2 Chronicles 29:3-19--Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

2 Chronicles 29:3-19
English Standard Version

Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. 6 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs. 7 They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the wrath of the LORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not now be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”

​12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. 16 The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it and carried it out to the brook Kidron. 17 They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the LORD, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils. 19 All the utensils that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.”

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Last time we talked about how Hezekiah came to the throne.  This time, we'll cover some details about his reign (and we'll be talking about him for quite some time over the next several blogs).  One of the first things he did as king was to repair the doors of the Temple, and he called the priests and Levites together to consecrate themselves unto the LORD so that they could rid the Temple of the "filth" (idols and other objects of pagan worship that didn't belong in the Holy Place or anywhere else in the LORD's House).  Not only had the doors to the Temple been shut, but they had allowed the lamps on the Golden Lampstand to go out (they were supposed to always be kept burning).  They also didn't offer the daily sacrifices of incense on the Golden Altar, nor did they make the required blood sacrifices on the Bronze Altar.  I'm sure they weren't celebrating the Holy Days, and they probably didn't make the Showbread and eat it weekly either.  It seems like the priests and Levites had given up on doing the right thing in the midst of a people that were in open rebellion against the LORD and wanted nothing to do with Him.

It was Hezekiah's intent to renew Israel's covenant with the LORD and he hoped that perhaps the LORD would return the captives that had been taken away and once again give Judah peace and protection on every side and bless the Land so that it would bring forth good crops and plenty of livestock.

Representatives from the different clans and families of Levites are mentioned here and they took up the king's charge and consecrated themselves and their family members for the work that needed to be done.  All of the unclean things were brought out to the Kidron Valley (a place designated for the disposal of unclean things).  They had the whole place cleaned up within a week and they were ready to consecrate the House of the LORD on the eighth day of the first month, and they finished consecrating everything by the sixteenth day of the first month.  A proclamation was made that everything was ready for service and everything that Ahaz had stolen, sold, misused, or ruined had been restored to its original place, purpose and was consecrated to the LORD for His service alone.  This is a picture not only of the restoration of the Temple, but of the people as well that we'll see them once again made holy unto the LORD as they return to the LORD and He once again sanctifies them and sets them apart to be His special people for His special purposes.