Hezekiah Leads the People Back to God
CLASS 4 ISSUES
Study: 2 Chronicles 30: 1 – 9, 26 – 27
Background: 2 Chronicles 30: 1 – 27
Devotional: Psalm 1
Lesson 2 September 13, 2025
Key Verse
So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. 2 Chronicles 30:26
INTRODUCTION
Can God act in a dramatic way to rescue His people from hopelessness?
How does God heal and show mercy, when His people have no humility, have no unity and chose to be divided?
Is tribalism so ingrained in human beings that it will slow down and even prevent us moving forward spiritually and in some cases moving materially forward?
Can the insurmountable and impossible problems facing the people of God ever be solved?
Can there ever be reconciliation between the people of God remembering that reconciliation is the supernatural work of God?
How does God ways seem to be unusual?
Let us look at how bad the situations can become for God’s people, and the reasons for that slide into horror.
The prophet clues us into this and shows us how God can stir up the remnant of His people and direct them so that they set up unity as a priority and become united.
He describes what happens when sin is allowed to become the norm and trusting in God is regarded as foolishness. So the prophet describes and warns what develops when God’s people join with their own degenerate relatives and also join with the pagan enemies of God:
“Because these people rejected the slowly flowing water of Shiloah and rejoiced with Resin and the son of Remaliah,
The Lord will certainly bring against them
The mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River
The king of Assyria and all his glory.
It shall overflow its channels and spill over all its banks,
It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;
And its flooded banks will fill your entire land,Immanuel”.
Isaiah Chapter 1 had a pointed rebuke of Israel and Judah who he described as a “sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: thay have forsaken the ord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward”.
But yet the prophet made it clear that God in His mercy had made a way for them when there seemed to be no way. He had invited them to reason with Him. So God advised and issued His invitation:
“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.
Clearly king Hezekiah needed to turn to God and pray to Him to use His infinite majesty, capabilities, knowledge, love, compassion and mercy on behalf of His people.
Human wisdom had no place in solving what is wrong with us.
The year 715 B.C., marked the end of one of the darkest periods in the storied history of the nation Israel. It also marked the dawn of a period of enlightenment for that troubled nation.
King Hezekiah ascended the throne of Judah that year following the death of his father, King Ahaz; one of the most evil kings to ever rule in either the Northern (Israel) or Southern Kingdom (Judah).
The Scriptures introduce Hezekiah with this statement:
“He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father David had done”. 2 Chronicles 29:2; 2 Kings 18:3.
If ever a time the nation needed a godly leader it was then but who would have imagined that the leader would be the son of the evil, idolatrous Ahaz.
Hezekiah ‘hit the ground running’ in turning the nation back to YHWH and we read in chapter 29:3-5,
“In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the public square on the east.5 Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place. ….
Much credit is due to Hezekiah and we must learn to embrace godly leadership.
But let us be mindful that what we see here is the ever faithful Jehovah who against all expectation given the embedded idolatry and immorality in the nation raised up a godly leader, maybe from the most unexpected of places.
Judah was constituted a theocracy and the religious and civil life of the nation revolved around the Temple and its proper restoration was the immediate priority of Hezekiah’s reign. So, following the restoration of the Temple and its services in Chapter 29 Hezekiah directed his attention to the even more daunting and strenuous task to reunite in worship, the hitherto separated peoples of the north and south.
Hezekiah reigned in Jerusalem 715 B.C. – 686 B.C. The division of the united monarchy of Israel into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah occurred in 931 BC during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.
Instead of peaceful coexistence, the two kingdoms were hostile toward each other (1 Kings 15:16, 32; 2 Chronicles 13:1–20).
Nearly two hundred years later, Ahaz ascended the throne in Judah (reigned 735–715 BC). Evil and unfaithfulness marked his reign (2 Chronicles 28:1–4). Before and during this period Assyria was the dominant military power in the region and both Israel and Judah paid tribute to the Assyrian King.
Ultimately in 722 B.C. Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians. The monarchy was never re-established in the north but the remnant still maintained some tribal identity.
As noted, when Ahaz’s son Hezekiah took the throne (reigned approximately 715–685 BC), the Temple was in physical disrepair and spiritual defilement. As a result, Hezekiah initiated a restoration project to purify the Temple so that the people might again faithfully worship the Lord (2 Chronicles 29:3).
