INTRODUCTION

The story of Hezekiah and his reign (circa 715-687 BC) is told in 2 Kings 18:1-20:21; 2 Chronicles 29:1-32:33 and Isaiah 36-39. His father was Ahaz, one of the wicked kings of Judah, and one of the timeless lessons of Hezekiah is that one may overcome their environment and rearing and still lead a godly life.

Hezekiah is king at a critical juncture in Judah’s history. During his reign the Northern nation of Israel will fall to the Assyrians (712 BC), and Sennacharib and his mighty Assyrian army will attack Judah, take numerous cities, and lay siege to Jerusalem. In the midst of all of this Hezekiah remains faithful to God and sets a shining example to Judah. Perhaps the only two negative things that can be said about Hezekiah is his failure to teach his son, Manasseh to be faithful to God (which often happens with leaders, and which brought about the ultimate downfall of Jerusalem), and his boasting about his riches to the envoys of Babylon ( 2 Kings 20:12-19).

As the account in 2 Chronicles opens Hezekiah takes the throne in the first month, and begins immediately to cleanse the Temple and commands the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves so that offerings can be made according to Mosaic Law. It seems that Hezekiah knows that all of the calamities Israel and Judah are going through are due to their sin and rejection of God’s laws.

In the midst of this revival, they realize that this is the month that the Passover should be held. Some scholars believe that the events recorded in 2 Chronicles 30 happened five or six years after Hezekiah took the throne(1) (after Israel had fallen and Hezekiah has freedom to send letters to the North without appearing to start a war), however, the context of the passage argues for the first year of his reign (see 2 Chronicles 29:36-2 Chronicles 30:1-4). Hezekiah, his leaders, and all those assembled in Jerusalem decide to keep the Passover in the second month, according to the provisions laid out in Numbers 9:6-13. 2 Chronicles 30:3 states, “ . . .for they could not keep it at the regular time (Leviticus 23:5) because a certain number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem.”

Hezekiah also resolved, at this time, to invite the Northern tribes to join in, and sent letters all the way to Zebulun, to encourage Israel to come and worship, He was met with rejection and mocking: however, some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun did humble themselves to come to Jerusalem.

THE TEXT AND CONTEXT

The passage under consideration is a follows:

2 Chronicles 30:13-20
13 Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. 14 They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron. 15 Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the LORD. 16 They stood in their place according to their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the LORD. 18 For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone 19 who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary." 20 And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. NKJV

We can see in the context that, before the sought to worship God, they purged Jerusalem of all the incense altars and all the sacrificial altars to other gods. Then, they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month, according to the requirement of the law. Those priests and Levites that had not sanctified themselves were ashamed (obviously by the zeal of the people) and they then are where they need to be when the Passover begins. The Levites have to sacrifice many of the Passover lambs (as opposed to the men of the families doing so -- Exodus 12:3-4) because many of those that had traveled from the Northern tribes (from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun) has not cleansed or sanctified themselves.

The issue of this passage is found in 2 Chronicles 30: 18-20, wherein Hezekiah prayed that the Lord will provide atonement for those that are “not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” The text says that the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

J. R. Dummelow, in his comments on this passage states that the healing spoken of is physical healing.(2) He believes that a disease or plague may have started because of their eating without being sanctified, and indeed, the Hebrew word for healing in this passage is used strictly in a sense of healing from a physical disease. So, one interpretation that is propounded is that this causes no problem with God forgiving worship done illicitly; but it shows God healing the people because of their sin.

But the context of the passage argues for the meaning of forgiveness for this sin. Some “reader response” interpretations argue that this shows that the “way” one worships is inconsequential – what really matters is the heart.

Looking at the context, there are some clues that this is not a fair interpretation. Earlier, in verses 3 and 4, there seems to be a struggle in the minds of Hezekiah and the leaders if the provision of numbers 9:6-13 applies. Chris Kemp, in the Florence Blvd. Church of Christ bulletin dated August 29, 2004, argues that Hezekiah “inquired of God, received Divine approval, and then acted.” (3) Hence, the prayer recorded in verses 18-20 would fit better back at verses 3-4, and God sanctioned the act before it actually took place.

Another explanation that fits the context better is that God did forgive their sin, because their heart was right. They had ‘prepared their heart to seek God,” but the haste with which this was done precluded them from the cleansing required by the law. By the time the invitation has been sent out, and preparations made for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem had been accomplished, combined with the trip itself, they did not have time to cleanse. But their hearts were right-they desired that they worship God in His appointed way. Had they the time, no doubt they would have fulfilled that requirement as well.

This goes against the idea that any act of worship matters as long as a person’s heart is right-for if a person really wanted to serve the Lord he/she would want to worship God in the way He specified. God’s law would be upheld to the very best of that person’s ability.

APPLICATION OF THE TEXT

There are so many lessons that can be learned from the context of this passage. We need to stress the influence of fathers over their children, and leaders over their country. We need to remind people of the fact that one incentive to repent is to be reminded of their heritage (such as the Passover was designed to do) and their God.

On the whole, many may reject the invitation to come and worship God, but the invitation needs to be offered, nevertheless. When one comes to worship, there needs to be a time of preparation, reflection and meditation – for we are in God’s presence. Our hearts must be right, and if our hearts are right then we will seek to worship God in the way He has outlined. We will not be satisfied for anything less, nor will God (John 14:15).

CONCLUSION

Many today are trying to find ways to justify adding acts of worship that God did not authorize, and many will go to this passage to argue this point. However, the context nor correct interpretation will allow this. We must worship God in spirit AND IN TRUTH, He will accept nothing else.
________________________
1 C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume 3, 2 Chronicles pps 455-458
See also Pulpit Commentary, Volume 6, 1 and 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, pg 361
2 A Commentary on the Whole Bible, J.R. Dummelow, ed, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1944 p 266
3 Florence Blvd Church of Christ, Florence Blvd, Florence, AL August 29, 2004. Chris Kemp, editor