2 chronicles 30 commentary

2 CHRO ICLES 30 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Hezekiah Celebrates the Passover
1 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and
also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh,
inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in
Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord,
the God of Israel.
CLARKE, "Hezekiah sent to all Israel - It is not easy to find out how this was
permitted by the king of Israel; but it is generally allowed that Hoshea, who then reigned
over Israel, was one of their best kings. And as the Jews allow that at this time both the
golden calves had been carried away by the Assyrians, - that at Dan by Tiglath-pileser,
and that at Bethel by Shalmaneser, - the people who chose to worship Jehovah at
Jerusalem were freely permitted to do it, and Hezekiah had encouragement to make the
proclamation in question.
GILL, "And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah,.... Sent messengers to them,
not only to the subjects of his own kingdom, Judah, but to all the Israelites that dwelt in
it, who were come thither for the sake of religion, and the worship of God:
and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh; which are put for all the ten
tribes, as appears from 2Ch_30:10 and are distinguished from Israel in the preceding
clause:
that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem; not that he laid
his commands upon them to come, they not being his subjects, namely, those of the ten
tribes; but he hereby admonished them of their duty, and gave them a kind invitation,
signifying the doors of the temple were open for them, and they were welcome to come
thither:
to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel; to the glory of his name, who
was the common Lord of them all, and whose command it was to keep the passover, and

that at Jerusalem, and nowhere else, see Deu_16:1.
HE RY 1-12, "Here is, I. A passover resolved upon. That annual feast was instituted
as a memorial of the bringing of the children of Israel out of Egypt. It happened that the
reviving of the temple service fell within the appointed days of that feast, the
seventeenth day of the first month: this brought that forgotten solemnity to mind. “What
shall we do,” says Hezekiah, “about the passover? It is a very comfortable ordinance, and
has been long neglected. How shall we revive it? The time has elapsed for this year; we
cannot go about it immediately; the congregation is thin, the people have not notice, the
priests are not prepared, 2Ch_30:3. Must we defer it till another year?” Many, it is likely,
were for deferring it; but Hezekiah considered that by that time twelve-month the good
affections of the people would cool, and it would be too long to want the benefit of the
ordinance; and therefore, finding a proviso in the law of Moses that particular persons
who were unclean in the first month might keep the passover the fourteenth day of the
second month and be accepted (Num_9:11), he doubted not but that it might be
extended to the congregation. Whereupon they resolved to keep the passover in the
second month. Let the circumstance give way to the substance, and let not the thing
itself be lost upon a nicety about the time. It is good striking while the iron is hot, and
taking people when they are in a good mind. Delays are dangerous.
II. A proclamation issued out to give notice of this passover and to summon the people
to it.
1. An invitation was sent to the ten revolted tribes to stir them up to come and attend
this solemnity. Letters were written to Ephraim and Manasseh to invite them to
Jerusalem to keep this passover (2Ch_30:1), not with any political design, to bring them
back to the house of David, but with a pious design to bring them back to the Lord God
of Israel. “Let them take whom they will for their king,” says Hezekiah, “so they will but
take him for their God.” The matters in difference between Judah and Israel, either upon
a civil or sacred account, shall not hinder but that if the people of Israel will sincerely
return to the Lord their God Hezekiah will bid them as welcome to the passover as any of
his own subjects. Expresses are sent post throughout all the tribes of Israel with
memorials earnestly pressing the people to take this opportunity of returning to the God
from whom they had revolted. Now here we have,
(1.) The contents of the circular letters that were despatched upon the occasion, in
which Hezekiah discovers a great concern both for the honour of God and for the welfare
of the neighbouring kingdom, the prosperity of which he seems passionately desirous of,
though he not only received no toll, tribute, or custom, from it, but it had often, and not
long since, been vexatious to his kingdom. This is rendering good for evil. Observe,
[1.] What it is which he presses them to (2Ch_30:8): “Yield yourselves unto the Lord.
Before you can come into communion with him you must come into covenant with him.”
Give the hand to the Lord (so the word is), that is, “Consent to take him for your God.” A
bargain is confirmed by giving the hand. “Strike this bargain. Join yourselves to him in
an everlasting covenant. Subscribe with the hand to be his, Isa_44:5. Give him your
hand, in token of giving him your heart. Lay your hand to his plough. Devote yourselves
to his service, to work for him. Yield to him,” that is, “Come up to his terms, come under
his government, stand it not out any longer against him.” “Yield to him, to be absolutely
and universally at his command, at his disposal, to be, and do, and have, and suffer,
whatever he pleases. In order to this, be not stiff-necked as your fathers were; let not
your corrupt and wicked wills rise up in resistance of and rebellion against the will of
God. Say not that you will do what you please, but resolve to do what he pleases.” There
is in the carnal mind a stiffness, an obstinacy, an unaptness to comply with God. We

have it from our fathers; it is bred in the bone with us. This must be conquered; and the
will that had in it a spirit of contradiction must be melted into the will of God; and to his
yoke the neck that was an iron sinew must be bowed and fitted. In pursuance of this
resignation to God, he presses them to enter into his sanctuary, that is, to attend upon
him in that place which he had chosen, to put his name there, and serve him in the
ordinances which he had appointed. “The doors of the sanctuary are now opened, and
you have liberty to enter; the temple service is now revived, and you are welcome to join
in it.” The king says, Come; the princes and priests say, Come; whosoever will, let him
come. This he calls (2Ch_30:6) turning to the Lord God; for they had forsaken him, and
worshipped other gods. Repent now, and be converted. Thus those who through grace
have turned to God themselves should do all they can to bring others back to him.
[2.] What arguments he uses to persuade them to do this. First, “You are children of
Israel, and therefore stand related, stand obliged, to the God of Israel, from whom you
have revolted.” Secondly, “The God you are called to return to is the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, a God in covenant with your first fathers, who served him and yielded
themselves to him; and it was their honour and happiness that they did so.” Thirdly,
“Your late fathers that forsook him and trespassed against him have been given up to
desolation; their apostasy and idolatry have been their ruin, as you see (2Ch_30:7); let
their harms be your warnings.” Fourthly, “You yourselves are but a remnant narrowly
escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria (2Ch_30:6), and therefore are
concerned to put yourselves under the protection of the God of your fathers, that you be
not quite swallowed up.” Fifthly, “This is the only way of turning away the fierceness of
God's anger from you (2Ch_30:8), which will certainly consume you if you continue
stiff-necked.” Lastly, “If you return to God in a way of duty, he will return to you in a way
of mercy.” This he begins with (2Ch_30:6) and concludes with, 2Ch_30:9. In general,
“You will find him gracious and merciful, and one that will not turn away his face from
you, if you seek him, notwithstanding the provocations you have given him.”
Particularly, “You may hope that he will turn again the captivity of your brethren that
are carried away, and bring them back to their own land.” Could any thing be expressed
more pathetically, more movingly? Could there be a better cause, or could it be better
pleaded?
(2.) The entertainment which Hezekiah's messengers and message met with. It does
not appear that Hoshea, who was now king of Israel, took any umbrage from, or gave
any opposition to, the dispersing of these proclamations through his kingdom, nor that
he forbade his subjects to accept the invitation. He seems to have left them entirely to
their liberty. They might go to Jerusalem to worship if they pleased; for, though he did
evil, yet not like the kings of Israel that were before him, 2Ki_17:2. He saw ruin coming
upon his kingdom, and, if any of his subjects would try this expedient to prevent it, they
had his full permission. But, for the people, [1.] The generality of them slighted the call
and turned a deaf ear to it. The messengers went from city to city, some to one and some
to another, and used pressing entreaties with the people to come up to Jerusalem to
keep the passover; but they were so far from complying with the message that they
abused those that brought it, laughed them to scorn, and mocked them (2Ch_30:10),
not only refused, but refused with disdain. Tell them of the God of Abraham! they knew
him not, they had other gods to serve, Baal and Ashtaroth. Tell them of the sanctuary!
their high places were as good. Tell them of God's mercy and wrath! they neither
dreaded the one nor desired the other. No marvel that the king's messengers were thus
despitefully used by this apostate race when God's messengers were so, his servants the
prophets, who produced credentials from him. The destruction of the kingdom of the ten
tribes was now at hand. It was but two or three years after this that the king of Assyria

laid siege to Samaria, which ended in the captivity of those tribes. Just before this they
had not only a king of their own that permitted them to return to God's sanctuary, but a
king of Judah that earnestly invited them to do it. Had they generally accepted this
invitation, it might have prevented their ruin; but their contempt of it hastened and
aggravated it, and left them inexcusable. [2.] Yet there were some few that accepted the
invitation. The message, though to some it was a savour of death unto death, was to
others a savour of life unto life, 2Ch_30:11. In the worst of times God has had a
remnant; so he had here, many of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun (here is no mention of
any out of Ephraim, though some of that tribe are mentioned, 2Ch_30:18), humbled
themselves, and came to Jerusalem, that is, were sorry for their sins and submitted to
God. Pride keeps men from yielding themselves to the Lord; when that is brought down,
the work is done.
2. A command was given to the men of Judah to attend this solemnity; and they
universally obeyed it, v. 12. They did it with one heart, were all of a mind in it, and the
hand of God gave them that one heart; for it is in the day of power that Christ's subjects
are made willing. It is God that works both to will and to do. When people, at any time,
manifest an unexpected forwardness to do that which is good, we must acknowledge that
hand of God in it.
JAMISO 1-5, "2Ch_30:1-12. Hezekiah proclaims a Passover.
Hezekiah sent to all ... Judah ... to come to ... Jerusalem, to keep the
passover — This great religious festival had not been regularly observed by the
Hebrews in their national capacity for a long time because of the division of the kingdom
and the many disorders that had followed that unhappy event. Hezekiah longed
extremely to see its observance revived; and the expression of his wishes having received
a hearty response from the princes and chief men of his own kingdom, the preparatory
steps were taken for a renewed celebration of the national solemnity.
letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh — The names of these leading tribes are
used for the whole kingdom of Israel. It was judged impossible, however, that the
temple, the priests, and people could be all duly sanctified at the usual time appointed
for the anniversary, namely, the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan). Therefore it
was resolved, instead of postponing the feast till another year, to observe it on the
fourteenth day of the second month; a liberty which, being in certain circumstances
(Num_9:6-13) granted to individuals, might, it was believed, be allowed to all the
people. Hezekiah’s proclamation was, of course, authoritative in his own kingdom, but it
could not have been made and circulated in all the towns and villages of the neighboring
kingdom without the concurrence, or at least the permission, of the Israelitish sovereign.
Hoshea, the reigning king, is described as, though evil in some respects, yet more
favorably disposed to religious liberty than any of his predecessors since the separation
of the kingdom. This is thought to be the meaning of the mitigating clause in his
character (2Ki_17:2).
K&D, "The celebration of the passover. - 2Ch_30:1-12. The preparations for this
celebration. - 2Ch_30:1. Hezekiah invited all Israel and Judah to it; “and he also wrote
letters to Ephraim and Manasseh,” the two chief tribes of the northern kingdom, which
here, as is manifest from 2Ch_30:5, 2Ch_30:10, are named instar omnium. But the

