II
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. XXIX.
We
are here entering upon a pleasant scene, the good and glorious reign of
Hezekiah, in which we shall find more of God and religion than perhaps in any
of the good reigns we have yet met with; for he was a very zealous, devout,
good man, none like him. In this chapter we have an account of the work of
reformation which he set about with vigour immediately after his accession to
the crown. Here is, I. His exhortation to the priests and Levites, when he put
them in possession of the house of God again, ver. 1-11. II. The care and
pains which the Levites took to cleanse the temple, and put things in order
there, ver. 12-19. III. A solemn revival of God's ordinances that had been
neglected, in which atonement was made for the sins of the last reign, and the
wheels were set a-going again, to the great satisfaction of king and people,
ver. 20-36.
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Hezekiah's Good Reign.
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B.
C. 726.
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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.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that David his father had done. 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. 4 And he brought in the priests and the
Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, 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.
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. 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. 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. 9 For, lo, our fathers have
fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are
in captivity for this. 10 Now it is in mine heart to make a
covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
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.
Here is, I. Hezekiah's age when he came to the crown. He was twenty-five
years old. Joash, who came to the crown after two bad reigns, was but
seven years old; Josiah, who came after two bad reigns, was but eight, which
occasioned the delay of the reformation; but Hezekiah had come to years, and
so applied himself immediately to it. We may well think with what a sorrowful
heart he beheld his father's idolatry and profaneness, how it troubled him to
see the doors of the temple shut, though, while his father lived, he durst not
open them. His soul no doubt wept in secret for it, and he vowed that when he
should receive the congregation he would redress these grievances, which made
him do it with more readiness and resolution.
II. His general character. He did that which was right like David, v.
2. Of several of his predecessors it had been said that they did that which
was right, but not like David, not with David's integrity and zeal. But
here was one that had as hearty an affection for the ark and law of God as
ever David had.
III. His speedy application to the great work of restoring religion. The first
thing he did was to open the doors of the house of the Lord, v.
3. We are willing to hope his father had not quite suppressed the temple
service; for then the holy fire on the altar must have gone out, and we do not
read of the re-kindling of it; but he had hindered the people from attending
it, and the priests, except such of them as were of his own party, 2 Kings
xvi. 15. But Hezekiah immediately threw the church doors open, and brought
in the priests and Levites. He found Judah low and naked, yet did not make
it his first business to revive the civil interests of his kingdom, but to
restore religion to its good posture again. Those that begin with God begin at
the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly.
IV. His speech to the priests and Levites. It was well known, no doubt, that
he had a real kindness for religion and was disaffected to the corruptions of
the last reign; yet we do not find the priests and Levites making application
to him for the restoration of the temple service but he calls upon them,
which, I doubt, bespeaks their coldness as much as his zeal; and perhaps, if
they had done their part with vigour, things would not have been brought into
so very bad a posture as Hezekiah found them in. Hezekiah's exhortation to the
Levites is very pathetic.
1. He laid before them the desolations of religion and the deplorable state to
which it was brought among them (v. 6, 7): Our fathers have
trespassed. He said not "My father," because it became
him, as a son, to be as tender as might be of his father's name, and because
his father would not have done all this if their fathers had not neglected
their duty. Urijah the priest had joined with Ahaz in setting up an idolatrous
altar. He complained, (1.) That the house of God had been deserted: They
have forsaken God, and turned their backs upon his habitation. Note, Those
that turn their backs upon God's ordinances may truly be said to forsake God
himself. (2.) That the instituted worship of God there had been let fall. The
lamps were not lighted, and incense was not burnt. There are still such
neglects as these, and they are no less culpable, when the word is not duly
read and opened (for that was signified by the lighting of the lamps)
and when prayers and praises are not duly offered up, for that was signified
by the burning of incense.
2. He showed the sad consequences of the neglect and decay of religion among
them, v. 8, 9. This was the cause of all the calamities they had lain
under. God had in anger delivered them to trouble, to the sword, and to
captivity. When we are under the rebukes of God's providence it is good for us
to enquire whether we have not neglected God's ordinances and whether the
controversy he has with us may not be traced to this neglect.
