Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 29:3
He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
3 11 (not in 2 Kin.). Hezekiah commands to cleanse the Temple
3. in the first month ] i.e. in Nisan; cp. 2Ch 30:2-3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By the first month is meant (compare 2Ch 30:2-3) the month of Nisan, the first of the Jewish sacred year, not necessarily the first month of Hezekiahs reign.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Which Ahaz his father had shut up, 2Ch 28:24.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. in the first year of his reign,in the first monthnot the first month after his accession tothe throne, but in Nisan, the first month of the sacred year, theseason appointed for the celebration of the passover.
he opened the doors of thehouse of the Lordwhich had been closed up by his father (2Ch28:24).
and repaired themorembellished them (compare 2Ki18:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He in the first year of his reign, in the first month,…. And, as appears from 2Ch 29:17, on the first day of the month:
opened the doors of the house of the Lord; which his father had shut, 2Ch 28:24
and repaired them; or strengthened them, the hinges, and other parts of them, being loosened and weakened; and ornamented them by overlaying them with gold, the plates of which very probably his father had taken off; for, certain it is, Hezekiah overlaid them, and very probably at this time, see 2Ki 18:16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The purification of the temple by the priests and Levites. – 2Ch 29:3. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he caused the doors of the house of Jahve to be opened and repaired ( as in 2Ch 24:12, where it alternates with ). Cf. herewith the remark in 2Ki 18:16, that Hezekiah caused the doors of the to be covered with leaf-gold. The date, in the first month, in the first year of his reign, is variously interpreted. As the Levites, according to 2Ch 29:17, began the purification on the first day of the first month, in eight days had reached the porch, and on the sixteenth day of the first month had completed the work, while the king had, according to 2Ch 29:4, before called upon the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves for the work, and those summoned then assembled their brethren for this purpose, and after they had consecrated themselves, began the cleansing (2Ch 29:15), it would seem as if the summons of the king and the calling together of the remaining Levites had occurred before the first day of the first month, when they began the purification of the house of God. On that account Caspari ( Beitrge z. Einleit. in d. B. Jesaiah, S. 111) thinks that the first month (2Ch 29:3) is not the first month of the year (Nisan), but the first month of the reign of Hezekiah, who probably became king shortly before Nisan, towards the end of the year. But it is not at all likely that is used in a different sense in 2Ch 29:3 from that in which it is used in 2Ch 29:17. We therefore hold, with Berth. and others, the first month, both in 2Ch 29:3 and in 2Ch 29:17, to be the first month of the ecclesiastical year Nisan, without, however, accepting the supposition of Gumpach and Bertheau that the years of Hezekiah’s reign began with the first of Tishri, for for that way of reckoning there are no certain data in the historical books of the Old Testament. The statement, “in the first year of his reign, in the first month” (not in the first year, in the first month of his reign), is sufficiently explained if Hezekiah ascended the throne in one of the last months of the calendar year, which began with Nisan. In that case, on the first of Nisan of the new year, so few months, or perhaps only weeks, would have elapsed since his accession, that what he did in Nisan could not rightly have been dated otherwise than “in the first year of his reign.” The other difficulty, that the purification of the temple began on the first day of the first month (2Ch 29:7), while the preparations for it which preceded were yet, according to 2Ch 29:3, made also in the first month, is removed if we take 2Ch 29:3 to be a comprehensive summary of what is described in the following verses, and regard the connection between 2Ch 29:3 and 2Ch 29:4. as only logical, not chronological, the consec. ( ) expressing, not succession in time, but connection in thought. The opening of the doors of the house of God, and the repairing of them (2Ch 29:3), did not precede in time the summons to the priests (2Ch 29:4), but is placed at the commencement of the account of the reopening and restoration of the temple as a contrast to the closing and devastation of the sanctuary by Ahaz. Hezekiah commenced this work in the first year of his reign, in the first month of the calendar year, and accomplished it as is described in 2Ch 29:4-17. If we take 2Ch 29:3 as a statement of the contents of the succeeding section, – as are e.g., (1Ki 6:14; 1Ki 7:1) the statements, “he built the house, and completed it,” where in both passages the completion of the building is described only in the succeeding verses, – we need not confine the preparations spoken of in 2Ch 29:4-15 to the first day of the first month, but may quite well suppose that these preparations preceded the first day of the month, and that only the accomplishment of that which had been resolved upon and commanded by the king fell in the first month, as is more accurately stated in 2Ch 29:17.