whole sentence serves only to elucidate ‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫ל־שׂ‬ ָⅴ ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ה‬ ַ‫ל‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ‫.י‬ To all Israel (of the ten tribes) he
sent the invitation, and this he did by letters. The verse contains a general statement as
to the matter, which is further described in what follows.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 30:1. Hezekiah sent to all Israel — To all the persons of the
ten tribes who were settled in his kingdom, as well as to those of the tribe of Judah.
And wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh — To all the remainder of the ten
tribes, (2 Chronicles 30:5,) here expressed by the names of Ephraim and Manasseh,
as elsewhere by the name of Ephraim only. But he names these two tribes, because
they were nearest to his kingdom, and a great number of them had long since, and
from time to time, joined themselves to the kingdom of Judah, 2 Chronicles 15:8-9.
That they should come to the house of the Lord — Admonishing them of their duty
to God, and persuading them to comply with it.
COFFMA , "This wonderful invitation from Hezekiah is a remarkable testimony.
It came following the fall of the orthern Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C., a disaster
that Hezekiah attributed to their forsaking the true worship of God in Jerusalem.
This is proof that long before the times of Josiah God had commanded the
centralization of his worship in Jerusalem. ote also the significant words as it is
written (2 Chronicles 30:5). The Book of the Law (the Pentateuch) was appealed to
by Hezekiah in these words. It is also significant that Hezekiah admits here that the
passover had indeed been kept previously but by small numbers of people (2
Chronicles 30:5).
"The king had taken counsel ... to keep the passover in the second month" (2
Chronicles 30:2). The divine instructions for the passover required its observance in
the first month (Exodus 12:1-3); but the urgency of Hezekiah in his efforts to rally
all Israel to a rebirth of their loyalty to God prompted this technical violation. ote
also that not even the priests of Judah and Jerusalem had bothered to sanctify
themselves for the legal passover a month earlier.
ELLICOTT, "HEZEKIAH’S PASSOVER—THE ROYAL SUMMO S TO ALL
ISRAEL FROM DA TO BEER-SHEBA (2 Chronicles 30:1-12).
(1) Sent to.— ‘al, i.e., ’el. (Jeremiah 26:15; ehemiah 6:3.)
Letters.—‘Iggĕrôth. Apparently a word of Persian origin. (Comp. ‘engâre,
“something written;” ‘engârîden, “to paint” or “write;” from which comes the
Greek ᾰγγαρος, a royal messenger; Esther 9:26; comp. Matthew 5:41.) Only used in
late Hebrew.
To Ephraim and Manasseh.—That is, the northern kingdom. (Comp. 2 Chronicles
30:10.)

To keep (make) the passover unto the Lord.—Exodus 12:48 (same phrase); LXX.,
ποιῆσαι τὸ φασεκ (Pascha). The first year of Hezekiah was the third of Hoshea, the
last king of Samaria, who is described as a better king than his predecessors.
Doubtless, therefore, Hoshea did not actively oppose Hezekiah’s wish for a really
national Passover. (See 2 Kings 18:1; 2 Kings 17:2.)
PARKER, :Hezekiah: A True Priest
2 Chronicles 30
WE have seen what a wonderful reformation was wrought by Hezekiah. We have
been startled to find how much can be done by one man when he gathers himself up
into his whole strength, and moves step by step under the inspiration of sacred
conviction. Everything was repaired, restored, returned to its place, and now
Hezekiah longs to see all Israel at worship. The idea is familiar to us, but it was
novel under the circumstances indicated in this chapter. "Hezekiah sent to all Israel
and Judah" ( 2 Chronicles 30:1). Can there be anything more? A very significant
line follows—"and wrote letters also." Blessed be God for that extending, including,
pathetic term!—such an extension of the invitation as includes others. "And wrote
letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh." He would have the northern kingdom
included; he would forget all separations and boundaries; his enthusiam should
overbear all mere details, and would weld together into one sacred consolidation the
whole family of Israel. That family had been split up, had gone to war with itself,
had become haughty as between one branch and another, and had receded with the
object of founding competitive kingdoms or provinces. Under the inspiration of a
sublime religious enthusiasm, Hezekiah would have them all meeting en masse. If
anything can overcome littleness, bitterness, bigotry, sense of transient or
permanent wrong, it is a great pentecostal enthusiasm. It is not a little fire that can
melt some metals; we need a whole furnace, with men to watch it that it do not lose a
single degree of its heat, that it be kept up to its highest possible atmosphere, so that
the most stubborn metals may give way and flow out like oil. When the nation is
caught in a pentecostal enthusiasm in relation to the cross, men will forgive one
another all round with multiplied pardons; yea, they will so forgive as not to know
they have done it, as a merely mechanical act; it will be part of their very worship,
an essential feature of their own personal and spiritual life. Here is the operation of
a noble instinct. When men are truly hospitable and plan a feast, how the list of
guests grows! At first the proposition is for a definite number, but as a sense of
hospitality warms the heart, the heart thinks of one more, and another; then
suddenly the intending host says, What if this be the time for inviting—? and then
after a pause he names an alienated member of the family, saying, in hopeful
monologue, This may be the time for reconciliation: who can tell? At all events he
shall have a letter: that letter may be as a gospel both to him and to me. And then he
bethinks himself of another who may as well be invited, until he has exhausted his
space, until he has called "all Israel and Judah," and written "letters also to
Ephraim and Prayer of Manasseh , that they should come to the house of the Lord

at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel." There is a
hospitality that is evangelistic. There is a movement of the heart in hospitable
directions, which being properly interpreted means that God has sent forth his
messengers to all hungering and thirsting men, saying that his banquet is ready.
Have we lost enthusiasm? Are we still only bigots and not believers? Are we still but
constables of orthodoxy, and not the preachers of the great redemption? Is the Old
Testament to exceed the ew in largeness of thought, in inclusiveness of generosity?
Is it better to be citizens of an empire that never saw Christ in the flesh, than to be
citizens of a commonwealth which boasts his name? It would be hard work to outdo
Old Testament saints in anything that is good; they stand well on the page of
history; and when they were true of heart what music they made in the wilderness,
and in the city, and in the house of God! When they sang, the only thing they were
short of was space; it seemed as if such a surging song needed a new creation for a
theatre. A pity it is if we are living retrogressively, backing out of the world, instead
of going forward with the step and the port of conquerors.
GUZIK, "A. The letter of invitation.
1. (2 Chronicles 30:1-5) The tribes of Israel are invited to celebrate the Passover.
And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and
Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep
the Passover to the LORD God of Israel. For the king and his leaders and all the
assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month. For
they could not keep it at the regular time, because a sufficient number of priests had
not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. And
the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. So they resolved to make a
proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come
to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not
done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.
a. Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah: The timing of this invitation is somewhat
hard to precisely determine. It seems to have happened when Israel was defeated
and prostrate under Assyria, yet perhaps before the kingdom as a whole had been
depopulated through exile. Therefore this invitation actually went out to the
remnant that had, up to this point, escaped exile (2 Chronicles 30:6).
i. “In all probability, this Passover was observed before the final passing of the
northern kingdom into captivity.” (Morgan)
ii. “Any such compliance had been prohibited during the two centuries that had
followed Jeroboam’s division of the Solomonic empire (2 Chronicles 30:5; 2Ch_
30:26; 1 Kings 12:27-28). But now King Hoshea’s capital in Samaria was subject to
Assyrian siege (2 Chronicles 30:6; 2 Kings 17:5), and the northern ruler was
powerless to interfere.” (Payne)

b. To keep the Passover: This great feast remembered the great and glorious
deliverance of God on Israel’s behalf in the days of the Exodus (Exodus 12). It was a
deliberate, emblematic reminder of the central act of redemption in the Old
Testament (the deliverance from slavery in Egypt).
i. Communion is likewise an emblematic reminder of the central act of redemption
of the ew Testament (and the Bible as a whole). The long neglect of Passover
among the tribes of Israel would be like a church that had not celebrated the Lord’s
Table in a long, long time.
ii. “Jesus is the ultimate Passover lamb, who by his own body and blood established
a new covenant (cf. Luke 22:14-20). Just as Hezekiah’s congregation were cleansed
and healed, Christians are made clean by their Passover sacrifice, except that Jesus’
sacrifice is the ultimate and unrepeatable Passover.” (Selman)
c. Had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month: ormally, Passover was
kept in the first month ( umbers 9:1-5). However, there were special circumstances
under which Passover could be kept in the second month ( umbers 9:5-14). Because
they could not keep it at the regular time, here under Hezekiah they kept it in the
second month.
i. “Hezekiah therefore, and his counsellors, thought that they might extend that to
the people at large, because of the delay necessarily occasioned by the cleansing of
the temple, which was granted to individuals in such cases as the above, and the
result showed that they had not mistaken the mind of the Lord upon the subject.”
(Clarke)
d. Since they had not done it for a long time: Even though Passover was one of the
three feasts that deserved special emphasis (Exodus 23:14-17), it had not been
celebrated for a long time. Hezekiah was dedicated to righting this wrong.
PULPIT, "This chapter contains the account of Hezekiah's arrangements after the
restoration for the observance of the Passover—arrangements more than ordinarily
interesting to notice in respect of, first, the unusual time appointed for the
celebration; and, second, the determined and brave attempt of the good king to win
again to the worship of Jerusalem (though, as was no doubt anticipated, it subjected
his royal proffers to scorn, 2 Chronicles 30:10) the separated people of "all Israel"
(2 Chronicles 30:1-12); and further, the celebration itself, the happy omen (2
Chronicles 30:14) with which it opened, its duration; and certain several other
incidents attending it (2 Chronicles 30:13-27).
2 Chronicles 30:1
Hezekiah sent … wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh. Some have sought to
bring into the appearance of harmony the two first clauses of this verse by
supposing that the former clause purports to say that Hezekiah sent messengers to