After the project was concluded in only 16 days (29:17), the king held a rededication ceremony, which included rightly ordered worship (29:20–36).
Hezekiah’s next big move was to re-institute the very important Feast of Passover to which he invited people from Israel and Judah to celebrate Passover and thereby reorient their spiritual focus. One writer notes:
“The remnant of the northern tribes that had been left in the land by the kings of Assyria had in the most part degenerated into paganism and were naturally resentful that Judah had been spared though they fully aware that Judah’s sins against God were just as extensive as their own.
They did not realize that God had humbled and destroyed their kingdom as an example of what would also happen to Judah.”
The gathering would remind the people of their shared spiritual heritage. Through the celebration, the people could put aside differences and attend to what they had in common as the people of God.
Cynics might have viewed this initiative as a political ploy, however the king had the most noble of motives which was recognized by many and attendees arrived in Jerusalem from north and south.
Some spurned Hezekiah’s invitation but many particularly from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulon humbled themselves and attended the Passover in Jerusalem, for they knew God had established Jerusalem as His city for worship.
There was an issue with the date of the event but given the challenging circumstances this was excused and even the Law made an allowance the feast to be observed outside the designated date.
Families, friends, and communities sometimes grow apart and become estranged. Sometimes, separation occurs due to external circumstances, such as one person moving away from the other; other times, the division results from conflict in the relationship.
Much time and circumstance had separated God’s people. Following years of separation between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, an opportunity arose for the two to reunite.
What better way to unite brothers? Would unified celebration and worship overcome years of hostility?
It is God’s will for His people to live as one; a purpose for which Jesus especially prayed, (John 17).
Celebration of a common interest among separated parties can be a vehicle for unification.
Most importantly this Feast was ordained by God in the Law and Hezekiah was God’s man for the occasion.
Let us learn from Hezeliah’s example and most importantly understand the foremost result of this Passover celebration was God’s way His estranged people were led back to Him.
THE TEXT
1. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh.
The division between Israel and Judah, now two hundred years along, works against any chances for unified worship in Jerusalem. But given Israel’s oppression at the hands of the Assyrians, Hezekiah saw an opportunity to reunite the people in worship. He was eager to return the purified and consecrated temple to its intended service for all Israelites.
Hezekiah invited all of Israel and Judah, mentioning two tribes of Israel by name. The significance of Ephraim is that the designation is often synonymous with the entire kingdom of Israel (examples: Jeremiah 7:15; Hosea 5:1–3). The tribe of Manasseh is the largest of the twelve tribes in terms of geographic size. Its land allotment is specified in Joshua 17:7–11.
God’s people must seek unity and reconciliation even under the most testing circumstances.
That they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, ….
The house of the Lord at Jerusalem (the Temple) and its predecessor, the Tabernacle, was to be the focus of Israelite worship. However, following the division of the kingdom, King Jeroboam I established pagan worship practices for the northern kingdom of Israel. These practices were intended to keep his people from going to worship at the Temple (1 Kings 12:25–33). His practices directly disobeyed God; the result would be the exile of the northern tribes
(2 Kings 17:1–20).
Over a dozen evil kings followed Jeroboam I on the throne of the Northern Kingdom. We wonder how much hope Hezekiah had in attracting Israelites in the northern territory to keep the Passover.
Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt
(Exodus 12:1–14, 21–30). The Law of Moses prescribes this yearly observance “at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in” (Deuteronomy 16:1–6; 12:1–7). A well-attended Passover would be the climax of Hezekiah’s restoration project.
2. For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month.
The Law of Moses dictates that observance of the Passover should begin at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Israelite year
(Leviticus 23:5). The Lord allowed observance in the second month under certain conditions (Numbers 9:9–13).
Note the king still relatively young on the throne wisely consulted with the elders on what could have been a thorny issue.
3. … because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
The scope of the Passover observance Hezekiah envisioned required much planning and lead time.
These realities reveal two obstacles that prevented the celebration from occurring on the fourteenth day of the first month (at that time).
The first hindrance, a shortage of sanctified priests, echoed the same shortage mentioned in 2 Chronicles 29:34. This is one of six places where the Chronicler mentioned the issue of self-sanctification (1 Chronicles 15:12; 2 Chronicles 5:11; 29:5; 30:3, 17). The procedure for the ritual is outlined in Leviticus 21:1–22:16.
The second hindrance is reflected in that not everyone had gathered themselves together in time for the observance. The Feast had not been observed in decades; appreciation for and its importance had dwindled during the reign of Ahaz. Some time was needed to communicate the invitation and for those accepting it to arrive in Jerusalem. The logistics of this is the subject of the immediately following verses.
4. Some form of the phrase from Beersheba even to Dan (south to north) occurs nine times in the Old Testament to reflect the entirety of the kingdom of Israel before the division of 931 BC (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:2, 15; 1 Kings 4:25; 1 Chronicles 21:2).
Beersheba is about forty-five miles to the south-southwest of Jerusalem and Dan is more than one hundred and fifty miles to the north. A walking pace of three miles per hour would require one hundred hours of walking round trip to get the proclamation to Dan and its people. The round trip would likely require the better part of two weeks, depending on various factors.
5. A long time, approximately 200 years, had elapsed since the united monarchy ended.
… had not celebrated it in great numbers as was written, likely refers to the instructions in Deuteronomy 16:1–8.
6. Without delay, couriers went throughout the land inviting all the Israelites to return to the LORD God of their forefathers and so experience His blessing. They held out the promise that if the Israelites would do so God would return their relatives who had been taken captive to them.
Note the highlight of the invitation was a return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Here we see what was foremost on the mind of the king.
God’s interest must have priority in the lives of believers!
The fact that they were sent throughout all Israel and Judah meant they took multiple copies of the invitation—hence the plural word letters; another layer to the logistics. The messengers’ strategy was to take the invitation “from city to city” (vs.10). The content of the letters comes next.
… the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,… we recall that Israel was the name of the patriarch whose original name was Jacob (Genesis 32:28; 35:10). In the era after the division of the monarchy, the designation children of Israel usually referred only to those of the ten northern tribes (2 Chronicles 13:16, 18; 31:1); and so it seems to be here.
The decree’s message was simple: turn again to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. The people had turned from the Lord through their idolatry. They had rejected the God of their ancestors.
As a result of this sin, the Lord allowed foreign invasion. Kings of Assyria took people captive (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26). The inhabitants of Israel who were left behind in the land or had escaped captivity were designated as the remnant.
7. He made them an object of horror, just as you see. …
The problem noted in the invitation parallels Hezekiah’s previous warning to the priests and Levites (2 Chronicles 29:4–6). Centuries before Hezekiah’s day, the Lord warned the people through Moses of the devastation that would come about should the people reject the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:15–28; etc.). The Lord’s words came true. Because of the sin of the Israelites, they were conquered by the Assyrians. The remnant Israelites could see for themselves the catastrophe that had occurred as a result of the invasion.
8. Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, … to be stiffnecked is to be stubborn. The Old Testament apply this condition to the Israelite people numerous times; several of those connect being stiffnecked across generations (2 Kings 17:14; Nehemiah 9:16; Jeremiah 7:26). This problem persisted into the New Testament era (Acts 7:51).
King Hezekiah did not seek to soften the situation of those in the North. It was their persistent sin and unfaithfulness why God expelled them from the land.
Note with care that the people of God must face hard truths and those who avoid difficult passages and hard messages do God’s people a disfavor.
But yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, …
The invitation featured three imperatives for returning to the Lord: yield, enter, and serve. The three words being translated are found together in only one other place in the Old Testament: Exodus 13:5. There, the order and the actors are somewhat different.
In Exodus 13:5, it is the Lord Himself who performs the first two actions. It’s almost as if the Text is saying, “The Lord took the first actions, and did His parts long ago; now it’s your turn.” The contexts of the two texts are the same in that both deal with the Passover celebration.
For God to exercise the fierceness of his wrath is not inevitable; not yet, anyway. There’s still an opportunity for change so that God’s anger may turn away from those receiving the invitation. This is the second time that Hezekiah gives awareness of divine anger; the first time is in 2 Chronicles 29:10
(2 Chronicles 28:11, 13).