2Ch 29:4-6 Hezekiah gathered the priests and Levites together “into the open space of the east,” i.e., in the eastern open space before the temple, not “in the inner court” (Berth.), – see on Ezr 10:9 -and called upon them (2Ch 29:5) to sanctify themselves, and then to sanctify the house of the Lord. To purify the temple they must first sanctify themselves (cf. 2Ch 29:15), in order to proceed to the work of sanctifying the house of God in a state of Levitical purity. The work was to remove all that was unclean from the sanctuary. is Levitical uncleanness, for which in 2Ch 29:16 we have ; here the abominations of idolatry. The king gave the reason of his summons in a reference to the devastation which Ahaz and his contemporaries had wrought in the house of God (2Ch 29:6, 2Ch 29:7), and to the wrath of God which had on that account come upon them (2Ch 29:8, 2Ch 29:9). “Our fathers” (2Ch 29:6), that is, Ahaz and his contemporaries, for only these had been guilty of displeasing God in the ways mentioned in 2Ch 29:6 and 2Ch 29:7, “have turned away their face from the dwelling of Jahve, and turned their back (upon it).” These words are a symbolical expression for: they have ceased to worship Jahve in His temple, and exchanged it for idolatry.
2Ch 29:7 Even ( ) the doors of the porch have they shut, and caused the service in the sanctuary, the lighting of the lamps, and the sacrifices of incense, to cease; see on 2Ch 28:24. The words, “and they brought not burnt-offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel,” do not imply the complete cessation of the legal sacrificial worship, but only that no burnt-offerings were brought to the God of Israel. Sacrifices offered upon the altar of burnt-offering built after a heathen pattern by Ahaz were not, in the eyes of the author of the Chronicle, sacrifices which were offered to the God of Israel; and it is also possible that even this sacrificial worship may have more and more decayed. , 2Ch 29:7, is the whole sanctuary, with the court of the priests.
2Ch 29:8-9 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Cf. for the expression, 2Ch 24:18; 2Ch 32:25; on 2Ch 29:8, cf. Deu 28:25, Deu 28:37; Jer 24:9; Jer 25:9, etc. “As ye see with your eyes.” The shameful defeats which Judah had sustained under Ahaz from the Syrians, Ephraimites, Philistines, and Edomites, and the oppression by the Syrian king (2Ch 28:5., 2Ch 28:17-21), are here referred to, as we learn from 2Ch 29:9.
2Ch 29:10-11 To turn away this anger of God, Hezekiah wishes to make a covenant with the Lord, i.e., to renew the covenant with Jahve by restoring His worship ( as in 2Ch 6:7; 2Ch 9:1; 1Ch 28:2, etc.), and therefore calls upon the Levites not to neglect the performance of their duty. he calls the Levites, addressing them in kindly language; cf. Pro 1:8, etc. in Niph. occurs only here, and denotes to avoid a thing from carelessness or laziness, – from , to draw forth; Job 27:8. On 2Ch 29:11, cf. Deu 10:8; 1Ch 23:13.
