2 Chronicleschapter 29
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Speaks with:Leviticus 4×52 Chronicles 28×61 Chronicles 15×42 Chronicles 29×4Jeremiah 25×31 Chronicles 23×3
Summary
Chapter summary
Hezekiah opens the doors of the house of Jehovah in the first month of the first year of his reign and repairs them: the reform begins before anything else does. He gathers the Levites and charges them to sanctify themselves and 'carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place,' naming plainly why the wrath came. They cleanse the house in sixteen days, and the king rises early to bring seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats for a sin-offering for all Israel. As the burnt-offering begins, the song of Jehovah begins too, with trumpets and the instruments of David, and the whole assembly worships. The chapter ends in astonished joy: 'the thing was done suddenly.'
Context
History · Ezra — 2 Chronicles overview
- A. 1–11 Hezekiah opens the doors: my sons, be not now negligent
- B. 12–19 Sixteen days spent carrying out the filthiness
- C. 20–30 A sin offering for all Israel, sung with the song of the LORD
- D. 31–36 Too few priests for so many offerings, and the thing done suddenly
The outline
A.Hezekiah opens the doors: my sons, be not now negligentvv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.Sixteen days spent carrying out the filthinessvv. 12 to 19
Read vv. 12 to 19 →C.A sin offering for all Israel, sung with the song of the LORDvv. 20 to 30
Read vv. 20 to 30 →D.Too few priests for so many offerings, and the thing done suddenlyvv. 31 to 36
Read vv. 31 to 36 →
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 29The history
The timing is a statement: first year, first month, doors opened and repaired. He did not wait, and he started with the hinges.
The cleaning took sixteen days and is described as a two-stage operation for a good reason. Priests went into the inner part of the house, because only priests could enter there, and carried out the uncleanness into the court; Levites then carried it from the court down to the Kidron brook — the valley on the east side of the city that served as Jerusalem's dumping ground for defiled things. Eight days to reach the porch, eight more for the inner house.
The vessels that Ahaz had thrown aside during his reign are recovered, cleansed, and set back in place, and an inventory is made.
The reopening service is a full sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah — seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats — with the officials laying their hands on the goats before they were killed, the gesture that transferred the guilt of the people to the offering.
The music is described at the moment it starts. The Levites stood with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet, and the priests with trumpets; and when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began too, and continued until the offering was finished. The song and the sacrifice ran together, by design.
One honest note is preserved: there were too few consecrated priests to flay all the burnt offerings, so their fellow Levites helped, for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
What it meant to them
The first hearers had done this. They came back to a burnt house and a ruined altar, cleared rubble, recovered vessels Cyrus returned from Babylon, and restarted the offerings with the singers in place.
So this chapter read to them like a manual with a memory attached: open the doors, clear the filth, restore the vessels, put the courses back on duty, and start the song at the moment the offering goes up.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 29. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.