus—do you?’” After he had written them, my friend said, “Now you must tell me
what you are going to do with the card.” He replied, “I am going to sea to-morrow, and I
am afraid if I do not take a stand at once I may begin to be ashamed of my religion, and
let myself be laughed out of it altogether. Now as soon as I go on board, I shall walk
straight to my bunk and nail up this card upon it, that every one may know that I am a
Christian.”
Hezekiah’s action, the result of previous brooding
The statement in verse 8 may be taken as a general resume of what follows in detail, but
this vigorous speech to the priests was clearly among the new king’s first sets. No doubt
his purpose had slowly grown while his father was affronting Heaven with his mania for
idols. Such decisive, swift action does not come without protracted, previous brooding.
The hidden fires gather slowly in the silent crater, however rapidly they burst out at last.

21. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Taking the right stand at first
We can never begin good things too early, and when we come into new positions, it is
always prudence as well as bravery to show our colours unmistakably from the first.
Many a young man, launched among fresh associations, has been ruined because of
beginning with temporising timidity. It is easier to take the right standing at first than to
shift to it afterwards. Hezekiah might have been excused if he had thought that the
wretched state of political affairs left by Ahaz needed his first attention. Edomites on the
east, Philistines on the west and south, Syrians and Assyrians on the north, compassed
him about like bees, and worldly prudence would have said, Look after these enemies to-
day, and the temple to-morrow. He was wiser than that, knowing that these were effects
of the religious corruption, and so he went at that first. It is useless trying to mend a
nation’s fortunes unless you mend its morals and religion. And there are some things
which are best done quickly, both in individual and national life. Leaving off bad habits
by degrees is not hopeful. The only thing to be done is to break with them utterly and at
once. One strong, swift blow, right through the heart, kills the wild beast. Slighter cuts
may make him bleed to death, but he may kill you first. The existing state was
undeniably sinful. There was no need for deliberation as to that. Therefore there was no
reason for delay. Let us learn the lesson that, where conscience has no doubts, we should
have no dawdling. “I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandment.” (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together.
Co-operation needed
No one is so strong that he needs no help in carrying out his plans of reform. The head of
a nation or of a state must have the co-operation of many, if he would correct abuses and
promote a better state of things in the administration of his government. A pastor must
seek the aid of the leaders of his people in trying to raise the standard of his church. A
superintendent cannot carry his school to any higher point than that to which he can
first bring his teachers. The head of a business establishment, who neglects to give wise
counsel to those just below him, finds the lack of it in all the departments which they
oversee. The true method of uplifting the masses is by uplifting the leaders of the
masses. (H. Clay Trumbull.)
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
just as his father David had done.

22. CLARKE, "He did that which was right - See the note on 2Ki_18:3.
GILL, "Hezekiah began to reign,.... Of these two verses; see Gill on 2Ki_18:2; see
Gill on 2Ki_18:3.
HE RY, "II. His general character. He did that which was right like David, 2Ch_
29:2. Of several of his predecessors it had been said that they did that which was right,
but not like David, not with David's integrity and zeal. But here was one that had as
hearty an affection for the ark and law of God as ever David had.
ELLICOTT, "(2) And he did.—The verse is identical with 2 Kings 18:3
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 29:2 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the
LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
Ver. 2. And he did that which was right.]. [2 Kings 18:3] The more happy was his
government, because he came after the stormy times of his father Ahaz. He came as
a fresh spring after a sharp winter, and brought the ship of Judah from a troublous
and tempestuous sea, to a safe and quiet harbour.
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign,
he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and
repaired them.
BAR ES, "By “the first month” is meant (compare 2Ch_30:2-3) the month of Nisan,
the first of the Jewish sacred year, not necessarily the first month of Hezekiah’s reign.
GILL, "He in the first year of his reign, in the first month,.... And, as appears
from 2Ch_29:17, on the first day of the month:

