Deeper Commentary
2Ch 30:1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters
also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Yahweh
at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel-
I suggested on 2 Chron. 29:17,18 that in fact Hezekiah did keep a kind
of Passover on the 14th day of the first month, but majorly modified. The
weight of sin hanging over everything needed to be dealt with before they
could all rejoice in remembering God's great deliverance of them from pagan
Egypt. We note Hezekiah's vision of uniting Judah and Israel in this
Passover. He had no fear of guilt by association or contamination by
communion. For the ten tribes were deeply apostate, and had influenced Judah
into apostacy. He makes no attempt to apply some test of doctrinal or
practical purity, but simply offered an open table welcome. And those who
accepted it showed thereby their basic commitment to what the Passover
represented. And that is the basis upon which I advocate an open table at
the Lord's supper. Acceptance of the invitation to partake is the only
requirement.
2Ch 30:2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the
assembly in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month-
"The assembly in Jerusalem" presumably refers to the group in 2 Chron.
29 who had assembled at the time of the Passover in the first month.
Numbers 9 allowed for those who were distant or travelling to keep
the Passover a month later. But that legislation doesn't cover the
eventuality here- that the priests were unclean. Likewise in 2 Chron.
30:18, "yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it is written". So we see
how God's laws were not seen as a leash, as a letter that had to be
literalistically obeyed. By contrast, contemporary Hittite laws condemned
any failure to keep a festival on its specified day. The law of Moses is
hereby shown to be open to interpretation and obedience according to
spirit and not letter. Perhaps it was this perception of Divine
flexibility that led Hezekiah to reason with God to change His plan that
Hezekiah should die.
2Ch 30:3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had
not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people
gathered themselves together to Jerusalem-
The implication of 2 Chron. 29:34 is that "the priests were too few" in
that too few of them had sanctified themselves, whereas the servant
Levites had more amongst them who had sanctified themselves. The
priesthood had been used by Ahaz to combine the worship of Yahweh with
that of idols, and so they perhaps didn't immediately change to a sole
commitment to Yahweh. It was not the constraint of either time nor numbers
which meant they were not of "sufficient number". See on :15.
The context is the cleansing of the temple recorded in the previous chapter: "The priests went in to the inner part of the house of Yahweh to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in Yahweh’s temple into the court of the house of Yahweh. The Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to the brook Kidron. Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of Yahweh. They sanctified the house of Yahweh in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace and said, We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and the table of showbread, with all its vessels" (2 Chron. 29:16-18). Passover was on the 14th day of the first month, but the sanctification process continued until the 16th day. They missed it by two days, as it were. Hezekiah must have been urging them on to get the job done, but it seems there were too few priests and Levites willing to work in clearing out the idols. Hezekiah had various possibilities before him. He could have just kept the Passover in homes, or on an altar made of earth. The fact he didn't rather indicates that he over valued the temple building. There was nothing in the original Passover legislation that required the Passover to be kept in the temple. Rather the intention was that each family should sacrifice it. But rather as many prefer a Cathedral to a house church, so Hezekiah veered the way of religion. Had he not done so, all the angst about the temple being unclean would have been unnecessary.
Or Hezekiah could have just changed the day. But instead he chose, in line with Num. 9, to keep the Passover still on the 14th, but, in the second month. Time and again in the account of his Passover, the letter of the law was not kept and Hezekiah felt confident enough of his relationship with Yahweh to ammend things and to believe that God was open to dialogue. This came to full term 14 years later when he felt able to reason with God about his terminal illness- and God changed His plan. We too are led through such steps of experience to intimacy with God.
There is a telling allusion to the provision of Numbers 9 in 2 Chron. 30:3, which states that the majority of people came to keep Passover in the second month “because they could not perform it at that time”. This is repeating the essence of Num. 9:6, “and they could not perform the Passover on that day” because they were unclean from touching a dead body. But Hezekiah extrapolates further, and prays that those who were actually unclean could still acceptably partake of the Passover. This is not to say that we can extrapolate the essence of things to allow anything. But clearly we are meant to see that even being unclean doesn't stop fellowship with God, and His desire to fellowship the unclean. His beloved Son likewise broke His bread with the unclean.