… may turn away from you … believers can expect God’s mercy in response to true repentance.
9. For if you return to the Lord, …sounds familiar? It should, since what we see here is a relentless theme in the Old Testament.
One commentator observes that the message of the Old Testament prophets can be boiled down to three words: Repent or die! Some passages in regard to (re) turning to God are Deuteronomy 30:2–5; Isaiah 1:16; 55:7; Jeremiah 25:5; and Ezekiel 33:11.
The Lord’s willingness to renew relationship with His people comes from His gracious and merciful character. Moses identified these attributes of the Lord’s character after seeing the Lord on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:6). The worship of Israel also proclaimed these attributes (Psalms 103:8; 111:4; 145:8; etc.).
The Lord extends grace and mercy to those who seek Him.
2 Chronicles 30:26–27
Although the king’s invitation was sent throughout Israel and Judah, it was not always received positively. Some people “humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 30:11); others responded with laughter and mockery (30:10).
All of Judah, some from Israel, and foreigners in Judah celebrated Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread together in Jerusalem (30:13–25).
26. So there was great joy in Jerusalem: the time of Solomon was some two hundred years in the past at this point. So, the great joy in Jerusalem was not due to any personal recall of previous Passover celebrations. Rather, the people seemed to realize that they received anew something they’had been missing
(2 Chronicles 7:8–10).
Several decades after King Hezekiah, his great-grandson Josiah became king of Judah (reigned 640–609 BC). Like his great-grandfather, Josiah “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 34:2). After destroying items of pagan worship (34:3–7), Josiah would oversee efforts to restore the Temple.
That included reinstituting Passover celebration (35:1).
Comparing the animal sacrifices of 2 Chronicles 30:24 with those of 35:7–9, we surmise that Josiah’s Passover drew almost twice the number of people to Jerusalem as did Hezekiah’s. The Chronicler describes Josiah’s Passover similarly to Hezekiah’s: “There was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept” (35:18).
27. the priests the Levites … references to the priests and Levites remind us that all priests are Levites (that is, descended from the tribe of Levi), but not all Levites are priests (Numbers 3; etc.). Bestowing a blessing on the people was one of the tasks given to the Levites by the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 10:8; 21:5).
Perhaps this blessing was modeled after the priestly blessing given by the first priest, Aaron (Numbers 6:23–27). The content of the prayer of the priests and Levites may reflect the same sentiment as King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple (2 Chronicles 6:21, 24–31, 34).
CONCLUSION
The importance of this Chapter stands clearly.
What do you think is God’s vision for you and your like-minded brethren?
Are you seeing God’s invitation handed to you by human instrumentalities?
What is the place of humility?
Do you see God working anywhere in your life?
Does the work of God require purification with repentance?
Is there joyful worship in your religious experience and you will act to extene this time of fellowship pas the restricted time allotted to worship?
Christians are not immune to division. Unfortunately, a brief look at social media, not to mention centuries of history itself, reveals hostilities and disputes among believers.
However, when faced with these attitudes, we can look to the example of Hezekiah. His leadership in the face of sin and other dysfunction can be an example for us in the twenty-first century AD.
First, we must always turn to the Lord and repent; this requires realizing that the most important thing is to be with Him.
Second, we should unite with other believers and come before God in worship as a repentant people. When these happen, blessings result.
But let us not forget that there is godly unity and this is opposed to the “unity of the world”.
The unity of God is based on the possession of the Holy Spirit which indwells true believers. It is based on the Laws, the testimonies and truths of God that the Holy Spirit has inspired and had men of God write.
Human writings and interpretations based on sinful considerations will never produce unity, repentance, and deep and not superficial joy in worship.
So what will shape your life? Is it the Texts of Scripture?
So we implore-
-Pray and Rely on God’s grace for healing
-Seek the joy that comes from sincere worship and obedience to God.
-Embrace Godly Leadership.
-Ignore leadership which is self-serving and which does not follow the call of and invitation in Isaiah 1:16-20
-Read those Verses many times and heed them.
-Make repentance your priority.