23. opened the doors of the house of the Lord; which his father had shut, 2Ch_28:24.
and repaired them; or strengthened them, the hinges, and other parts of them, being
loosened and weakened; and ornamented them by overlaying them with gold, the plates
of which very probably his father had taken off; for, certain it is, Hezekiah overlaid them,
and very probably at this time, see 2Ki_18:16.
HE RY, "III. His speedy application to the great work of restoring religion. The first
thing he did was to open the doors of the house of the Lord, 2Ch_29:3. We are willing to
hope his father had not quite suppressed the temple service; for then the holy fire on the
altar must have gone out, and we do not read of the re-kindling of it; but he had
hindered the people from attending it, and the priests, except such of them as were of his
own party, 2Ki_16:15. But Hezekiah immediately threw the church doors open, and
brought in the priests and Levites. He found Judah low and naked, yet did not make it
his first business to revive the civil interests of his kingdom, but to restore religion to its
good posture again. Those that begin with God begin at the right end of their work, and
it will prosper accordingly.
IV. His speech to the priests and Levites. It was well known, no doubt, that he had a
real kindness for religion and was disaffected to the corruptions of the last reign; yet we
do not find the priests and Levites making application to him for the restoration of the
temple service but he calls upon them, which, I doubt, bespeaks their coldness as much
as his zeal; and perhaps, if they had done their part with vigour, things would not have
been brought into so very bad a posture as Hezekiah found them in. Hezekiah's
exhortation to the Levites is very pathetic.
JAMISO , "2Ch_29:3-11. He restores religion.
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 (2Ch_28:24).
and repaired them — or embellished them (compare 2Ki_18:16).
K&D, "The purification of the temple by the priests and Levites. - 2Ch_29:3. In the
first year of his reign, in the first month, he caused the doors of the house of Jahve to be
opened and repaired (‫ק‬ֵ ִ‫ה‬ as in 2Ch_24:12, where it alternates with ‫שׁ‬ ֵ ַ‫.)ה‬ Cf. herewith the
remark in 2Ki_18:16, that Hezekiah caused the doors of the ‫ל‬ ָ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ to be covered with leaf-
gold. The date, in the first month, in the first year of his reign, is variously interpreted.
As the Levites, according to 2Ch_29:17, began the purification on the first day of the first
month, in eight days had reached the porch, and on the sixteenth day of the first month
had completed the work, while the king had, according to 2Ch_29:4, before called upon
the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves for the work, and those summoned then
assembled their brethren for this purpose, and after they had consecrated themselves,
began the cleansing (2Ch_29:15), it would seem as if the summons of the king and the
calling together of the remaining Levites had occurred before the first day of the first
month, when they began the purification of the house of God. On that account Caspari
(Beiträge z. Einleit. in d. B. Jesaiah, S. 111) thinks that the first month (2Ch_29:3) is not
the first month of the year (Nisan), but the first month of the reign of Hezekiah, who
probably became king shortly before Nisan, towards the end of the year. But it is not at

24. all likely that ‫ּון‬‫שׁ‬‫א‬ ִ‫ר‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ּד‬‫ח‬ ַ‫ה‬ is used in a different sense in 2Ch_29:3 from that in which it is
used in 2Ch_29:17. We therefore hold, with Berth. and others, the first month, both in
2Ch_29:3 and in 2Ch_29:17, to be the first month of the ecclesiastical year Nisan,
without, however, accepting the supposition of Gumpach and Bertheau that the years of
Hezekiah's reign began with the first of Tishri, for for that way of reckoning there are no
certain data in the historical books of the Old Testament. The statement, “in the first
year of his reign, in the first month” (not in the first year, in the first month of his reign),
is sufficiently explained if Hezekiah ascended the throne in one of the last months of the
calendar year, which began with Nisan. In that case, on the first of Nisan of the new year,
so few months, or perhaps only weeks, would have elapsed since his accession, that what
he did in Nisan could not rightly have been dated otherwise than “in the first year of his
reign.” The other difficulty, that the purification of the temple began on the first day of
the first month (2Ch_29:7), while the preparations for it which preceded were yet,
according to 2Ch_29:3, made also in the first month, is removed if we take 2Ch_29:3 to
be a comprehensive summary of what is described in the following verses, and regard
the connection between 2Ch_29:3 and 2Ch_29:4. as only logical, not chronological, the ‫ו‬
consec. (‫א‬ ֵ‫ב‬ָ ַ‫)ו‬ expressing, not succession in time, but connection in thought. The opening
of the doors of the house of God, and the repairing of them (2Ch_29:3), did not precede
in time the summons to the priests (2Ch_29:4), but is placed at the commencement of
the account of the reopening and restoration of the temple as a contrast to the closing
and devastation of the sanctuary by Ahaz. Hezekiah commenced this work in the first
year of his reign, in the first month of the calendar year, and accomplished it as is
described in 2Ch_29:4-17. If we take 2Ch_29:3 as a statement of the contents of the
succeeding section, - as are e.g., (1Ki_6:14; 1Ki_7:1) the statements, “he built the house,
and completed it,” where in both passages the completion of the building is described
only in the succeeding verses, - we need not confine the preparations spoken of in 2Ch_
29:4-15 to the first day of the first month, but may quite well suppose that these
preparations preceded the first day of the month, and that only the accomplishment of
that which had been resolved upon and commanded by the king fell in the first month,
as is more accurately stated in 2Ch_29:17.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 29:3-4. He opened the doors of the house of the Lord —
Which Ahaz his father had shut, 2 Chronicles 28:24. And he brought in the priests,
&c. — He found Judah low and naked, yet did not make it his first business to
revive the civil interests of his kingdom, but to restore religion to a good posture.
Those that begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper
accordingly.
ELLICOTT, "THE KI G CHARGES THE LÉVITES, A D THEY CLEA SE
THE HOUSE OF GOD
(2 Chronicles 29:3-19).
(3) In the first month—i.e., in the month isan, the first month of the sacred year;
not in the first month of his reign. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 29:17 and 2 Chronicles
30:23.)
Opened the doors.—Which his father had closed (chap. ).

25. And repaired them.—By overlaying them with metal—bronze or gold-leaf (2 Kings
18:16).
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 29:3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month,
opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
Ver. 3. He in the first year of his reign, in the first month.] Yea, and the first day of
that month, [2 Chronicles 29:17] on his coronation day, began to reform.
GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 29:3-11) Hezekiah exhorts the cleansing and restoration
the temple.
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of
the LORD and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and
gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! ow
sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry
out the rubbish from the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed and done evil
in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces
away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. They
have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned
incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore
the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up
to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. For indeed,
because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters,
and our wives are in captivity. ow it is in my heart to make a covenant with the
LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, do not
be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him,
and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”
a. Sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and
carry out the rubbish from the holy place: Tragically, the condition of both the
Levites and the temple was so bad that they seemed incapable of reforming
themselves without this push from King Hezekiah.
b. Have turned their faces away . . . and turned their backs on Him: They had failed
because they gave God their back instead of their face. One might say that in every
opportunity to encounter God, we have the choice to turn either our back or our
face to God.
i. Poole suggests that the idea of turning the back to God could also be understood
literally, because according to 2 Kings 16, in the days of Ahaz the altar was moved
and its replacement was directed to the east, in the manner of pagan altars instead
of toward the west as God commanded. The idea was therefore that under this
dangerous innovation, one had to literally turn his back to the temple and the ark of

