Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 29:17

Now 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.

17. to sanctify so they sanctified ] Two periods of eight days each were spent in “sanctifying,” the courts apparently occupying eight days and the house itself eight days.

in the sixteenth day ] The LXX. translators read , i.e. on the thirteenth day, perhaps because the fourteenth day of the first month was the Day of the Passover, a day on which no work could be done.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2Ch 29:17

Now they began on the first day of the first month

A new year in Jerusalem

Let us consider–

I.

The work done (2Ch 29:18-19). What a grand work of an analogous character is thereby suggested–as a work, that may possibly be accomplished in the beginning of this year (1Co 3:16).

II. How it came to pass that it was done, and done suddenly.

1. God has prepared the people (2Ch 29:29).

2. In so doing He had rendered the priests and Levites greatly useful (2Ch 29:12-16).

3. King Hezekiah greatly influenced the spirit of the priests, the Levites, and the people, as evident from the character of his address (2Ch 29:5-11). But there is another king, one Jesus, who builds the temple of the Lord, and cleanses it, to whom we are all invited to look, and who shall bear the glory.

III. Some immediate results.

1. A great impulse given to the spirit of worship (2Ch 29:28-30).

2. Extension of a spirit of liberality in connection with the worship and service of the Lord (verse35).

3. Great joy. And that how valuable!

(1) In itself.

(2) In relation to moral improvement–for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

(3) In relation to trials (Heb 3:17-18).

(4) In relation to usefulness (Psa 51:12-13).

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 17. On the first day] “They began on the first day of the first month Nisan.” – Targum.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

In sixteen days purging the house, and porch, and courts, and all the chambers belonging to the temple. This is noted to imply partly the universal abuse and defilement of all the parts of it by Ahaz, which required so much time to remove; and partly the diligence of the priests in this work.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify,…. Either of the reign of King Hezekiah, or rather of the year; the month Ab or Nisan, as the Targum expresses it:

and on the eighth of the month came they to the porch of the Lord; they seem to have begun cleansing the inner part of the temple first, and so came forward until they came to the porch which led into it:

so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; the holy place, and it may be the most holy place, and the court of the priests:

and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end; it took them eight days more to cleanse the outward porch, and the buildings and chambers belonging to the temple; according to Jarchi, it required so much time, because Ahaz had framed pictures of idols upon the walls of the temple, which could not be defaced sooner.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(17) The time the work took. Beginning on the 1st of Nisan with the purification of the courts, they had cleansed them by the 8th of the month, and came to the porch of the Lord, i.e., to the entry of the holy place. The following eight days were spent in cleansing the two holy chambers, and by the 16th of Nisan the work of purification was done.

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

17. They began on the first day and in the sixteenth day they made an end Their exact order of procedure is to be gathered from the whole passage, and the supposable natural order of things. First, of course, the priests and Levites were assembled and addressed by the king, (2Ch 29:4-11😉 next they sanctified themselves, (2Ch 29:15😉 then they proceeded to repair the doors and cleanse the courts of the temple, and had this work done on the eighth day of the month. The cleansing of the temple itself occupied another eight days, so it was not until the sixteenth of the month that their work was accomplished.

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

2Ch 29:17 Now 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.

Ver. 17. Now they began on the first day. ] See 2Ch 29:3 ; 2Ch 29:5 . Some by the first day here understand the first day of the year, which fell out toward the latter end of the first year of Hezekiah’s reign.

And in the sixteenth day. ] What a deal of trash and filth was here contracted and got together in the temple in the so short reign of Ahaz, that so many men were so long busied in ridding of it! What wonder, then, that in so long reign of Antichrist, all was so much out of order in the Church, and that the noble reformers had, and still have, so much ado to purge it?

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the first day of the first month. Note the six events which took place on that day (Gen 8:13).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

first month

i.e. April.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

the porch: 2Ch 29:7, 2Ch 3:4, 1Ki 6:3, 1Ch 28:11

the sixteenth: Exo 12:2-8

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Ch 29:17. Now they began on the first day of the first month A happy beginning of the new year! Thus should every year begin with a reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away of all the defilements contracted the foregoing year. In the sixteenth day they made an end

Cleansing the house, and porch, and courts, and all the chambers belonging to the temple, in sixteen days. This is mentioned to signify, partly the universal abuse and defilement of all the parts of it by Ahaz, to remove which so much time was required; and partly the diligence of the priests in this work.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

29:17 Now they began on the first [day] of the {g} 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.

(g) Which contained part of March and part of April.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes