29:1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
After the evil rule of King Ahaz, the divine discipline of God caused Judah to lose in war, be betrayed by Assyria, and to lose their soldiers and natural resources. Judah was crippled by God’s discipline, but Hezekiah was God’s bandage. Hezekiah would become one of God’s greatest kings. His revival would be one of the greatest revivals in Israel's history.
Hezekiah was negatively influenced by his evil father, but he was more positively influenced by his godly mother. The Holy Spirit made note of his mother. One person for the Lord Jesus Christ, especially a mother, can make a big difference in one’s life.
29:2 He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done.
Hezekiah was compared to David. David was God’s high standard of how a human king should act.
29:3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them.
Hezekiah was moving fast. His evil father, King Ahaz, had shut the temple doors to Judah. In the very first year of Hezekiah’s reign, he reopened the doors for worship.
29:4 He brought in the priests and Levites and assembled them in the square on the east side.
The Levites were invited back to lead the worship of Judah.
29:5 He said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors! Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!
The Levites were commanded to cleanse themselves and to physically cleanse the temple. The temple had acquired a lot of dust since its closing.
29:6 For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God and abandoned him! They turned away from the Lord’s dwelling place and rejected him.
The generation of Ahaz honored the worship of demons over the worship of God.
29:7 They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
The generation of Ahaz shut down the temple worship of Jehovah.
29:8 The Lord was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.
God allowed the other nations to defeat Judah in battle.
29:9 Look, our fathers died violently and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off because of this.
Judah was plundered and enslaved during this time, but they still refused to ask Jehovah for help.
29:10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.
King Hezekiah was going to ask God to restore Israel’s greatness by asking for revival.
29:11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to serve in his presence and offer sacrifices.”
God had chosen the Levites to lead Israel during this revival time period.
29:12 The following Levites prepared to carry out the king’s orders: From the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah; from the Merarites: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; 13 from the descendants of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; from the descendants of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 from the descendants of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.
The Kohathties, Merarites. and Gershonites were the three main tribes of Levites who cared for the tabernacle and temple throughout Israel’s post-exodus history.
29:15 They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word of the Lord.
The Levites cleansed themselves according to the Mosaic Law rituals.
29:16 The priests then entered the Lord’s temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside. The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley.
The Levites began to physically cleanse the dust of the neglected temple.
29:17 On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the Lord’s temple. For eight more days they consecrated the Lord’s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.
It took the combined united force of the Levites sixteen days to complete the cleansing of the temple.
29:18 They went to King Hezekiah and said: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, including the altar of burnt sacrifice and all its equipment, and the table for the Bread of the Presence and all its equipment.
The Levites reported their results to the king.
29:19 We have prepared and consecrated all the items that King Ahaz removed during his reign when he acted unfaithfully. They are in front of the altar of the Lord.”
All of the temple utensils were prepared and consecrated for immediate use.
29:20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah assembled the city officials and went up to the Lord’s temple.
The community leaders were notified and gathered.
29:21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. The king told the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer burnt sacrifices on the altar of the Lord.
All of these burnt offerings pointed to the Messiah. These offerings had been neglected during King Ahaz’s reign.
29:22 They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood on the altar; next they slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood on the altar.
A man can only come to the Messiah through His blood. This picture was graphically and realistically painted at every offering. Modern butchers take away this bloody and graphic experience from the modern world.
29:23 Finally they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they placed their hands on them.
The priests placed their hands on the goat as a symbol of transferring the sins of the people to that of the goats. The innocent goats were then slain on the altar for the sins of the people. These animals were a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sins of the people were transferred to Christ. Christ was slaughtered on the altar (cross) for the sins of the people.
29:24 Then the priests slaughtered them. They offered their blood as a sin offering on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had decreed that the burnt sacrifice and sin offering were for all Israel.
“All of Israel” included both Judah and Israel. Some of the messianic believers in Israel had escaped the Assyrian Captivity. They were also invited to participate in this ritual.
29:25 King Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals and stringed instruments, just as David, Gad the king’s prophet, and Nathan the prophet had ordered. (The Lord had actually given these orders through his prophets.)
Notice that the praise music did not begin until after the sacrifices began. The atonement of Christ must precede the joyfulness of the Millennial Kingdom.
29:26 The Levites had David’s musical instruments and the priests had trumpets.
Notice that musical instruments were used in the music of Israel. It is legalistic for a church to forbid musical instruments in their worship.
29:27 Hezekiah ordered the burnt sacrifice to be offered on the altar. As they began to offer the sacrifice, they also began to sing to the Lord, accompanied by the trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel.
Atonement for sin must precede rejoicing for salvation.
29:28 The entire assembly worshiped, as the singers sang and the trumpeters played. They continued until the burnt sacrifice was completed.
The music continued throughout the burnt offering rituals. The burnt offerings pointed to the Messiah.
29:29 When the sacrifices were completed, the king and all who were with him bowed down and worshiped.
Offerings and music were a large part of Jewish worship.
29:30 King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the Lord, using the psalms of David and Asaph the prophet. So they joyfully offered praise and bowed down and worshiped.
Many of the psalms were sung at the temple worship ceremonies. David wrote at least 73 of these psalms. All of this music glorified God, not man or sin.
29:31 Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord’s temple.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and whoever desired to do so brought burnt sacrifices.
Additional sacrifices were offered at the temple. This was the first time that these sacrifices had been offered since King Ahaz closed the doors of the temple.
29:32 The assembly brought a total of 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs as burnt sacrifices to the Lord, 29:33 and 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep were consecrated.
Animals rights groups complain about this amount of sacrifices, but this was a large barbecue for all of the nation of Judah. These animal rights activists never complain when the big business butchers slaughter similar amounts of cattle in butcher houses all over the world. Nor do they complain when they are eating their steak dinners at fancy restaurants.
29:34 But there were not enough priests to skin all the animals, so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests could consecrate themselves. (The Levites had been more conscientious about consecrating themselves than the priests.)
There were so many people and so many offerings at this worship ceremony, that additional Levites were called in to assist with the volume of sacrifices. Every family was about to graphically observe a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ through these sacrifices. Every family was able to see the horrible and disgusting effects of sin.
The teaching of sin is dismissed in most seeker-friendly churches today. This was not true in ancient Israel. At least once a year, each family was given a graphic picture of sin and atonement that they would never forget.
29:35 There was a large number of burnt sacrifices, as well as fat from the peace offerings and drink offerings that accompanied the burnt sacrifices. So the service of the Lord’s temple was reinstituted.
In Judah, Hezekiah began revivals which opened and cleansed the temple, restored the Levitical priesthood, and restored worship of Jehovah. At this same time in Israel, the Assyrians were destroying and devastating the ten-tribe northern kingdom.
29:36 Hezekiah and all the people were happy about what God had done for them, for it had been done quickly.
Hezekiah worked fast to reinstitute temple worship in Israel. He was not one of these carnal Christians who would volunteer to do a job and then quit or slow down right in the middle of it.