2Ch 29:12-14 This address was heard with gladness. The Levites present assembled their brethren, and set to work, after they had all sanctified themselves, to purify the temple. In 2Ch 29:12-14 fourteen names are mentioned as those of the audience, viz.: two Levites of each of the great families of Kohath, Merari, and Gershon; two of the family of Elizaphan, i.e., Elzaphan the son of Uzziel, the son of Kohath, Exo 6:18, who in the time of Moses was prince of the family of Kohath, Num 3:30; and then two Levites of the descendants of Asaph (of the family of Gershon); two of Heman’s descendants (of the family of Kohath); and two of Jeduthun’s (of the family of Merari): see on 1Ch 6:18-32. Of these names, Mahath, Eden, and Jehiel occur again in 2Ch 31:13-15; several others, Joah ben Zimmah and Kish ben Abdi, have occurred already in the genealogy, 1Ch 6:5. and 2Ch 29:29, for in the various families the same name often repeats itself.
2Ch 29:15 These fourteen heads of the various families and branches of Levi assembled their brethren (the other Levites who dwelt in Jerusalem); then they all sanctified themselves, and went forward, according to the command of the king, with the work of cleansing the temple. belongs to , according to the command of the king, which was founded upon the words of Jahve, i.e., upon the commands of Moses’ law; cf. 2Ch 30:12.
2Ch 29:16 The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord (into the holy place, probably also into the most holy place) to cleanse it, and removed all the uncleanness which was there into the court, whence the Levites carried it out into the valley of the brook Kidron ( , out of the precincts of the temple). The Levites were forbidden by the law to enter the holy place, and this command was strictly observed. Of what nature the uncleannesses were which the priests found in the holy place ( ) cannot be accurately ascertained. Owing to the prevalence of idolatry under Ahaz, vessels, e.g., sacrificial bowls, which were used in the worship, may have come into the holy place; and besides, all vessels of the holy place would require to be cleaned, and their filth removed. The closing of the temple doors (2Ch 28:24) occurred only in the last year of Ahaz, while idolatry had been practised from the beginning of his reign. On the Kidron, see on 2Ki 23:4.
2Ch 29:17 The duration of the purification. On the first day of the first month they commenced with the purification of the courts; on the eighth day of the same month they came to the porch of Jahve, and with it began the purification of the temple building. This lasted eight days more, so that the work was finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
2Ch 29:18-19 At the end of this business they made their report to the king. “All the vessels which King Ahaz had thrown away, i.e., made worthy of rejection,” are the copper altar of burnt-offering, the brazen sea, and the lavers upon the bases (2Ki 16:14, 2Ki 16:17). , we have prepared, is a shorter form of ; cf. Gesen. Gramm. 72. 5, and J. Olshausen, hebr. Grammat. S. 565. The altar of Jahve is the altar of burnt-offering; cf. 2Ch 29:21.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Hezekiah Issues a Challenge – 2Ch 29:3-11
A prime mark of the godliness of the new king Hezekiah, is the fact that he opened up the doors of the temple, which had been closed by his father, Ahaz (2Ch 28:24), in the very first year, the first month, of his reign. These he had repaired and convened the priests and Levites in the street east of the temple, or in front of it. The closed temple had left these people without a task to perform, and to appearances they were not greatly concerned about it. In addressing them the king called on them to sanctify themselves to return to the service, then proceed to the sanctification of the temple itself, cleansing it of the filthiness which it had accumulated under the misrule of Ahaz.
From this Hezekiah continued to a confession of the sins of the fathers. They had trespassed against the Lord and done evil in His eyes. They had forsaken him and turned from the temple and its worship. Their utter lack of concern was demonstrated in their allowing the closing of the doors of the temple. The lights on the lampstand had gone out, the incense had been discontinued on the altar of incense in the holy place, and the burnt offerings were no longer carried out in accordance with the Levitical statutes.
For these things, the wrath of God had fallen on Judah and Jerusalem. They had suffered calamities by their enemies; those who once had seen the mighty power of the Lord on Israel’s behalf were astonished at the change in their affairs. They had become a hissing, or an object of mockery and ridicule, which Israel could see with their own eyes. Still worse the people had suffered. Their men had fallen to the sword from the time of their fathers, as witness the loss of the 120,000 in the war with Syria and Israel. At the same time the women, their sons and their daughters had, many of them, been carried away into captivity. It was not hard to see that God’s hand was upon them in judgment.
