The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 355

i::nod work his heRrl contemplated (ver. 10), rising up with next day's dawn, gathering the rulers of the city, and proceeding with them to the house of the Lord. In this he 11ctc<l in accordance with Jehovah's instructions to Moses at Sinai (Exod. xxxiv. 2), wi~h the examplti -~f Abraham_ (Gen. xxii. 2), Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 18), Moses (Exmt'. xx1v. 4), Joshua (m. 1), Job (1. 5), and other good men who selected the morning hours for executing good resolntions, and especially for acts of devotion; with the :rractice of God himself, who had been ever forward in blessing his people by sendina to them his messengers the prophets (eh. xxxvi. 15; Jer, vii. 13, 26; xxv, 3, 4~ Perhaps, Hezekiah_ also_felt that if wicked men _rose up_ with the dawn and even" pre- '\"ented_' the dayl1_gbt m orde! to prosecute their nefarious works (Job xxiv. 14), yea, that his own subJeots had risen up early to corrupt themselves (Zepb. iii. 7), much more ought he to bestir himself and awake up early to begin the splendid work of temple-dedication on which be bad resolved. II. THE PARTIES TO THE CEREMO'.KY. 1. TM king himself. Hezekiah, as the vice- gerent of Jehovah and head of Jehovah's people, led the way. This the sort of king- ship after which sovereigns should aspire--kiugship in works of faith and labours of love. 2. The princes of the city-again, in their individual capacities and in their representative characters-joined in the ceremonial. So had they done at Sinai (Exod. ll.iv. 11), and in the wilderness (Numb. xxi. 18); in the days of Solomon (eh, v. 2), and in those of Jehoiada (eh. xxiii. 20). Happy is that nation whose nobility are ever foremost in noble deeds ! 3. The :priests and tlie Levites were present to do their respectil"e offices, to sacrifice upon the altars of Jehovah, and to plny upon the instru- rne::its of David; two necessary parts in all Old Testament worship-the former to make atonemect, the latter to express that which should ever be its fruit (Rom. v. 11). 4. The people, or a portion of them, were there as assenticg parties to the transaction. III. 'l'RE STEPS IN THE OEREMONY. 1. The presentation of sacrifice. (1) Burnt offerings. Seven bullocks, seven rams, and seven lambs were slain in succession upon the aitar in the fore court, the blood of the slain victims being caught up by the priests iD a basin and sprinkled on the altar, while their carcases were retained to be cocsumed by :fire upon the altar after all the other victims had been slain. (2) Sin offericge. Seven he-goats were next presented before the king and the congregation, the priests' hands laid upon them-if not with formal confession of sin, at least symbolizing its transference to the animals-their lives taken, and their blood sprinkled by the priests upon the altar. This done, the carcases of the burnt offerings were consumed by fire. 2. TM accompaniment of music. Hezekiah reinstituted the Levitical service of music, according to the Divine ordinance communicated through David, Gad, and Nathan (1 Chron. xxiii. 5); and on this particular occasion "he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps;" and "the priests with the trumpets" (1 Chron. xv. 16, 24). When the burnt offering began, i.e. either when the slaying of the victims commenced, or when the carcases were lifted to the altar to be consumed, the temple conrts rang with the strains of icstrumental and vocal music -" the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded "-until the offering was finished, until the le.et ember died upon the altar, and the last wreath of smoke vanished in the air. Meanwhile the congregation, standing round in the court as spectators, "'worshipped." IV. TBE KEABING OF THE CEREMONY. 1. Oonfession of sin. Thie idea was generally comprehended in the presentation of sin offerings, and particularly set forth in the imposition of the officiating priest's hands upon the victim's head. The sin thus confessed was the sin of the nation as represented by its royal house, its sanctuary, and its people. All of these, the occupants of the throce and the members of the royal family, the ministers of the sanctuary, the priestly order and the Levitical alike, the common people of the realm, both in Israel and in Judah, had been guilty of trespass and apostasy. 2. Propitiation for guilt. The blood of the sin offering, when poured out before and sprinkled on the horns of the altar-in particular when done in the holy of holies-was designed to make atonement for the people's sins, to cover up from the eyes of a holy God the wickedness of which they had been guilty, and so to reconcile them to God (Lev. vi. 30). 3. Expression of self-surrender. Thie was symbolized by the burning of the carcases of both the sin and the burnt offerings. As the bodies of the animals whose blood had been brought within the sanctuary for arr. xx1x. 1-36.) THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 3Fi9