3. He declared his own full purpose and resolution to revive religion and make
it his business to promote it (v. 10): "It is in my heart
(that is, I am fully resolved) to make a covenant with the Lord God of
Israel (that is, to worship him only, and in that way which he has
appointed); for I am sure that, otherwise, his fierce anger will not turn away
from us." This covenant he would not only make himself, but bring his
people into the bond of.
4. He engaged and excited the Levites and priests to do their duty on this
occasion. This he begins with (v. 5); this he ends with, v. 11.
He called them Levites to remind them of their obligation to God,
called them his sons to remind them of the relation to himself, that he
expected that, as a son with the father, they should serve with him in
the reformation of the land. (1.) he told them what was their duty, to
sanctify themselves first (by repenting of their neglects, reforming
their own hearts and lives, and renewing their covenants with God to do their
duty better for the time to come), and then to sanctify the house of God,
as his servants, to make it clean from every thing that was disagreeable,
either through the disuse or the profanation of it, and to set it up for the
purposes for which it was made. (2.) He stirred them up to do it (v.
11): "Be not now negligent, or remiss, in your duty. Let not this
good work be retarded through your carelessness." Be not deceived,
so the margin. Note, Those that by their negligence in the service of
God think to mock God, and put a cheat upon him, do but deceive themselves,
and put a damning cheat upon their own souls. Be not secure (so some),
as if there were no urgent call to do it or no danger in not doing it. Note,
Men's negligence in religion is owing to their carnal security. The
consideration he quickens them with is derived from their office. God had
herein put honour upon them: He has chosen you to stand before him. God
therefore expected work from them. They were not chosen to be idle, to enjoy
the dignity and leave the duty to be done by others, but to serve him and to
minister to him. They must therefore be ashamed of their late remissness, and,
now that the doors of the temple were opened again, must set about their work
with double diligence.
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The Temple Cleansed.
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B.
C. 726.
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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:
13 And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph;
Zechariah, and Mattaniah: 14 And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and
Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel. 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.
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. 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. 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 showbread table, with all the
vessels thereof. 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.
We have here busy work, good work, and needful work, the cleansing of the
house of the Lord.
I. The persons employed in this work were the priests and Levites, who should
have kept the temple clean, but, not having done that, were concerned to make
it clean. Several of the Levites are here named, two of each of the three
principal houses, Kohath, Gershon, and Merari (v. 12), and two of each
of the three families of singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, v. 13,
14. We cannot think these are named merely because they were chief in place
(for then surely the high priest, or some of the heads of the courses of the
priests, would have been mentioned), but because they were more zealous and
active than the rest. When God has work to do he will raise up leading men to
preside in it. And it is not always that the first in place and rank are most
fit for service or most forward to it. These Levites not only bestirred
themselves, but gathered their brethren, and quickened them to do according
to the commandment of the king by the word of the Lord. Observe, They did
according to the king's command, but with an eye to God's word. The king
commanded them what was already their duty by the word of God, and, in doing
it, they regarded God's word as a rule to them and the king's commandment as a
spur to them.
II. The work was cleansing the house of God, 1. From the common dirt it
had contracted while it was shut up-dust, and cobwebs, and the rust of the
vessels. 2. From the idols and idolatrous altars that were set up in it,
which, though kept ever so neat, were a greater pollution to it than if it had
been made the common sewer of the city. The priests were none of them
mentioned as leading men in this work, yet none but they durst go into the
inner part of the house, no, not to cleanse it, which they did, and
perhaps the high priest into the holy of holies, to cleanse that. And, though
the Levites had the honour to be the leaders in the work, they did not disdain
to be servitors to the priests according to their office; for what filth the
priests brought into the court the Levites carried to the brook Kidron. Let
not men's usefulness, be it ever so eminent, make them forget their place.
III. The expedition with which they did this work was very remarkable. They
began on the first day of the first month, a happy beginning of the new-year,
and one that promised a good year. Thus should every year begin with the
reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away, by true repentance, of all
the defilements contracted the foregoing year. In eight days they cleared and
cleansed the temple, and in eight days more the courts of the temple, v.
