2 Chronicles 30:1-20, Religious Pretense (3)

Let us now consider the Passover celebrated in the days of Hezekiah.  There are some similarities to note between Hezekiah and Josiah.  In both situations the King took the lead.  Hezekiah, in the first year and the first month of his reign, opened the doors of the temple that he might restore the house of God (29:3,16-19).  Then he restored the temple worship, organizing the priests and Levites.  It was Hezekiah and his leadership team that made the decision to celebrate the Passover. 

This leadership was critical.  These were decisions that had to be made by the King.  Furthermore, there were some exceptions that had to be made.  Because the temple itself first had to be cleansed and the alter that had to be restored, they were unable to keep the Passover on the right date in the first year.  Thus, it was the King who made the decision (30:1-3).  Furthermore, an issue arose concerning the cleansing of people who came from the northern kingdom of Israel; it was the King who interceded with the Lord on that matter as well (30:16-20).  You can imagine that without the King’s leadership, neither Passover celebration would have taken place. 

However, it is the differences between the two celebrations that are significant.  For one thing, part of Hezekiah’s temple cleansing involved the re-establishment of worship.  The priests and Levites had to be cleansed themselves and then they needed to begin the regular sacrifices.  The account of this in 29:31-36 is critical.  It appears there was a great “backlog” of sacrifices to be offered.  By that we mean that many people had been waiting through the time of Hezekiah’s father, desiring to bring offerings to the Lord, but unable to because the temple worship had been shut down.  Almost 4,000 animals were brought for sacrifices and they were brought by the assembly (29:32), not by the king.  It was clear, by the speed with which all this happened, that God had prepared the people (29:30).  Hezekiah had announced that the temple was open for business and the people were moved by God.  That is the reason they did not want to wait until the following year to celebrate the Passover. They wanted to worship God now!

This leads to another significant difference between Hezekiah and Josiah.  Hezekiah did not command the people to keep the Passover.  He announced it and invited them to come.  There was a call to return to the LORD (30:6-9), to repent.  The people of Judah had already had the opportunity for this in the initial round of offerings.  But now the invitation was extended from Beersheba to Dan (30:5).  Note that in the north the messengers were laughed at by many while some accepted the invitation (30:10-11).  In Judah itself it appears there was a 100% turnout.  But not because it was commanded.  Rather, the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, at the word of the LORD (30:12). 

There were two results of this moving of the people by God.  One was the removal of idolatry.  The people were the ones to go around Jerusalem and destroy the idolatrous altars that had been erected (30:14).  And later, all Israel removed high places around Judah as well as up into the area of the northern kingdom (31:1).  And second, everyone decided to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread for a second week, at which point the King then was moved to provide additional animals for sacrifice so there would be plenty to eat (30:23-27). 

What a joyful time this was in Israel.  It set the foundation for powerful events that would follow when the Assyrians came to the gates of Jerusalem but never entered.  Oh, that God would move in the Church in such a way today.  In our next regular post we will consider some application issues related to these two Passover celebrations.