The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 353

Vers. 3-19.-The purification of the templ,e. I. THE GATHERING OF THE PRIESTS .AND LEVITES. (Ver. 4.) 1. When1 In the first year of the king's reign, in the first month (vers. 3, 17), but whether of that reign (Caspari) or of the ecclesiastical year (Bertbeau, Keil, Jamieson, Oehler in Herzog) cannot be determined. In either case it was not long after his accession. The acts evinced (1) piety, the king giving his first thoughts to religion (Matt. vi. 33); and (2) prudence, since a good work never can be too soon begun, and reformations may be wrought at the beginning of a reign that cannot be so easily effected afterwards. "As the spring-time of nature or of the year is the most suitable season for purging natural bodies, so is the spring-time of a reign the best time for purging the body politic" (Bacon). 2. Where 1 In "the broad place on the east;" either the inner court of the temple (Berthean), or the open space in front of the temple towards the east (Keil), which will depend upon whether tile doors of the temple had been opeoed prior to the assembli □ g of the priests. 3. TVhy 1 To invite their co-operation in the work of cleansing the sanctuary Ahaz had shut up (eh. xx.viii. 24), and of re-establishing the worship Abaz had abolished. For these purposes and as a preliminary thereto, according to one view, the king had already opened the temple doors; according to another, he only did so when the work of cleansing commenced. II. THE WORDS ADDRESSED TO THEM BY THE KING. (Vere, 5-11.) Hezekiah regarding them without distinction as Levites-not speaking to the Levites as dis- tinguished from the priests, as if these were not present, though they certainly (ver. 34) "bUDg back from the revolution which swept away the neglect which the head of their order, Urijab, must in some measure have countenanced" (Stanley, 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,' vol. ii. p. 465), and, exhorting them with fatherly affection (ver. 11), set before them three things. 1. The work which required to be done. (1) The sanctification of tEemselves, without which they could not enter on such service as that to which be was about to invite them (Exod. xix. 10-12; Lev. xi. 44). Thie sanctification was doubtless carried out formally by the offering of sacrifice, by washing and putting on clean garments, and perhaps by anointing with oil (Lev. viii. 1-7, 30); inwardly by acts of spiritual heart devotion and dedication to the work about to be performed, and to him whose work it was, (2) The sanctification of the house of the Lord; or, the carrying forth of the :filthiness that had accumulated therein since the day when its doors were closed, the burnishing of all the utensils that had been left to rust through disuse, and the replacing of all the sacred vessels which had been cast away. Without this the true national Jehovah-worship could not be reinstituted. Jn this everything must proceed according to the pattern prescribed by the Law. (3) The two things symbolized what is needful to constitute true worship under the better dispensation of tbe gospel-in the worshipper, faith in the atoning sacrifice of Obrist, :renewal of heart and mind in the ]aver of rege□ eration, personal separation from all kuo"·n Ein; in the worship, purity, beauty, completeness. ·2. The reasons why it on. xx1x. 1-38.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONIULES. :m