26. God to stand before the altar.
c. They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not
burned incense or offered burnt offerings: This happened in the days of Ahaz, the
father of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 28:24). Hezekiah knew that it was time to open up
the temple again, both to clean it out and so that it could operate as intended.
d. Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem: In a
remarkable way, Hezekiah recognized that the calamities that had come to Judah
came because of their disobedience. It takes a wise and godly person to admit this,
and to act appropriately.
i. “He made no attempt to blame on God the calamities which had overtaken the
nation.” (Morgan)
e. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before
Him, to serve Him: This call to courage from Hezekiah to the priests and Levites
was focused on their sense of calling (the LORD has chosen you). Getting back to a
focus upon their calling and their central purpose (to serve and honor God) was
essential, and this exhortation demonstrates that they had lost this focus.
i. Hezekiah set the example in this devoted service to God, in that he even destroyed
a notable artifact from the Exodus - the bronze serpent of Moses known as
ehushtan - when it became an idol (2 Kings 18:4).
PULPIT, "In the first month; i.e. isan, the first month of the calendar year (see 2
Chronicles 29:2, 2 Chronicles 29:13, 2 Chronicles 29:15 of next chapter), not simply
the first month of the new king's reign. And repaired them. This repairing of
Hezekiah was, unhappily, subsequently undone of his own hands (2 Kings 18:14-16).
ISBET, "REVERE CE FOR GOD’S HOUSE
‘He opened the doors of the house of the Lord.’
2 Chronicles 29:3
So frantic had Ahaz been in his wickedness that he gathered together the vessels of
the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the
doors of the house of the Lord. He not only repudiated God himself, he placed His
worship under the ban. That was the state of things when Hezekiah came to the
throne—the Temple had fallen into the filthy condition of all neglected and
unoccupied buildings, and its closed doors were a visible symbol of the national
repudiation of Jehovah.
I. Hezekiah’s respect for God’s house.—The first thing that Hezekiah did upon
succeeding to the throne was to reopen the doors of the Temple. ‘He opened the
doors of the Lord’s house, and repaired them.’ ‘The doors were opened,’ says one
commentator, ‘as a sign that Jehovah was invited to return to His people, and again

27. to manifest His presence in the Holy of Holies.’ And that is no doubt true. But
instead of the national significance of the act, let us think for a moment of what it
implies with reference to Hezekiah himself.
(a) It was a proof of his love for God. It was because He loved God that the sight of
the closed Temple pained and grieved Hezekiah. It was because he loved God that
he resolved to have an ‘open door’ by which he and his people could enter into the
presence of God. otice, they who love God, love His house. They say ‘My soul
longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord.’
(b) It was a public declaration that Hezekiah meant to serve the Lord. It was not an
easy thing to do, for during Ahaz’s reign idolatry had entrenched itself firmly in
Judah. Idolatry had its ‘vested interests.’ There were numbers of Pagan priests;
there were Ahaz’s old counsellors and friends, all of them committed to idolatry.
When the present Tsar ascended the throne he issued a proclamation, in which he
said: ‘Let all know that.… I intend to protect the principle of autocracy as firmly
and unswervingly as did my late father.’ When Hezekiah ascended the throne he
issued a proclamation nobler far, for by this act of opening the Temple doors he
declared to the world: ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ What a
noble decision this was! And what an example to us! Let us, too, openly—in the
sight of the world, no matter how men may mock and scoff—confess the Lord.
Those that honour Him, He will honour.
(c) And Hezekiah did this at the earliest possible moment. He opened the doors of
the Lord’s house, in the first year of his reign, in the first month! He did not put off
serving the Lord, but he made his public confession at the very first opportunity.
Again, what an example! Some people put off confessing Christ till only the dregs of
life are left. That is a poor and mean and contemptible thing to do! ‘Remember thy
Creator in the days of thy youth,’ says Scripture. Let confession of Christ’s name be
the act of our young days. Open the doors and bid the King of Glory enter in.
(d) The ‘opening of the doors’ of the Temple by Hezekiah reminds us of a Greater
than Hezekiah, Who provided an ‘open door’ for us to the throne of the Heavenly
Grace. ‘I am the Door,’ says Jesus Christ—the Door to the Father’s presence and
the peace of God. And this is an ‘open door.’ Let us thank God for it and let us enter
in by it.
II. The cleansing of the Temple.—But it was not enough to open the doors of the
Temple. With its lamps extinguished and its vessels destroyed, and its floors and
walls thick with dust, and full of all filthiness, it was no fit place for the indwelling
of the Most High. And so Hezekiah summoned the Levites to the task of cleansing
the Temple. And for sixteen days these men laboured, until they were able at the
end of the time to come to Hezekiah and say that they had ‘cleansed the house of the
Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the table of
shewbread, with all the vessels thereof.’ Hezekiah recognised that God requires a
clean dwelling. ‘Holiness,’ says the Psalmist, ‘becometh thine house, O Lord, for
ever.’ That was the truth our Lord taught when, with that whip of small cords, He

