UNROLL
First light in the empty temple court: the long, plain stone house with its two bronze pillars across pale paving with weeds between the stones, its tall double doors standing just ajar with one narrow line of warm light across the dusty floor, the bronze altar cold, under a calm pale-gold dawn sky.

The Book of

2 Chronicles 29

His father shut the doors of the LORD’s house. In his first month as king, Hezekiah opened them.

36 verses≈ 8 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1SolomonWisdom asked at Gibeon
  2. 2–5The templeBuilt on Mount Moriah
  3. 6–7DedicationIf My people humble themselves
  4. 8–9Solomon's gloryThe queen of Sheba
  5. 10–16DivisionRehoboam to Asa
  6. 17–20JehoshaphatThe battle is God's
  7. 21–24Dark yearsJehoram to Joash
  8. 25–28Proud kingsAmaziah to Ahaz
  9. 29–32HezekiahDoors opened, Passover keptChapter 29
  10. 33–35Manasseh to JosiahMercy and the Book found
  11. 36Exile and returnMay he go up

Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

Judah

Hezekiah of Judah · 29 years

  1. Twenty-five, and twenty-nine years

    Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.

  2. His mother Abijah

    His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

  3. like David

    Right, as David had done

    And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the LORD.

Hezekiah
Hezekiah

Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the square on the east side.

“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.

For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel.

Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. For behold, this is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity.

Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us. Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, to minister before Him, and to burn incense.”

2 Chronicles 29:10–11

Fourteen Levites

The Levites set to work

  1. Levi’s clans

    Kohath, Merari and Gershon

    Then the Levites set to work:

    Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites;

    Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites;

    Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites;

  2. house and singers

    Elizaphan’s and Asaph’s houses

    Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphanites;

    Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaphites;

  3. singers

    Heman’s and Jeduthun’s houses

    Jehiel and Shimei from the Hemanites;

    and Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthunites.

Inner court · size not givenNEastThe houseBronze altarThe SeaStandsStandsThe house, enlarged · 60 × 20 cubitsBoazJachinArkCherubimLampstandsSide roomsMost Holy PlaceHoly PlacePortico

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

The temple

Sixteen days

The cleansing began in the courts on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day the workers reached the portico, and in eight more days they cleansed the house itself, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, finishing on the sixteenth. The priests carried out to the court whatever was unclean inside, and the Levites took it from there down to the Kidron Valley.

The Levites
The Levites

Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported, “We have cleansed the entire house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all its utensils. Moreover, we have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz in his unfaithfulness cast aside during his reign. They are now in front of the altar of the LORD.”

Reflect

Open the doors

Hezekiah did not wait for a better year. In his first month he “opened and repaired the doors of the house of the LORD,” the doors his father had shut. Is there a door in your life you have closed to God: a habit of prayer, His Word, His people? What would opening it this week look like? Write it down.

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials and went up to the house of the LORD. They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And the king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splattered it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splattered the blood on the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs and splattered the blood on the altar.

Morning in the temple court before the square bronze altar: seven live male goats held on cords by Levites, and young King Hezekiah and a few elders in good wool robes bending to lay their hands on the goats' heads, priests in white linen waiting by the altar.

Then they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them. And the priests slaughtered the goats and put their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

The temple court at the hour of the burnt offering, all in the lower third: white smoke rising straight up from the square bronze altar, Levite singers in fine white linen with lyres, upright harps and bronze cymbals along one side, priests with long silver trumpets raised facing them, the assembly beyond, under a calm morning sky.

Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet. For the command had come from the LORD through His prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

And Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be sacrificed on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD and the trumpets began as well, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly was worshiping, the singers were singing, and the trumpeters were playing. All this continued until the burnt offering was completed.

0:39

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

When the offerings were completed, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshiped. Then King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the LORD in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.

Question

Quick question

The priests and Levites cleansed the house of the LORD from the courts inward, and then reported to the king.

How long did it take to cleanse the house of the LORD?

Hezekiah
Hezekiah

Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.

What they brought

The assembly’s offerings

  1. burnt offering

    70 bulls, 100 rams, 200 lambs

    The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

  2. consecrated

    600 bulls, 3,000 sheep

    And the consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.

However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.

Furthermore, the burnt offerings were abundant, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was established. Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had prepared for the people, because everything had been accomplished so quickly.

Pray

What God had prepared

Thank God that He cleanses what we have defiled and opens the way back to Him. Ask for a heart quick to return and slow to neglect, and for the joy of worship restored, in your church and in your home. Thank Him, as Hezekiah and the people did, for “what God had prepared for the people.”

You’ve experienced

2 Chronicles 29

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A verse to carry with you

Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, to minister before Him, and to burn incense.

2 Chronicles 29:11

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