2Ch 30:4 The thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the
assembly-
This "assembly" may refer to the assembled elders, but likely it
specifically refers to the group in 2 Chron. 29 who had assembled at the
time of the Passover in the first month. I suggested on :3
that God's way of keeping Passover was not the way that Hezekiah was going
about things. He was obsessed with his plan for a very "religious",
central point obedience to commandments intended to be obeyed by
individual families. Perhaps this is the implication behind the statement
that he did what seemed right to him and to the people- not necessarily
what was right in God's eyes.
2Ch 30:5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all
Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the
Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not kept
it in great numbers in the manner that is written-
Israel's general lack of obedience to the Mosaic law is quite stunning.
This verse seems to imply that they had never actually kept the Passover
"in great numbers", neither "in the manner that is written". And yet God
still fellowshipped with them and sought their reformation. To
disfellowship people for "long continued absence from the Lord's table"
was obviously not something God practiced nor approved of. He remained
actively seeking relationship with Israel.
2Ch 30:6 So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his
princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment
of the king saying, You children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to the remnant that have
escaped of you out of the hand of the kings of Assyria-
This implies that the majority had gone into captivity. The "remnant"
were intended to become the spiritual remnant through whom the Kingdom
could be reestablished on earth. "Return" is the word for "repent". Their
repentance, or returning, would lead to God's returning to them. Again we
note that Hezekiah had no parochial interest in merely reforming Judah,
but his vision was of a reunited people of God, unified through the common
experience of repentance and forgiveness. And in practice, that is the
only true basis for unity amongst God's people, rather than any written
statement of theological propositions and positions.
2Ch 30:7 Don’t be like your fathers, and like your brothers, who
trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that He gave them
up to destruction, as you see-
It was critical in their culture to defend the tradition of the male
relatives, fathers and brothers. To break with them was some kind of
social suicide. But the call to repentance demanded just that from them,
as it does today. The phrase 'given up to destruction' has just been used
about Judah specifically (2 Chron. 29:8). And this is what God would
finally do to Judah (s.w. Jer. 25:18; 29:18). The exiles for whom
Chronicles was written were intended to realize that the tragedy which had
happened to them had been so avoidable.
2Ch 30:8 Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were-
Hebrew thought and language tends not to use abstract terms but rather
uses language which alludes to physical body parts- e.g. 'look' becomes
'to lift up the eyes' (Gen. 22:4), anger is 'to burn in the nostrils' (Ex.
4:14), to reveal something is to 'unstop someone's ears' (Ruth 4:4), to be
without compassion is to be 'hard hearted' (1 Sam. 6:6), stubbornness is to
be 'stiff necked' (2 Chron. 30:8), to prepare oneself is to 'gird up the
loins' (Jer. 1:17), to determine to go somewhere is 'to set one's face'
(Jer. 42:15; Lk. 9:51).
But yield
yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into His sanctuary which He has sanctified
forever-
"Yield yourselves" is literally 'give your hand to'. And the same
phrase is used in :12 of how God's hand gave them a heart to obey His
commandments. This was in response to their giving their hands to Him.
Serve Yahweh your God, that His fierce anger may turn away from
you-
Ps. 78:38 seems to suggest God Himself controlled His anger,
Himself turning that anger away, rather than being like a pagan deity whose
anger was appeased by blood sacrifice: "He, being merciful, forgave
iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times He turned His anger
away, and didn’t stir up all His wrath. He remembered that they were but
flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again". His turning away
of His anger isn't solely because of His people turning to Him. He wishes
for that. But at times He turns away legitimate wrath in the hope His
people therefore might turn to Him: "You have forgiven the iniquity of
Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah. You have taken away
all Your wrath, You have turned from the fierceness of Your anger. Turn
us, God of our salvation" (Ps. 85:2-4).
