Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 29:11

My 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.

11. to stand before him ] Deu 10:8.

to serve him, and that you should minister unto him ] R.V. to minister unto him, and that ye should be his ministers.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2Ch 29:11

For the Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him.

Divine service

I. Some persons may ask, why should we serve God? He doesnt seem as if He troubled about us? We admit that so far as outward appearances go, it seems as if this great universe was something like a well-regulated machine with God as the invisible engineer. When a human being, man, woman, or child, goes against the laws of this great machine, God does not stop it, as a human mechanic would his engine. The Christian believer sometimes wonders why God does not in some critical emergency interfere; but shall we that are but as the creatures of a day express any doubt of the wisdom of God?

II. Permit me to say a few words to those who are now serving God.

1. Be cheerful in your service.

2. Let your service be pure and unselfish. One man who had been helping in a good work for a few months, with a cry of discontent said, I shall not come any more because nobody ever thanks me. Does the violet, or the rose, or the sun need thanks for giving forth beauty, and perfume, and light? The beat reward of good service is in the heart of the server. A man who engages in the Divine service from selfish motives is like a fettered bird. The bird could wing itself into the vault of yonder blue sky; but it has a stone tied to its leg. Your selfishness is a stone which fetters your usefulness.

3. Let your service be continual.

III. Let me speak to those who have no hope of ever becoming the servants of God. God knows and cares for you. (W. Birch.)

Diligence and exertion in the Chistian ministry

Let us endeavour–

I. To explain the counsel or Hezekiah to the priests and Levites: be not now negligent. This is sometimes rendered: be not now deceived. This conveys the idea that we are never more apt to impose upon ourselves than when we are remiss in duty, for we vainly imagine that God will not be strict to mark against us what is so natural and so pleasing to the depraved heart of man. It implies a former deficiency in the performance of duty. This counsel was–

1. Most necessary.

2. Highly important and useful

3. Peculiarly reasonable.

II. To consider some motives to its enforcement.

1. If we would act in accordance with the design of God in the appointment of the sacred office of the ministry, we will use the utmost diligence in His service.

2. The number, the variety, the difficulty and importance of the duties connected with the office of the ministry, require diligence.

5. Consistency with your professed character.

4. The shortness and uncertainty of the time allotted.

5. The sense of responsibility. Ye serve the Lord Christ. (W. Schaw.)

The Christian ministry

I. While all Gods children are called to serve Him, there is a special sense in which the minister of God is chosen to serve Him

1. He is outwardly chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the church.

2. He is inwardly brought to it; for he declares that he thinks in his heart that he is truly called.

II. The object of the ministerial office is the glory of God in the salvation of sinners.

III. The means whereby this result is to be effected are–

1. The preaching of the Gospel.

(1) Faithfully.

(2) Boldly.

(3) Affectionately.

2. The right discharge of his regular official duties, baptism, marriage, etc.

3. Personal intercourse with his flock.

4. The ministers consistency of life.

IV. The attitude of the minister is one of peculiar dignity; it is to stand before the Lord. Exhortation; be not now negligent.

1. In Prayer.

2. In study, It is said of the Venerable Bede, that he never knew what it was to do nothing, and always found it sweet to be either learning, teaching, or writing.

3. In labour.

4. In conduct. (F. B. Ashley.)

The complex idea of worship

We make mistakes if we suppose that worship is a mere cloud, a foam of sentiment; it is work of all kinds, door-opening and lamp-lighting and floor-sweeping, cleansing, preparing, ventilating, expecting the people and welcoming them with joy; and then incense-burning, and cross-uplifting, and cry of thunderous and mute eloquence, and hymn, sweet, gentle, tender, and prayer that beats against heaven like artillery–all these things and many more ere included in the complex idea of worship. Let each man, therefore, do what he can in this matter, knowing that no one man works the whole ministry of worship, but that it is an act of co-operation and combination, one part playing with another part, and each interrelating itself with each other, so as to constitute a sum total significant of unity, adaptation, music, and homage. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

My sons; so he calls them indifferently, though many of them were elder than himself, because he was by his tender love and affection, as he was by his office obliged to be, a nursing-father to them. See Isa 49:23.

Be not now negligent, in sanctifying yourselves and the temple, 2Ch 29:5, and in quickening and preparing yourselves and the people to Gods service.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

My sons,…. So, as the father of his people, he speaks of them in the most tender and affectionate manner:

be not now negligent; backward to this good work, slothful, sluggish, and remiss in it; according to Jarchi and Kimchi, the word has the signification of error, and the sense may be, do not continue in the error in which you have been, in neglecting the service of God:

for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense; on the altar of incense, which was the work of the priests, and for which they were selected from the rest of their brethren; and Hezekiah’s discourse was directed to them, as well as to the Levites, 2Ch 29:4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(11) My sons.A condescending term from the king; just as my father was a term of respect (2Ki. 2:12; 2Ki. 5:13; 2Ki. 13:14).

Be not now negligent.The Niphal form of the verb shalah (to be at ease) occurs nowhere else. The margin is incorrect.

The Lord hath chosen you.You hath the Lord chosen. The pronoun is emphatic. (Comp. the similar words: 1Ch. 23:13; Deu. 10:8.)

To stand before him, (in order) to serve him, is the construction.

And that ye should minister.Literally, And to become to him ministers and thurifers.

The thoughts and the style of the royal address make it evident enough that it is a free composition, in the well-known manner of ancient historians.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. My sons The king speaks kindly, as the father of all the people whom he rules.

Be not negligent Literally, do not go astray.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments