I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 29-30.

    When Hezekiah took the throne upon his father’s death, his first act as king was to reopen and begin repair on the Temple. He then gathered the priests and Levites and ordered them to purify both themselves and the Temple. Once the purification was completed, Hezekiah gathered all of the city officials of Jerusalem for a day of consecration and worship. It is interesting that the passage tells us that the Levites were more conscientious about purifying themselves than the priests. Hezekiah led a revival. The revival under Joash was led by the priests and Levites. This revival was led by the secular leadership. King Hezekiah and his officials recognized that the kingdom needed to return to God. Repeatedly in this passage the secular leadership is recounted as ordering the priests and Levites to take the next step, purifying themselves, offering the sacrifices, praising the Lord with psalms. However, this was a genuine revival. When the people saw what was happening they rejoiced and joined in to worship the Lord. As evidence of this, when Hezekiah summoned the people to celebrate the Passover, they not only gathered for the Passover, but they spontaneously removed from Jerusalem all of the incense altars for worshiping other gods.

    Hezekiah took the throne shortly after the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria. As part of his religious reform, he invited the people remaining in the land of the Northern Kingdom to come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. An unspoken part of this invitation was the rejection of Assyrian gods and sovereignty. By coming the Jerusalem and taking part in the Passover, with its purification before God, the people of the Northern Kingdom would be putting themselves under Hezekiah’s authority. Initially, the bulk of the people in the area of the Northern Kingdom rejected Hezekiah’s overture. We will see that over time Hezekiah was able to extend his sovereignty over some of the land of the Northern Kingdom. Those who did come from the North for Hezekiah’s Passover celebration had failed to properly purify themselves, probably because they had forgotten how in the many years since God was truly worshiped there. In regards to these people Hezekiah made a statement that we should follow to these days. Those who chose to follow the Lord should be commended and encouraged to start from where they are, not told they have to wait until they get to where we think they should be. In addition to those from the Northern Kingdom who had forgotten the proper ways to prepare to worship the Lord there were many foreigners, who had never known how, who were welcomed to join in the celebration of Passover by Hezekiah.