all Israel and Judah, and in particular letters in addition to Ephraim and Manasseh,
the chief tribes of the northern kingdom and the Joseph tribes. Verses 6 and 10,
however, seem to dispose effectually of this offer of explanation; while another
explanation, that the names of the two tribes are simply to be taken as equivalent to
"all Israel," seems true, though, in fact, it may be to advance us no way at all. We
should prefer in the difficulty, unimportant though it is, yet one facing us, rather to
assume that the verse wishes to say that Hezekiah sent (i.e. sent messengers, which
prove to be the runners, rendered the "posts") to all Israel and Judah, and to
Ephraim, Manasseh, and the rest of their allied tribes by implication, but not to
Judah wrote letters also which were carried by the posts (or runners). It is true that
verse 6 may negative even this conjecture for getting over the difficulty, but not
necessarily no, for it only says that the posts went throughout Israel and Judah with
the letters, which they may be supposed to have dropped only to some, not to all,
and those some Israel, or Ephraim, Manasseh, and brethren. There will have been
to hand other, the usual methods of communication with Judah, from Jerusalem its
metropolis, and from its king. The thing different from "letters" that was circulated
may have been just the "proclamation" of verse 5. It has been suggested that the
now King of Israel, Hoshea, was very probably a captive of Assyria at this exact
time (2 Kings 17:4).
SIMEO 1-11, "I FLUE CE is a talent of vast importance; but it is often most
abused, where it exists in the highest degree. Kings and princes are rarely to be
found amongst those who are foremost in the work of reformation: and, where their
exertions are used, they are actuated as much by political principles as by those
which are religious. Here however we see a monarch uniting with all his princes in a
work of piety, in which politics bore no part at all. Hezekiah, not content with
calling on his own subjects to serve the Lord, sought to bring his very enemies to the
same blessed state, even those enemies who not long before had “smitten them with
a great slaughter,” even “with a rage that reached up to heaven [ ote: 2 Chronicles
28:5; 2 Chronicles 28:9.].” The account is so circumstantial and so beautiful, that I
have comprised it all in my text; which will lead me to shew,
I. The efforts he used in the service of his God—
The object he sought to accomplish was one of primary importance—
[The passover was the greatest of all the Jewish feasts, as the mercies which it was
intended to commemorate were the greatest that had ever been vouchsafed to that
people. The destruction of the Egyptian first-born was, as you know, confined to
them. The Israelites throughout the whole land were exempt from the judgment
inflicted on all others without exception. In order to their deliverance, they were to
kill a lamb, and sprinkle the posts and lintels of their doors with its blood: and then
the destroying angel was to pass over their houses without inflicting a stroke either
on man or beast that was so protected. In commemoration of this wonderful event
the passover was to be kept with great strictness in all future ages. But it had been
shamefully neglected during the reign of his father Ahaz; and was now therefore

appointed to be kept with peculiar solemnity. This ordinance above all others
typified our redemption through the blood of Christ. The appointment of God was,
that it should be kept at Jerusalem: and this command was as binding upon the ten
tribes of Israel as it was upon Judah and Benjamin. He summoned all therefore, as
well the tribes of Israel who were not under his government, as the two tribes who
were his immediate subjects, to engage in this holy duty: and he spared neither
trouble nor expense to attain his end.]
The way in which he endeavoured to accomplish his end was peculiarly amiable and
praiseworthy—
[Though a king, he used not so much the language of authority as of affectionate
counsel and entreaty: “Turn again,” said he, “unto the God of Abraham, of Isaac,
and of Israel.” “Be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were.” He reminds them of
the bitter consequences of their past departure from God, consequences which they
could not but trace to that source, since the very judgments which God’s prophets
had denounced against them were actually visible in the desolations that were come
upon them, a great part of their nation having been already taken captive by the
king of Assyria. He then urges every argument that could influence an ingenuous
mind. He assures them, that God would still be gracious to them, if they would but
return to him: yea, that he would even restore to their own land those who had been
taken captive, if they would but seek him with their whole hearts. In a word, he
entreats them to “yield up themselves unreservedly unto God,” in an assured
expectation, that, if they returned to him in a way of penitential sorrow, he would
return to them in a way of love and mercy.
ow the whole of this affords as bright a pattern of wisdom, and piety, and love, as
is to be found in all the Jewish records.]
Let us then proceed to contemplate,
II. The success with which those efforts were attended—
This was far from being so complete as might have been expected. Some only
“mocked his messengers, and laughed them to scorn”—
[However closely we examine the message which he sent, we shall find in it nothing
that could give just occasion for ridicule or contempt. But ungodly men, even in self-
defence, deride every thing which savours of piety. They have done so in every age.
When Lot entreated his sons-in-law to escape out of Sodom, “he seemed,” we are
told, “as one who mocked to his sons-in-law,” so ridiculous were his exhortations in
their eyes. In precisely the same way were all the messages delivered by the prophets
regarded; till God was provoked to give up his people to utter desolation [ ote: 2
Chronicles 36:16.]. It might be supposed that the infinite perfections of our blessed
Lord should disarm such malice; and that his words at least would be universally
received. But many who heard them regarded him only as a deceiver and a
demoniac. The very Pharisees, who from their knowledge of the Scriptures might

have been supposed to form a more correct judgment, derided him as much as
others; because they were addicted to the sins which he reproved [ ote: Luke
16:14.]. The holy Apostles shared the same fate with their Divine Master; and when
most “speaking the words of truth and soberness” were most virulently derided as
babblers and as fools [ ote: Acts 26:24-25.]. And thus it is at the present hour.
Every man who seeks to reclaim a world that lieth in wickedness will be reproached
and persecuted, and, generally speaking, will be persecuted in proportion to his
fidelity.]
Some however complied with his exhortations—
[Among the tribes of Judah and Benjamin there was a great unanimity in turning to
the Lord, because “the hand of God was with them, to give them” an obedient heart.
And from amongst the tribes of Israel also many “humbled themselves, and came to
Jerusalem.” These kept the feast with great joy and gladness [ ote: ver. 21.]: yea, so
did they delight in the pious work, that when they had fulfilled the week which God
had appointed for the celebration of the feast, they were anxious of themselves to
continue it another week [ ote: ver. 23.], notwithstanding the protracting of the
period interfered with the pressing engagements of the harvest. Say whether this
was not a rich compensation to Hezekiah for all the ridicule which the contemners
of his piety had cast upon him? Yes, if one soul be of more value than the whole
world, no doubt but that the welfare of so many souls was in his eyes an abundant
recompence for all his toil and labour.]
That we may not confine our thoughts to the events of that day, but may render
them profitable to our own souls, I shall consider myself as a messenger sent on a
similar occasion to you, not from an earthly monarch, but from the King of kings—
[You would I call to keep a paasover unto the Lord: for “Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us.” O consider the benefits you derive from his blood sprinkled on
your souls! — — — Think of yourselves as the very first-born whom he has
redeemed unto God, and who are Lord’s peculiar portion — — — Think how
grievously this mystery has been neglected by you and by all around you — — —
And how manifest is his indignation against the contemners of his love and mercy!
See, and tell me, are not the great mass around you enslaved by sin, and carried
captive by the devil at his will? — — — Have not you yourselves too much reason to
fear his displeasure on account of your multiplied iniquities? Turn then unto him in
penitence and prayer; yea, turn unto him with your whole hearts. I would urge this
by every consideration that is proper to influence the human mind. Think how
gracious your Redeemer is, and ready both to receive you to mercy, and to deliver
you out of the hands of your spiritual enemies — — — Think too how awful will be
the consequence of continuing to rebel against him — — — “Be no longer stiff-
necked,” but turn to him, and “yield yourselves entirely to him.” “This is your
reasonable service [ ote: Romans 12:1.]:” and if ungodly men deride and mock
your piety, let it suffice you that you shall at least have the approbation of your God
— — —

And to you who have influence let me say, Exert that influence in behalf of all to
whom it can extend. Use it abroad as well as at home; amongst enemies, as well as
friends. Seek to recover the dispersed of Israel and of Judah to the service of their
God, that they may participate with you the mercies purchased for them by the
blood of the Paschal Lamb — — —]
MACLARE 1-13, "A LOVING CALL TO REUNION
The date of Hezekiah’s passover is uncertain, for, while the immediate connection of this
narrative with the preceding account of his cleansing the Temple and restoring the
sacrificial worship suggests that the passover followed directly on those events, which
took place at the beginning of the reign, the language employed in the message to the
northern tribes (2Ch_30:6-7, 2Ch_30:9) seems to imply the previous fall of the
kingdom of Israel, If so, this passover did not occur till after 721 B.C., the date of the
capture of Samaria, six years after Hezekiah’s accession.
The sending of messengers from Jerusalem on such an errand would scarcely have been
possible if the northern kingdom had still been independent. Perhaps its fall was thought
by Hezekiah to open the door to drawing ‘the remnant that were escaped’ back to the
ancient unity of worship, at all events, if not of polity. No doubt a large number had been
left in the northern territory, and Hezekiah may have hoped that calamity had softened
their enmity to his kingdom, and perhaps touched them with longings for the old
worship. At all events, like a good man, he will stretch out a hand to the alienated
brethren, now that evil days have fallen on them. The hour of an enemy’s calamity
should be our opportunity for seeking to help and proffering reconciliation. We may find
that trouble inclines wanderers to come back to God.
The alteration of the time of keeping the passover from the thirteenth day of the first
month to the same day of the second was in accordance with the liberty granted in
Num_9:10-11, to persons unclean by contact with a dead body or ‘in a journey afar off.’
The decision to have the passover was not taken in time to allow of the necessary
removal of uncleanness from the priests nor of the assembling of the people, and
therefore the permission to defer it for a month was taken advantage of, in order to allow
full time for the despatch of the messengers and the journeys of the farthest northern
tribes. It is to be observed that Hezekiah took his subjects into counsel, since the step
intended was much too great for him to venture on of his own mere motion. So the
overtures went out clothed with the authority of the whole kingdom of Judah. It was the
voice of a nation that sought to woo back the secessionists.
The messengers were instructed to supplement the official letters of invitation with
earnest entreaties as from the king, of which the gist is given in 2Ch_30:6-9. With the
skill born of intense desire to draw the long-parted kingdoms together, the message
touches on ancestral memories, recent bitter experiences, yearnings for the captive
kinsfolk, the instinct of self-preservation, and rises at last into the clear light of full faith
in, and insight into, God’s infinite heart of pardoning pity.
Note the very first words, ‘Ye children of Israel,’ and consider the effect of this frank
recognition of the northern kingdom as part of the undivided Israel. Such recognition
might have been misunderstood or spurned when Samaria was gay and prosperous; but
when its palaces were desolate, the effect of the old name, recalling happier days, must
have been as if the elder brother had come out from the father’s house and entreated the

