2 Chronicleschapter 30
27 verses · KJV2 Chronicles book hub →
Key verse
And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel.
It stands in Letters from Dan to Beersheba: turn again, and He will return, verses 1 to 12.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Hezekiah keeps the passover in the second month rather than not at all, because the priests were not sanctified in sufficient number and the people had not gathered. Posts carry letters throughout Israel and Judah, from Beer-sheba to Dan, calling the remnant left from the Assyrian kings to turn again to Jehovah. Some laugh them to scorn and mock; others humble themselves and come, and in Judah 'the hand of God' gives them one heart to obey. The unclean eat anyway, and Hezekiah prays for them: 'The good Jehovah pardon every one that setteth his heart to seek God', and Jehovah hearkened and healed the people. They keep another seven days with great gladness, unmatched in Jerusalem since Solomon.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 30 falls in Hezekiah to the exile (chapters 29–36). Hezekiah's temple cleansing and Passover; Manasseh's sin and repentance (unique to Chronicles); Josiah's reforms; the fall in three waves; the closing note of Cyrus's decree pointing forward to Ezra.
Before it: Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz, chapters 10–28.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 30The history
The date is a legal ruling, not a convenience. The law of Moses provided that anyone unclean or away on a journey at Passover could keep it in the second month instead. Hezekiah applies that provision to the whole nation, because the priests had not consecrated themselves in time and the people had not gathered, and the officials agreed to it in council.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The invitation goes out by couriers with letters, from Beersheba to Dan, and into Ephraim and Manasseh. The northern kingdom had been broken by Assyria by this point, so what remained there were the people left behind after the deportations. Some towns laughed the couriers to scorn and mocked them; from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun some humbled themselves and came.
Before the feast the people cleared Jerusalem of the altars Ahaz had scattered through the city and threw them into the Kidron.
Then comes one of the most striking pastoral moments in the Old Testament. A large number ate the Passover 'otherwise than it was written,' not having purified themselves properly. Hezekiah prayed for them, the good LORD pardon everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary, and the LORD heard and healed the people.
The whole assembly then agreed to keep another seven days, with the king providing a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and the officials another thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. There had been nothing like it since Solomon's day.
What it meant to them
The first hearers' community was full of ragged edges: doubtful pedigrees, mixed marriages, people who had grown up in Babylon without a working knowledge of the ritual law.
This chapter told them that a king once prayed for exactly such people and was answered, and that the thing God attended to was the prepared heart, without ever pretending the rule did not exist.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Letters from Dan to Beersheba: turn again, and He will return
1. (vv. 1-3)
2 Chronicles 30:1
“As corrector of an inert People That emulator [of David] Hezekiah arose; He restored the Law to a sinful, forgetful people All God's mandates of old, he first Commanded the people to observe, Who ended war by his prayers, Not by steel's point: he, dying, …”
Pseudo-Tertullian· FIVE BOOKS IN REPLY TO MARCION 3.176-183· 2 Chronicles 30:1patristic
2 Chronicles 30:1, 2 more voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Chronicles 30:1
“Hoshea, the reigning king, is described as, though evil in some respects, yet more favorably disposed to religious liberty than any of his predecessors since the separation of the kingdom. This is thought to be the meaning of the mitigating clause in his character (2Ki 17:2).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· 2 Chronicles 30:1reformed
2 Chronicles 30:1
"Let them take whom they will for their king," says Hezekiah, "so they will but take him for their God."
Read the whole quotation
The matters in difference between Judah and Israel, either upon a civil or sacred account, shall not hinder but that if the people of Israel will sincerely return to the Lord their God Hezekiah will bid them as welcome to the passover as any of his own subjects.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:1puritan
2 Chronicles 30:2
“Second month - Which was against the common rule, but the doing of this in its proper time, namely, the fourteenth day of the first month was impossible, because the temple was not cleansed, nor they prepared.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· 2 Chronicles 30:2evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:2, 3 more voices
2 Chronicles 30:2
“In the second month - In Ijar, as they could not celebrate it in Nisan, the fourteenth of which month was the proper time.”
