The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 365

thnt of Unleavened Bread, or the Pllssover (Exod. xxiii. 14, 16); and that the Passover Bhould be "sRcrificed in the place which Jehovah should choose to set his Name there 11 (Dcut. xvi. 2). (2) '!'hat such a Passover had not been observed by them either ln great numbers (Redsed Version), en masse, by the whole body of the people (Bertheau, Keil), or for 11. long lime (Authorized Version, De Wette). Certainly since the division of the kingdom they had not observed the Passover; and even prior to that it is doubtful if the fe1U1t hnd been observed by such numbers as to amount to a nationnl celebration. The unsettled state of the country during the period of the judges was not favourable to the carrying out of the Deuteronomic programme; and the same might he said (though perhaps in a less degree) of the early years of the monarchy; so that probably for a Paschal celebration on a truly national scale the historian must go back to the days of Joshua immediately after entering Canaan, and before the dispersion of the people had commenced (JosL. v. 10, 11). II. THE TIME OF CELEBRATION FIXED. (Ver. 2.) 1. In the second montl,. (1) This not the regular or le1:al month, which was the first, or Abib (Exod. xii. 18; Lev. xxiii. 5, 8), the month in which Jehovah brought his people out of Egypt (Deut. xvi. 1, 2). (2) This, however, a.llowable in special circumstances, as e.g. when through a.bsence on a journey or ceremonia.l uncleanness it could not be kept on the statutory day (Numb. ix. G-12). In the present instance the special circumstances were that when the decision to hold a. Passover was arrived at, the 14th of Abib was too near to admit of either the priests getting tbemselves sanctified in sufficient numbers to do the necessary work, or the population of the country gathering at Jerusalem in time to give to the feast the character of a national celebration. 2. Jn the first or sixth (perhaps seventh) year qf Hezekiah's reign. (1) In favour of the former view (Bertheau, Jamieaon), it may be urged that it i;; the most natural; that Hezekiah would more likely ta.ke advantage of the widespread religious enthusiasm evoked by the purification and re-dedication of the temple to appoint a. Passover than delay for five if not six years; and that the difficulty c;f underst.a.nding how he got permission to send heralds through the northern kingdom may be overcome by remembering that Ho&hea, the last King of Israel, was not so bad as his predeoessors on the throne had been (2 Kings xvii. 2), and that Hezekiah may have obtained his consent to the proposal of a. grand Passover for all Israel and Judah (Berthea.u). An obvious objection to this is that Hezekiah's letters represented the inhabitants of Israel as "the remnant escaped out of the hands of the kings of .Assyria" (ver. 6), and that the siege of Sama.ria did not commence till Hezekiah's fourth yea.r (2 Kings xvili. 9), while the only deportation of people from the northern kingdom before that was the remova.1 of the trans-Jordanic tribes and Naphtalites by 'figla.th-P1leser IL (2 Kings xv. 29)-which would hardly have justified the strong language of Hez'.lkiah V'ith reference to Isra.el's depleted condition. Another difficulty is that, as ,huing th.i first years of Hezekiah's reign Hoshea was becoming restive under the he.. vy tribute <•f ten talents of gold a.nd a thousand of silver imposed on him by 'Lglath-PileSP.r II. (' Records,' etc., v. 52; Schrader, 'Keilin~chriften,' 256), and was even negotiating with So (Sabako), King of Egypt, about throwing off the .Assyrian yoke (i tl:ings xvii. 4), it is hardly to ba supposed he would readily consent to the absence of all his male subjects at Jerusalem even for a. limited time. Besides, it is doubtful if a. month was r:.ot too short a space to admit of the king's runners travelling from Dan to Beersheba, and of the people assembling from all corners of the land at Jerusalem. (2) ln favour of the second view (Keil, Caspa.ri), that the Pai;sover was held after the capture of Sa.!Ilaria, in B.c. 720, and the deport&• tion of its inhabitants-a.ccording to an inscription of Sargon, 27,280 (Schrader,' Keilin- scbriften,' 272; 'Records,' etc., vii. 28)-it may be pointed out that after that event the situation in Israel corresponded more exa.ctly with the language of Hezekiah (ver. 6), a!ld that, Israel having no more an independent sovereign, Hezekiah may have deemed the moment opportune for attempting a reunion of the nations. III. THE INVITATIONS ISSUED. (Vers. 6-10.) 1. In whose name they were given. In that of Hezekiah and his princes. The absence of any reference to Hoshea points to a time subsequent to the captivity of Israel. 2. By whom they were carried. The pusts, or runners, i.e. king's messengers (Esth. iii. 13, 15; viii. 14), who may have been members of the roya.l body-guard (eh. xii. 10). 3. To what purport they ran. (1) A threefold exhortation. (a) To turn again to Jehovah, renouncing idolatry and embra.c• cn. xxx. 1-27,] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 369