History · Chapter 29 of 36

2 Chronicles 29

Hezekiah, unlike his father Ahaz, does right from the start. In his first month he reopens and repairs the temple doors, gathers the priests and Levites, and calls them to consecrate themselves and cleanse the defiled house. Over sixteen days they purify it. Then Hezekiah leads sacrifices of atonement for all Israel, restores the music and worship ordained by David, and the people rejoice that God prepared them so suddenly.

What happens in 2 Chronicles 29

Hezekiah begins to reign at twenty-five and immediately does right like David. In the first month of his first year he reopens the temple doors his father had shut and repairs them. He assembles the priests and Levites and charges them to consecrate themselves and remove the defilement from the holy place, confessing that their fathers had forsaken God and brought wrath on Judah. He resolves to make a covenant with the LORD so his anger might turn away. The Levites sanctify themselves and cleanse the temple over sixteen days, carrying all uncleanness to the brook Kidron.

Then Hezekiah gathers the city's leaders and offers sin offerings for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah; the priests sprinkle the blood to make atonement for all Israel. He restores the Levitical singers and instruments as David commanded, and worship resumes with song and offerings. The people bring sacrifices freely, and Hezekiah rejoices that God prepared them so quickly.

2 Chronicles 29 in context

Hezekiah is one of the Chronicler's most celebrated reformers, and his cleansing of the temple directly reverses his father Ahaz's closing of it. The urgency, acting in the first month of the first year, signals wholehearted priority. The Chronicler, writing for a restored community rebuilding worship, dwells on the details of consecration, atonement, and Davidic music because reordered worship was central to national renewal.

Hezekiah's reign overlaps the ministry of Isaiah.

Main themes of 2 Chronicles 29

2 Chronicles 29 (KJV)

1Hezekiah 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. 2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 3He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. 4And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, 5And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 6For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. 7Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. 8Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. 9For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense. 12Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah: 13And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah: 14And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel. 15And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. 16And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron. 17Now 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 the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. 18Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof. 19Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD. 20Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD. 21And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD. 22So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. 23And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them: 24And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. 25And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets. 26And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. 28And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped. 30Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped. 31Then 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. 32And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. 33And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. 34But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. 35And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order. 36And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

Verses to carry from 2 Chronicles 29

“He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.”2 Chronicles 29:3

“And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.”2 Chronicles 29:5

“And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.”2 Chronicles 29:24

Reflection

Hezekiah did not wait; in the first month he reopened the doors his father had shut. Is there a place where you have closed the door on God? Renewal often begins by reversing one specific thing and doing the unglamorous work of cleansing. Let atonement in Christ turn your return into joyful worship.

A prayer from 2 Chronicles 29