2 Chronicles 30:27

_THEN THE PRIESTS THE LEVITES AROSE AND BLESSED THE PEOPLE: AND THEIR VOICE WAS HEARD, AND THEIR PRAYER CAME UP TO HIS HOLY DWELLING PLACE, EVEN UNTO HEAVEN._ The priests ... arose and blessed the people - (see the notes at Numbers 6:23.)...

21-27 Many prayers were put up to God with the peace-offerings. In these Israel looked to God as the God of their fathers, a God in covenant with them. There was also abundance of good preaching. The Levites read and explained the Scriptures. Faith cometh by hearing, and true religion preaching has abounded. They sang psalms every day: praising God should be much of our work in religious assemblies. Having kept the seven days of the feast in this religious manner, they had so much comfort in it, that they kept other seven days also. This they did with gladness. Holy duties should be done with holy gladness. And when sinners humble themselves before the Lord, they may expect gladness in his ordinances. Those who taste this happiness will not soon grow weary of it, but will be glad to prolong their enjoyment....

Verse 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. 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! It is not for the want of holy resolutions and heavenly influences that men are not saved but through their own unsteadiness; they do not persevere, they forget the necessity of _continuing in prayer_, and thus the Holy Spirit is grieved, departs from them, and leaves them to

EXPOSITION This chapter contains the account of Hezekiah's arrangements after the restoration for the observance of the Passover—arrangements more than ordinarily interesting to notice in respect of, _first, _the unusual time appointed for the celebration; and, _second, _the determined and brave attempt of the good king to win again to the worship of Jerusalem (though, as was no doubt anticipated, it subjected his royal proffers to scorn, 2 Chronicles 30:10) the separated people of "all Israel" (2 Chronicles 30:1); and further, the celebration itself, the happy omen (2 Chronicles 30:14) with which it opened, its duration; and certain several other incidents

THEN THE PRIESTS THE LEVITES AROSE,.... The priests who were of the tribe of Levi; for there were some in Israel that were not, but were made of any of the people, as in the times of Jeroboam; though some supply the copulative "and"; so the Targum: "and blessed the people"; which was the proper work and business of the priests to do; though, while they were blessing, the Levites might be singing: AND THEIR VOICE WAS HEARD; meaning not by the people, though undoubtedly it was, but by the Lord; the Targum is, "their prayer was heard or received;'' for the blessing was delivered in a petitionary way, Numbers 6:24, and was no other than a request that God would bless them, which he did: AND THEIR PRAYER CAME UP TO HIS HOLY DWELLINGPLACE, EVEN UNTO HEAVEN; see...

CHAPTER 30 THE PASSOVER _ 1. Preparations for the great Passover (2 Chronicles 30:1)_ 2. The celebration of the Passover (2 Chronicles 30:15) 3. The concluding festive days (2 Chronicles 30:23) The Passover is next celebrated. It was, so to speak, the birthday of the nation, and typified the great redemption by the blood of the true Passover-Lamb. It had not been kept for a long time and as the proper yearly time for its celebration had passed, the first month, they concluded to keep it in the second month. The law had made provision for that and therefore what they did was according to the Word. (See...

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...

THE PRIESTS THE LEVITES. Compare Deuteronomy 17:9. But some codices, with Septuagint and Vulgate, read "and the". HOLY. See note on Exodus 3:5....

_the priests the Levites_ So in 2 Chronicles 23:18, but only in these two places in Chron. The phrase is Deuteronomic, and has been taken to imply that all Levites were potentially priests. Such was not in any case the view of the Chronicler, and perhaps we ought to read "the priests and the Levites" both here and in 2 Chronicles 23:18. _his holy dwelling place_ R.V. HIS HOLY HABITATION; so Deuteronomy 26:15....

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