CHAPTER XXIX.

=1, 2= (= 2 Kings xviii. 1‒3). THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH.

The reign of Hezekiah is related in chapters xxix.‒xxxii. Of this section chapters xxix., xxx., and xxxi. furnish new material with the exception of only three verses, xxix. 1, 2; xxx. 1. This new material describes first, the reopening and cleansing of the Temple and the restoration of worship therein (xxix.); secondly, a solemn and magnificent celebration of the Passover (xxx.); and thirdly, a crusade against idolatrous shrines and images, followed by a reorganisation of the arrangements for the support of the priests and Levites――all ecclesiastical topics dear to the heart of the Chronicler. These chapters throughout are in the spirit of the Chronicler, the incidents are generally conceived after the fashion of the ideas of his period, the language bears frequent marks of his characteristic style; and altogether there is no adequate reason to suppose that these incidents are historically true, or even are derived by the Chronicler from old tradition. They are probably his own free composition. Minor considerations point to the same conclusion (see note on xxix. 3 below); and the favourable verdict which in Kings is passed upon Hezekiah may be reckoned a satisfactory motive and a sufficient source for the Chronicler’s narrative. According to Kings (2 Kings xviii. 3‒6) Hezekiah “removed the high places ... and cut down the Asherah, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made.... He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him”; a eulogy sufficiently glowing to warrant the assumption that Hezekiah must also have done all those other things which seemed to the Chronicler natural for so pious a monarch to do, and which accordingly are here related.

¹Hezekiah 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. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.

=1.= _Hezekiah_] Hebrew “Yehizkiah” (so usually in the Hebrew text of Chronicles). “Hezekiah” (Hebrew “Hizkiah”), the form of the name in Kings, is conveniently used in the English versions of Chronicles in place of the less familiar “Yehizkiah.”

_Abijah_] In 2 Kings “Abi” which is probably only a shortened form of the name.

=3‒11= (not in 2 Kings). HEZEKIAH COMMANDS TO CLEANSE THE TEMPLE.

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

=3.= _in the first month_] i.e. in Nisan; compare xxx. 2, 3.

_opened the doors_] The reopening was a necessary sequel to the Chronicler’s assertion (xxviii. 24) that Ahaz closed the Temple. If therefore the supposed closing was unhistorical (see note, xxviii. 24) the reopening must be equally so. The notion, however, served the Chronicler admirably, enabling him to enhance the piety of Hezekiah by a full description of the restoration of the Temple services.

⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east,

=4.= _into the broad place on the east_] The place meant was part of the Temple area, the space before the water-gate; compare Ezra x. 9, “the broad place before the house of God” (Revised Version).

⁵and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.

=5.= _now sanctify yourselves_] Compare Exodus xix. 10‒15.

⁶For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight 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.

=6.= _from the habitation of the LORD_] Compare xxiv. 18 “they forsook the house of the LORD” (see note).

_habitation_] Hebrew “tabernacle,” as in Exodus xxv. 9, al.

⁷Also 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.

=7.= Contrast 2 Kings xvi. 10‒16, where Ahaz appears as an innovator in ritual but also as a zealous advocate of worship in the Temple.

_the lamps_] compare xiii. 11; Exodus xxv. 31 ff.

⁸Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to be tossed to and fro¹, to be an astonishment, and an hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

¹ Or, _a terror_.

=8.= _to be tossed to and fro_] Better, as margin, =to be a terror= (or “cause of trembling”). The judgement on Israel fills the surrounding nations with trembling for themselves. The rendering of the text “tossed to and fro” is inferior because the Hebrew word describes “trembling” and not “motion from place to place.”

⁹For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.

=10.= _a covenant_] Compare xv. 12.

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

=11.= _to stand before him_] Deuteronomy x. 8.

=12‒19= (not in 2 Kings). THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

With this passage compare 1 Maccabees iv. 36‒51 (the cleansing of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus).

¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel: and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah: ¹³and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel: and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah: ¹⁴and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

=12.= _the Levites_] The fourteen persons mentioned in these three verses comprise (a) two representatives each of the three great branches of Levi, namely, Kohath, Merari, and Gershon, (b) two representatives of the great Kohathite family of Elizaphan (compare Numbers iii. 30 and 1 Chronicles xv. 8), (c) two representatives each of the three divisions of the singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (1 Chronicles xxv. 1).

¹⁵And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

=15.= _by the words of the LORD_] i.e. the king’s command was recognised to be in accordance with the Divine will. Read =by the word=; the plural _words_ is probably only a textual error.

¹⁶And the priests went in unto 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 to the brook Kidron.

=16.= _the priests_] The work was so divided between priests and Levites that only the priests went into the house.

_unto the inner part of the house_] Render, =within the house=. The reference is not to the Holy of Holies specially, but to the whole interior of the house.

_uncleanness_] compare verse 5; Isaiah xxx. 22.

_to the brook Kidron_] The brook Kidron is the deep valley on the east of Jerusalem separating it from the Mount of Olives; 2 Samuel xv. 23; John xviii. 1. It was treated as an unclean spot, compare xv. 16.

¹⁷Now 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; and they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days: and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

=17.= _to sanctify ... and they sanctified_] Two periods of eight days each were spent in “sanctifying,” the courts apparently requiring eight days and the house itself eight days.

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

=18.= _the table of shewbread_] Compare iv. 8 (note), 19; 1 Chronicles xxviii. 16――“the _tables_ of shewbread.”

