2 Chronicles 29:36

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....

Verse 2 Chronicles 29:36. _AND HEZEKIAH REJOICED_] Both he and the people rejoiced that God had prepared their hearts to bring about so great a reformation in so short a time; _for_, it is added, _the thing was_ _done suddenly_. The king's example and influence were here, under God, the grand spring of all those mighty and effectual movements. What amazing power and influence has God lodged with _kings_! They can sway a whole empire nearly as they please; and when they declare themselves in behalf of religion, they have the _people_ uniformly on their side. _Kings_, on this very ground, are no indifferent beings; they must be either a great curse or a great blessing to the people whom they govern....

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

AND HEZEKIAH REJOICED, AND ALL THE PEOPLE,.... To see things go on so well, which foreboded good unto them: and particularly THAT GOD HAD PREPARED THE PEOPLE; disposed and directed their hearts in such a manner as to yield such a cheerful obedience to the will of God, and show such a hearty regard to his worship and service, and the restoration of it: FOR THE THING WAS DONE SUDDENLY; whereby it the more appeared that they were under a divine influence, which so quickly and powerfully wrought upon them to engage in this work, and needed not arguments and persuasions to bring them to it....

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...

_that God had prepared the people_ R.V. BECAUSE OF THAT WHICH GOD HAD PREPARED FOR THE PEOPLE. It was God, not Hezekiah, who had done it all. _suddenly_ In the very first year of Hezekiah's reign (2 Chronicles 29:3)....

AND ALL THE PEOPLE, THAT GOD HAD PREPARED THE PEOPLE— _And all the people, because that the Lord had raised their hearts._ Houbigant. REFLECTIONS.—1st, No sooner has the crown devolved to Hezekiah, than with unremitting zeal he sets himself to repair the late desolations of God's house, and recover the people from their dreadful apostacy. His heart was as right with God as David's, and religion his first and great concern. Happy the land that has such a king! 1. He opens and repairs the doors of God's house, wherein of late had neither been incense nor offering. Probably, though no public service had been maintained there, the sacred fire was still preserved. 2. He convokes the priests and Levites, who seem to have too much corresponded with the sad changes of the last reign, and to have testified little zeal for a reformation. In this august assembly, he laments the evils of their fat...

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....