2 Chronicles 29:20

_THEN HEZEKIAH THE KING ROSE EARLY, AND GATHERED THE RULERS OF THE CITY, AND WENT UP TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD._ Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city. His anxiety to enter upon the expiatory service with all possible despatch, now that the temple had been properly prepared for it, prevented his summoning the whole representatives of Israel. The requisite number of victims having been provided, and the officers of the temple having sanctified themselves according to the directions of the law, the priests were appointed to offer sacrifices of atonement successively "for the kingdom," - i:e., for the sins of the king and his predecessors; "for the sanctuary" - i:e., for the sins of the priests themselves, and for the desecration of the temple: "and for Judah" - i:e., for the people, who, by their voluntary consent, were involved in the guilt of the national...

20-36 As soon as Hezekiah heard that the temple was ready, he lost no time. Atonement must be made for the sins of the last reign. It was not enough to lament and forsake those sins; they brought a sin-offering. Our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon but in and through Christ, who was made sin, that is, a sin-offering for us. While the offerings were on the altar, the Levites sang. Sorrow for sin must not prevent us from praising God. The king and the congregation gave their consent to all that was done. It is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if we do not ourselves worship with the heart. And we should offer up our spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and devote ourselves and all we have, as sacrifices, acceptable to the Father only through the Redeemer....

EXPOSITION The important reign of Hezekiah extends over this and the following three chapters, counting in all ninety-seven verses. The parallel, for the contents of the first three of these chapters, with their sixty-four verses, is limited to the small number of _six_ verses (2 Kings 18:1), which in its turn is very much fuller (2 Kings 18:7.) in the subject of our 2 Chronicles 32:1. The reason of this so various disposition of matter is by no means wrapt in mystery, our writer's main object being clearly best subserved in exhibiting the moral and religious aspects of the inner history of Judah, as distinguished from its foreign politics—so, for brevity's sake, to denominate them. T

THEN HEZEKIAH THE KING ROSE EARLY,.... Took the first opportunity to attend the worship of God, and set an example to his people: AND GATHERED THE RULERS OF THE CITY; the elders of the people, the chief magistrates in Jerusalem: AND WENT UP TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD; the temple, to worship there....

6. REFORMATION UNDER HEZEKIAH CHAPTER 29 Hezekiah and the Beginning of the Revival _ 1. The record of his reign (2 Chronicles 29:1)_ 2. The purification of the temple (2 Chronicles 29:3) 3. The restored worship (2 Chronicles 29:20) 4. The great offerings (2 Chronicles 29:31) Compare Chapter s 29-32 with 2 Kings 18-20 and the annotations given there. The reformation which took place under the reign of the godly son of ungodly Ahaz was a thorough and remarkable one. He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all his father David had don

ROSE EARLY... WENT UP. Note the zeal of Hezekiah for the house of Jehovah in his Songs of the degrees. See Psalms 122:1; Psalms 122:9; Psalms 134:1; Psalms 134:2. and compare Isaiah 37:1; Isaiah 37:14; Isaiah 38:20; 2 Kings 20:8, and App-67. RULERS. princes....

_the rulers of the city_ R.V. THE PRINCES OF THE CITY....

DISCOURSE: 422 RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE WORSHIP BY HEZEKIAH 2 Chronicles 29:20. Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. 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. 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. And they brought forth the he-goats for the sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them; and the priests killed them, and they made reconciliatio

14. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH (29-32) TEXT 2 Chronicles 29:1. 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 eyes of Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, and repaired them. 4. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east, 5. and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 6. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that

THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH This chapter describes a cleansing of the TEMPLE and a sacrifice for the sins of the people. This and the following 2 Chronicles 30-32, cover the same period as 2 Kings 18-20, but, for the most part, have in view a different side of Hezekiah's reign, Chronicles relating in great detail his religious reforms, whilst Kings is concerned mainly with the political events of the time....