God turned from His anger due to Moses' intercession (Ex. 32:12 s.w.), but this is not to say that He cannot in any case turn away His anger, simply by His grace. Just as we may control our anger from within ourselves, or at other times we may do this because of the appeal of another to us, or because there is repentance from the one who provoked us. And there were times when this was the case with God (s.w. Num. 25:4; Josh. 7:26; 2 Chron. 12:12; 29:10; 30:8).
2Ch 30:9 For if you turn again to Yahweh, your brothers and your children
shall find compassion before those who led them captive, and shall come
again into this land: for Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful, and
will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him-
The majority of the ten tribes had not gone into formal
captivity at this point, but many had already been taken. The predicted
destruction of Samaria by Assyria could have been averted had the
Passover been kept properly by the ten tribes at this point.
Will
some be in the Kingdom only due to the efforts of a third party? The
husband can save his wife… Noah saved his family. The spirituality of those
in the land could affect the fate of the others in captivity (2 Chron. 30:9-
and these words are applied to us in James 4:8). Indeed, if
Judah had turned back to the Lord
fully, then the 10 tribes who about 10 years previously had been taken into
captivity in Assyria, they would have found “compassion before them that
lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land” (2 Chron.
30:9). But they became ‘the lost 10 tribes’ because Judah didn’t respond as
fully to Hezekiah’s reformation as they should have done.
The exiles particularly were shown "pity" by the powers of their day, allowing them to return to Zion and rebuild it (s.w. Neh. 1:11 "mercy"). This "pity" or "mercy before them that lead you captive" was specifically predicated upon their repentance (s.w. 2 Chron. 30:9). But they didn't repent; and yet they were shown this mercy / pity. That was the grace of it all. This "pity" was the pity of God who would according to that pity / mercy regather them (s.w. Is. 54:7; Zech. 1:16). He showed them that pity despite their impenitence; and yet most of them preferred to spurn it by remaining in exile.
2Ch 30:10 So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of
Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun; but there they were ridiculed and
despised-
The Lord uses this idea in His parable of the vineyard, where God's
servants the prophets are ridiculed when they come asking for fruit from
the vineyard (Mt. 21:34-36). Zebulun was now effectively the northern
border because north of there had been desolated by the Assyrians.
2Ch 30:11 Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun
humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem-
These "certain men" are the "many" of :18. Perhaps the idea is that
only a few came, relative to the population invited. But they were "many"
to God. It's the same paradox with the path and gate to eternity being
found by "few", with "many" not finding it; and yet those "few" are as
many as the stars of the sky, such is the wonder of salvation.
2Ch 30:12 Also on Judah came the hand of God to give them one heart, to do
the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of Yahweh-
"Yield yourselves" in :8 is literally 'give your hand to'. And the
same phrase is used here of how God's hand gave them a heart to obey His
commandments. This was in response to their giving their hands to Him.
This experience of an acceptive mutuality between God and man is surely
at the very core of our spirituality; it should be part of an inner
spiritual shell that nothing, nothing can shake: aggression from
our brethren, disillusion with other Christians, persecution from the
world, painful personal relationships... Israel were to give their hand to
God, and His hand in turn would give them a heart to follow Him further.
Those who turn from Him and put His word into second place in their lives are confirmed in this, until they are progressively caught up in a downward spiral of declension. On the other hand, those who try to be lead by God's word are progressively lead ever higher in an upward spiral of spirituality, whereby God eases the way to obedience, shields them from temptation, and opens their minds to the Truth of His word (e.g. 2 Chron. 30:12; Ps. 119:173; Prov. 16:3; 2 Thess. 2:17).
Hezekiah's insistence that the Passover must be slain by ritually clean Levites in the temple was not according to God's law. But He accepted Hezekiah's project of a Passover kept by all Israel and thus it became His word. We see how open God is to working with men, even if they go off at a religious tangent and become obsessed with their own project. We are left with impression that He is eager to work with the few who want to do something for Him. Even if is His Plan D.
2Ch 30:13 Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of
unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly-
As discussed on :13,18, they were "many" compared to the wonder of
what they were doing. But "few" relative to the overall population.