¹⁹Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away when he trespassed, have we prepared and sanctified; and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.

=19.= _cast away_] According to xxviii. 24, “cut in pieces”; compare 2 Kings xvi. 17. The reference is probably to the “bases” and the “sea.”

_have we prepared_] Render, =have we set up=. Ahaz had taken away the supports both of the laver and of the sea (2 Kings xvi. 17).

=20‒24= (not in 2 Kings). THE SEVENFOLD SACRIFICE FOR THE RECONCILIATION OF THE PEOPLE.

The ritual of the sin offering is fully given in Leviticus iv. Ahaz had broken the covenant, and Hezekiah’s sin offering was intended to atone for the breach.

²⁰Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD. ²¹And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

=21.= _they brought_] As the sacrifice was not for an individual but for a whole people the offering on this occasion consisted of seven of each of four different sacrificial animals, the bullocks, rams, and lambs being used for the burnt offering (verses 22 and 24), and the he-goats for the special sin offering (verse 23).

_for the kingdom_] i.e. for the kingly house.

_for the sanctuary_] i.e. for the Temple (compare Leviticus xvi. 16), but probably inclusive of the personnel of the Temple, i.e. the priests and Levites, since otherwise they would have been passed over in the great sin offering.

_on the altar of the LORD_] Not on the altar of Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 11).

²²So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: and they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

=22.= _received the blood_] In basons with which they _dashed_ (not as the text “sprinkled”) the blood against the altar. This dashing was different from the sprinkling with the finger.

²³And they brought near the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them: ²⁴and the priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar, to make atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded _that_ the burnt offering and the sin offering _should be made_ for all Israel.

=23.= _brought near_] i.e. to the king and the people.

_and they laid their hands_] “they” = the representatives of the people, for whom the sacrifice was to be offered, compare Leviticus iv. 15.

=25‒30.= THE LEVITICAL SERVICE OF MUSIC.

²⁵And 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 the commandment was of the LORD by his prophets.

=25.= _and of Gad ... and Nathan_] Neither of these prophets is elsewhere said to have had a part in inciting David to the organisation of the Temple music with which the Chronicler credits him. Their names are introduced in order to emphasise the value of the musicians of the Temple, whose service is thus declared to have arisen through the inspiration of prophets; compare 1 Chronicles xxviii. 19.

²⁶And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

=26.= _with the instruments_] LXX. ἐν ὀργάνοις. Compare 1 Chronicles xxiii. 5.

²⁷And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this _continued_ until the burnt offering was finished.

=27.= _and the trumpets_] Compare 1 Chronicles xv. 24 (note).

_together with the instruments of David_] Render perhaps, =even according to the guidance of the instrument of David=, i.e. led (or “accompanied”) by them.

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

=29.= _bowed themselves and worshipped_] i.e. first bowed down (on their knees) and then completely prostrated themselves.

³⁰Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises 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.

=30.= _to sing praises_] Since (1) the Hebrew word for “Psalms” means “Praises,” and (2) the words of _David_ and _Asaph_ are specially mentioned in this verse, it is clear that the Chronicler by this phrase means “to sing _Psalms_.”

=31‒36= (not in Kings). A GREAT SACRIFICE OF BURNT OFFERINGS AND THANK OFFERINGS.

³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves¹ 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 willing heart _brought_ burnt offerings. ³²And 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.

¹ Hebrew _filled your hand_.

=31.= _answered and said_] i.e. answered the thoughts or expectation of the people as expressed by the Sacrifices and the Songs; compare Job iii. 2 (Revised Version).

_ye have consecrated yourselves_] Hebrew “filled your hand”; compare xiii. 9; Exodus xxviii. 41.

_sacrifices and thank offerings_] The phrase means simply the special type of sacrifices which were termed “thank offerings.” The fat of such offerings was burnt on the altar, the breast and right thigh were reserved for the priests, but the remainder belonged to the offerer and was used for a joyous meal (Leviticus vii. 12 ff.). The burnt offering was entirely consumed on the altar, no portion being kept by priests or offerer (Leviticus i. 1‒13): hence such sacrifices represented a greater cost and are accordingly said to be given by those who were “of willing heart,” i.e. conspicuously pious and generous.

³³And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

=33.= _the consecrated things_] The term was applied (1) to gold and other valuables offered in the Temple; compare xv. 18; 1 Chronicles xviii. 8‒11; (2) to those parts of the various sacrifices which were assigned to be eaten by the priests; Leviticus xxi. 22 (“the holy [bread]”), xxii. 2, 3, 15 (“the holy things”). Here the reference is more general, i.e. to the thank offerings (verse 35) themselves.

³⁴But 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 priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

=34.= _the priests_] According to Leviticus i. 5 f. the task of flaying the sacrifice was to be performed by the offerer. Either this passage marks a later stage in the customary ritual, or perhaps this occasion was regarded by the Chronicler as exceptional because the offerings were brought on behalf of the “congregation” in general. The verse presents other difficult features. Who were the priests who had not yet sanctified themselves? What is the significance of the evident contrast between the attitude of the priests and that of the Levites, to the disadvantage of the former? It would seem that there were priests who had deliberately or slackly failed to comply with Hezekiah’s injunction (verses 4, 5) and were therefore still ritually unclean from the pollution of the previous reign. In general we infer that the Levites had either been less deeply involved in the idolatries of Ahaz or at least were more zealous than the priests for the restoration of the worship of Jehovah alone. Possibly this tradition may truly represent the historical facts; or it may be an inference derived from 2 Kings