Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 29:1 Hezekiah began to reign [when he was] five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

Ver. 1. Hezekiah began to reign.] See 2 Kings 18:1-2.

And his mother’s name was Abijah.] He was the better man for the good instructions of his mother, though she could do no good on her husband Ahaz; such was his pertinacy, not moved at all by her piety.

2 Chronicles 29:2 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.

Ver. 2. And he did that which was right.]. [2 Kings 18:3] The more happy was his government, because he came after the stormy times of his father Ahaz. He came as a fresh spring after a sharp winter, and brought the ship of Judah from a troublous and tempestuous sea, to a safe and quiet harbour.

2 Chronicles 29:3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

Ver. 3. He in the first year of his reign, in the first month.] Yea, and the first day of that month, [2 Chronicles 29:17] on his coronation day, began to reform.

2 Chronicles 29:4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,

Ver. 4. The east street.] Which was before the east gate of the temple.

2 Chronicles 29:5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy [place].

Ver. 5. And he said unto them, Hear me.] He makes a speech to them, full of faith and piety in every passage.

Ye Levites.] He beginneth his reformation at the ministry. Incipiendum a Minoritis, said one of the council of Basil; Imo vero a Maioritis, said another. The priests are here comprised under the name of Levites.

Sanctify now yourselves.] By legal rites, but especially by repentance, faith, and new obedience, fit yourselves for your respective employments.

And carry forth the filthiness.] The idols, and all their trinkets and trash. Nothing must be left behind that might make idolaters hope for a desired day.

2 Chronicles 29:6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done [that which was] evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned [their] backs.

Ver. 6. And have turned their backs.] With greatest scorn and disdain, openly, basely, and opprobriously.

2 Chronicles 29:7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy [place] unto the God of Israel.

Ver. 7. Unto the God of Israel.] Whom they have sacrilegiously robbed and wronged. We should be sensible of, and humbled for, the sins of our forefathers, else we are justly chargeable with them.

2 Chronicles 29:8 Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

Ver. 8. And he hath delivered them to trouble.] Heb., To commotion, so that they are scattered hither and thither, ut fit incursionibus Turcicis, as it falleth out wherever the great Turk setteth his foot.

2 Chronicles 29:9 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives [are] in captivity for this.

Ver. 9. For, lo, our fathers have fallen.] 2 Chronicles 28:5-6.

For this,] i.e., For sin, that mother of all misery.

It is in my heart.] Or, With my heart. God put it there doubtless; for the heart of the best is naturally as barren of any good as they report the isle of Patmos is, where nothing will grow but on earth brought from other places. It is with holy resolutions, saith one, as with exotic noble plants: this country is not so kindly for them, being but a step-mother to them, therefore they must be much watered and cherished.

2 Chronicles 29:11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.

Ver. 11. Be not now negligent.] Or, Be not deceived: a good memento for ministers, who must be both intelligent and diligent. Hezekiah found, it seemeth, some slackness and backwardness in the priests and Levites to the work of reformation: he therefore - as after him Aemilius Paulus the consul, when nobody else dared, did himself run with the hatchet into the temple of Serapis, the demolishing whereof the senate had decreed - began first himself, and awaketh those sluggards with these words, Ne sitis socordes, Be not slack, my sons; God hath chosen you, &c. Up and be doing.

2 Chronicles 29:12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:

Ver. 12. Then the Levite, arose.] How could they do less? The Popish clergy, pressed by their prince to a reformation, would have boasted of their immunities, and have given out that the king had not to do in matters of religion, &c. In the colloquy at Possiacum, a Spanish Jesuit told the queen-mother of France to her face that she did ill to meddle in matters that belonged not to her, but to the Pope, cardinals, and bishops: the zeal of which Jesuit pleased the Pope, who said he might be compared to the ancient saints, having, without respect of the young king and princes there present, maintained God’s cause, and upbraided the queen to her face. ^(a)

Mahath the son of Amasai, &c.] These were renowned reformers then, as of late years were Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, Farellus, Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, and others, whose names are written in the book of life.

2 Chronicles 29:15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

Ver. 15. By the words of the Lord,] i.e., In his name, and according to his express will. Or, In the business of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 29:16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse [it], and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took [it], to carry [it] out abroad into the brook Kidron.

Ver. 16. Into the brook Kidron.] Or, Town ditch.

2 Chronicles 29:17 Now they began on the first [day] of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

Ver. 17. Now they began on the first day.] See 2 Chronicles 29:3; 2 Chronicles 29:5. Some by the first day here understand the first day of the year, which fell out toward the latter end of the first year of Hezekiah’s reign.

And in the sixteenth day.] What a deal of trash and filth was here contracted and got together in the temple in the so short reign of Ahaz, that so many men were so long busied in ridding of it! What wonder, then, that in so long reign of Antichrist, all was so much out of order in the Church, and that the noble reformers had, and still have, so much ado to purge it?