2Ch 30:14 They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and
all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook
Kidron-
The large mass of people (:13) inspired each other to further purge
the results of Ahaz's apostacy. The temple had been cleansed, but the
crowd now purged the city of Jerusalem of the altars which were apparently
everywhere. And yet we have to note that this was done under the influence
of a group psychology, for it was only once the great crowd formed to keep
the Passover that this was done. And relatively soon afterwards, the
people of Jerusalem were to return to their idolatry. For true spiritual
reformation must be in individual hearts, and not the result of a group
psychology. This may have inspired Josiah, who likewise destroyed idolatry
in the Kidron and then called for the Passover to be celebrated.
2Ch 30:15 Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the
second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified
themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the house of Yahweh-
The implication of 2 Chron. 29:34 is that "the priests were too few"
in that too few of them had sanctified themselves. See on :3. We wonder
why they were only now ashamed and sanctified themselves, whereas a month
previously they had not done so. I suggest it was the presence of the
large crowd of people who had come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover
(:13,14) which made them ashamed that they could not help them because
they were not cleansed. And so it was the presence of the crowd of
apparently zealous worshippers who shamed them into sanctifying
themselves. I read it this way because we know that very soon, both
priesthood and people were to return to idolatry. And so I see in this
revival and reformation a large element of group psychology, getting
caught up in the spirit of the crowd, rather than on an individual level,
heart by heart, each person repenting and remaining changed.
2Ch 30:16 They stood in their place after their order, according to the
law of Moses the man of God, and the priests sprinkled the blood which
they received of the hand of the Levites-
The sprinkling of blood at Passover was upon the door posts, and was
a reminder of their salvation from death at the exodus. It
was each family group who were to do this, not priests. The law never
required that. But the ritual was
modified here, just as the date of Passover had been modified. The blood
was sprinkled upon the people to symbolize their cleansing.
2Ch 30:17 There were many in the assembly who had not sanctified
themselves: therefore the Levites were in charge of killing the Passovers
for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to Yahweh-
The unclean nature of the people may be a reference to their not
having observed the commands about avoiding leaven or contact with unclean
things (Num. 9:6). They perhaps were ignorant of the Passover regulations.
Or the uncleanness may refer to idolatry; hence the note that they were
now to be sanctified "to Yahweh". And so they were cleansed by the
sprinkling of blood in :16. This looked forward to how the blood of Christ
saves from both wilful and ignorant disobedience to the letter of the law.
There is no commandment that a man must be ritually clean to keep the Passover. But the people assumed this were the case, and so they wanted Levites to keep the Passover for them. Num. 9:10,11 seems to see uncleannsess as a barrier to eating the Passover only if there had been contact with a dead body: "Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh. In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it". Yet Hezekiah appears to have extrapolated from this to consider any contact with idols as making unclean, even though he had declared the bronze serpent idol merely Nehushtan, a piece of brass. On one level he got it, but then his religiosity took over and he ended up burdening the people and the Levites with a sense of guilt for uncleanness which they need not have taken.
Although it was God's original intention that each family leader
sanctified themselves and slew the Passover lamb personally, they came to
delegate this to their priests (so 2 Chron. 30:17 implies).
2Ch 30:18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and
Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun-
They were many compared to the wonder of God's acceptance of them,
but relatively few in another sense; see on :11.
Had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate
the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for
them saying, May the good Yahweh pardon everyone-
See on :17. Their being unclean may not only refer to a lack of
obedience to the commands about yeast, but to the uncleanness of the
immediate context at this time- which was idolatry. The people who
attended would have been idolaters as well as worshippers of Yahweh.
Hezekiah obtained forgiveness and
acceptance for those who kept the Passover “otherwise than it was written”-
thanks to his prayer. The spirituality of third parties can save people who
wish to be saved, within invisible limits (Mk. 2:5; James 5:15). All Israel had to
repent to avert total destruction- but even though they didn’t, the prayer
of Hezekiah saved the nation (Jer. 26:13,19). And later,
all of Jerusalem would have
been forgiven if there was even one that truly executed judgment, after the
pattern of Phinehas (Jer. 5:1- or is this a reference to Messiah?).