The priests and the Levites had to assume a great deal of the blame, for they had been negligent in their example and teaching of the people and seemingly content to have the house of the Lord closed. That had been a negative example to the people (Isa 24:2). So Hezekiah proposes to renew the covenant of Israel with the Lord. He says it is in his heart, meaning that it is a sincere desire, doubtless inspired by his devotion to the Lord. He calls on these spiritual leaders to get out of their lethargy and negligence and to fulfill their responsibility as given them by the Lord Himself, to renew their ministry in the temple and burn the incense daily again, as it once was.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE KING CHARGES THE LVITES, AND THEY CLEANSE THE HOUSE OF GOD
(2Ch. 29:3-19).
(3) In the first monthi.e., in the month Nisan, the first month of the sacred year; not in the first month of his reign. (Comp. 2Ch. 29:17 and 2Ch. 30:23.)
Opened the doors.Which his father had closed (chap. 28:24).
And repaired them.By overlaying them with metalbronze or gold-leaf (2Ki. 18:16).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE, 2Ch 29:3-36.
3. He in the first year first month, opened the doors The first month is here to be understood of the first month of the Jewish year, the first of Abib, or Nisan. Comp. 2Ch 30:2-3. But the first month of Hezekiah’s reign may also, at least in part, have synchronized with the month Nisan. The reformatory character of Hezekiah’s reign was thus signalized at its very beginning by an act which must have cheered every pious heart in the realm. The shutting of the doors of the temple, and the consequent suspension of the sacred service, (comp. 2Ch 29:7,) had been one of the most presumptuous sins of Ahaz. 2Ch 28:24.
Repaired them By plating and overlaying them with gold, and probably other kinds of metal. See 2Ki 18:16, note. This verse is a summary statement of what Hezekiah did at the beginning of his reign, and is not to be thought of as taking place before the gathering of the priests and Levites, and the address to them contained in 2Ch 29:4-11.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 29:3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
Ver. 3. He in the first year of his reign, in the first month. ] Yea, and the first day of that month, 2Ch 29:17 on his coronation day, began to reform.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the first year. Yea, on the first day (2Ch 29:17). Only three verses occupied with this in Kings, but three chapters in Chronicles. For the reason and object see App-56.
opened the doors. Compare 2Ch 28:24. Note his zeal for the house of the LORD in his “Songs of the degrees” (Psa 122:1, Psa 122:9; Psa 134:1, Psa 134:2). See App-67.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
first month
i.e. April.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
am 3278, bc 726
He in the first: 2Ch 34:3, Psa 101:3, Ecc 9:10, Mat 6:33, Gal 1:16
opened: 2Ch 29:7, 2Ch 28:24, 2Ki 16:14-18
Reciprocal: 2Ki 18:16 – gold 2Ch 24:5 – gather of all Israel Neh 6:10 – let us shut Eze 18:14 – that seeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
REVERENCE FOR GODS HOUSE
He opened the doors of the house of the Lord.
2Ch 29:3
So frantic had Ahaz been in his wickedness that he gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord. He not only repudiated God himself, he placed His worship under the ban. That was the state of things when Hezekiah came to the thronethe Temple had fallen into the filthy condition of all neglected and unoccupied buildings, and its closed doors were a visible symbol of the national repudiation of Jehovah.
I. Hezekiahs respect for Gods house.The first thing that Hezekiah did upon succeeding to the throne was to reopen the doors of the Temple. He opened the doors of the Lords house, and repaired them. The doors were opened, says one commentator, as a sign that Jehovah was invited to return to His people, and again to manifest His presence in the Holy of Holies. And that is no doubt true. But instead of the national significance of the act, let us think for a moment of what it implies with reference to Hezekiah himself.