-Trust always in God who is Jehovah Almighty and in His grace, and then
-CELEBRATE JOYFULLY
Hezekiah Leads the People Back to God
CLASS 4 ISSUES
Study: 2 Chronicles 30: 1 – 9, 26 – 27
Background: 2 Chronicles 30: 1 – 27
Devotional: Psalm 1
Lesson 2 September 13, 2025
Key Verse So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. 2 Chronicles 30:26
INTRODUCTION
Can God act in a dramatic way to rescue His people from hopelessness?
How does God heal and show mercy, when His people have no humility, have no unity and chose to be divided?
Is tribalism so ingrained in human beings that it will slow down and even prevent us moving forward spiritually and in some cases moving materially forward?
Can the insurmountable and impossible problems facing the people of God ever be solved?
Can there ever be reconciliation between the people of God remembering that reconciliation is the supernatural work of God?
How does God ways seem to be unusual?
Let us look at how bad the situations can become for God’s people, and the reasons for that slide into horror.
The prophet clues us into this and shows us how God can stir up the remnant of His people and direct them so that they set up unity as a priority and become united.
He describes what happens when sin is allowed to become the norm and trusting in God is regarded as foolishness. So the prophet describes and warns what develops when God’s people join with their own degenerate relatives and also join with the pagan enemies of God:
“Because these people rejected the slowly flowing water of Shiloah and rejoiced with Resin and the son of Remaliah,
The Lord will certainly bring against them
The mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River
The king of Assyria and all his glory.
It shall overflow its channels and spill over all its banks,
It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;
And its flooded banks will fill your entire land,Immanuel”.
Isaiah Chapter 1 had a pointed rebuke of Israel and Judah who he described as a “sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: thay have forsaken the ord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward”.
But yet the prophet made it clear that God in His mercy had made a way for them when there seemed to be no way. He had invited them to reason with Him. So God advised and issued His invitation:
“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.
Clearly king Hezekiah needed to turn to God and pray to Him to use His infinite majesty, capabilities, knowledge, love, compassion and mercy on behalf of His people.
Human wisdom had no place in solving what is wrong with us.
The year 715 B.C., marked the end of one of the darkest periods in the storied history of the nation Israel. It also marked the dawn of a period of enlightenment for that troubled nation.
King Hezekiah ascended the throne of Judah that year following the death of his father, King Ahaz; one of the most evil kings to ever rule in either the Northern (Israel) or Southern Kingdom (Judah).
The Scriptures introduce Hezekiah with this statement:
“He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father David had done”. 2 Chronicles 29:2; 2 Kings 18:3.
If ever a time the nation needed a godly leader it was then but who would have imagined that the leader would be the son of the evil, idolatrous Ahaz.
Hezekiah ‘hit the ground running’ in turning the nation back to YHWH and we read in chapter 29:3-5,
“In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the public square on the east.5 Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place. ….
Much credit is due to Hezekiah and we must learn to embrace godly leadership.
But let us be mindful that what we see here is the ever faithful Jehovah who against all expectation given the embedded idolatry and immorality in the nation raised up a godly leader, maybe from the most unexpected of places.
Judah was constituted a theocracy and the religious and civil life of the nation revolved around the Temple and its proper restoration was the immediate priority of Hezekiah’s reign. So, following the restoration of the Temple and its services in Chapter 29 Hezekiah directed his attention to the even more daunting and strenuous task to reunite in worship, the hitherto separated peoples of the north and south.
Hezekiah reigned in Jerusalem 715 B.C. – 686 B.C. The division of the united monarchy of Israel into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah occurred in 931 BC during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.
Instead of peaceful coexistence, the two kingdoms were hostile toward each other (1 Kings 15:16, 32; 2 Chronicles 13:1–20).
Nearly two hundred years later, Ahaz ascended the throne in Judah (reigned 735–715 BC). Evil and unfaithfulness marked his reign (2 Chronicles 28:1–4). Before and during this period Assyria was the dominant military power in the region and both Israel and Judah paid tribute to the Assyrian King.
Ultimately in 722 B.C. Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians. The monarchy was never re-established in the north but the remnant still maintained some tribal identity.
As noted, when Ahaz’s son Hezekiah took the throne (reigned approximately 715–685 BC), the Temple was in physical disrepair and spiritual defilement. As a result, Hezekiah initiated a restoration project to purify the Temple so that the people might again faithfully worship the Lord (2 Chronicles 29:3).