28. drove out of the Temple them that bought and sold within its courts, and overthrew
the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold doves. There is no
place for anything unholy or unclean in God’s house. There is a lesson here for us,
perhaps, with reference to our own churches. We must bring into them nothing base
or unholy or sinful. Holiness becometh God’s house. Only those that have clean
hands and a pure heart, says the Psalmist, can go up into the hill of the Lord. To
worship God acceptably we must do so with reverence and Godly awe. And there is
a lesson, here, too, with reference to our own hearts. For the heart is God’s truest
Temple. The Heaven of heavens cannot contain Him—but He is willing to dwell in
the humble and contrite heart. But the heart that is to be God’s dwelling-place must
be clean. ‘Blessed,’ said our Lord, ‘are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Illustration
‘How good is a time of religious revival in Church and land! Probably it ought never
to be needed. Year after year pure religion and undefiled ought to prosper in the
State and in the house of God. Month after month, the fig tree should blossom, and
the vines should yield their fruit, and the labour of the olive should not fail. Day
after day, men and women and children, like the boys of Florence in Savonarola’s
time, should cry, “Long live Jesus Christ, our King!” But again and again it is
needed. Torpor and coldness invade the Church. Irreligion and sin spread
themselves over the country. Then God is kind. He does not hide His face in merited
displeasure. He revisits His people.’
4 He brought in the priests and the Levites,
assembled them in the square on the east side
BAR ES, "The east street - Rather, some open space before the eastern gate of the
outer temple court is intended.
GILL, "And he brought in the priests and Levites,.... The persons that officiated
in the service of the temple:
and gathered them together into the east street; which led to the eastern gate of
the temple.
JAMISO 4-5, "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

29. 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 [2Ch_29:3]; but in its forsaken and
desolate state the temple and its courts had been polluted by every kind of impurity.
K&D 4-6, "2Ch_29:4-6
Hezekiah gathered the priests and Levites together “into the open space of the east,”
i.e., in the eastern open space before the temple, not “in the inner court” (Berth.), - see
on Ezr_10:9 -and called upon them (2Ch_29:5) to sanctify themselves, and then to
sanctify the house of the Lord. To purify the temple they must first sanctify themselves
(cf. 2Ch_29:15), in order to proceed to the work of sanctifying the house of God in a
state of Levitical purity. The work was to remove all that was unclean from the
sanctuary. ‫ה‬ ָ ִ ַ‫ה‬ is Levitical uncleanness, for which in 2Ch_29:16 we have ‫ה‬ፎ ְ‫מ‬ ֻ ַ‫;ה‬ here the
abominations of idolatry. The king gave the reason of his summons in a reference to the
devastation which Ahaz and his contemporaries had wrought in the house of God (2Ch_
29:6, 2Ch_29:7), and to the wrath of God which had on that account come upon them
(2Ch_29:8, 2Ch_29:9). “Our fathers” (2Ch_29:6), that is, Ahaz and his contemporaries,
for only these had been guilty of displeasing God in the ways mentioned in 2Ch_29:6
and 2Ch_29:7, “have turned away their face from the dwelling of Jahve, and turned their
back (upon it).” These words are a symbolical expression for: they have ceased to
worship Jahve in His temple, and exchanged it for idolatry.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Brought in.—Caused to come.
The east Street.—The eastern square or open space of the East. (Comp. Ezra 10:9;
ehemiah 8:1; ehemiah 8:3; ehemiah 8:16.) The place of meeting was probably
an open area in front of the eastern gate of the sacred enclosure.
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 29:4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and
gathered them together into the east street,
Ver. 4. The east street.] Which was before the east gate of the temple.
PULPIT, "The east street; Hebrew, ‫חוֹב‬ ְ‫ִר‬‫ל‬ ‫ח‬ ָ‫ְר‬‫ז‬ִ‫מּ‬ַ‫ה‬. This word, rendered here "street,"
occurs forty-two times, and is always rendered by the same English word, except
three times, when it appears as "broad places," or "ways." Probably it should
always be translated thus, its meaning and its manifest preponderant use being "an
open space" (2 Chronicles 32:6). So Revised Version: Into the broad place on the
east, i.e. an open area east of the temple.

