2 Chronicles 29:20-36--Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

2 Chronicles 29:20-36
English Standard Version

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the LORD. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. 23 Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them, 24 and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.

​31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. 33 And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 35 Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the peace offerings, and there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the LORD was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.

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Now that the Temple has been cleansed and repaired, Hezekiah's first order of business is to restore regular worship at the Temple.  That started with an example from him and all the other leaders of the community to gather together and offer sin offering offerings on behalf of themselves and the people.  The sacrifices were offered by the priests on the altar of the LORD (the Bronze Altar) as the LORD prescribed in the Law (it almost sounds like the king had to tell them what to do because they had forgotten how to do their jobs).  The bulls, rams, and lambs were offered first, and their blood was used to cover the altar in blood to make atonement for the priests, the altar, and the people.  Then the community laid their hands on the rams so that their sin and guilt would be transferred to the rams, and the rams would bear that sin and guilt and die in their place (the Old Testament is full of images of penal substitutionary atonement, just like Jesus dying in our place, taking our sins upon Himself).

Then the music began as those playing instruments led the priests and the people in worship using the words of the Psalms as David had established (singing "His steadfast love endures forever").  The burnt offerings were offered on the altar and at that time the musicians began to play, the singers began to sing, and the people joined in the worship of the LORD to celebrate the work of salvation that He was doing by accepting these sacrifices.  After all the sacrifices were finished, all the people, led by the king, bowed down low in worship to the LORD--it was unusual at that time for a king to bow down and if he did, he was acknowledging that the one he bowed down to was a higher sovereign and that king was but his servant.  The music and signing continued throughout the entire time that the king and the people worshiped and bowed down.

The words of this Psalm come to mind as I read of what is happening here:


Psalm 95
English Standard Version
​
Let Us Sing Songs of Praise
95 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the LORD is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

Now the people were consecrated to the LORD--not just the priests and the altar and the Temple.  More than likely the people were sprinkled with the blood of the covenant like they were at Mount Sinai with blood being applied to the book of the Law and to the people, even if it wasn't directly stated that happened, as that is how the people were regularly consecrated and made holy, especially after times of open rebellion like this where they turned back to the LORD.  Not only were burnt offerings and sin offerings presented, but so were peace/fellowship offerings to help restore broken relationships between individuals in the community where sin had damaged their relationship.  The required grain offerings and drink offerings were also presented with each of the offerings offered on the altar that day.

The chapter ends with something interesting that want to put a fine point on.  The people knew that this revival that happened was the work of the LORD because it came about suddenly.  The idea of the LORD waiting until just the right time, but then working suddenly at a time and in a way that no one expects is a theme of Scripture--it's His perfect timing that doesn't at all surprise Him, but it surprises us because it often feels like He acts without warning even though He has told us what He is going to do, He usually doesn't tell us exactly when He will do so (there is one major exception in the Bible that told us exactly when Messiah would be cut off, but because they didn't know how old He would be when this happened, they didn't know exactly when to expect His coming--just the right "season" to expect His coming, which is why we see people like Anna and Simeon in the Temple waiting for Him in Luke 2).  It took Noah many years of obedience to build the Ark and be prepared for the Flood, and God was at work to bring all the animals to Noah at just the right time, but to the outsiders, it appeared that things happened suddenly as the animals were there at just the right time for them and Noah to get on the Ark and for the door of the Ark to be closed and the Flood came upon them suddenly so that salvation came to those who were in the Ark and judgment came to those who were outside the Ark.  So it is with the LORD for most of Scripture that He acts in ways that are obvious that they are not because of incremental changes that we brought about as individuals or cultures.  He alone gets the glory for the work that He does in immediate and total transformation and both salvation and judgment come on us "suddenly" at just the right time that the LORD has ordained.  Follow the warning of Jesus that the last days will be like the days of Noah when judgment will come suddenly on those who are unprepared--put your full faith and trust in the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ like we saw the people putting their faith in the fact that their sins had been transferred to the goats and that the goats died in their place.  Jesus did that for you.  He is "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  Do not suppose that you have lots of time to make this decision for Jesus also told a parable of a foolish man that ignored God's salvation and instead put his hope and trust in his material possessions.  That night the Lord said to the man, "You fool, this very night your life will be required of you," and the man died unprepared and went to hell and his possessions became an inheritance for someone else.  Be wise so that when the LORD acts suddenly to save His people in the future (we see this in the book of Revelation) that you will be part of the band and the choir worshiping the LORD by singing the song of the LORD's salvation.