prodigal to come back to his place at the fireside. The battle would be more than half
won if the appeal that was couched in the very name of Israel was heeded.
Note further how firmly and yet lovingly the sin of the northern kingdom is touched on.
The name of Jehovah as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, recalls the ancient days
when the undivided people worshipped Him, and the still more ancient, and, to hearers
and speakers alike, more sacred, days when the patriarchs received wondrous tokens
that He was their God, and they were His people; while the recurrence of ‘Israel’ as the
name of Jacob adds force to its previous use as the name of all His descendants. The
possible rejection of the invitation, on the ground which the men of the north, like the
Samaritan woman, might have taken, that they were true to their fathers’ worship, is cut
away by the reminder that that worship was an innovation, since the fathers of the
present generation had been apostate from the God of their fathers. The appeal to
antiquity often lands men in a bog because it is not carried far enough back. ‘The fathers’
may lead astray, but if the antiquity to which we appeal is that of which the New
Testament is the record, the more conservative we are, the nearer the truth shall we be.
Again, the message touched on a chord that might easily have given a jarring note;
namely, the misfortunes of the kingdom. But it was done with so delicate a hand, and so
entirely without a trace of rejoicing in a neighbour’s calamities, that no susceptibilities
could be ruffled, while yet the solemn lesson is unfalteringly pointed. ‘He gave them up
to desolation, as ye see.’ Behind Assyria was Jehovah, and Israel’s fall was not wholly
explained by the disparity between its strength and the conquerors’. Under and through
the play of criminal ambition, cruelty, and earthly politics, the unseen Hand wrought;
and the teaching of all the Old Testament history is condensed into that one sad
sentence, which points to facts as plain as tragical. In deepest truth it applies to each of
us; for, if we trespass against God, we draw down evil on our heads with both hands, and
shall find that sin brings the worst desolation-that which sheds gloom over a godless
soul.
We note further the deep true insight into God’s character and ways expressed in this
message. There is a very striking variation in the three designations of Jehovah as ‘the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel’ (2Ch_30:6), ‘the god of their [that is, the preceding
generation] fathers’ (ver. 7), and ‘your God’ (2Ch_30:8). The relation which had
subsisted from of old had not been broken by man’s apostasy, Jehovah still was, in a true
sense, their God, even if His relation to them only bound Him not to leave them
unpunished. So their very sufferings proved them His, for ‘What son is he whom the
father chasteneth not?’ But strong, sunny confidence in God shines from the whole
message, and reaches its climax in the closing assurance that He is merciful and
gracious. The evil results of rebellion are not omitted, but they are not dwelt on. The true
magnet to draw wanderers back to God is the loving proclamation of His love. Unless we
are sure that He has a heart tender with all pity, and ‘open as day to melting charity,’ we
shall not turn to Him with our hearts.
The message puts the response which it sought in a variety of ways; namely, turning to
Jehovah, not being stiff-necked, yielding selves to Jehovah, entering into His sanctuary.
More than outward participation in the passover ceremonial is involved. Submission of
will, abandonment of former courses of action, docility of spirit ready to be directed
anywhere, the habit of abiding with God by communion-all these, the standing
characteristics of the religious life, are at least suggested by the invitations here. We are
all summoned thus to yield ourselves to God, and especially to do so by surrendering our
wills to Him, and to ‘enter into His sanctuary,’ by keeping up such communion with Him
as that, however and wherever occupied, we shall still ‘dwell in the house of the Lord all

the days of our lives.’
And the summons to return unto God is addressed to us all even more urgently than to
Israel. God Himself invites us by the voice of His providences, by His voice within, and
by the voice of Jesus Himself, who is ever saying to each of us, by His death and passion,
by His resurrection and ascension, ‘Turn ye! turn ye! why will ye die?’ and who has more
than endorsed Hezekiah’s messengers’ assurance that ‘Jehovah will not turn away His
face from’ us by His own gracious promise, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
out.’
The king’s message met a mingled reception. Some mocked, some were moved and
accepted. So, alas! is it with the better message, which is either ‘a savour of life unto life
or of death unto death.’ The same fire melts wax and hardens clay. May it be with all of
us as it was in Judah-that we ‘have one heart, to do the commandment’ and to accept the
merciful summons to the great passover!
2 The king and his officials and the whole
assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the
Passover in the second month.
BAR ES, "In the second month - Hezekiah and his counselors considered that
the permission of the Law (see the marginal reference) might, under the circumstances,
be extended to the whole people. It had been found impossible to complete the cleansing
of the temple until the fourteenth day of the first month was past 2Ch_29:17. It was,
therefore, determined to defer it to the 14th of the second month, which allowed time for
the priests generally to purify themselves, and for proclamation of the festival to be
made throughout all Israel.
CLARKE, "In the second month - In Ijar, as they could not celebrate it in Nisan,
the fourteenth of which month was the proper time. But as they could not complete the
purgation of the temple, till the sixteenth of that month, therefore they were obliged to
hold it now, or else adjourn it till the next year, which would have been fatal to that spirit
of reformation which had now taken place. The law itself had given permission to those
who were at a distance, and could not attend to the fourteenth of the first month, and to
those who were accidentally defiled, and ought not to attend, to celebrate the passover
on the fourteenth of the second month; see Num_9:10, Num_9:11. Hezekiah therefore,
and his counsellors, thought that they might extend that to the people at large, because
of the delay necessarily occasioned by the cleansing of the temple, which was granted to

individuals in such cases as the above, and the result showed that they had not mistaken
the mind of the Lord upon the subject.
GILL, "For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the
congregation in Jerusalem,.... He and his nobles, and the great sanhedrim or senate
of the nation, had consulted together:
to keep the passover in the second month; in the month Ijar, as the Targum,
because they could not keep it in the first month, as it should have been kept, according
to the law of God, for the reasons following.
K&D 2-4, "The king consulted with his princes and the whole assembly in Jerusalem,
i.e., with the community of the capital assembled in their representatives for this
purpose, as to keeping the passover in the second month. This was (Num_9:6-13)
allowed to those who, by uncleanness or by absence on a distant journey, were prevented
from holding the feast at the lawful time, the 14th of the first month. Both these reasons
existed in this case (2Ch_30:3): the priests had not sufficiently sanctified themselves,
and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem, sc. at the legal time in the first month.
‫י‬ ַ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫,ל‬ contracted from ‫י‬ ַ ‫ה־‬ ַ‫,מ‬ that which is sufficient, is usually interpreted, “not in
sufficient number” (Rashi, Vulg., Berth., etc.); but the reference of the word to the
number cannot be defended. ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ל‬ denotes only ad sufficientiam, and means not merely
that the priests had not sanctified themselves in such numbers as were required for the
slaughtering and offering of the paschal lambs, but that the priesthood in general was
not yet sufficiently consecrated, many priests not having at that time wholly renounced
idolatry and consecrated themselves anew. Nor does the passage signify, as Bertheau
says it does, “that although the purification of the temple was completed only on the
sixteenth day of the first month (2Ch_29:17), the passover would yet have been
celebrated in the first month, though perhaps not on the legal fourteenth day, had not a
further postponement become necessary for the reasons here given;” for there is nothing
said in the text of a “further postponement.” That is just as arbitrarily dragged into the
narrative as the idea that Hezekiah ever intended to hold the passover on another day
than the legal fourteenth day of the month, which is destitute of all support, and even of
probability. The postponement of the passover until the second month in special
circumstances was provided for by the law, but the transfer of the celebration to another
day of the month was not. Such a transfer would have been an illegal and arbitrary
innovation, which we cannot suppose Hezekiah capable of. Rather it is clear from the
consultation, that the king and his princes and the congregations were persuaded that
the passover could be held only on the fourteenth day of the month; for they did not
consult as to the day, but only as to the month, upon the basis of the law: if not in the
first, then at any rate in the second month. The day was, for those consulting, so
definitely fixed that it was never discussed, and is not mentioned at all in the record. If
this were so, then the consultation must have taken place in the first month before the
fourteenth day, at a time when the lawful day for the celebration was not yet past. This is
implied in the words, “for they could not hold it at that time.” ‫יא‬ ִ‫ה‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ָ is the first month,
in contrast to “in the second month;” not this or that day of the month. Now, since the
reason given for their not being able to hold it in the first month is that the priests had
not sufficiently purified themselves, and the people had not assembled themselves in

Jerusalem, we learn with certainty from these reasons that it is not a celebration of the
passover in the first year of Hezekiah's reign which is here treated of, as almost all
commentators think.
(Note: Cf. the elaborate discussion of this question in Caspari, Beitr. zur Einl. in
das B. Jesaja, S. 109ff.)
In the whole narrative there is nothing to favour such a supposition, except (1) the
circumstance that the account of this celebration is connected by ‫ו‬ consec. (in ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫)ו‬ with
the preceding purification of the temple and restoration of the Jahve-worship which
took place in the first year of Hezekiah's reign; and (2) the statement that the priests had
not sufficiently sanctified themselves, 2Ch_30:3, which, when compared with that in
2Ch_29:34, that the number of priests who had sanctified themselves was not sufficient
to flay the beasts for sacrifice, makes it appear as if the passover had been celebrated
immediately after the consecration of the temple; and (3) the mention of the second
month in 2Ch_30:2, which, taken in connection with the mention of the first month in
2Ch_29:3, 2Ch_29:17, seems to imply that the second month of the first year of
Hezekiah's reign is meant. But of these three apparent reasons none is convincing.
The use of ‫ו‬ consec. to connect the account of the celebration of the passover with the
preceding, without the slightest hint that the celebration took place in another (later)
year, is fully accounted for by the fact that in no case is the year in which any event of
Hezekiah's twenty-nine years' reign occurred stated in the Chronicle. In 2Ch_32:1,
Sennacherib's invasion of Judah is introduced only by the indefinite formula, “and after
these events,” though it happened in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah; while the
arrangements as to the public worship made by this king, and recorded in 2 Chron 31,
belong to the first years of his reign. Only in the case of the restoration of the Jahve-
worship is it remarked, 2Ch_29:3, that Hezekiah commenced it in the very first year of
his reign, because that was important in forming an estimate of the spirit of his reign;
but the statement of the year in which his other acts were done had not much bearing
upon the practical aim of the chronicler. Nor does the reason given for the transfer of the
celebration of the passover to the second month, viz., that the priests had not sufficiently
sanctified themselves, prove that the celebration took place in the first year of Hezekiah.
During the sixteen years' reign of the idolater Ahaz, the priesthood had beyond doubt
fallen very low, - become morally sunk, so that the majority of them would not
immediately make haste to sanctify themselves for the Jahve-worship. Finally, the
retrospective reference to 2Ch_29:3, 2Ch_29:17, would certainly incline us to take ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ ַ‫ה‬
‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ּר‬‫ח‬ ַ to mean the second month of the first year; but yet it cannot be at once taken in
that sense, unless the reasons given for the transfer of the celebration of the passover to
the second month point to the first year. But these reasons, so far from doing so, are
rather irreconcilable with that view. The whole narrative, 2 Chron 29 and 30, gives us
the impression that Hezekiah had not formed the resolution to hold a passover to which
the whole of Israel and Judah, all the Israelites of the ten tribes as well as the citizens of
his kingdom, should be invited before or during the purification of the temple; at least
he did not consult with his princes and the heads of Jerusalem at that time. According to
2Ch_29:20, the king assembled the princes of the city only after the report had been
made to him, on the completion of the purification of the temple on the sixteenth day of
the first month, when he summoned them to the dedication of the purified temple by
solemn sacrifice. But this consecratory solemnity occupied several days. The great
number of burnt-offerings, - first seven bullocks, seven rams, and seven lambs, besides
the sin-offering for the consecration of the temple (2Ch_29:21); then, after the

completion of these, the voluntary burnt-offering of the congregation, consisting of 70
bullocks, 100 rams, and 200 lambs, together with and exclusive of the thank-offerings
(2Ch_29:32), - could not possibly be burnt on one day on one altar of burnt-offering,
and consequently the sacrificial meal could not well be held on the same day. If, then, the
king consulted with the princes and the assembly about the passover after the
conclusion of or during celebration, - say in the time between the seventeenth and the
twentieth day, - it could not be said that the reason of the postponement of the passover
was that the priests had not yet sufficiently sanctified themselves, and the people were
not assembled in Jerusalem: it would only have been said that the fourteenth day of the
first month was already past. Caspari has therefore rightly regarded this as decisive. But
besides that, the invitation to all Israel (of the ten tribes) to this passover is more easily
explained, if the celebration of it took place after the breaking up of the kingdom of the
ten tribes by the Assyrians, than if it was before that catastrophe, in the time of Hosea,
the last king of that kingdom. Though King Hosea may not have been so evil as some of
his predecessors, yet it is said of him also, “he did that which was evil in the sight of
Jahve” (2Ki_17:2). Would Hezekiah have ventured, so long as Hosea reigned, to invite
his subjects to a passover at Jerusalem? and would Hosea have permitted the invitation,
and not rather have repelled it as an interference with his kingdom? Further, in the
invitation, the captivity of the greater part of the ten tribes is far too strongly
presupposed to allow us to imagine that the captivity there referred to is the carrying
away of several tribes by Tiglath-pileser. The words, “the escaped who are left to you
from the hand of the king of Assyria” (2Ch_30:6), presuppose more than the captivity of
the two and a half trans-Jordanic tribes and the Naphtalites; not merely because of the
plural, the “kings of Assur,” but also because the remaining five and a half tribes were
not at all affected by Tiglath-pileser's deportation, while there is no mention made of any
being carried away by King Pul, nor is it a probable thing in itself; see on 1Ch_5:26.
Finally, according to 2Ch_31:1, the Israelites who had been assembled in Jerusalem for
the passover immediately afterwards destroyed the pillars, Astartes, high places, and
altars, not merely in all Judah and Benjamin, but also in Ephraim and Manasseh
(consequently even in the capital of the kingdom of the ten tribes), “unto completion,”
i.e., completely, leaving nothing of them remaining. Is it likely that King Hosea, and the
other inhabitants of the kingdom of the ten tribes who had not gone to the passover, but
had laughed at and mocked the messengers of Hezekiah (2Ch_30:10), would have
quietly looked on and permitted this? All these things are incomprehensible if the
passover was held in the first year of Hezekiah, and make it impossible to accept that
view.
Moreover, even the preparation for this passover demanded more time than from the
seventeenth day of the first month to the fourteenth day of the second. The calling of the
whole people together, “from Dan to Beersheba” (2Ch_30:5), could not be accomplished
in three weeks. Even if Hezekiah's messengers may have gone throughout the land and
returned home again in that time, we yet cannot suppose that those invited, especially
those of the ten tribes, could at once commence their journey, so as to appear in
Jerusalem at the time of the feast. In consequence of all these things, we must still
remain stedfastly of the opinion already expressed in this volume in the Commentary on
the Books of Kings (p. 306ff.), that this passover was not held in the first year of
Hezekiah, only a week or two after the restoration of the Jahve-worship according to the
law had been celebrated. But if it was not held in the first year, then it cannot have been
held before the ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes, in the sixth year of Hezekiah. In the
third year of Hezekiah, Shalmaneser marched upon Samaria, and besieged the capital of
the kingdom of the ten tribes. But during the occupation of that kingdom by the
Assyrians, Hezekiah could not think of inviting its inhabitants to a passover in

Jerusalem. He can have resolved upon that only after the Assyrians had again left the
country, Samaria having been conquered, and the Israelites carried away. “But after an
end had been thoroughly made of the kingdom of the house of Israel, Hezekiah might
regard himself as the king of all Israel, and in this character might invite the remnant of
the ten tribes, as his subjects, to the passover (cf. Jer_40:1); and he might cherish the
hope, as the Israelitish people had been just smitten down by this last frightful
catastrophe, that its remaining members would humble themselves under the mighty
hand of God, which had been laid on them solemnly, and turning to Him, would comply
with the invitation; while before the ruin of the Israelitish kingdom, in inviting the
Israelites of the ten tribes, he would have been addressing the subjects of a foreign king”
(Caspari, S. 125). And with this view, the statement, 2Ch_30:10, that the messengers of
Hezekiah were laughed at by the majority of the Israelites, in the land of Ephraim and
Manasseh unto Zebulun, may be easily reconciled. “If we only look,” as Caspari
pertinently says in answer to this objection, “at the conduct of those who remained in
Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem, and who soon afterwards fled to Egypt to
Jeremiah (Jer_42:4), we will understand how the majority of the people of the kingdom
of the ten tribes, who remained behind after the deportation by Shalmaneser, could be
hardened and blinded enough to laugh at and mock the messengers of Hezekiah.”
But if Hezekiah formed the resolution of holding such a passover festival only after the
destruction of the kingdom of Israel, it may perhaps be asked why he did not take the
matter into consideration early enough to allow of the festival being held at the legal
time, i.e., in the first month? To this we certainly cannot give an assured answer,
because, from the reasons given for the delay of the passover to the second month (2Ch_
30:3), we can only gather that, when the king consulted with the princes in the matter,
there was no longer sufficient time to carry out the celebration in the manner proposed
at the legal time. But it is quite possible that Hezekiah resolved to invite the remnant of
the ten tribes to the next passover, only in the beginning of the year, when the Assyrians
had withdrawn from the land, and that in the consultation about the matter the two
circumstances mentioned in 2Ch_30:3 were decisive for the postponement of the feast
to the second month. It became clear, on the one hand, that the whole priesthood was
not yet sufficiently prepared for it; and on the other, that the summoning of the people
could not be accomplished before the 14th Nisan, so as to allow of the feast being held in
the way proposed at the legal time; and accordingly it was decided, in order to avoid the
postponement of the matter for a whole year, to take advantage of the expedient
suggested by the law, and to hold the feast in the second month. From 2Ch_30:14 and
2Ch_31:1 we gather that at that time there were still standing in Jerusalem, and in the
cities of Judah and Benjamin, Mazzeboth, Asherim, Bamoth, and altars; consequently,
that the Baal-worship had not yet been extirpated. The continuance of the Baal-worship,
and that on the high places in Jerusalem and Judah, until the sixth or seventh year of
Hezekiah's reign, will not much astonish us, if we consider that even before Ahaz the
most pious kings had not succeeded in quite suppressing worship on the high places on
the part of the people. The reopening of the temple, and of the Jahve-worship in it,
Hezekiah might undertake and carry out in the beginning of his reign, because he had all
those of the people who were well inclined upon his side. But it was otherwise with the
altars on the high places, to which the people from ancient times had been firmly
attached. These could not be immediately destroyed, and may have been again restored
here and there after they had been destroyed, even in the corners of the capital. Many
Levitic priests had, to a certainty, taken part in this worship on high places, since, as a
rule, it was not heathen idols, but Jahve, to whom sacrifice was offered upon the high
places, though it was done in an illegal way. Such Levitic priests of the high places could
not, even if they had not practised idolatry, straightway take part in a passover to be

celebrated to Jahve according to the precepts of the law. They must first sanctify
themselves by abandoning the worship on the high places, and earnestly turning to the
Lord and to His law. Now, if the passover was to be a general one, the time necessary for
this sanctification of themselves must be granted to these priests. For the sanctification
of these priests, and for the invitation of all Israel to the festival, the time up to the
fourteenth of the second month was sufficient, and the king's proposal was consequently
approved of by the whole assembly.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 30:2. The king had taken counsel, &c. — The law directed
that the passover should be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first mouth: but
as it was found impossible to get all things in readiness against that time, it was
thought more advisable to adjourn it to the fourteenth day of the next month, than
to defer it till the next year. And for this they had some encouragement, as it was
allowed in the law, that in case any man was unclean by reason of a dead body, or
was on a journey afar off, at the proper time of the celebration of the passover, he
might eat it on the fourteenth day of the second mouth, umbers 9:10-11. And what
was an indulgence to particular persons, they judged, might be allowed to the whole
congregation of Israel.
COKE, "For the king had taken counsel, &c.— The direction which the law gives is,
that the passover should be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month: but,
as it was found impossible to get all things in readiness against that time, it was
judged adviseable to adjourn it to the 14th of the next month, rather than stay till
the next year: and for this they had some encouragement; because the law allows,
that in case any man shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be on a journey
afar off, he may eat the passover on the 14th day of the second month, umbers
9:10-11. And what was an indulgence to particular persons, they thought might well
be allowed to the whole congregation of Israel.
ELLICOTT, "2) For the king had taken counsel.—And the king determined (2
Chronicles 25:17). The resolution was taken by the king in council with his grandees
and the popular representatives; apparently before the 14th of isan, which was the
proper time for keeping the feast.
In the second month.—And not in the first month of the sacred year, as the law
prescribes ( umbers 9:1-5). The grounds of the postponement are assigned in the
next verse, viz., the legal impurity of many of the priests, and the non-arrival of the
people at the proper time. The law permits postponement to the second month in
such cases ( umbers 9:6-11). The first month was isan; Assyr., isdnu; the
second, Iyyar; Assyr., Âru.
PULPIT, "This and the following verse are well explained by umbers 9:6-13,

where the particular instance of the "defilement by a dead body" simply
exemplified other legitimate instances of defilement or non-sanctification (2
Chronicles 29:5, 2 Chronicles 29:15, 2 Chronicles 29:34), and where absence on a
journey similarly exemplified other unavoidable absence.
3 They had not been able to celebrate it at the
regular time because not enough priests had
consecrated themselves and the people had not
assembled in Jerusalem.
BAR ES, "At that time - i. e. in the first month, at the time of the events
mentioned in 2 Chr. 29.
GILL, "For they could not keep it at the time,.... In the month Nisan, as the
Targum adds, on the fourteenth day of the month, as the law enjoined, because the
cleansing of the temple was not finished until the sixteenth day, see 2Ch_29:17 and,
besides this, two other reasons follow:
because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently; that is, a
sufficient number of them were not sanctified, to slay all the passover lambs the people
that came to the feast would want:
neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem; they had
no notice of it, nor summons for it; and it was required that, at such a time, all the males
in the land should appear at Jerusalem; but this custom having been long disused, it
required time to acquaint them of the revival of it.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 30:3. For they could not keep it at that time — Which God
had appointed for it, both because the temple was not then purified and prepared,
and also for two other reasons, which he here adds. The priests had not sanctified
themselves sufficiently — To wit, in such a manner as was fit, nor in such numbers
as were necessary for the slaying and offering of so many thousands of paschal-
offerings, as appears, because they were not sufficient for those offerings, which
were comparatively few, 2 Chronicles 29:32-34. either had the people gathered
themselves together, &c. — As they used, and ought to do, at that time, from all
places: which now they could not do, because neither was the matter agreed upon,

nor were the people summoned thither, till the proper time was past.
ELLICOTT, "(3) At that time.—The time when the Temple had just been reopened
(2 Chronicles 29:8), in the first month of Hezekiah’s first year. The Purification of
the Temple was not completed until the 16th of isan (2 Chronicles 29:17); but
perhaps the Passover would have been held, had not the hindrances here mentioned
prevented it. (See 2 Chronicles 29:34).
Sufficiently.—Lĕmaddày. Literally, unto what was enough (lĕ-mah-dày), an
expression only met with here. (Comp. a similar formation, 1 Chronicles 15:13.) The
meaning is that a sufficient number of priests had not observed the legal ceremonies
of self-purification in time to hold Passover in isan.
PULPIT, "At that time. The words seem like a reminiscence of the "at that day,"
twice occurring in 2 Chronicles 30:6 of umbers 9:1-23. But anyway the meaning is
plain "at the appointed season."
4 The plan seemed right both to the king and to
the whole assembly.
GILL, "And the thing pleased the king, and all the congregation. They all
unanimously agreed to it, and determined it should be done.
ELLICOTT, "(4) The thing pleased.—The matter (or proposal) was right in the
eyes of the king—i.e., the proposal to keep the Passover in the second month, and to
invite the northern tribes.
PULPIT, "This verse betokens the careful consideration on the part of "king,
princes, and all the congregation," that had been given to the distinct question,
whether the exact present circumstances legitimately fell under the description of
umbers 9:6-13; and the issue was that they decided that they did, they "ruled the
thing right" ( ‫ָר‬‫ב‬ָ‫ַד‬‫ה‬ ‫ר‬ַ‫ִישׁ‬‫יּ‬ַ‫ו‬)

5 They decided to send a proclamation
throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling
the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the
Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. It had not
been celebrated in large numbers according to
what was written.
BAR ES, "They had not done it ... - Some prefer, “they had not kept it in full
numbers, as it was written” - i. e. “they (the Israelites of the northern kingdom) had not
(for some while) kept the Passover in full numbers, as the Law required.”
GILL, "So they established a decree, to make proclamation throughout all
Israel,.... Passed a vote, that heralds should be appointed and sent to proclaim it
throughout the land, that all might know it, and none plead ignorance:
from Beersheba even to Dan; the one being the southern and the other the northern
boundary of the whole land of Israel:
that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at
Jerusalem: the only proper place where it was to be kept:
for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written; as
prescribed in the law those of the ten tribes had not observed it from the time of the
schism of Jeroboam, and many in the kingdom of Judah had neglected it, at least had
not kept it as the law required; for the phrase which we render "of a long time" rather
respects a multitude of persons than length of time, who had been very deficient in their
observance of this ordinance; the Targum is, that"many had not done it in its time, in
Nisan,''and suggests that it was kept twice this year, first in Nisan by a few, and now
again in the second month Ijar, and which is the sense of some Talmudic writers (p), but
has no foundation in the text.
K&D, " They established the matter (‫ר‬ ָ‫ב‬ ָ ‫ידוּ‬ ִ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫,י‬ Vulg. rightly, according to the sense,
decreverunt), to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan (cf.
Jdg_20:1), that they should come to keep the passover. ‫ּב‬‫ר‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ, for not in multitude
had they celebrated it, as it is written. These words were interpreted as early as by Rashi
thus: they had not celebrated it for a long time according to the precepts of the law, and
were referred to the time of the division of the kingdom. But to this Berth. has rightly

objected that the use of ‫ּב‬‫ר‬ ָ‫ל‬ of time is unusual, and has correctly referred the words to
the Israelites: they had not celebrated it in multitude, i.e., in the assembly of the whole
people, as the law required. The words consequently tell us nothing as to the length of
time during which it had not been celebrated in multitude: as to that, see 2Ch_30:26.
Still less does it follow from the words that under Hezekiah, after the restoration of the
temple worship, the passover had not been yearly held.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 30:5. So they established a decree — They fixed a
resolution; to make proclamation throughout all Israel — Hezekiah, it is certain,
had no right to invite Hoshea’s subjects to repair to Jerusalem, to the celebration of
his passover; yet for the doing of this we may well presume that he had
encouragement from Hoshea himself; who, as to the matter of religion, has a better
character in Scripture than any of his predecessors, from the time of the division of
the two kingdoms. But the truth was, that both the golden calves, which had caused
this political separation, were now taken away; that of Dan by Tiglath-pileser, and
that of Beth-el by his son Shalmaneser; and therefore some of the apostate Israelites,
being thus deprived of their idols, began to return to the Lord, and to go up to
Jerusalem to worship, some time before Hezekiah made them this invitation to his
passover. See Prideaux and Dodd. They had not done it of a long time, &c., as it was
written — In such a manner as God had commanded them to keep it. Indeed, the
ten tribes had never kept it since the division of the kingdom by Jeroboam; at least,
not in the way in which Moses had prescribed, being hindered by his threatening
interdicts from going to Jerusalem; where only it could be kept according to the law.
And as for Judah, it appears, from 2 Chronicles 30:26, that they had never kept this
feast with such solemnity since the time of Solomon.
COKE, "2 Chronicles 30:5. Make proclamation throughout all Israel— Respecting
Hezekiah's invitation to Hoshea's subjects, to repair to Jerusalem to the celebration
of his passover, we may well presume that he had encouragement from Hoshea
himself, who, as to the matter of religion, has a better character in Scripture than
any of his predecessors from the time of the division of the two kingdoms. And the
truth was, that both the golden calves which had caused the religious separation
were now taken away: that of Dan, by Tiglath-pilezer, and that of Bethel by his son
Shalmaneser; and therefore the apostate Jews, being thus deprived of their idols,
began to return to the Lord, and to go up to Jerusalem to worship, some time before
Hezekiah made them this invitation to his passover. Prideaux, Ann. 729.
For they had not done it, &c.— Because it had not been celebrated universally, as it
was commanded. Houbigant.
ELLICOTT, "(5) So they established a decree.—And they decreed a proposal (he
‘ĕmîd dâbâr). (Comp. 2 Chronicles 30:8; Psalms 105:10, “and hath decreed it unto
Jacob for a law.”)