"The good Yahweh" may be better rendered "The Lord pardon the good" (as in 2 Chron. 19:11), and this then leads on smoothly in thought to the next verse which defines 'goodness'.
2Ch 30:19 who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers,
even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary-
The 'goodness' of :18 (Heb. "Yahweh pardon the good") is defined as a
matter of having a heart set upon God. And the state of the heart trumped
ritual, legalistic purity. Seeking God, wanting to get
to Him, is seen as the critical thing. And the Sermon on the Mount
likewise pronounces blessedness upon those who hunger after righteousness,
who weep for their sins... those who haven't made it, but want to.
2Ch 30:20 Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people-
The reference may be to the threat of destruction, perhaps by plague,
for those who defiled the sanctuary by their uncleanness (Lev. 15:31
"so they will not die in their uncleanness, when they defile my
tabernacle that is in their midst’"). But all this could have been avoided
if Hezekiah had quit his religiosity and allowed the people to keep the
Passover at home, well away from the temple. For there was no Mosaic
requirement to eat Passover at the sanctuary. The people were laded with
false guilt by Hezekiah's desire to go the way of religion rather than
personal spirituality; and this happens so often. Hezekiah was not wrong to
want to have a collective Passover in one place, but there again we see
him considering God's law open to human negotiation. And this stood him in
good stead when 14 years later he asked for his sentence of death to be
lifted or delayed, and God responded. As
discussed on :18, the prayer and spirituality of one person can affect
outcomes for others. This is a huge inspiration to continue earnestly in
prayer, knowing that prayer makes a real difference for those prayed for.
The language of healing could imply that plague began to break out.
Although so much had been done within the spirit of the law, the danger
was that there would be the impression given that God was simply not
serious about His law. And so perhaps plague did begin, but was halted by
Hezekiah's prayer. See on :27. An alternative is to understand
'healing' as simply meaning forgiveness as in Jer. 3:22 ["I will heal your
backsliding"], Hos. 14:4 ["I will heal their waywardness"], Ps. 41:4
["Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against You"].
Because there was no plague threatened for keeping the Passover unclean,
so it is hard to understand 'healing' as referring to physical plague
being healed. In which case, we have an example of prayer resulting in the
sin of third parties being forgiven as in Mk. 2:5.
2Ch 30:21 The children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the
feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites
and the priests praised Yahweh day by day, singing with loud instruments
to Yahweh-
We note how the Levites [servants of the priests] are mentioned
before the priests. This may be because they were more truly committed to
Yahweh (see on 2 Chron. 29:34), or to show that in God's service, all are
equal and the servant is as significant as his master.
2Ch 30:22 Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites who had good
understanding in the service of Yahweh. So they ate throughout the feast
for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings, and making
confession to Yahweh, the God of their fathers-
We note the continued emphasis upon the work of the Levites, rather
than the priests. It could be that many priests were still not willing to
separate from their old roles of being priests to the idols as well as
Yahweh (see on 2 Chron. 29:34). The mention of peace offerings
shows how again the original Passover feast was being expanded, showing
how Hezekiah perceived the openness of God.
2Ch 30:23 The whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days; and
they kept another seven days with gladness-
This is of course commendable, but given how soon the people reverted
to idolatry, we have to consider that there was a large factor of group
psychology in all this. We are wired as social creatures, taking energy
and direction from each other, and therefore like sheep going astray; and
also being led to better ways if that is where the group is headed. So we
get the sense here that they were on a huge roll, and were feeding off
each other. Again we see how spirit triumphs over the
letter of the law. The joy from knowing that they as unclean people had
been accepted... led them to go beyond the letter of the law and go
further. Truly Divine law is not a chain, but rather a springboard to
independent freewill service of God. The whole of Hezekiah's Passover
could be described as a "rush". It was forced through quickly, the people
from the ten tribes were invited last minute, requiring them to quit what
they were doing and come immediately. And then the decision to keep
another seven days was made on the cusp of the moment. Such enthusiasm to
serve Yahweh is presented here as commendable, and contrasts with the
caution of conservative approaches- which would've said "Let's plan to do
this next year...".
