And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves ,.... As they were bid, see 2 Chronicles 29:5 , and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the word of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord ; for this, which the king commanded, was by the Lord, and they came to do this work, in obedience to both. read more
And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it ,.... Into the holy place, where the candlesticks and shewbread tables stood, into which none but priests might enter, but not into the most holy place, the innermost of all; for none but the high priest might go into that, and only on the day of atonement; though in case of necessity, as for repairs, others might go into it, and so perhaps now to cleanse it, if any pollution was there: and brought out all... read more
And the priests went - The priests and Levites cleansed first the courts both of the priests and of the people. On this labor they spent eight days. Then they cleansed the interior of the temple; but as the Levites had no right to enter the temple, the priests carried all the dirt and rubbish to the porch, whence they were collected by the Levites, carried away, and cast into the brook Kidron; in this work eight days more were occupied, and thus the temple was purified in sixteen days. read more
The reformation of Hezekiah-the thing done suddenly. Hezekiah was the thirteenth of the twenty kings of the line of Judah; but when his reign of twenty-nine years had run to its end, as many as two hundred and eighty-two yearn had sped away of the three hundred and ninety-two of the duration of the line up to the date of the Captivity. It may also be remembered that, of the seven reigns following upon that of Hezekiah, two (those of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin) lasted only three months each.... read more
The purification of the temple. I. THE GATHERING OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES . ( 2 Chronicles 29:4 .) 1 . When ? In the first year of the king's reign, in the first month ( 2 Chronicles 29:3 , 2 Chronicles 29:17 ), but whether of that reign (Caspari) or of the ecclesiastical year (Bertheau, Keil, Jamieson, Ochler in Herzog) cannot be determined. In either case it was not long after his accession. The acts evinced 2 . Where? In "the broad place on the east;"... read more
Doing duty. The way in which these Levites received and executed the commission of the king may indicate to us the way in which we should enter upon and discharge our duty. I. UNDERTAKE IT IN A RIGHT SPIRIT . These men "arose" and went forth to do what Hezekiah called upon them to execute. It will not be presuming much if, judging from the account which follows, we conclude that they undertook their work in a spirit of And that is, undoubtedly, the spirit in which we should... read more
By the words of the Lord. The Hebrew here ( בְּדִבְרֵי יְהוָה ) may possibly mean, "in the business of Jehovah," upon which King Hezekiah was now intent. But it is not by any means needful so to understand it. The words or commands of the Lord are such as are written in Exodus 19:22 ; Le 11:44. read more
The inner part . That is to say, only the priests were warranted to enter inside the temple, while the Levites' sphere of work and service lay in the courts and round about the temple. Kidron , as we have seen (note 2 Chronicles 27:3 ), lay on the east of the temple mount. read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 29:12-19
We have here busy work, good work, and needful work, the cleansing of the house of the Lord. I. The persons employed in this work were the priests and Levites, who should have kept the temple clean, but, not having done that, were concerned to make it clean. Several of the Levites are here named, two of each of the three principal houses, Kohath, Gershon, and Merari (2 Chron. 29:12), and two of each of the three families of singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, 2 Chron. 29:13, 14. We cannot... read more