After the project was concluded in only 16 days (29:17), the king held a rededication ceremony, which included rightly ordered worship (29:20–36).
Hezekiah’s next big move was to re-institute the very important Feast of Passover to which he invited people from Israel and Judah to celebrate Passover and thereby reorient their spiritual focus. One writer notes:
“The remnant of the northern tribes that had been left in the land by the kings of Assyria had in the most part degenerated into paganism and were naturally resentful that Judah had been spared though they fully aware that Judah’s sins against God were just as extensive as their own.
They did not realize that God had humbled and destroyed their kingdom as an example of what would also happen to Judah.”
The gathering would remind the people of their shared spiritual heritage. Through the celebration, the people could put aside differences and attend to what they had in common as the people of God.
Cynics might have viewed this initiative as a political ploy, however the king had the most noble of motives which was recognized by many and attendees arrived in Jerusalem from north and south.
Some spurned Hezekiah’s invitation but many particularly from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulon humbled themselves and attended the Passover in Jerusalem, for they knew God had established Jerusalem as His city for worship.
There was an issue with the date of the event but given the challenging circumstances this was excused and even the Law made an allowance the feast to be observed outside the designated date.
Families, friends, and communities sometimes grow apart and become estranged. Sometimes, separation occurs due to external circumstances, such as one person moving away from the other; other times, the division results from conflict in the relationship.
Much time and circumstance had separated God’s people. Following years of separation between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, an opportunity arose for the two to reunite.
What better way to unite brothers? Would unified celebration and worship overcome years of hostility?
It is God’s will for His people to live as one; a purpose for which Jesus especially prayed, (John 17).
Celebration of a common interest among separated parties can be a vehicle for unification.
Most importantly this Feast was ordained by God in the Law and Hezekiah was God’s man for the occasion.
Let us learn from Hezeliah’s example and most importantly understand the foremost result of this Passover celebration was God’s way His estranged people were led back to Him.
THE TEXT
1. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh.
The division between Israel and Judah, now two hundred years along, works against any chances for unified worship in Jerusalem. But given Israel’s oppression at the hands of the Assyrians, Hezekiah saw an opportunity to reunite the people in worship. He was eager to return the purified and consecrated temple to its intended service for all Israelites.
Hezekiah invited all of Israel and Judah, mentioning two tribes of Israel by name. The significance of Ephraim is that the designation is often synonymous with the entire kingdom of Israel (examples: Jeremiah 7:15; Hosea 5:1–3). The tribe of Manasseh is the largest of the twelve tribes in terms of geographic size. Its land allotment is specified in Joshua 17:7–11.
God’s people must seek unity and reconciliation even under the most testing circumstances.
That they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, ….
The house of the Lord at Jerusalem (the Temple) and its predecessor, the Tabernacle, was to be the focus of Israelite worship. However, following the division of the kingdom, King Jeroboam I established pagan worship practices for the northern kingdom of Israel. These practices were intended to keep his people from going to worship at the Temple (1 Kings 12:25–33). His practices directly disobeyed God; the result would be the exile of the northern tribes
(2 Kings 17:1–20).
Over a dozen evil kings followed Jeroboam I on the throne of the Northern Kingdom. We wonder how much hope Hezekiah had in attracting Israelites in the northern territory to keep the Passover.
Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt
(Exodus 12:1–14, 21–30). The Law of Moses prescribes this yearly observance “at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in” (Deuteronomy 16:1–6; 12:1–7). A well-attended Passover would be the climax of Hezekiah’s restoration project.
2. For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month.
The Law of Moses dictates that observance of the Passover should begin at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Israelite year
(Leviticus 23:5). The Lord allowed observance in the second month under certain conditions (Numbers 9:9–13).
Note the king still relatively young on the throne wisely consulted with the elders on what could have been a thorny issue.
3. … because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
The scope of the Passover observance Hezekiah envisioned required much planning and lead time.
These realities reveal two obstacles that prevented the celebration from occurring on the fourteenth day of the first month (at that time).