2Ch 30:24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings
one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the
assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep-
These huge numbers of sacrifices seem intended to imitate Solomon's
dedication of the temple. But this was not a good example to follow. For
God did not want rivers of blood and thousands of sacrifices, but rather,
broken and contrite hearts. There were no bulls offered as part of the
Passover, and yet 2000 were now offered. It all seems to have tended
towards the pole of religious mania rather than spirituality.
And again we note that offering bulls was not required for the
Passover ritual.
And a great number of priests sanctified themselves-
As noted on :3,15, the priests were slow to sanctify themselves, to
dedicate themselves slowly to Yahweh; although their servants the Levites
were quicker to do so. It seems that now we have another group of priests
who did this, swept along in the group psychology of the situation. But
that is not to say that their sanctification to Yahweh alone was insincere
or unacceptable. For this phrase is quoted in Acts 6:7 "a great number of
priests were obedient to the faith" in Christ. They too were likely caught
up in group psychology, as are Sunday School students and others
when they accept baptism as a group, seeing their friends and relations
all doing it. But this doesn't make their conversion of itself invalid.
But it is the long run which decides who is sincere, and that was to be
the case with this fervour for Yahweh which was progressively engulfing
the priests at this time.
Is. 10:9-11 speaks specifically of Rabshakeh's taunts: "Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?". It is clear that Hezekiah's reforms and the idol smashing of 2 Chron. 30, 14 years earlier, were all of a surface level. The Jerusalem under siege by Assyria in Hezekiah's time was full of idols. And Is. 2 lamented that the land of Judah was "full of idols".
2Ch 30:25 All the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and
all the assembly who came out of Israel, and the foreigners who came out
of the land of Israel, and who lived in Judah, rejoiced-
"Foreigners" could refer to Gentiles. The fact they are
mentioned separately shows that they were not fully absorbed into
Israelite society, and I see this as another example of where after the
first Passover in Egypt, Gentiles were welcome to participate in the
Passover. It was an open table, as it is in liberal Judaism today. Although it seems the majority
of the ten tribes refused the invitation to come to Jerusalem and keep the
Passover, maybe some of the other nations whom the Assyrians had
transplanted to Israel now responded, as it were instead of Israel. This
would be unsurprising, and would be looking ahead to the Gentiles
accepting the crumbs of the Messianic feast which the Jews rejected at the
Lord's time. But "foreigners" may also be a technical term which Judah had
come to apply to the ten tribes.
2Ch 30:26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of
Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in
Jerusalem-
There is no reference to Solomon keeping Passover, but rather to his
offering huge numbers of animals at the dedication of the temple. This
itself was not what God wanted; He wanted broken hearts rather than
thousands of animals. But the religious verve caught up everybody, and
they rejoiced together. Although given their later apostacy, we must
enquire how well motivated was this "great joy", and whether it was not
partly the result of a psychological reaction against the misery of Ahaz's
reign.
2Ch 30:27 Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people;
and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to His holy
habitation, even to heaven-
"Their prayer came up..." suggests the idea of human words
ascending all the way up to the very habitation of God. The words that
ascended were seeking blessing, or forgiveness, upon others. And God is
really sensitive to this. The temple and ark are sometimes referred to as
the heavens (2 Sam. 15:25 cp. 1 Kings 8:30; Ps. 20:2,6;
11:4; Heb. 7:26). The church is the new temple, and is therefore at times
referred to as the heavenlies in the New Testament. However this continues
the theme discussed on :18,20- that the prayer of one party can save and
bring eternal blessing upon other parties. This is a wonderful feature of
God's system of working with men; for it inspires us to true prayer and
deep pastoral effort for others, knowing that we can make an eternal
difference.
Pr