2 Chronicles 29:18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.

Ver. 18. Then they went in to Hezekiah the king.] To whom they knew they should be most welcome, coming on such an errand.

2 Chronicles 29:19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they [are] before the altar of the LORD.

Ver. 19. Did cast away in his transgression.] Glorying, likely, in his sacrilege, and success there upon; as did Dionysius when he had spoiled a temple. Finding the winds favourable in his navigation, Lo, said he, how the gods approve of sacrilege! But he should have remembered that Nondum omnium dictum sol occiderat, his sin would shortly find him out.

2 Chronicles 29:20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.

Ver. 20. Then Hezekiah the king rose early.] His zeal for God’s glory made his obedience prompt and present, ready and speedy. He could not rest till he had reformed, calling a Parliament here for the purpose.

2 Chronicles 29:21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer [them] on the altar of the LORD.

Ver. 21. And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams.] Hezekiah being to dedicate, and, as it were, anew to consecrate the temple by solemn sacrifices, bringeth seven of a sort of all kinds of clean beasts, to denote the community or whole body of the kingdom.

To offer them on the altar of the Lord.] God sanctified the altar, [Exodus 29:44] and the altar sanctified the gift. [Matthew 23:19] We Christians also have an altar, [Hebrews 13:10] but not as our late altar-men would have had it, and we believe that our sevenfold manifold sins shall be taken away by that perfect and absolute sacrifice of the Messiah, that Lamb without blemish and without spot. [1 Peter 1:19]

2 Chronicles 29:22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

Ver. 22. They sprinkled the blood upon the altar.] Whereby was typified the application of Christ’s precious blood purging the conscience from dead works, [Hebrews 9:14] appeasing God’s wrath, [Romans 3:25] purchasing the Church, [Acts 20:28] ratifying the covenant, [Hebrews 9:18] opening the Holy of Holies, and giving entrance. [Hebrews 10:11]

2 Chronicles 29:23 And they brought forth the he goats [for] the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:

Ver. 23. They laid their hands upon them.] Manibus suis nixi sunt eis; by this ceremony they confessed their sins, and laid them, as it were, upon their sacrifice, indeed upon Christ, "who his own self bore our sins in his own body upon the tree." [1 Peter 2:24]

2 Chronicles 29:24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded [that] the burnt offering and the sin offering [should be made] for all Israel.

Ver. 24. To make an atonement for all Israel.] For the ten tribes also; for they had need enough. It is but a little fire that casteth but a little heat: a great fire will be felt afar off; so a great measure of charity.

2 Chronicles 29:25 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for [so was] the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.

Ver. 25. According to the commandment of the Lord.] Heb., By the hand of the Lord, by the hand of his prophets; to note, say the Hebrews here, that precepts delivered by the prophets are the very precepts of God himself.

2 Chronicles 29:26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

Ver. 26. With instruments of David,] i.e., Appointed by David, not without God’s Holy Spirit. [1 Chronicles 23:5]

2 Chronicles 29:27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began [also] with the trumpets, and with the instruments [ordained] by David king of Israel.

Ver. 27. The song of the Lord began also.] Holy and divine songs, [Psalms 136:1-26] especially, which is here, by an excellency, called the song of the Lord, as some think.

2 Chronicles 29:28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: [and] all [this continued] until the burnt offering was finished.

Ver. 28. And the singers sang.] Heb., And the song sang, i.e., the whole choir; or, as some will, the chief chanter.

2 Chronicles 29:29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.

Ver. 29. The king and all that were present.] He joins himself with the many in worshipping God.

2 Chronicles 29:30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Ver. 30. Moreover the king Hezekiah and the princes.] This Parliament [2 Chronicles 29:20] might well have been called, as that was here in the 25th of Edward III, Benedictum Parlementum.

2 Chronicles 29:31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.

Ver. 31. Come near, and bring sacrifices.] So unsatisfiable was his good heart in serving and praising God.

2 Chronicles 29:32 And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, [and] two hundred lambs: all these [were] for a burnt offering to the LORD.

Ver. 32. Was threescore and ten bullocks.] This was much for a people that had by the late wars been so "scattered and peeled," [Isaiah 18:2] and that had apostatised from God.

2 Chronicles 29:33 And the consecrated things [were] six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

Ver. 33. And the consecrated things.] Reserved to be offered up another time. See 2 Chronicles 29:32.

2 Chronicles 29:34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the [other] priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites [were] more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

Ver. 34. So that they could not slay all.] Slay them, and flay them, and lay them on the altar piecemeal.

For the Levites were more upright,] i.e., More free hearted, forward, and forth putting.

2 Chronicles 29:35 And also the burnt offerings [were] in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for [every] burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.

Ver. 35. Were in abundance.] See 2 Chronicles 29:32.

2 Chronicles 29:36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was [done] suddenly.

Ver. 36. For the thing was done suddenly.] Which showed that there was much of God in it. Church businesses usually go on but slowly. Sed nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia, saith Ambrose. The Spirit makes quick work.