The first hindrance, a shortage of sanctified priests, echoed the same shortage mentioned in 2 Chronicles 29:34. This is one of six places where the Chronicler mentioned the issue of self-sanctification (1 Chronicles 15:12; 2 Chronicles 5:11; 29:5; 30:3, 17). The procedure for the ritual is outlined in Leviticus 21:1–22:16.
The second hindrance is reflected in that not everyone had gathered themselves together in time for the observance. The Feast had not been observed in decades; appreciation for and its importance had dwindled during the reign of Ahaz. Some time was needed to communicate the invitation and for those accepting it to arrive in Jerusalem. The logistics of this is the subject of the immediately following verses.
4. Some form of the phrase from Beersheba even to Dan (south to north) occurs nine times in the Old Testament to reflect the entirety of the kingdom of Israel before the division of 931 BC (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:2, 15; 1 Kings 4:25; 1 Chronicles 21:2).
Beersheba is about forty-five miles to the south-southwest of Jerusalem and Dan is more than one hundred and fifty miles to the north. A walking pace of three miles per hour would require one hundred hours of walking round trip to get the proclamation to Dan and its people. The round trip would likely require the better part of two weeks, depending on various factors.
5. A long time, approximately 200 years, had elapsed since the united monarchy ended.
… had not celebrated it in great numbers as was written, likely refers to the instructions in Deuteronomy 16:1–8.
6. Without delay, couriers went throughout the land inviting all the Israelites to return to the LORD God of their forefathers and so experience His blessing. They held out the promise that if the Israelites would do so God would return their relatives who had been taken captive to them.
Note the highlight of the invitation was a return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Here we see what was foremost on the mind of the king.
God’s interest must have priority in the lives of believers!
The fact that they were sent throughout all Israel and Judah meant they took multiple copies of the invitation—hence the plural word letters; another layer to the logistics. The messengers’ strategy was to take the invitation “from city to city” (vs.10). The content of the letters comes next.
… the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,… we recall that Israel was the name of the patriarch whose original name was Jacob (Genesis 32:28; 35:10). In the era after the division of the monarchy, the designation children of Israel usually referred only to those of the ten northern tribes (2 Chronicles 13:16, 18; 31:1); and so it seems to be here.
The decree’s message was simple: turn again to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. The people had turned from the Lord through their idolatry. They had rejected the God of their ancestors.
As a result of this sin, the Lord allowed foreign invasion. Kings of Assyria took people captive (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26). The inhabitants of Israel who were left behind in the land or had escaped captivity were designated as the remnant.
7. He made them an object of horror, just as you see. …
The problem noted in the invitation parallels Hezekiah’s previous warning to the priests and Levites (2 Chronicles 29:4–6). Centuries before Hezekiah’s day, the Lord warned the people through Moses of the devastation that would come about should the people reject the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:15–28; etc.). The Lord’s words came true. Because of the sin of the Israelites, they were conquered by the Assyrians. The remnant Israelites could see for themselves the catastrophe that had occurred as a result of the invasion.
8. Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, … to be stiffnecked is to be stubborn. The Old Testament apply this condition to the Israelite people numerous times; several of those connect being stiffnecked across generations (2 Kings 17:14; Nehemiah 9:16; Jeremiah 7:26). This problem persisted into the New Testament era (Acts 7:51).
King Hezekiah did not seek to soften the situation of those in the North. It was their persistent sin and unfaithfulness why God expelled them from the land.
Note with care that the people of God must face hard truths and those who avoid difficult passages and hard messages do God’s people a disfavor.
But yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, …
The invitation featured three imperatives for returning to the Lord: yield, enter, and serve. The three words being translated are found together in only one other place in the Old Testament: Exodus 13:5. There, the order and the actors are somewhat different.
In Exodus 13:5, it is the Lord Himself who performs the first two actions. It’s almost as if the Text is saying, “The Lord took the first actions, and did His parts long ago; now it’s your turn.” The contexts of the two texts are the same in that both deal with the Passover celebration.
For God to exercise the fierceness of his wrath is not inevitable; not yet, anyway. There’s still an opportunity for change so that God’s anger may turn away from those receiving the invitation. This is the second time that Hezekiah gives awareness of divine anger; the first time is in 2 Chronicles 29:10
(2 Chronicles 28:11, 13).
… may turn away from you … believers can expect God’s mercy in response to true repentance.
9. For if you return to the Lord, …sounds familiar? It should, since what we see here is a relentless theme in the Old Testament.
One commentator observes that the message of the Old Testament prophets can be boiled down to three words: Repent or die! Some passages in regard to (re) turning to God are Deuteronomy 30:2–5; Isaiah 1:16; 55:7; Jeremiah 25:5; and Ezekiel 33:11.
The Lord’s willingness to renew relationship with His people comes from His gracious and merciful character. Moses identified these attributes of the Lord’s character after seeing the Lord on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:6). The worship of Israel also proclaimed these attributes (Psalms 103:8; 111:4; 145:8; etc.).
The Lord extends grace and mercy to those who seek Him.
2 Chronicles 30:26–27
Although the king’s invitation was sent throughout Israel and Judah, it was not always received positively. Some people “humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 30:11); others responded with laughter and mockery (30:10).
All of Judah, some from Israel, and foreigners in Judah celebrated Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread together in Jerusalem (30:13–25).
26. So there was great joy in Jerusalem: the time of Solomon was some two hundred years in the past at this point. So, the great joy in Jerusalem was not due to any personal recall of previous Passover celebrations. Rather, the people seemed to realize that they received anew something they’had been missing
(2 Chronicles 7:8–10).
Several decades after King Hezekiah, his great-grandson Josiah became king of Judah (reigned 640–609 BC). Like his great-grandfather, Josiah “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 34:2). After destroying items of pagan worship (34:3–7), Josiah would oversee efforts to restore the Temple.
That included reinstituting Passover celebration (35:1).
Comparing the animal sacrifices of 2 Chronicles 30:24 with those of 35:7–9, we surmise that Josiah’s Passover drew almost twice the number of people to Jerusalem as did Hezekiah’s. The Chronicler describes Josiah’s Passover similarly to Hezekiah’s: “There was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept” (35:18).
27. the priests the Levites … references to the priests and Levites remind us that all priests are Levites (that is, descended from the tribe of Levi), but not all Levites are priests (Numbers 3; etc.). Bestowing a blessing on the people was one of the tasks given to the Levites by the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 10:8; 21:5).
Perhaps this blessing was modeled after the priestly blessing given by the first priest, Aaron (Numbers 6:23–27). The content of the prayer of the priests and Levites may reflect the same sentiment as King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple (2 Chronicles 6:21, 24–31, 34).
CONCLUSION
The importance of this Chapter stands clearly.
What do you think is God’s vision for you and your like-minded brethren?
Are you seeing God’s invitation handed to you by human instrumentalities?
What is the place of humility?
Do you see God working anywhere in your life?
Does the work of God require purification with repentance?
Is there joyful worship in your religious experience and you will act to extene this time of fellowship pas the restricted time allotted to worship?
Christians are not immune to division. Unfortunately, a brief look at social media, not to mention centuries of history itself, reveals hostilities and disputes among believers.
However, when faced with these attitudes, we can look to the example of Hezekiah. His leadership in the face of sin and other dysfunction can be an example for us in the twenty-first century AD.
First, we must always turn to the Lord and repent; this requires realizing that the most important thing is to be with Him.
Second, we should unite with other believers and come before God in worship as a repentant people. When these happen, blessings result.
But let us not forget that there is godly unity and this is opposed to the “unity of the world”.
The unity of God is based on the possession of the Holy Spirit which indwells true believers. It is based on the Laws, the testimonies and truths of God that the Holy Spirit has inspired and had men of God write.
Human writings and interpretations based on sinful considerations will never produce unity, repentance, and deep and not superficial joy in worship.
So what will shape your life? Is it the Texts of Scripture?
So we implore-
-Pray and Rely on God’s grace for healing
-Seek the joy that comes from sincere worship and obedience to God.
-Embrace Godly Leadership.
-Ignore leadership which is self-serving and which does not follow the call of and invitation in Isaiah 1:16-20
-Read those Verses many times and heed them.
-Make repentance your priority.
-Trust always in God who is Jehovah Almighty and in His grace, and then
–CELEBRATE JOYFULLY