17. Let those that do good work learn to rid work and get it done. Let what is
amiss be amended quickly.
IV. The report they made of it to Hezekiah was very agreeable, v. 18,
19. They gave him an account of what they had done, because it was he that set
them on work, boasted not of their own care and pains, nor did they come to
him to be paid, but to let him know that all things that had been profaned
were now sanctified according to law, and were ready to be used again whenever
he pleased. They knew the good king had set his heart upon God's altar, and
longed to be attending that, and therefore they insisted most upon the
readiness they had put that into--that the vessels for the altar were scoured
and brightened. Those vessels which Ahaz, in his transgression, had cast
away as vessels in which there was no pleasure, they gathered together,
sanctified them, and laid them in their place before the altar. Though
the vessels of the sanctuary may be profaned for a while, God will find a time
and a way to sanctify them. Neither his ordinances nor his people shall be
suffered to fail for ever.
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Hezekiah's Sacrifice.
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B.
C. 726.
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20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and
gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.
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.
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. 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: 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.
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. 26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of
David, and the priests with the trumpets. 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. 28 And all the congregation worshipped,
and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this
continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 And when
they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him
bowed themselves, and worshipped. 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. 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. 32 And the number of the
burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten
bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were
for a burnt offering to the LORD.
33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand
sheep. 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. 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. 36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people,
that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.
The temple being cleansed, we have here an account of the good use that was
immediately made of it. A solemn assembly was called to meet the king at the
temple, the very next day (v. 20); and very glad, no doubt, all the
good people in Jerusalem were, when it was said, Let us go up to the house
of the Lord, Ps. cxxii. 1. As soon as Hezekiah heard that the temple was
ready for him he lost no time, but made it appear that he was ready for it. He
rose early to go up to the house of the Lord, earlier on that day than on
other days, to show that his heart was upon his work there. Now this day's
work was to look two ways:--
I. Atonement must be made for the sins of the last reign. They thought it not
enough to lament and forsake those sins, but they brought a sin-offering. Even
our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon but in and through
Christ, who was made sin (that is, a sin-offering) for us. No peace but
through his blood, no, not for penitents. Observe, 1. The sin-offering was for
the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah (v. 21), that
is, to make atonement for the sins of princes, priests, and people, for they
had all corrupted their way. The law of Moses appointed sacrifices to make
atonement for the sins of the whole congregation (Lev. iv. 13, 14; Num. xv.
24, 25), that the national judgments which their national sins deserved might
be turned away. For this purpose we must now have an eye to Christ the great
propitiation, as well as for the remission and salvation of particular
persons. 2. The law appointed only one goat for a sin-offering, as on the day
of atonement (Lev. xvi. 15) and on such extraordinary occasions as this, Num.
xv. 24. But they here offered seven (v. 21), because the sins of the
congregation had been very great and long continued in. Seven is a number of
perfection. Our great sin-offering is but one, yet that one perfects
for ever those that are sanctified. 3. The king and the congregation
(that is, the representatives of the congregation) laid their hands on the
heads of the goats that were for the sin-offering (v. 23),
thereby owning themselves guilty before God and expressing their desire that
the guilt of the sinner might be transferred to the sacrifice. By faith we lay
our hands on the Lord Jesus, and so receive the atonement, Rom. v. 11.
4. Burnt-offerings were offered with the sin-offerings, seven bullocks,
seven rams, and seven lambs. The intention of the burnt-offerings
was to give glory to the God of Israel, whom they owned as the only true God,
which it was proper to do at the same time that they were by the sin-offering
making atonement for their offences. The blood of those, as well as of the
sin-offering, was sprinkled upon the altar (v. 22), to make
reconciliation for all Israel (v. 24), and not for Judah only.
