*H Now Ezechias began to reign, when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abia, the daughter of Zacharias.
Ver. 1. Manasses. The pious king thought he might give a general invitation, without umbrage. King Osee was not so impious as his predecessors. 4 K. xvii. 2. Afflictions had made his people more docile. The Jews say (C.) that the golden calves had been taken away by the Assyrians, and that the king removed the guards, which had been placed to hinder his subjects from repairing to Jerusalem. M. Salien, A. 3305. — Ezechias writes privately to the house of Joseph, as the people were prouder on account of the royal dignity. S. Jer. Trad.
* Footnote * 4_Kings 18 : 1
In the third year of Osee, the son of Ela, king of Israel, reigned Ezechias, the son of Achaz, king of Juda.*H And he did that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
Ver. 2. Month. The Rabbins pretend that the king intercalated the second Adar, contrary to the rule and advice of the wise, and the that he ought to have allowed those who were pure to celebrate the feast in due time. Selden, Syn. ii. 1. — But the Caraite Jews deny this pretended leap-year; and we see that Ezechias acted according to the advice of the princes, and that the Scripture praises his conduct. C. — Those who had a lawful impediment, were authorized to put off the feast till the second month. Num. ix. 10. The nation was under this predicament, as they had not priests at hand, (T.) nor were they assembled. D.
*H In the first year and month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.
Ver. 3. Reign, in the assembly, which met to recognize his authority. Lyran. — Them, adorning them with plates of gold. 4 K. xviii. 16.
*H And he brought the priests and the Levites, and assembled them in the east street.
Ver. 4. Street, or court, before the eastern gate. C.
*H And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be sanctified, purify the house of the Lord the God of your fathers, and take away all filth out of the sanctuary.
Ver. 5. Many. None had kept the Phase this year. H. — But those of Israel had not done it for a long time. Grotius. — Heb. "for they had not long before done according to the Scripture." Sept. "the multitude had not done," &c. C. — Yet, even in the worst times, Tobias, (i. 6.) and other zealous souls, contrived to comply with their duty. H.
*H Our fathers have sinned and done evil in the sight of the Lord God, forsaking him: they have turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs.
Ver. 6. Posts. Lit. "runners or couriers." H. — King. Heb. "kings." Phul and Thelgathphalnasar. The latter had taken away some tribes. 4 K. xv. 20. 29. C.
*H They have shut up the doors that were in the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burnt incense, nor offered holocausts in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
Ver. 7. Destruction. Sept. "solitude." Prot. "desolation."
*H Therefore the wrath of the Lord hath been stirred up against Juda and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, and to destruction, and to be hissed at, as you see with your eyes.
Ver. 8. Yield. Lit. "give your hands," (H.) in sign of submission (C.) and fidelity. Sept. "give glory."
*H Behold, our fathers are fallen by the sword, our sons, and our daughters, and wives are led away captives for this wickedness.
Ver. 9. Brethren. God sometimes spares one for the sake of another. H.
*H Now therefore I have a mind that we make a covenant with the Lord the God of Israel, and he will turn away the wrath of his indignation from us.
Ver. 10. Zabulon. Aser and Nephthali lay more to the north. But they were also invited, as well as the few who might remain on the other side the Jordan. 1 Par. v. 26. At least, we find that some of Aser came, v. 11. Thus those, who had been invited last, came first, while Ephraim continued more stubborn; (v. 18) and the greatest part derided the messengers, as we still see too frequently verified in the days of the gospel. H.
*H My sons, be not negligent: the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, and to minister to him, and to worship him, and to burn incense to him.
Ver. 11. Yielding. Sept. "were converted." Prot. "humbled themselves, and came." H.
*H Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of the sons of Merari, Cis the son of Abdi, and Azarias the son of Jalaleel. And of the sons of Gerson, Joah the son of Zemma, and Eden the son of Joah.
Ver. 12. Hand; grace (M.) and power, to endure such unanimity.
*H And of the sons of Heman, Jahiel, and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun, Semeias, and Oziel.