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But as they could not complete the purgation of the temple, till the sixteenth of that month, therefore they were obliged to hold it now, or else adjourn it till the next year, which would have been fatal to that spirit of reformation which had now taken place.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:2evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:2
“In the second month - Hezekiah and his counselors considered that the permission of the Law (see the marginal reference) might, under the circumstances, be extended to the whole people. It had been found impossible to complete the cleansing of the temple until the fourteenth day of the first month was past 2Ch 29:17.”
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It was, therefore, determined to defer it to the 14th of the second month, which allowed time for the priests generally to purify themselves, and for proclamation of the festival to be made throughout all Israel.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:2evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:2
“For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem,....”
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He and his nobles, and the great sanhedrim or senate of the nation, had consulted together: to keep the passover in the second month; in the month Ijar, as the Targum, because they could not keep it in the first month, as it should have been kept, according to the law of God, for the reasons following.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:2reformed
2 Chronicles 30:3
“Whereupon they resolved to keep the passover in the second month. Let the circumstance give way to the substance, and let not the thing itself be lost upon a nicety about the time. It is good striking while the iron is hot, and taking people when they are in a good mind.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:3puritan
a.wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh: Hezekiah's proclamation reaches past Judah into the fallen north, calling Ephraim and Manasseh to the house of the Lord though the calves at Dan and Bethel had governed worship there for two centuries. He takes counsel with his princes and the whole congregation before setting a date, and the date itself breaks the ordinary calendar: the priests are not yet sanctified and the people are not yet gathered, so the passover falls to the second month, the very provision Num 9:9-11 wrote for one man defiled or traveling far off, now applied to a nation still finding its way back.
2. (vv. 4-6)
2 Chronicles 30:4
“And the thing pleased the king, and all the congregation. They all unanimously agreed to it, and determined it should be done.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:4reformed
2 Chronicles 30:5
They had not done it ... - Some prefer, “they had not kept it in full numbers, as it was written” - i. e. “they (the Israelites of the northern kingdom) had not (for some while) kept the Passover in full numbers, as the Law required.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:5evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:6
“So the posts went - רצים ratsim, the runners or couriers; persons who were usually employed to carry messages; men who were light of foot, and confidential.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:6evangelical
a.pleased the king and all the congregation: The decree that follows only makes formal what king, princes and congregation have already agreed among themselves. Its proclamation runs from Beersheba even to Dan, the boundary language of a united kingdom that has not stood on the ground for two centuries, spoken now to a scattered north as though the division of 1 Kings 12 had never fallen between them. Verse 5 states the reason without softening it: they had not kept the feast of a long time in such sort as it was written, an admission that reaches back further than one generation.
3. (vv. 7-9)
2 Chronicles 30:7
“And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers,....”
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By worshipping the calves, and neglecting the service of God in the temple at Jerusalem; the Targum is,"which acted deceitfully with the Word of the Lord their God:" who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see; some part of the land of Israel being already made desolate by the kings of Assyria, which was very visible.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:7reformed
2 Chronicles 30:8
“Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:8reformed
2 Chronicles 30:9
“And will not turn away his face from you - Well expressed by the Targum: “For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not cause his majesty to ascend up from among you, if ye will return to his fear.””
Read the whole quotation
The shechinah, of which the Targumist speaks, is the dwelling of the Divine Presence among men, and the visible symbol of that presence.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:9evangelical
a.be not ye like your fathers: The letter reasons rather than commands: do not repeat your fathers' trespass, which handed the land to desolation before your own eyes, but yield to the Lord and enter the sanctuary he has sanctified forever. It runs on the same seeking verb Chronicles measures every reign by, turn again unto the Lord, and it promises what only God can promise on the far side of captivity, compassion before their captors and a return to the land, for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from those who return to him.