Christ is a propitiation, not for the sins of Israel only, but of the whole
world, 1 John ii. 1, 2. 5. While the offerings were burning upon the altar
the Levites sang the song of the Lord (v. 27), the Psalms
composed by David and Asaph (v. 30), accompanied by the musical
instruments which God by his prophets had commanded the use of (v. 25),
and which had been long neglected. Even sorrow for sin must not put us out of
tune for praising God. By faith we must rejoice in Christ Jesus as our
righteousness; and our prayers and praises must ascend with his offering, to
be accepted only in virtue of it. 6. The king and all the congregation
testified their consent to and concurrence in all that was done, by bowing
their heads and worshipping, expressing an awful veneration of the
divine Majesty, by postures of adoration. This is taken notice of, v.
28-30. It is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if we do not
ourselves worship him, and that not with bodily exercise only, which profits
little, but with the heart.
II. The solemnities of this day did likewise look forward. The temple service
was to be set up again, that it might be continually kept up; and this
Hezekiah calls them to, v. 31. "Now that you have consecrated
yourselves to the Lord--have both made an atonement and made a covenant by
sacrifice, are solemnly reconciled and engaged to him--now come near, and
bring sacrifices." Note, Our covenant with God must be pursued and
improved in communion with him. Having consecrated ourselves, in the first
place, to the Lord, we must bring the sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and
alms, to his house. Now, in this work, it was found.
1. That the people were free. Being called to it by the king, they brought in
their offerings, though not in such abundance as in the glorious days of
Solomon (for Judah was now diminished, impoverished, and brought low), but
according to what they had, and as much as one could expect considering their
poverty and the great decay of piety among them. (1.) Some were so generous as
to bring burnt-offerings, which were wholly consumed to the honour of God, and
of which the offerer had no part. Of this sort there were seventy bullocks,
100 rams, and 200 lambs, v. 32. (2.) Others brought peace-offerings and
thank-offerings, the fat of which was burnt upon the altar, and the flesh
divided between the priests and the offerers, v. 35. Of this sort there
were 600 oxen and 3000 sheep, v. 33. Perhaps the remembrance of their
sin in sacrificing on the high places made them more willing to bring their
sacrifices now to God's altar.
2. That the priests were few, too few for the service, v. 34.
Many of them, it is likely, were suspended and laid aside as polluted and
uncanonical, for having sacrificed to idols in the last reign, and the rest
had not the zeal that one might have expected upon such an occasion. They
thought that the king needed not to be so forward, that there was no necessity
for such haste in opening the doors of the temple, and therefore they took no
care to sanctify themselves, and being unsanctified, and so unqualified, they
made that their excuse for being absent from the service; as if their offence
would be their defence. It is recorded here, to the perpetual shame of the
priests, that, though they were so well provided for out of the offerings of
the Lord made by fire, yet they did not mind their business. Here was work to
do, and there wanted proper hands to do it.
3. That the Levites were forward. They had been more upright in heart to
sanctify themselves than the priests (v. 34), were better affected
to the work and better prepared and qualified for it. This was their praise,
and, in recompence for it, they had the honour to be employed in that which
was the priests' work: they helped them to flay the offerings. This was
not according to the law (Lev. i. 5, 6), but the irregularity was dispensed
with in cases of necessity, and thus encouragement was given to the faithful
zealous Levites and a just disgrace put upon the careless priests. What the
Levites wanted in the ceremonial advantages of their birth and consecration
was abundantly made up in their eminent qualifications of skill and will to do
the work.
4. That all were pleased. The king and all the people rejoiced in this blessed
turn of affairs and the new face of religion which the kingdom had put on, v.
36. Two things in this matter pleased them:-- (1.) That it was soon brought
about: The thing was done suddenly, in a little time, with a great deal
of ease, and without any opposition. Those that go about the work of God in
faith and with resolution will find that there is not that difficulty in it
which they sometimes imagine, but it will be a pleasing surprise to them to
see how soon it is done. (2.) That the hand of God was plainly in it: God
had prepared the people by the secret influences of his grace, so that
many of those who had in the last reign doted on the idolatrous altars were
now as much in love with God's altar. This change, which God wrought on their
minds, did very much expedite and facilitate the work. Let magistrates and
ministers do their part towards the reforming of a land, and ascribe to him
the glory of what is done, especially when it is done suddenly and is a
pleasing surprise. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous.
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