II Chronicles Chapter 29
Please read: II Chronicles 29 –
As believers and disciples of Jesus Christ it is our aim to one day hear these words, “well done thou good and faithful servant.” We find similar words were said by God about King Hezekiah while he was king of Judah.
II Kings 18:5-7a He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him.
Right away we read that Hezekiah began correcting the wrongs that had been a part of the kingdom of his father. The doors of the temple had been closed up, and he opened them and began to restore the temple to its former purpose. He even commanded that the people were not to worship in the high places. The people kept setting up these high places to worship God or whomever they chose, and it was time that a king recognized that this was not ordained by God and it needed to stop.
Hezekiah was king of Judah at the same time that the takeover of the northern kingdom had begun by the Assyrians. He was an eyewitness to what happens to a kingdom who has turned their back on God. And he recognized that his own kingdom was in the same state unless they repented and changed their ways. Hezekiah had said this about the state of Judah, “Therefore the wrath of the LORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.”
Let's Reflect
1. According to verse 6 what did King Hezekiah tell the Levites as to why the temple was in such a bad state?
2. According to verse 9 what had been the consequences of the sins of the past?
3. How many days did it take for the Levites and priests to clean out the filth that was in the temple, to cleanse it, and to put back items that belonged in the temple for proper worship?
4. Your Bible may have a heading before the start of verses 20-24 that says something like, “Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship.” According to verse 24 what was the first order of worship that the king rose up early to begin for the good of his kingdom?
5. The worship also included music as was established by King David. What instruments are mentioned that were used in worship to God?
6. Once the sacrifices for sin were completed and they were consecrated to God, the king then invited the people to present to God what? See verse 31.
7. There was so much given to the temple to sacrifice to God that the priests could not keep up with the work and so the Levites helped. What phrase at the end of verse 35 sums up what happened that day?
8. The last verse of the chapter is very interesting because the people were rejoicing. They recognized that this restoration and revival happened so quickly, that it must have been brought about by whom?
“It was, as a very great, so a sudden change, that the people, who but the other day were so ready to comply with wicked Ahaz in his idolatrous and impious prescriptions, were now so free and forward in God’s service; whereby it plainly appeared to be the work of the Almighty God changing their hearts by his Holy Spirit.” [Poole]