4. (vv. 10-11)
2 Chronicles 30:10
“They - The generality of the ten tribes; who by long want of meat had now lost their appetite to God's ordinances, for which they paid dear. For about six years after their refusal of this offer of grace they were all carried away captive, 2 Kings xviii, 1, 10.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· 2 Chronicles 30:10evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:10, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 30:10
“Tell them of God's mercy and wrath! they neither dreaded the one nor desired the other. No marvel that the king's messengers were thus despitefully used by this apostate race when God's messengers were so, his servants the prophets, who produced credentials from him. The destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was now at hand.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:10puritan
2 Chronicles 30:11
“Compare 2Ch 30:18. Hence, five of the ten tribes certainly sent representatives. Two - Reuben and Gad - were in captivity. One - Dan - was absorbed into Judah. Simeon and Naphtali, which alone remained, seem to have been more than ordinarily idolatrous 2Ch 34:6.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:11evangelical
a.laughed them to scorn, and mocked them: Most of the letter's road ends in ridicule: the posts pass from Ephraim through Manasseh into Zebulun and are laughed to scorn and mocked, the same reception the Chronicler elsewhere gives the Lord's own prophets sent to a hardened people. But verse 11 turns on one word, nevertheless: divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem, a remnant within the remnant answering where whole tribes refused. Albert Barnes counts what is left to answer at all, Reuben and Gad already carried off, Dan absorbed into Judah, so the response comes from as many of the ten tribes as still had a homeland to send it from.
5. (v. 12)
2 Chronicles 30:12
“They did it with one heart, were all of a mind in it, and the hand of God gave them that one heart; for it is in the day of power that Christ's subjects are made willing. It is God that works both to will and to do.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:12puritan
a.the hand of God was to give them one heart: In Judah the response is credited to a single cause: the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord. Wesley reads the phrase as grace working under a decision that looks merely civic, since the willingness itself is named as the gift. Where the north was free to refuse and did, Judah's unity is not raised by royal authority alone but worked from within.
B. Hezekiah prays for those who ate unprepared, and God heals them
1. (vv. 13-14)
2 Chronicles 30:13
“And there assembled at Jerusalem much people,.... Out of the several tribes: to keep the feast of unleavened bread: the passover, which was eaten with unleavened bread: in the second month: the month Ijar: a very great congregation; such as had not been seen on such an occasion for many years.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:13reformed
2 Chronicles 30:13, 2 more voices
2 Chronicles 30:13
"What shall we do," says Hezekiah, "about the passover? It is a very comfortable ordinance, and has been long neglected. The time has elapsed for this year; we cannot go about it immediately; the congregation is thin, the people have not notice, the priests are not prepared,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:13puritan
2 Chronicles 30:13
“The preparation they made for the passover, and good preparation it was: They took away all the idolatrous altars that were found, not only in the temple, but in Jerusalem,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:13puritan
2 Chronicles 30:14
“And they arose,.... Before they slew and ate the passover: and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; which Ahaz had set up in every corner of Jerusalem, to offer sacrifices upon, 2Ch 28:24.”
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and all the altars for incense took they away; for as there were some to offer sacrifices on, there were others to burn incense upon, not to the Lord, but to idols, as the Targum adds: and cast them into the brook Kidron; having reduced them to dust and ashes, see 2Ch 29:16.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:14reformed
2 Chronicles 30:14, 2 more voices
2 Chronicles 30:14
“The continuance of the idolatrous altars to this time shows that Hezekiah had been more anxious to construct than to destroy, to establish the Yahweh-worship than to root out idolatry.”
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Now, however, that the more important work was done, the temple open, and the daily service restored, attention could be turned to the secondary object of removing from the city all traces of the late apostasy.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:14evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:14
“The best preparation we can make for the gospel passover is to cast away our iniquities, our spiritual idolatries. The celebration of the passover. In this the people were so forward and zealous that the priests and Levites blushed to see themselves out-done by the commonalty, to see them more ready to bring sacrifices than they were to offer them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:14puritan
a.feast of unleavened bread in the second month: The great congregation gathers before it worships: they arise and take away the altars that were in Jerusalem, the network Ahaz had scattered through the city in 2 Chr 28:24, and cast every one into the brook Kidron. The passover the letter promised cannot be kept beside the altars that letter's own reform stands against, so the city is cleared of them in the same movement that assembles the people. Barnes notes Hezekiah's priority up to now had run the other way, building the true worship before tearing down the old, and only here does the work turn fully to what still stood.