Ver. 14. Burnt, both vessels and altars. C. — To idols, corresponds with the Sept. "the false ones," and is added by way of explanation, unless it be lost in Heb. The illegal (H.) altars had been set up by Achaz. C. xxviii. 24. M.
*H And they gathered together their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in according to the commandment of the king, and the precept of the Lord, to purify the house of God.
Ver. 15. At length. Sept. "were converted." Heb. "ashamed, and sanctified themselves." H. — The ceremonies of purification for priests were longer, (C. xxix. 34.) and the sacred ministers were ashamed to be outdone by the people. M.
*H And the priests went into the temple of the Lord to sanctify it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found within to the entrance of the house of the Lord, and the Levites took it away, and carried it out abroad to the torrent Cedron.
Ver. 16. Levites, who received the paschal lambs from the unsanctified. M. — The law does not require the ministry of the tribe of Levi for this purpose, as each one might kill the paschal victim at home. But the people were not sufficiently purified on this occasion. Lyran. — At other times, laics killed the victims, if they were clean. Ex. xii. 6. After the tabernacle was set up, the priests poured out the blood on the altar; and, in latter ages, they slew the victim according to Grotius. But the texts of Josephus (x. 5. and Bel. vi. 45. Lat. vii. 17. H.) are inconclusive; and Philo repeatedly asserts that, on one day, the law authorizes all the people to sacrifice: and, though he lived at Alexandria, his testimony respecting a fact of public notoriety, is not to be rejected. Only the unclean applied to the Levites on this occasion, and the latter had no more right to sacrifice than the rest. C.
*H And they began to cleanse on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the same month they came into the porch of the temple of the Lord, and they purified the temple in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the same month they finished what they had begun.
Ver. 17. For. Prot. "for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord." Sept. "not able to be purified to the Lord." H. — The priests alone continued to pour the blood on the altar, till the destruction of the temple. C.
*H And they went in to king Ezechias, and said to him: We have sanctified all the house of the Lord, and the altar of holocaust, and the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition with all its vessels,
Ver. 18. Ephraim and....Issachar had not been mentioned before, v. 18. H. — Some indulgence was shewn to the tribes of Israel, which had been so long rebellious, for fear lest they should return no more; and because they had shewn a good will in procuring the Levites to slay the victims for them, as that was rightly judged a more sacred action than to partake of the feast. The law forbade, nevertheless, the unclean to approach to any thing sacred. Lev. xv. 31. and xxii. 4. Num. ix. 6. C. — But a dispensation was granted, (M.) as the Passover could not be celebrated in any but the first or the second month. The people had come with such eagerness, that they had not time to acquire the purity required. C. — They were however truly penitent, and God dispensed with them. W.
*H And all the furniture of the temple, which king Achaz in his reign had defiled, after his transgression; and behold they are all set forth before the altar of the Lord.
Ver. 19. Defiled. Heb. "cast out (C.) in his." — Forth. Heb. and Sept. "We have prepared and purified, behold they are," &c. H.
*H And king Ezechias rising early, assembled all the rulers of the city, and went up into the house of the Lord:
Ver. 20. Merciful; lit. "appeased." Heb. and Sept. "healed." S. Jerom (Trad.) says, "It was asserted that no unclean person could taste the Phase, but death presently ensued; and they understood that the Lord was appeased, because those who eat did not die." H. — Heb. girpa may, however, denote that God "pardoned," or did not impute the uncleanness to the people. Schindler, and C. xxxvi. 16. and Isai. vi. 10.
*H And they offered together seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats for sin, for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, for Juda: and he spoke to the priests the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of the Lord.
Ver. 21. Days. It seems all the observances had been omitted in the first month. The Jews teach, that those who have complied with those prescriptions, which require no particular purity, are not bound to keep the festival for seven days, nor to abstain from leavened bread the second month. — That agreed. Heb. and Sept. "of strength," sonorous, (M.) which they played on with all their force, or which sounded forth the divine power. C.
