2 Chr 30:1-27 · Read 12 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Hezekiah opened the doors of the LORD’s house in the first month of his first year. The priests and Levites “sanctified the LORD’s house in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished” (2 Chr 29:17). That chapter ends: “Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced” (2 Chr 29:36).
With the house cleansed, the Passover came next. By the law of Moses, the Passover was kept on “the fourteenth day of the same month” (Exod 12:6), the first month — and the first month was nearly over. This lesson reads how Hezekiah invited everyone to come and keep the feast.
1Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the LORD’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.
2For the king had taken counsel with his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month.
3For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
4The thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly.
5So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it in great numbers in the way it is written.
6So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, according to the commandment of the king, saying, “You children of Israel, turn again to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7Don’t be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see.
8Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
9For if you turn again to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with those who led them captive, and will come again into this land, because the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.”
10So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but people ridiculed them and mocked them.
11Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12Also the hand of God came on Judah to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the LORD’s word.
13Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly.
14They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook Kidron.
15Then 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 LORD’s house.
16They stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received of the hand of the Levites.
17For 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 the LORD.
18For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone
19who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
20The LORD listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
21The children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness. The Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments to the LORD.
22Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of the LORD. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and making confession to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
23The whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days, and they kept another seven days with gladness.
24For 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; and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25All 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.
26So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.
27Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.
Letters. “Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the LORD’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel” (v. 1). Ephraim and Manasseh were tribes of the north. The decree went out “throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan” (v. 5), from south to north.
The second month. “For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem” (v. 3). So the king and his princes decided “to keep the Passover in the second month” (v. 2).
Turn again. The letter says: “You children of Israel, turn again to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria” (v. 6). In the last lesson, Hezekiah told the Levites he would make a covenant “that his fierce anger may turn away from us” (2 Chr 29:10); this letter says the same: “that his fierce anger may turn away from you” (v. 8). The letter ends: “will not turn away his face from you if you return to him” (v. 9).
Mocked, and humbled. The couriers “passed from city to city,” “but people ridiculed them and mocked them” (v. 10). “Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem” (v. 11).
Ashamed. “Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves” (v. 15). “For 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 the LORD” (v. 17).
He prayed for them. Even so, many “had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written” (v. 18). Hezekiah did not send them away; he prayed for them: “May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary” (vv. 18–19). The passage goes on: “The LORD listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people” (v. 20).
Joy like this. They “kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness” (v. 21), and made “confession to the LORD, the God of their fathers” (v. 22); when the seven days were over, they decided “to keep another seven days” (v. 23). The passage says: “for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem” (v. 26). The chapter’s last line is: “Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven” (v. 27).
The Passover was kept in the first month, on “the fourteenth day of the same month” (Exod 12:6). The law of Moses also says: “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 the LORD” (Num 9:10). “In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it” (Num 9:11).
Readers can see this: keeping the Passover in the second month was already provided for in the law. This chapter gives its own reason — too few priests, and the people not yet gathered (v. 3); and how the unclean could keep the feast is part of this chapter’s story too (vv. 17–20).
Perhaps you, too, feel ‘not good enough’: you have not been to a gathering for a long time, there are things in your life you have not sorted out, and you don’t know whether you can still come back to God.
This lesson does not say the rules don’t matter as long as you are sincere; the priests “were ashamed, and sanctified themselves” (v. 15), and the Levites killed the Passover for those who were not clean (v. 17) — those verses are there. What it shows you is this: people came from far away without being cleansed as the rules required, the king prayed for them, and “The LORD listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people” (v. 20). The prophet Jeremiah brought God’s word: “You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart” (Jer 29:13).
This week: Think of someone who has not come to a gathering for a long time, or who has left the faith. This week, invite them once: share a meal, or ask them to come to a gathering with you. If they don’t come, that is all right; you have invited them.
Scripture: World English Bible.