2 Chronicles 29:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Hezekiah’s age when he came to the throne. He was twenty-five years old. Joash, who came to the throne after two evil reigns, was only seven years old, and Josiah, who came after two evil reigns, was only eight. That age made the reform come later in their cases, but Hezekiah was already grown, so he turned to it at once.

We can well imagine how deeply he felt over his father’s idolatry and shameless sin. It must have grieved him to see the doors of the temple shut, though while his father lived he could not dare to open them. No doubt his heart was full of secret sorrow, and he had already resolved that, when he received the kingdom, he would put these wrongs right. That made him act with greater eagerness and firmness.

His overall character is summed up simply: he did what was right, like David (2 Chronicles 29:2). Some of his earlier predecessors had done what was right, but not with David’s full heart, integrity, and zeal. Hezekiah, by contrast, had as sincere a love for the ark and law of God as David ever had.

He moved quickly to the great work of restoring true religion. His first act was to open the doors of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 29:3). We may hope his father had not completely stopped the temple service, because then the holy fire on the altar would have gone out, and we are not told of any new kindling of it. But Ahaz had kept the people away from worship, and had allowed priests to serve only if they were on his side (2 Kings 16:15). Hezekiah at once opened the temple and brought in the priests and Levites.

Judah was in a weak and empty state, but he did not first try to repair the civil strength of the kingdom. He began by restoring religion to its proper place. Those who begin with God begin at the right point, and their work will go better because of it.

Hezekiah also spoke to the priests and Levites. They surely knew he favored true worship and disliked the corruption of the last reign. Yet we do not see them asking him to restore the temple service. Instead, he called on them, and that suggests they had grown cold as much as he had been zealous. If they had done their part with strength, things may never have fallen into such a bad condition.

His appeal to the Levites was moving. He first set before them the ruin of religion and the miserable state it had brought on them (2 Chronicles 29:6, 7). He said, “Our fathers have trespassed.” He did not say, “My father,” because a son should be as gentle as possible with his father’s name. Also, his father would not have done all this if earlier generations had not failed in their duty. Urijah the priest had even joined Ahaz in setting up an idolatrous altar.

He complained, first, that God’s house had been abandoned. They had forsaken God and turned their backs on the place where he dwelt. Those who turn away from God’s worship may truly be said to have forsaken God himself. Second, he said that the appointed worship of God had been allowed to fall into decay. The lamps were not lit, and incense was not burned. The same kind of neglect still happens, and it is no less serious when the word is not properly read and explained, which the lighting of the lamps pointed to, or when prayers and praises are not rightly offered, which the burning of incense pointed to.

He then showed the sad result of this neglect and decline in religion (2 Chronicles 29:8, 9). This was the cause of all the troubles they had suffered. In his anger, God had given them over to trouble, the sword, and captivity. When we are under God’s discipline, it is wise to ask whether we have neglected his ordinances and whether his quarrel with us may come from that neglect.

He also stated his own firm purpose to renew religion and make it his work to promote it (2 Chronicles 29:10). “It is in my heart,” he said, meaning, “I am fully resolved,” “to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel.” That is, he would worship him alone and in the way God had appointed. He was sure that otherwise God’s fierce anger would not turn away from them. He wanted not only to make that covenant himself, but also to bring the people into it.

He finished by urging the Levites and priests to do their duty in this matter. He began with this call (2 Chronicles 29:5), and he ended with it (2 Chronicles 29:11). He called them Levites to remind them of their duty to God, and he called them his sons to remind them of their relation to himself. He expected them, as a son works with his father, to join him in reforming the land.

He told them what they must do. First, they must sanctify themselves, that is, make themselves holy by repenting of their neglects, correcting their own hearts and lives, and renewing their promise to do their duty better. Then they must sanctify the house of God, as his servants, by cleansing it from everything unfit, whether from neglect or from profanation, and setting it in order for the use for which it was made. He also stirred them up not to be careless. “Be not now negligent,” he said (2 Chronicles 29:11). Do not let this good work be delayed by your slackness.

Some old notes read, “Be not deceived.” The point is the same. Those who think they can neglect God’s service and still fool him are only fooling themselves, and ruining their own souls. Others read, “Be not secure,” meaning, do not act as if there were no urgent call or no danger in failing to act. People’s carelessness in religion often comes from worldly ease and false security.

He pressed them further with the honor God had given them. “The Lord has chosen you to stand before him.” God had not chosen them to be idle, enjoying the dignity while others did the work. He had chosen them to serve and minister to him. So they should be ashamed of their past slackness, and now that the temple doors were open again, they should get to work with even greater diligence.