To make proclamation.—Literally, to make a voice pass. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 24:9;
2 Chronicles 36:22.)
From Beer-sheba even to Dan.—Reversing the ancient form of the phrase, to suit
the present case. (Comp. Judges 20:1; 2 Chronicles 19:4.)
For they had not . . . written.—Rather, For not in multitude (larôb) had they kept it,
according to the Scripture. The people had not been in the habit of “coming in their
numbers” to the feast. (Comp. the like use of larôb in 2 Chronicles 30:13; 2
Chronicles 30:24.) See the Law respecting the Passover, Exodus 12:1-20;
Deuteronomy 16:1-8; from which it appears that the obligation to observe it was
universal, and according to the latter passage, which is probably referred to in the
phrase “according to what is written.” Jerusalem was the only legitimate place for
the festival. It is implied that ever since the division of the kingdom, and perhaps
earlier, the Passover had been inadequately celebrated. (Comp. 2 Kings 23:22.)
LXX. well, ὅτι πλῆθος οὐκ ἐποίησεν κατὰ τὴν γραφήν; Vulg., “multi enim non
fecerant, sicut lege praescriptum est; Syriac and Arabic, “because their wealth had
grown greatly”(!)
ISBET, "A OTABLE PASSOVER FEAST
‘Then had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.’
2 Chronicles 30:5
Hezekiah was a good king. This was all the more remarkable, because his father was
one of the worst kings who had ever sat on the throne of David. This shows that a
son is not foredoomed to a bad life by his father’s evil ways. It is possible for a lily to
grow up pure and sweet, and to keep its purity and sweetness, in a black bog. After
all, every one builds his own character. We cannot charge our evil ways to any other
one’s sins. Each one’s choice determines the spirit of one’s life. As a man thinketh in
his heart so is he.
I. Hezekiah’s name shines very brightly in the list of the kings of Judah.—He was
faithful to God in times when it was hard to be faithful, when nearly all public men
were corrupt. We learn from him that it is possible to live worthily when others are
living most unworthily. We need not be like those about us. We cannot blame our
wickedness on the times; it is in ourselves that the fault lies if we fail. Indeed, when
others are wrong we should try specially to be right.
II. We should use all our influence to bring people to God.—That is what Hezekiah
did. There was a great revival of religion. All this was brought about by one man
who wrought earnestly for God. We may say that he was a king and that we have no
such power as he had. But we all have influence in a certain sphere, and we should
use it always to make people better.
III. We may get a lesson from the king’s postmen.—They went over the country
everywhere, carrying the letters from the king, telling the people of the great feast
soon to be given, and inviting them all to come to it. We may be our King’s postmen,

for there is another great feast to which He wants everybody invited. The letter He
wants us to carry out is the good news of the Gospel which is for every one. We
should be glad to be the King’s letter carriers.
IV. Too many people now treat the King’s letters as the people of Israel treated
Hezekiah’s letters.—They only sneered—laughed the postmen to scorn, and paid no
heed to the message. It seems strange that any one will so treat the Gospel invitation.
The King’s letter carriers bring the message to tens of thousands of young people.
What will the answer be?
V. Those who turn to the Lord will find Him ready always to hear their prayers and
bless them.
Illustrations
(1) ‘Hezekiah was one of the three most perfect kings of Judah, and one of the best
and wisest men who ever sat on any throne. He was a statesman with large and
noble aims; he was a military leader of remarkable skill; like David, only in a lesser
degree, he had the gift of song as well as of leadership; and, like all men who are
truly great, he impressed himself on the imagination of the people. But deeper than
all that, he was a profoundly religious man. The controlling influence in his life was
God. It was his strong desire to hold fast to Jehovah that was determinative of his
high career. When Jesus said “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” I do not imagine
that He thought of Hezekiah. But if ever there was a life rich in a hundred interests,
all dominated by the supreme interest of religion, it was the life of this great king of
Judah.’
(2) ‘If we are always in our place at the services of the church, taking an earnest and
devout part in the worship, we are doing a great deal, for others will follow our
example. We may do much also to induce our neighbours and friends to attend these
services. In many places the church-going habit is falling into decay. Especially in
cities and large towns there are thousands of persons who never enter a church
door. Those who love Christ should first of all be faithful themselves in church
attendance and then should seek to bring others.’
PULPIT, "Of a long time. Though the idea expressed in this rendering must, under
any circumstances, attach to this passage, yet it can scarcely be understood to be
given in the one Hebrew word we have here ( ‫ֹב‬ ‫ָר‬‫ל‬ ); out of nearly a hundred and
fifty occurrences of the word, and often with its present preposition, this is the
solitary occasion of its being turned into a mark of time. The translation should
read, for they had not kept it in multitude, i.e. in proper multitudes, and in the
multitude of an undivided and holy kingdom. The force of the reference lies in the
fact just stated, that Hezekiah, ignoring all the worse precedents of now many
generations, and ignoring the iniquity of the duality of the kingdom, manfully
caused his writ to run from south to north unchecked! As it was written; i.e. in the
book of the Law of Moses. So runs the full and frequent and honoured phrase: ‫ָתוּב‬‫כּ‬ַ‫כּ‬

‫ה‬ֶ‫ת־משׁ‬ ַ‫תּוֹר‬ ‫ֶר‬‫פ‬ֵ‫ס‬ְ‫ב‬)2 Kings 14:6; 1 Kings 2:3; Joshua 3:1-17 :34; 2 Chronicles 35:26,
etc.).
6 At the king’s command, couriers went
throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the
king and from his officials, which read:
“People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to
you who are left, who have escaped from the hand
of the kings of Assyria.
BAR ES, "The posts went - The bearers of the letters were probably the “runners”
who formed a portion of the king’s body-guard (2Ki_10:25 note).
The kings of Assyria - Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser may all be referred to
in this passage (compare the marginal reference and 2Ki_17:3). The passage by no
means implies that the fall of Samaria and final captivity of the Israelites had as yet
taken place.
CLARKE, "So the posts went - ‫רצים‬ ratsim, the runners or couriers; persons who
were usually employed to carry messages; men who were light of foot, and confidential.
GILL, "So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes
throughout all Israel and Judah,.... Both through the kingdoms of the ten tribes of
Israel, and the kingdom of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin:
and according to the commandment of the king, saying; so they were ordered by
the king to say, when they delivered the letters which by the king's commandment they
carried; or this was the purport of them, as follows, especially of those that were sent to
the ten tribes:
ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and

Israel; from whom they had revolted, and from whose worship they had departed, by
setting up and serving the calves at Dan and Bethel:
and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of
the king of Assyria; Pul and Tiglathpileser, who had both invaded their land, and the
latter had taken many of their cities, and carried the inhabitants captive, 2Ki_15:19.
JAMISO , "the posts — that is, runners, or royal messengers, who were taken from
the king’s bodyguard (2Ch_23:1, 2Ch_23:2). Each, well mounted, had a certain number
of miles to traverse. Having performed his course, he was relieved by another, who had
to scour an equal extent of ground; so that, as the government messengers were
dispatched in all directions, public edicts were speedily diffused throughout the country.
The proclamation of Hezekiah was followed by a verbal address from himself, piously
urging the duty, and setting forth the advantages, of a return to the pure faith and
institutions which God had delivered to their ancestors through Moses.
the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of
Assyria — This implies that several expeditions against Israel had already been made by
Assyrian invaders - by Pul (2Ki_15:19), but none of the people were then removed; at a
later period by Tiglath-pileser, when it appears that numbers among the tribes east of
Jordan (1Ch_5:26), and afterwards in the northern parts of Israel (2Ki_15:20), were
carried into foreign exile. The invasion of Shalmaneser cannot be alluded to, as it did not
take place till the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign (2Ki_17:6; 2Ki_18:9-12).
K&D, "“The runners (whether soldiers of the royal body-guard, cf. 2Ch_12:10, or
other royal couriers, as Est_3:13, Est_3:15, cannot be determined) went with letters
from the hand of the king, ... and according to the commandment of the king to say.” Tot
he written invitation of the king and his princes they were to add words of exhortation:
“Turn again to Jahve, ... that He may return (turn Himself) to the remnant which
remains to you from the hand of the kings of Assyria,” i.e., of Tiglath-pileser and
Shalmaneser.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 30:6. So the posts — Hebrew, ‫,הרצים‬ haratsim, the runners;
went with the letters — Expresses were sent throughout all the tribes of Israel, with
memorials, earnestly pressing the people to take this opportunity of returning to
God, from whom they had revolted. Saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto
the Lord, &c. — In these letters Hezekiah discovers great concern both for the
honour of God and for the welfare of the neighbouring kingdom, the prosperity of
which he seems earnestly to have desired, though he not only received no toll,
tribute, or custom from it, but it had often, and not long since, been vexatious to his
kingdom. This was indeed rendering good for evil. And he will return to the
remnant of you — You are but a remnant, narrowly escaped out of the hand of the
kings of Assyria, (namely, Pul and Tiglath-pileser,) who have carried your brethren
away captive. And therefore it concerns you to put yourselves under the protection
of the God of your fathers, that you may not be quite swallowed up: and if you turn
to him in the way of duty, he will turn to you in a way of mercy.

ELLICOTT, "(6) The posts.—The runners— i.e., couriers ( ᾰγγαροι). The Syriac
uses the Latin word Tabellarii, “letter- carriers,” which the Arabic mistakes for
“folk of Tiberias”! The soldiers of the body-guard seem to have acted as royal
messengers.
From the king.—From the hand of the king.
And according to the commandment.—The construction appears to be: they went
with the letters . . . and according to the king’s order. The LXX. and Vulg. omit and,
but the Syriac has it.
And he will return.—That he may return unto the survivors that are left unto you
from the hand of the hings of Assyria.
Remnant.—Pĕlêtâh.—That the word really means survivors appears from
comparison of the Assyrian balâtu, “to be alive;” bullŭtu, “life.”
The kings of Assyria.—See 2 Chronicles 28:16; 2 Chronicles 28:20. The words are a
rhetorical reference to Tiglath-pileser’s invasion of the northern kingdom, and the
depopulation of Galilee and Gilead. The chronicler’s language may have been
influenced also by recollection of the last fatal inroad of Shalmaneser II., in the
fourth year of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:9). (See 2 Kings 15:29.)
GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 30:6-9) The letter to the tribes.
Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the
king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of
Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return
to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. And
do not be like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the LORD
God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation, as you see. ow do not
be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and enter
His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, that
the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. For if you return to the LORD,
your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead
them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is
gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.”
a. Children of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel: The
northern kingdom of Israel had fallen and all that remained after exile to the
Assyrians was the remnant of you who have escaped. Yet Hezekiah still believed in
the concept of the Children of Israel, those of the tribes of Israel descended from the
great patriarchs.
i. In the history of the divided kingdoms there were some attempts to reunify by

force, but these came to nothing. “In comparison with previous failures, this
incident shows that the only really effective approach to unity has to be based on the
principle of faithful worship.” (Selman)
ii. “The good of our brethren in other kingdoms must also be minded.” (Trapp)
b. Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were: This was especially relevant as the
letter went to the remnant of the northern kingdom. Generally speaking, they had
neglected the Jerusalem Passover for a long time.
i. “Hezekiah knew that the poor remnant of Israel were in great affliction: he
therefore presseth them to repentance, whereby men return to God, as by sin they
run from him. . . . Hezekiah though it was good striking while the iron was hot.”
(Trapp)
c. For if you return to the LORD: The letter of invitation promised two things if the
remnant of Israel would return to the LORD and obediently celebrate this Passover
in Jerusalem. First, under God’s blessing it would go well with those already taken
captive by the Assyrians. Second, God would restore the northern kingdom and
allow them to come back to this land.
i.. These promises were based on an eternal principle of God’s character: that He
will not turn His face from you if you return to Him. God promises to draw near to
those who draw near to Him.
PULPIT, "So the posts (see note on 2 Chronicles 30:1). The remnant of you …
escaped … of Assyria. Hezekiah had, no doubt, already made his account with the
fact that the injured and crushed state of the northern kingdom might be of salutary
omen for the attempt on his part to bring them to a sense of their past sins, specially
perhaps of omission. Of the calamities of Israel, and their captivity in large part,
and in the rest subjection by tribute to Assyria, there is clear testimony in 2 Kings
15:29; 2 Kings 17:1-6.
7 Do not be like your parents and your fellow
Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the
God of their ancestors, so that he made them an
object of horror, as you see.