2. (vv. 15-17)
2 Chronicles 30:15
“The laggart priests and Levites, who from want of zeal for the Yahweh-worship, or from actual inclination to idolatry, had neglected to purify themselves (2Ch 30:3 and marginal reference), were now shamed by the general ardor, and sanctified themselves for the Paschal festival. And brought in the burnt offerings - Received them, i. e.”
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from the offerers at the doors of the inner court, and took them up to the brass altar in front of the porch. No part of the burnt offerings was ever taken inside the temple building.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:15evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:16
“After their manner - According to the Mishna, the custom was for the priests to stand in two rows extending from the altar to the outer court, where the people were assembled.”
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As each offerer killed his lamb the blood was caught in a basin, which was handed to the nearest priest, who passed it on to his neighbor, and he to the next; the blood was thus conveyed to the altar, at the base of which it was thrown by the last priest in the row.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:16evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:17
“They also assisted more than the law ordinarily allowed in offering the other sacrifices, particularly those that were for the purifying of the unclean, many of which there was now occasion for. Some think that it was the offerers' work, not the priests', that the Levites had here the charge of.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:17puritan
a.the priests and the Levites were ashamed: The lamb is killed on the fourteenth of the second month, the day Num 9:11 names for exactly this case, and the priests and Levites, shamed into readiness by a laity more eager than they were, sanctify themselves and take their place after the manner the law of Moses prescribes, the blood passed hand to hand from Levite to priest to altar. Verse 17 records an irregularity the law does not anticipate: many in the congregation were not sanctified, so the Levites themselves killed the passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, standing in for a purity the offerer lacked rather than turning him away.
3. (vv. 18-20)
2 Chronicles 30:18
“A multitude of the people - had not cleansed themselves - As there were men from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, they were excusable, because they came from countries that had been wholly devoted to idolatry. The good Lord pardon every one - “The Lord, who is good, have mercy on this people who err.” - T.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:18evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:18, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 30:18
“Here is a defect in sanctuary purification. There is nothing perfect under the sun, nor a just man that doeth good, and sinneth not. (3.) These defects need pardoning healing grace; for omissions in duty are sins as well as omissions of duty.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:18puritan
2 Chronicles 30:19
“The sanctuary - With that purification which was required of them that came in God's sanctuary. So he calls it to distinguish from that internal purity which they are here acknowledged to have.”
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The great thing required in our attendance on God's ordinances is, that we prepare our heart to seek him; that the inward man be engaged, that we make heart work of it.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· 2 Chronicles 30:19evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:20
“And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah,....”
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Heard his prayer, and accepted of it, and granted what he desired: and healed his people; that is, forgave their sins, as Kimchi interprets it; forgiveness being expressed by healing, for which he refers to Psa 41:4 to which may be added Psa 103:3 and which was known either by a prophet sent to declare it, or by not punishing them for their offence.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:20reformed
a.eat the passover otherwise than it was written: A multitude from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun eat the passover otherwise than it was written, uncleansed by the sanctuary's own standard, and Hezekiah does not send them away but prays over them: the good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. The prayer names the very thing Chronicles measures every king by, the heart that seeks, and sets it beside the ritual purity the law required, asking mercy where the heart outran the rite rather than asking the law be set aside. Verse 20 answers plainly, the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people, which Gill reads as forgiveness on the pattern of Ps 41:4 and Ps 103:3, the book's clearest word that a sought heart outweighs an unmet ceremony.
C. Seven days more of gladness, unmatched since Solomon's day
1. (v. 21)
2 Chronicles 30:21
“And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:21reformed
a.kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days: Israel keeps the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness, joy standing as the Chronicler's recurring seal on worship rightly offered. The Levites and priests praise the Lord day by day with loud instruments, the courses David established in 1 Chr 25 now doing the very work he founded them to do.
2. (v. 22)
2 Chronicles 30:22
“Princes and magistrates by encouraging faithful and labourious preachers, greatly promote the kingdom of God. That taught - Who by their office were to instruct and build up the people in the knowledge and fear of God: which is mentioned as the cause of his respect and kindness to them.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· 2 Chronicles 30:22evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:22, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 30:22
“They made a religious confession of their relation to God and dependence upon him, a penitent confession of their sins and infirmities, a thankful confession of God's mercies to them, and a supplicatory confession of their wants and desires; and, in all these, they had an eye to God as the God of their fathers…”
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a God in covenant with them.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 30:22puritan
a.spake comfortably unto all the Levites: Hezekiah speaks comfortably to the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord, Wesley reading the king's kindness as a tribute owed to faithful teaching after a week's labor. The seven days close in peace offerings eaten as a shared meal and in confession made to the Lord God of their fathers, worship that ends in a full table and an open mouth together.
