The Histories · Old Testament

2 Chronicles 29

2 Chronicles 29: Hezekiah opens the doors and cleanses the house

General context

Hezekiah is twenty-five at accession and reigns twenty-nine years, and he does right as David did. In the first month of his first year he opens and repairs the doors of the house of the Lord. He gathers the priests and Levites in the east street and tells them to sanctify themselves and the house and carry out its filth: their fathers turned their backs on the Lord, shut the porch doors, put out the lamps and stopped the offerings, so wrath came, fathers fell by the sword and sons, daughters and wives are in captivity. Fourteen named Levites gather their brethren; the priests carry the uncleanness from the inner house to the court, and the Levites take it to the brook Kidron. They begin on the first day, reach the porch on the eighth, finish on the sixteenth, and report the house and its vessels cleansed. Hezekiah rises early with the city rulers and brings seven each of bullocks, rams, lambs and he goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary and Judah; the priests sprinkle the blood and make atonement for all Israel at the king's command. When the burnt offering begins, the song begins with it on David's instruments and the priests' trumpets, and all bow. The congregation then brings seventy bullocks, a hundred rams and two hundred lambs, and six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep as consecrated things. The priests are too few to flay them all, so the Levites help, being more upright in heart. The service is set in order, and king and people rejoice that God prepared the people, because it was done suddenly.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 29:1, 2 Chronicles 29:2, 2 Chronicles 29:3, 2 Chronicles 29:4, 2 Chronicles 29:5, 2 Chronicles 29:6, 2 Chronicles 29:7, 2 Chronicles 29:9, 2 Chronicles 29:10, 2 Chronicles 29:11, 2 Chronicles 29:12, 2 Chronicles 29:14, 2 Chronicles 29:16, 2 Chronicles 29:17, 2 Chronicles 29:19, 2 Chronicles 29:20, 2 Chronicles 29:21, 2 Chronicles 29:23, 2 Chronicles 29:24, 2 Chronicles 29:26, 2 Chronicles 29:27, 2 Chronicles 29:30, 2 Chronicles 29:31, 2 Chronicles 29:32, 2 Chronicles 29:33, 2 Chronicles 29:34, 2 Chronicles 29:35, 2 Chronicles 29:36

2 Chronicles 29 (KJV)

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 sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

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

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

⁵And 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.

⁶For 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.

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.

⁸Wherefore 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.

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 God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

¹¹My 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.

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 Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:

¹³And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah:

¹⁴And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel.

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶And 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.

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: so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

¹⁸Then 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.

¹⁹Moreover 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.

²⁰Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers 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.

²²So 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.

²³And they brought forth 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 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.

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 so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets.

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

²⁷And 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.

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

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

³⁰Moreover 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.

³¹Then 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.

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.

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

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

³⁵And 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.

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

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Historical context

The chapter dates its events inside the reign: the first year, the first month, and the first, eighth and sixteenth days. Hezekiah's mother is the daughter of a Zechariah who is not further identified. The king's speech attributes the shut doors and the extinguished lamps to our fathers, which matches the narrator's account of Ahaz shutting the doors, and its claim that sons, daughters and wives are in captivity matches the captives taken by Syria, Israel and Edom in the previous chapter. The musical arrangement is credited to David, Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet, and the narrator adds that this was the Lord's commandment by his prophets. The uncleanness carried to Kidron is not itemized beyond the vessels Ahaz cast away. Offerings are numbered exactly. No prophet speaks in this chapter; the king does. The narrator's comparison of the Levites as more upright in heart than the priests is his own evaluation, given as the reason the Levites help with the flaying. The chapter does not say how long the priests took to sanctify themselves, only until the other priests had done so.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 29:3, 2 Chronicles 29:17, 2 Chronicles 29:1, 2 Chronicles 29:7, 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 29:9, 2 Chronicles 28:8, 2 Chronicles 29:25, 2 Chronicles 29:19, 2 Chronicles 29:32, 2 Chronicles 29:34

Literary context

The chapter opens by undoing the last act of the previous one: doors shut by Ahaz are opened by his son in the first month of his first year. Hezekiah's speech is a confession on behalf of the fathers, listing what they did, faces turned away, doors shut, lamps out, no incense, and each item is the negative of the task he sets the Levites. Time is counted in days as the work moves inward to the porch and then to a report. Worship builds in stages: sin offering for the kingdom, atonement for all Israel, song beginning with the burnt offering, then the congregation's own offerings counted out. The song and the sacrifice start in the same sentence, so music is part of the offering rather than an ornament. David is invoked at each turn, as the king's model, as the source of the instruments and as the author of the words sung. The narrator's aside that the priests were too few and the Levites more willing keeps the restoration from being flawless. The last word is suddenly, which credits the speed to God's preparing of the people and closes the chapter on surprise.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 29:3, 2 Chronicles 29:6, 2 Chronicles 29:5, 2 Chronicles 29:17, 2 Chronicles 29:24, 2 Chronicles 29:27, 2 Chronicles 29:2, 2 Chronicles 29:30, 2 Chronicles 29:34, 2 Chronicles 29:36

Key moments

The doors opened (2 Chronicles 29:3). In his first month Hezekiah opens and repairs the doors of the house of the Lord.
Sanctify yourselves (2 Chronicles 29:5). The king tells the Levites to cleanse themselves and carry the filth out of the holy place.
Uncleanness to Kidron (2 Chronicles 29:16). Priests bring out the uncleanness and Levites carry it to the brook.
Finished on the sixteenth day (2 Chronicles 29:17). The house is sanctified in eight days and the work ends on the sixteenth of the month.
Atonement for all Israel (2 Chronicles 29:24). The priests kill the goats and make atonement as the king commanded for all Israel.
The song begins (2 Chronicles 29:27). As the burnt offering starts, trumpets and David's instruments begin the song.
Done suddenly (2 Chronicles 29:36). King and people rejoice that God prepared the people so quickly.

For reflection

Hezekiah names what our fathers did and then tells the Levites, my sons, not to be negligent now. Where does the chapter locate responsibility for the shut doors, in the generation that shut them or in the one that must open them, and does it separate the two?