(a) It was a proof of his love for God. It was because He loved God that the sight of the closed Temple pained and grieved Hezekiah. It was because he loved God that he resolved to have an open door by which he and his people could enter into the presence of God. Notice, they who love God, love His house. They say My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord.
(b) It was a public declaration that Hezekiah meant to serve the Lord. It was not an easy thing to do, for during Ahazs reign idolatry had entrenched itself firmly in Judah. Idolatry had its vested interests. There were numbers of Pagan priests; there were Ahazs old counsellors and friends, all of them committed to idolatry. When the present Tsar ascended the throne he issued a proclamation, in which he said: Let all know that. I intend to protect the principle of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as did my late father. When Hezekiah ascended the throne he issued a proclamation nobler far, for by this act of opening the Temple doors he declared to the world: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. What a noble decision this was! And what an example to us! Let us, too, openlyin the sight of the world, no matter how men may mock and scoffconfess the Lord. Those that honour Him, He will honour.
(c) And Hezekiah did this at the earliest possible moment. He opened the doors of the Lords house, in the first year of his reign, in the first month! He did not put off serving the Lord, but he made his public confession at the very first opportunity. Again, what an example! Some people put off confessing Christ till only the dregs of life are left. That is a poor and mean and contemptible thing to do! Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, says Scripture. Let confession of Christs name be the act of our young days. Open the doors and bid the King of Glory enter in.
(d) The opening of the doors of the Temple by Hezekiah reminds us of a Greater than Hezekiah, Who provided an open door for us to the throne of the Heavenly Grace. I am the Door, says Jesus Christthe Door to the Fathers presence and the peace of God. And this is an open door. Let us thank God for it and let us enter in by it.
II. The cleansing of the Temple.But it was not enough to open the doors of the Temple. With its lamps extinguished and its vessels destroyed, and its floors and walls thick with dust, and full of all filthiness, it was no fit place for the indwelling of the Most High. And so Hezekiah summoned the Levites to the task of cleansing the Temple. And for sixteen days these men laboured, until they were able at the end of the time to come to Hezekiah and say that they had cleansed the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the table of shewbread, with all the vessels thereof. Hezekiah recognised that God requires a clean dwelling. Holiness, says the Psalmist, becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever. That was the truth our Lord taught when, with that whip of small cords, He drove out of the Temple them that bought and sold within its courts, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold doves. There is no place for anything unholy or unclean in Gods house. There is a lesson here for us, perhaps, with reference to our own churches. We must bring into them nothing base or unholy or sinful. Holiness becometh Gods house. Only those that have clean hands and a pure heart, says the Psalmist, can go up into the hill of the Lord. To worship God acceptably we must do so with reverence and Godly awe. And there is a lesson, here, too, with reference to our own hearts. For the heart is Gods truest Temple. The Heaven of heavens cannot contain Himbut He is willing to dwell in the humble and contrite heart. But the heart that is to be Gods dwelling-place must be clean. Blessed, said our Lord, are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Illustration
How good is a time of religious revival in Church and land! Probably it ought never to be needed. Year after year pure religion and undefiled ought to prosper in the State and in the house of God. Month after month, the fig tree should blossom, and the vines should yield their fruit, and the labour of the olive should not fail. Day after day, men and women and children, like the boys of Florence in Savonarolas time, should cry, Long live Jesus Christ, our King! But again and again it is needed. Torpor and coldness invade the Church. Irreligion and sin spread themselves over the country. Then God is kind. He does not hide His face in merited displeasure. He revisits His people.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ch 29:3-4. He opened the doors of the house of the Lord Which Ahaz his father had shut, 2Ch 28:24. And he brought in the priests, &c. He found Judah low and naked, yet did not make it his first business to revive the civil interests of his kingdom, but to restore religion to a good posture. Those that begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
29:3 He in the first year of his reign, in the {a} first month, opened the {b} doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
(a) This is a notable example for all princes, first to establish the pure religion of God and to procure that the Lord may be honoured and served correctly.
(b) Which Ahaz had shut up, 2Ch 28:24.