2 Chronicles 29:31

_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._ Hezekiah ... said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near. This address was made to the priests, as being now, by the sacrifice of the expiation offerings, anew consecrated to the service of God, and qualified to resume the functions of their sacred office (Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:32). THE CONGREGATION BROUGHT IN - i:e., the body of civic rulers present....

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....

Hezekiah addresses, not the priests, but the congregation: “Now that by the atoning sacrifice which has been offered for you, you are consecrated once more to be a holy people to the Lord, approach with confidence and offer your free-will offerings as of old.” BURNT OFFERINGS - The term thus translated is applied especially to those victims which were to be wholly consumed upon the altar. In the “sacrifices,” or peace offerings generally, and the “thank offerings” - a particular kind of peace offering Leviticus 7:12) - the greater part of the victim belonged to, and was consumed by, the worshipper. Hence, to offer “burnt offerings,” was indicative of a “free heart.”...

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 ANSWERED AND SAID,.... Or proceeded to say, as follows: NOW YE HAVE CONSECRATED YOURSELVES UNTO THE LORD; having entered anew on the performance of their office, filling their hands with sacrifices, as the words signify: COME NEAR, AND BRING SACRIFICES AND THANK OFFERINGS INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD; which the people were to put into their hands to offer for them: AND THE CONGREGATION BROUGHT IN SACRIFICES AND THANK OFFERINGS; peace offerings, part of which the offerers had to feast on with their friends so expressing their joy and thankfulness on this occasion: AND AS MANY AS WERE OF A FREE HEART BURNT OFFERINGS; of which they had no share, but were wholly the Lord's; and which was a greater proof of their liberality, and so of their sincere and cordial thankfulness....

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

2 Chronicles 29:1 to 2 Chronicles 32:33. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH (see notes on 2 Kings 18:2 f., 2 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 20:1). The Chronicler in this long section writes, from his own point of view, much that is quite unhistorical. The three main subjects treated by him here are Hezekiah's reopening of the Temple, the Passover, and the appointment of the Temple officials. In...

CONSECRATED. See note on verb (Exodus 28:41.Leviticus 9:17; Leviticus 9:17)....

DISCOURSE: 423 AFTER CONFIRMATION 2 Chronicles 29:31. _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_. RELIGION is the brightest ornament of every state. Solomon was never more truly encircled with glory, than when he led the devotions of his people at the dedication of the temple: nor was Hezekiah at any period of his reign more honourably employed, than when he was purifying that temple from the abominations which had been introduced into it by his father Ahaz. The exhortation in our text was delivered by him to the whole congregation of Israel, after that the sacrifices for the purification of the temple had been offered. And to you who are of the younger part of our audience they may with great propriety be addressed, after the services which

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