30. 5 and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate
yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the
Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all
defilement from the sanctuary.
BAR ES, "Sanctify now yourselves - Compare the marginal reference. Hezekiah
follows David’s example, knowing, probably, that the priests had in the preceding time
of idolatry contracted many defilements.
The “filthiness,” or “uncleanness” 2Ch_29:16, might consist, in part, of mere dust and
dirt, in part, of idolatrous objects introduced by Ahaz before he finally shut up the
temple 2Ki_16:10-16.
GILL, "And said unto them, hear me, ye Levites; sanctify yourselves,.... By
washing their bodies and their garments, that no pollution might attend them in their
service, see Isa_52:11.
and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers; by carrying out of it all
manner of uncleanness, as they did, 2Ch_29:16,
and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place; or the abomination; the altar,
like that at Damascus, which Ahaz, removing the altar of the Lord, had placed in the
court of the priests; or, as Kimchi thinks, an idol, which he had set upon that altar.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 29:5. Hear me, ye Levites; carry forth the filthiness —
That filthy altar which Ahaz had put in the place of God’s altar, (2 Kings 16:11,)
and the idols, or other abominable things, which were there; out of the holy place —
The temple, or the priests’ court, which also is often called a holy place.
ELLICOTT, :"(5) Hear me.—2 Chronicles 15:2; 2 Chronicles 20:15.
Sanctify now yourselves.—See ote on 1 Chronicles 15:12; 1 Chronicles 15:14.
Sanctify the house.—By removing all symbols of idolatry.
Carry forth the filthiness.— iddah denotes personal impurity (Leviticus 12:2;
Ezekiel 18:6); and so anything loathsome (Ezekiel 7:19); here probably idols, and
things connected with their worship.

31. TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 29:5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now
yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry
forth the filthiness out of the holy [place].
Ver. 5. And he said unto them, Hear me.] He makes a speech to them, full of faith
and piety in every passage.
Ye Levites.] He beginneth his reformation at the ministry. Incipiendum a Minoritis,
said one of the council of Basil; Imo vero a Maioritis, said another. The priests are
here comprised under the name of Levites.
Sanctify now yourselves.] By legal rites, but especially by repentance, faith, and new
obedience, fit yourselves for your respective employments.
And carry forth the filthiness.] The idols, and all their trinkets and trash. othing
must be left behind that might make idolaters hope for a desired day.
PARKER 5-6, "Then he must still continue his negative course, even though he seek
co-operation. Bringing in the priests and the Levites, and gathering them together,
as if in public meeting, he says:
"Sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers,
and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place" ( 2 Chronicles 29:5).
That also is negative:—remove incumbrances, take away nuisances, abolish unholy
memories and traditions; break in upon all manner of desecration. You cannot use
the temple aright until you have disinfected it; the beasts who have turned it into a
den have left behind them signs of their ungenial and all-desecrating presence.
Before we can pray we must "carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place." He
who begins thus fundamentally will close triumphantly. Hezekiah is in no more
haste to accomplish his purpose, and therefore he will accomplish it all the sooner.
We know when men handle their work like masters. Hezekiah"s beginning augurs
well. He makes haste slowly. He has about him that marvellous deliberation which
expresses, not indifference, but such intensity of purpose that it can afford to be
calm; it is the last expression of resolution. Let us have no rush, uproar, confusion,
man falling over Prayer of Manasseh , and one stream colliding with another; but
let everything be done patiently, critically, and orderly: and who can tell what shall
be done in sixteen days? To cleanse the sanctuary is to pray. When Hezekiah opened
the doors, by that very act he worshipped; when Hezekiah repaired the doors of the
house of the Lord, he wrought a wondrous work upon the heart that was sore by
reason of its long-continued need and its painful solitude. To repair the building is
to worship the living God; to give a cup of cold water to a disciple for Christ"s sake

