General Comments on 2 Chronicles 29-34 The lesson this week selectively covers some of the good material on kings. We've had a lot of lessons that show how bad the kings can be, and their shortcomings. Now, we have the other side of the coin and the lesson focuses on some good examples. Stepping out of the history and into the prophetic, we should note the time period we will be covering for King Hezekiah is coincident with Isaiah's ministry. The history we will cover in today's lesson greatly affected Isaiah's ministry and ultimately his writings. Isaiah was present for Ahaz's debauchery and lived to see Hezekiah's turn around of Judah, which must have made him positively ecstatic. Isaiah comments extensively on the events he sees around him, most prominently the hypocricy of Judah and more specifically her priests, and the Assyrian invasion and king. We can see from the history covered in these chapters why that was such an issue for him. It therefore sets the context of his writings. Close attention in class to these details will pay off in a few weeks when Isaiah is covered. Comments on 2 Chronicles 29 v1-2 General introduction to Hezekiah, and summary of his reign as a king. v3-19 King Hezekiah spearheads reform. While the king doesn't wield the Priesthood, he does hold a great deal of influence over state religion, as this chapter indicates. v4 "the priests and the Levites", the priests are a subset of the tribe of Levi, being firstborn sons after the lineage of Aaron. The entire tribe of Levi was dedicated to Temple service with the priests specifically dedicated to the offering of sacrifices. The Levites attended to other Temple related activities. v5 From v. 3 we would assume all Temple worship had been stopped in the course of Ahaz's rulership. Here Hezekiah calls the Levites back to the Temple to serve there. The Levites formerly had no inheritance among Israel under the Law. We would have to assume the Levite population diversified in their labors and ended up in various trades and so forth in order to survive during times of secularism. Hence Hezekiah's call for them to return to the labors God has assigned to them. We know from 2 Kings 16:15-16 the priests apparently maintained their roles as sacrificers and administrators of religion when Judah went from the Lord to idolatry. So, at least some of the priests maintained the same profession throughout the time when the gods changed. v6-7 refer to the immediately preceding monarchy of Ahaz where the Lord was abandoned and the Temple shut down. v8-10 Hezekiah recognizes the present difficult state of affairs (cf. the preceding chapter) is a result of covenant curses from the Law, cf. Lev. 26. v11 Hezekiah again appeals to the Levites to abandon their present professions and return to Temple ministry. v12-14 Emphasizing the lineage-based rights of the priests and Levites, the genealogy is given. v15-19 Those priests and Levites who listen to Hezekiah's admonition turn to the Temple and purge it of all of the impurities gathered there. They then return the previously dedicated utensils. Afterwards, they report to Hezekiah the Temple has been purged. v20-36 Hezekiah wisely summons the leaders of Judah to him and gets them involved in Temple worship prior to summoning all Israel. In doing so, Hezekiah is obtaining top-down support for his efforts in reestablishing the worship of the Lord. v20 "rulers", the JPS renders it "officers". The leaders of the people. v25-28 informs us music and singing was a part of Temple worship, apparently started in David's time with the Tabernacle. Thus it is no surprise that several psalms have blatantly liturgical themes. v29-33 Hezekiah gets the leaders fully involved by having them sacrifice as well, and they do with apparently no dissension among the ranks. This requirement was a good test as the leaders would have to give of their substance to sacrifice, as opposed to just paying Hezekiah lip service. The result is there are a lot of sacrifices. v34 Two points of interest on this verse. First, the tradition had apparently developed that the priests would handle all of the aspects of the sacrifice even though the Law did not require it, cf. Lev. 1:2-8. While the tradition existed, they in a pinch recognize it is not prescribed by the Law, and so have the Levites assist the priests. They recognize the difference between tradition and Law, and while respecting the tradition they adhere to the Law. Second, the priests were less conscientious about returning to Temple service than were the Levites in general. The text doesn't state why, so we would have to assume the reason is one that would be manifestly obvious to the reader. The most plain reason be the pride that was general among the sons of Aaron. The priests were the elite among Levi, and they enjoyed special privileges. There was certainly the potential for some of them to be lacking in humility. And, holding higher status probably also opened up more doors for lucrative business practices that would have arisen as society secularized under Ahaz. So, some probably had gotten involved in personal business ventures, which would certainly be more profitable than Temple service. Additionally, 2 Kings 16:15-16 informs us some of the priests had become involved in idolatrous activities, so they probably were feeling guilty and hesitant about returning to worship the Lord. So, probably for a variety of reasons, similar to which we could see commonly today, the priests were generally less willing to return to Temple service than were their lower status Levite brethren, v36 Hezekiah, and everyone else as well, rejoices that such a change has occurred so quickly among them. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.