*H Therefore they killed the bullocks, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; they killed also the rams, and their blood they poured also upon the altar, and they killed the lambs, and poured the blood upon the altar.
Ver. 22. Heart; encouraged them to bear the fatigue for other seven days. — Lord; being of good dispositions, (C.) and able musicians. Sa. M. — Praising. Prot. "making confession to." But the sense is the same. H. — During the seven days, unleavened bread and peace-offerings were used, v. 24. C.
*H And they brought the he goats for sin before the king, and the whole multitude, and they laid their hand upon them:
Ver. 23. Joy, though not prescribed by the law. M. — This we should call a work of supererogation, (W.) which gives Prot. so much offence. H.
*H And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps according to the regulation of David the king, and of Gad the seer, and of Nathan the prophet: for it was the commandment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets.
Ver. 25. Proselytes, who had embraced the Jewish law: the rest were not allowed to partake of the paschal victims. Ex. xii. 48.
*H And the Levites stood, with the instruments of David, and the priests with trumpets.
Ver. 26. Israel: as many of the tribes came to join with their brethren of Juda.
*H And Ezechias commanded that they should offer holocausts upon the altar: and when the holocausts were offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to sound with trumpets, and divers instruments which David the king of Israel had prepared.
Ver. 27. Levites. These only applauded the solemn blessings, which were given by the priests. Num. vi. 24. C. — God is said to reside in heaven, because he there displays his glory to the blessed. D.
*H And Ezechias and the princes commanded the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, and Asaph the seer: and they praised him with great joy, and bowing the knee adored.
Ver. 30. Princes of the priests. H. — Words; psalms. T. — Asaph, so famous for music. He had composed some psalms, (C.) and twelve bear his name. T. — But he might only have set them to music, (H.) or his band sung them. D. — Knee. Prot. "head." Sept. "they prostrated themselves."
*H And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled your hands to the Lord, come and offer victims, and praises in the house of the Lord. And all the multitude offered victims, and praises, and holocausts with a devout mind.
Ver. 31. Added. Heb. and Sept. "answered," a term used in Scripture, though no question had been proposed. H. — Filled. You are, in some sense, priests. Prot. "you have consecrated yourselves." The people brought victims but the priests poured the blood round the altar, v. 34. H.
*H And they consecrated to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.
Ver. 33. Sheep, for peace-offerings. Jun. C. — They destined these victims for the use of the temple, (T.) that none might be wanting afterwards. C.
*H But the priests were few, and were not enough to flay the holocausts: wherefore the Levites their brethren helped them, till the work was ended, and priests were sanctified, for the Levites are sanctified with an easier rite than the priests.
Ver. 34. Holocausts, as the law required. Lev. i. 6. See C. xxxv. 11. The skin might be taken off other victims, by laics. — Priests. Syr. "The Levites were more timid, or reserved than the priests, to purify themselves." C. — Both are indirectly accused of negligence. C. xxx. 15. The Heb. seems to give the preference to the latter, "for the Levites were more upright of heart, (Sept. willing) to purify themselves than the priests." But the Alex. Sept. may well agree with the Vulg. The ceremonies attending the purification of both, may be seen Ex. xxix. 1. Num. viii. 6. H. — The priests had not sufficient time to collect themselves with the purity required, on such a short warning; and the paucity induced the king to put off the Passover till the next month. C. xxx. 3. 15.
*H And Ezechias, and all the people rejoiced because the ministry of the Lord was accomplished. For the resolution of doing this thing was taken suddenly.
Ver. 36. Because. Heb. and Sept. "that the Lord had disposed his people, for the thing was done suddenly," (H.) to place no obstacle to this sudden change from one extreme to the other, at a time when the king was scarcely established on the throne. C. — Thus the people of England rejoiced, when the Catholic religion was re-established by the means of queen Mary and cardinal Pole. Philips. 9. — But the minds of the people are very fickle. Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis. Still the joy may show, that all love for truth is "not extinct," as the Cardinal argued from the people's conduct. Poli. ep. H.