3. (vv. 23-24)
2 Chronicles 30:23
“And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days,....”
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They consulted among themselves, and with the king and his nobles about it, who all agreed to it: and they kept other seven days with gladness; not altogether in the same manner they had kept the preceding seven days; they did not slay and eat passover lambs, nor did they eat unleavened bread, but offered peace offerings, and feasted upon them; and sung the praises of God, and attended to the instructions of the priests and Levites, being in a very agreeable frame of mind for religious exercises.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:23reformed
2 Chronicles 30:23, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 30:23
“To keep other seven days - This was a voluntary addition to the requirements of the Law - the fruit and sign of the abounding zeal which characterized the time. Hezekiah and the princes probably proposed it to the people, and presented them with sacrificial animals.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 30:23evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:24
“Did give - First to God, to whom the parts appointed were offered in a way of thanksgiving; and then to the people, who feasted upon the relicks, as the offerer used to do in peace- offerings: and Hezekiah, who was the offerer, gave away his right in the remains of the sacrifices to the people.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· 2 Chronicles 30:24evangelical
a.took counsel to keep other seven days: The assembly extends the feast by its own choice, a second seven days the law never commanded, kept with the same gladness as the first. Hezekiah gives a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep from his own herds and the princes match and exceed him, ten thousand sheep beside their thousand bullocks, generosity Matthew Henry sets beside a king's proper use of a great estate, to put more good within reach of more people.
4. (vv. 25-26)
2 Chronicles 30:25
“The strangers that come out of the land of Israel - That is, the proselytes of the covenant who had embraced Judaism, and had submitted to the rite of circumcision, for none others could be permitted to eat of the passover.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:25evangelical
2 Chronicles 30:26
“So there was great joy in Jerusalem,....”
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Not merely carnal, expressed in eating and drinking, and making merry with one another, but spiritual, on account of the restoration of temple service, and the feasts of the Lord: for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem; not the like joy, so spiritual, sincere, and hearty; nor such a number of persons rejoicing together on such an occasion; nor for so many days together, which were as many as at the dedication of the temple by Solomon.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 30:26reformed
2 Chronicles 30:26, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 30:26
“Since the time of Solomon - there was not the like in Jerusalem - For from that time the ten tribes had been separated from the true worship of God, and now many of them for the first time, especially from Asher, Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, joined to celebrate the passover.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:26evangelical
a.the strangers that came out of the land of Israel: Judah, the Levites, the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers who had joined themselves to Judah all rejoice together, a company the text names in full rather than leave as one undivided crowd. Verse 26 measures the joy against the one prior standard the book keeps for a great assembly, Solomon's dedication of the temple: since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem, a passover reaching further back for its precedent than any reign between.
5. (v. 27)
2 Chronicles 30:27
“And their voice was heard - God accepted the fruits of that pious disposition which himself had infused. And their prayer came up - As the smoke of their sacrifices ascended to the clouds, so did their prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings, ascend to the heavens.”
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The Targum says: “Their prayer came up to the dwelling-place of his holy shechinah, which is in heaven.” Israel now appeared to be in a fair way of regaining what they had lost; but alas, how soon were all these bright prospects beclouded for ever!
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 30:27evangelical
a.arose and blessed the people: The feast closes as it began, with the priests and Levites acting for the congregation: they arose and blessed the people, and their prayer is said to come up to God's holy dwelling place, even unto heaven, an assurance the text simply states. Adam Clarke reads the moment as the high point of a recovery that does not hold, Israel appearing to regain what it had lost though the northern kingdom's captivity was only a few years off.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 30. 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 Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; John Wesley; Matthew Henry and Pseudo-Tertullian, FIVE BOOKS IN REPLY TO MARCION 3.176-183.
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