2 Chronicles 29:20
Ver. 20. Then Hezekiah the king rose early,.... Took the first opportunity to attend the worship of God, and set an example to his people: and gathered the rulers of the city; the elders of the people, the chief magistrates in Jerusalem:and went up to the house of the Lord; the temple, to worship there. 2 Chronicles 29:21Ver. 21. And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah,.... To make atonement in a typical way, having respect to the sacrifice of the Messiah, for the sins of the king, his family and court, among whom idolatry had prevailed in the times of his father; and for the cleansing of the temple, which had been polluted by the idolatries of Ahaz; and for the expiation of the whole land; seven of each sort are ordered, though only one goat was required for a sin offering by the law, because of the multitude of transgressions that had been committed, and because of the length of time in which sacrifices had been neglected:and he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord: the altar of burnt offerings, whose business it was to do it. 2 Chronicles 29:22Ver. 22. So they killed the bullocks,.... The seven bullocks, that is, the priests killed them:and the priests received the blood; into basins provided for that purpose:and sprinkled it on the altar; according to the law of Moses, Le 1:5 and so they did with the rams and lambs. 2 Chronicles 29:23Ver. 23. And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation,.... Which were to make atonement for the sins of both:and they laid their hands on them; signifying thereby that they were vicarious sacrifices to be offered up in their own room and stead, and that they deserved to die, as these creatures would: transferring as it were hereby their sins unto them, for which they were to be sacrificed, and to make atonement, as an emblem of the imputation of the sins of the Lord's people to Christ, sacrificed in their stead. 2 Chronicles 29:24Ver. 24. And the priests killed them,.... The seven he goats; for of the killing of the bullocks, rams, and lambs, mention is made before, 2Ch 29:2and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; typical of the reconciliation and atonement made for the whole spiritual Israel of God by the sacrifice of Christ:for the king commanded that the burnt offering, and the sin offering, should be madefor all Israel; not only for the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and for as many of the rest of the tribes as were come over to them, and dwelt among them; but even for the ten tribes also, sadly guilty of idolatry, and for whose reformation and good this pious prince was concerned, see2Ch 30:1. 2 Chronicles 29:25Ver. 25. And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps,.... To play upon, which were the three principal instruments of music used in religious worship, and what had been disused in the times of Ahaz:according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; this sort of music was not commanded by the law of Moses, but was directed to by David under a divine influence, and was approved of by the prophets of the Lord here mentioned:for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets; the Targum is,"for by the Word of the Lord was the commandment by the hand of the prophets.'' 2 Chronicles 29:26Ver. 26. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David,.... Which were invented, directed, and ordered to be used by him, and are the same as in the preceding verse:and the priests with the trumpets; which were made by the direction of Moses, according to the order of God, Nu 10:2. 2 Chronicles 29:27Ver. 27. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar,.... Which was wholly devoted to the Lord, and was an acknowledgment of his sovereignty over them, and of his goodness to them:and when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel; and this was done at the time of the pouring out of the drink offering, which always attended the burnt offering; for this is a rule with the Jews, that they do not say the song but over the drink offering {o}.{o} T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 12. 1. 2 Chronicles 29:28Ver. 28. And all the congregation worshipped,.... Bowed their heads as a token of divine adoration:and the singers sang; both with vocal and instrumental music, who were the Levites:and the trumpeters sounded; their silver trumpets; these were the priests: and all this continueduntil the burnt offering was finished; with all appertaining to it, the meat and drink offerings. 2 Chronicles 29:29Ver. 29. And when they had made an end of offering,.... Both the sin offering and the burnt offering:the king and all that were with him bowed themselves and worshipped; towards the place where the ark was, giving thanks for the purging of the temple, and restoring the worship of it. 2 Chronicles 29:30Ver. 30. Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord, with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer,.... Making use of psalms composed by the one and the other; Jarchi takes it to be the one hundred and fifth psalm, which begins, "O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name"; as in1Ch 16:7and they sang praises with gladness; the king and all the people:and they bowed their heads and worshipped; made another adoration of the Divine Being, as deeply impressed with a sense of his greatness and goodness. 2 Chronicles 29:31Ver. 31. Then Hezekiah answered and said,.... Or proceeded to say, as follows:now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord; having entered anew on the performance of their office, filling their hands with sacrifices, as the words signify:come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord; which the people were to put into their hands to offer for them:and the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; peace offerings, part of which the offerers had to feast on with their friends so expressing their joy and thankfulness on this occasion:and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings; of which they had no share, but were wholly the Lord's; and which was a greater proof of their liberality, and so of their sincere and cordial thankfulness. 2 Chronicles 29:32Ver. 32. And the number of the burnt offerings which the congregation brought were seventy bullocks, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. Of which they had no part to feast but were wholly devoted to the Lord, by way of thankfulness to him. 2 Chronicles 29:33Ver. 33. And the consecrated things,.... Which were devoted for peace offerings, of which the owners had a part: were six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep; which was a much lesser number than what were offered upon occasion in the times of David and Solomon, the nation being poorer; and besides, these were only the oblation of two tribes, they of all Israel. 2 Chronicles 29:34Ver. 34. But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings,.... Take off the skins of them, which used to be done by the priests, Le 1:6,wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them till the work was ended; assisted in the flaying of the sacrifices, until they had gone through the service of this time, and the skins of all the sacrifices were flayed off:and until the other priests had sanctified themselves; who had been negligent of it, or had defiled themselves by idolatry:for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests; were more ready to do it, and did it with greater cheerfulness and good will; were not backward to do it, but did it at once. 2 Chronicles 29:35Ver. 35. And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings, for every burnt offering,.... Besides the abundance of burnt offerings, whose skins were to be taken off, there were meat offerings and drink offerings to each, which required many hands to prepare them; and also the fat of the peace offerings was to be burnt; which, all together, occasioned a great deal of business:so the service of the house of the Lord was set in order: both for sacrifice and singing; a good beginning was made, and there was a good foundation laid to proceed on. 2 Chronicles 29:36Ver. 36. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people,.... To see things go on so well, which foreboded good unto them: and particularlythat God had prepared the people; disposed and directed their hearts in such a manner as to yield such a cheerful obedience to the will of God, and show such a hearty regard to his worship and service, and the restoration of it:for the thing was done suddenly; whereby it the more appeared that they were under a divine influence, which so quickly and powerfully wrought upon them to engage in this work, and needed not arguments and persuasions to bring them to it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.