GILL, "And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which
trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers,.... By worshipping the calves,
and neglecting the service of God in the temple at Jerusalem; the Targum is,"which
acted deceitfully with the Word of the Lord their God:"
who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see; some part of the land of
Israel being already made desolate by the kings of Assyria, which was very visible.
K&D, "Be not like your fathers, your brethren, i.e., those carried away by Tiglath and
Shalmaneser. On ‫ה‬ ָ ַ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫ם‬ֵ‫ג‬ ְ ִ‫י‬ cf. 2Ch_29:8.
ELLICOTT, "(7) And be not ye like your fathers.—From the days of Jeroboam
downwards.
And like your brethren.—Of aphtali and the Trans-Jordan, whom Tiglath-pileser
carried captive.
Trespassed.—Were unfaithful to Jehovah.
Who therefore gave them up to desolation.—And He made them an astonishment (2
Chronicles 29:8).
PULPIT, "A strange and significant snatch of corroborating history is to be found
in 1 Chronicles 5:23-26.
BI 7-8, "
That the fierceness of His wrath may turn away.
Mercy turned to penalty
The fire that cheers, refines, and purifies, also bums and tortures. It all depends on our
relation to the fire, whether it be our friend or foe. In Retsch’s illustration of Goethe’s
“Faust,” there is one plate where angels are seen dropping roses upon the demons who
are contending for the soul of Faust. But every rose falls like molten metal wherever it
touches. God rains roses down, but our sinful hearts meeting Divine love with wilful
disobedience turn His love into wrath. (Christian Age.)
The duty of yielding ourselves to the Lord

I. A blessed season of grace marked for all israel. Now were the doors of the house of the
Lord opened (2Ch_29:3).
II. Their duty in that blessed season of grace.
1. Negative. “Be not stiff-necked.” It is a metaphor taken from bullocks
unaccustomed to the yoke, who make great difficulty and resistance about taking it
on.
2. Positive.
(1) Yielding themselves to the Lord. Hebrew, give ye the hand to the Lord.
(2) Entering into His sanctuary.
(3) Serving Him.
(a) In His ordinances.
(b) In their daily walk. (T. Boston, D.D.)
A season of grace
In a season of grace, in which God is offering to lay His yoke on sinners, they should
beware of being stiff-necked, or refusing to take it on.
I. What is that yoke which the Lord is offering to lay on sinners. It is the Soft and easy
yoke for the salvation and welfare of penitent sinners. “Take My yoke upon you, saith
Jesus, and learn of Me: For My yoke is easy.” This is the yoke of kindly willing subjection
to God in Christ.
1. The yoke of subjection to the will of His commandments.
2. The yoke of His providential will. He claims to dispose of you, as seems good to
Him.
II. This obedience of the sinner to God is called a yoke, because—
1. Coming under it, we are in a state of subjection as those under a yoke.
2. It is laid on us for labour or work.
3. By it we are not only kept at work, but kept in order at our work. They who truly
bear the yoke, are uniform and orderly in their obedience. “They have respect unto
all God’s commandments.”
4. Of its uneasiness to the flesh.
5. It fixes subjection upon us. The bonds of obligation are sweet and agreeable to His
willing people.
III. Motives.
1. God is the party with whom we have to do.
2. There will be nothing gained by stiff-neckedness to the yoke of God.
3. God has waited long on you, but will not wait always (Pro_29:1). Now, while a
season of grace is afforded to sinners, it is their duty to fall in with it speedily, to give
the hand and yield themselves to the Lord. Here We shall—

I. Show how sinners have a season of grace afforded them
1. By their being continued in life.
2. By the call of the Gospel so directed to them. “Behold now is the accepted time;
behold now is the day of salvation.”
3. By solemn sacramental occasions afforded to a people. This is the case in the text.
These make a precious “now” not to be slighted. At ordinary occasions of the gospel,
the blessed bargain is offered; but now the seal of heaven is ready to confirm it.
4. By some inward motions felt within one’s own soul, pressing them to comply and
yield at length.
II. Inquire what is supposed in this gracious call to sinners. It supposes—
1. That sinners are naturally in a state of rebellion against the Lord.
2. That though the Lord can break the sinner in pieces for his rebellion, yet He
would rather that the sinner yield (Eze_33:11).
3. That God’s hand is stretched out to receive the sinner yielding himself (Isa_65:2).
4. That forced work will not be acceptable here.
6. That the sinner willingly yielding shall be kindly received and accepted.
III. Show what it is to give the hand or yield ouselves to the Lord.
1. In general, it comprehends—
(1) The work of conviction.
(2) The work of illumination in the knowledge of Christ, in receiving the
discovery of a Savour.
(3) The work of humiliation, in becoming pliable to the Divine propose in the
Gospel; leading them to say, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” The iron
sinew in the sinner’s neck is broken. The outer door of the mind, and the inner
door of the will, are both cast open to the Lord Christ.
(4) The work of faith in the sinner’s believing on, and so closing with Christ, as
his Saviour from sin and wrath, renouncing all others.
(6) The work of repentance from dead works, in putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh (Col_2:11). Faith and repentance are inseparable. That faith which
produceth not evangelical repentance, is but dead faith.
(6) The work of entire resignation.
2. In particular.
(1) Yielding the soul, or inner man—mind—conscience—will—to the Lord.
(2) Yielding the body or outward man to the Lord.
(3) Yielding up all lusts and idols to Him as traitors which you can no more
harbour.
(4) Yielding all lawful enjoyments to Him, so as to be at His disposal, and never
to break with Him for any of them.
(5) Yielding, your lot and your all to Him; saying,” “He shall choose our

inheritance for us. Improvement
Use 1: Of conviction and humiliation, in respect of the sad bias which man’s nature has
got.
Use 2: Of exhortation.
(1) You must yield yourselves to one or other, for you are not self-sufficient.
(2) The Lord hath the best right to you.
(3) Consider what the Lord has yielded for you (Rom_8:32; Rom_5:8).
(4) The Saviour is very desirous of your yielding.
(5) He is not seeking your yielding yourselves for nothing (Hos_3:3).
(6) You must yield or die, bow or break.
(7) Yield and all your former rebellions shall be forgiven.
(8) Yield or the Lord Will have war with you for ever. How will you bear His
coming? (2Th_1:7; 2Th_1:9). (T. Boston, D. D.)
The manner in which the soul should yield itself to the Lord
I. As in a marriage covenant (Hos_2:19).
1. Wholly.
2. For ever.
II. As to a conqueror.
III. As to your king and sovereign Lord. At discretion and not by capitulation.
IV. As filial servants to a fatherly master (T. Boston, D. D.)
8 Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were;
submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which
he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your
God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from
you.

GILL, "Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were,.... Obstinate and
refractory, like heifers unaccustomed to the yoke, which draw back from it, and will not
submit to it:
but yield yourselves unto the Lord; be subject unto him, or "give the hand" (q) to
him, as a token of subjection and homage, or of entering into covenant with him,
promising for the future to serve and obey him:
and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever; set apart for
worship and service, until the Messiah should come:
and serve the Lord your God; there, in the temple, according to his prescribed will:
that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you; which had already
broke out, in suffering the Assyrians to invade their land, and distress them.
K&D, "Be not stiff-necked; cf. 2Ki_17:14. “Give the hand to the Lord,” i.e., here, not
submit yourselves, as 1Ch_29:24, construed with ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ ; it denotes the giving of the hand
as a pledge of fidelity, as in 2Ki_10:15; Ezr_10:19; Eze_17:18.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 30:8. Be not stiff-necked, as your fathers were — A
metaphorical expression, taken from refractory oxen, which will not go forward, but
endeavour to withdraw their necks and shoulders from the yoke, and go backward.
But yield yourselves unto the Lord — Hebrew, Give the hand to him, that is, submit
yourselves to him, by obeying his command, and renew your covenant with him:
both which things were wont to be done among men, by the ceremony of giving the
hand; and enter into his sanctuary — Come to worship in his temple at Jerusalem;
which he hath sanctified for ever — Hath hallowed, not for a transient and
temporary use, but as long as the state and church of Israel shall have a being,
whatsoever alterations may happen therein.
ELLICOTT, "(8) Be ye not stiffnecked.—Harden ye not your neck like your fathers.
2 Kings 17:14, “and they hardened their neck like their fathers’ neck.” (Jeremiah
7:26; Psalms 95:8-9.)
But yield yourselves.—Omit but, and place a stop after fathers. “Yield ye a hand to
Jehovah,” i.e., submit to Him. So 1 Chronicles 29:24. The phrase also means “to
make an agreement with” (Ezra 10:19; 2 Kings 10:15). (Comp. Isaiah 2:6.)
Enter into his sanctuary . . . serve the Lord.—Comp. Psalms 100:1; Psalms 100:4.
Which he hath sanctified for over.—2 Chronicles 7:16; 2 Chronicles 7:20.

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