2 Chronicles 29 explained: Hezekiah Reopens the Temple

A new king's urgent call (vv. 1-11)

Hezekiah's father Ahaz had shut the temple doors and stopped its worship, and Hezekiah reopens them in his first month as king. He blames Judah's lost battles and its people taken captive on that abandonment, and urges the priests and Levites (the tribe set apart to help run the temple) to make themselves and the temple fit for holy use again.

Clearing out the temple (vv. 12-19)

Leaders from each Levite clan and from the families of temple singers gathered their relatives. Only priests could enter the inner rooms, so they carried out everything unfit for worship, and the Levites hauled it to the Kidron Valley just outside the city; the work took sixteen days and included restoring utensils Ahaz had removed.

Sacrifices to make things right (vv. 20-24)

Seven of each kind of animal were offered for the royal house, the temple and the people, and some interpreters see seven as a sign of completeness. The king and the assembly laid their hands on the goats, a gesture the chapter does not explain and that scholars read in different ways (passing on guilt, the animal standing in for the people, or the people identifying with it), before the priests offered their blood to atone, meaning to make amends for the nation's wrongdoing.

The music returns (vv. 25-30)

Levites played cymbals, harps and lyres in the pattern set in King David's time with the prophets Gad and Nathan, while priests blew trumpets. The singing used songs credited to David and Asaph, many of which are now found in the book of Psalms, and everyone bowed until the offering was finished.

The people bring gifts (vv. 31-36)

People now brought thank offerings and voluntary offerings in such numbers that the few priests ready for duty could not skin them all, so the Levites, who had prepared themselves more promptly, stepped in to help. The writer notes that the joy came partly from how quickly the whole restoration happened.

Key verse: 2 Chronicles 29:35

Something to think about

Hezekiah explained his nation's suffering as the result of turning away from God; how do you tend to make sense of hard times that fall on a whole community or country?