32. is to oblige heaven.
We make mistakes if we suppose that worship is a mere cloud, a foam of sentiment;
it is work of all kinds, door-opening and lamp-lighting and floor-sweeping,
cleansing, preparing, ventilating, expecting the people and welcoming them with
joy; and then incense-burning, and cross-uplifting, and cry of thunderous and mute
eloquence, and hymn, sweet, gentle, tender, and prayer that beats against heaven
like artillery—all these things and many more are included in the complex idea of
worship. Let each Prayer of Manasseh , therefore, do what he can in this matter,
knowing that no man works the whole ministry of worship, but that it is an act of
co-operation and combination, one part working with another part, and each
interrelating itself with the other, so as to constitute a sum total significant of unity,
adaptation, music, and homage.
So calm is Hezekiah that he states the case in all its historical breadth, and with all
the accentuating colour of painful memory and frank self-humiliation on account of
sin:
"For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the
Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the
habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of
the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt
offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord
was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to
astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. For, lo, our fathers have
fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity
for this" ( 2 Chronicles 29:6-9).
He continues well; he first does something himself, then he calls upon the priests and
the Levites to do something more, and having created this initial interest he
proceeds to give a historical summary of the situation. We cannot work effectively,
or with any degree of divine masterliness in our sacred occupation, until we have
history behind us, right up to date, so that we know what was done up to
yesternight. History thus treated—massed, focussed, and brought to bear upon
living men—becomes an appeal, an inspiration, an indication of the next point of
progress. He who neglects history cannot read Providence. Do we comprehend the
state of affairs in our own land or in lands far away? Some men do, and some do
not. The men who do comprehend the estate in all its bearings and relations are the
most earnest men in the Christian community. They who know least do least. They
who see the whole field, and know all the forces there are at work within its four
corners, are the men who are moved to deepest prayer themselves, and who are
stirred to an untaught but mighty eloquence in the excitement of their hearts. Read
the history of heathenism, so far as it is open, and we need no other incentive to
Christian evangelisation; study the condition of barbarism, and never will the cross
of Christ appear to be so dazzling a glory as after dwelling in that infinite gloom;
understand what Christianity has done for the world, and then feel the necessity of
extending its reign, enlarging the field of its sovereignty.

33. With what gentle, paternal eloquence Hezekiah addressed the men on whose co-
operation he relied
PULPIT, "Sanctify … yourselves; Hebrew, ‫שׁוּ‬ְ‫ַדּ‬‫ק‬ְ‫ִת‬‫ה‬ . ote the absence of any such
direction in 1 Chronicles 13:1-14, and see 2 Chronicles 15:11-14, with our note on 2
Chronicles 15:12 in particular. The filthiness; Hebrew, ‫ה‬ִ‫ְדּ‬‫גּ‬ַ‫ה‬‫ת־‬ֶ‫א‬ . This word occurs
twenty-seven times, and is rendered "separation" fifteen times, "flowers" twice,
"put apart" three times, "uncleanness" or "filthiness" six times, and "menstruous"
once. The term, therefore, is among the strongest that could be used, and glances
probably at the abominations, of whatsoever sort, that Ahaz's idolatries had
entailed.
6 Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the
eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They
turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling
place and turned their backs on him.
GILL, "For our fathers have transgressed, and done that which was evil in
the eyes of the Lord our God,.... Meaning their more immediate ancestors, his father
and theirs, who had committed idolatry; which is a great trespass, and than which there
is not a greater evil in the sight of God, nor more provoking to him:
and have forsaken him; his word, worship, and ordinances:
and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord; the temple,
by neglecting that, and the service of it, and attending the high places: and turned their
backs; upon it; though some think this refers to a rite or custom, introduced by Ahaz
before he shut up the temple, that instead of looking to the west, when they worshipped,
where was the ark of the Lord, he ordered them to turn their faces to the east, where his
altar stood.
HE RY 6-7, "1. He laid before them the desolations of religion and the deplorable