priests similarly cleansed the inner part of the house, when the Levites flung the remnants of past

heathen defilement into the brook Kidron. It marks the zeal with which the work was carried on

that, begun on the first day of the first month of the first year of Hezekiah's reign -reckoning its

ecclesiastical commencement from the month Nisan* - it was completed on the sixteenth day.

* The text does not, however, inform us how long - i.e. how many months - previously Hezekiah

had acceded to the throne. Some critics suppose it to have been in the month Tishri preceding.

Then the vessels which Ahaz had cast away were restored, viz., the altar of burnt-offering, the

stands for the brazen lavers, and that for "the sea" (comp. 2 Kings 16:14, 17).* The Temple

having been thus purified, its services were recommenced with a grand function, when seven

bullocks, seven rams, and seven lambs were offered for the congregation as burnt-offerings, and

seven he-goats as sin -offerings** (comp. Leviticus 4:14; Ezra 8:35).

* It will be remarked that this notice in 2 Chronicles 29:19 confirms the previous account in 2

Kings, and that in a manner instructive as regards the harmony of the two narratives, even where

the one records what the other omits.

** That only the he-goats were brought as sin -offerings appears, first, from 2 Chronicles 29:23,

and, secondly, from the circumstance that the burnt offerings are afterwards specially enumerated

in ver. 27.

In strict accordance with the Mosaic law, all the sacred functions were discharged by the Aaronic

priesthood, with sprinkling of blood on the altar, and imposition of hands on the sacrifices,

denoting their vicariousness (Leviticus 1:4; 4:4, 15, 24, and Leviticus 4:7, 18, 30; 5:9). But what

specially distinguishes these services is that the sin -offerings were brought not only for Judah, but

"for all Israel" (2 Chronicles 29:24), indicating alike the solidarity of "all Israel" as the

congregation of the Lord, and the representative character of these sacrifices. And in accordance

with the institution of David, the sacred strains from Levite instruments, and the inspired hymns of

David and of Asaph,* once more filled the Temple with the voice of melody and of praise,**

while the king, the princes of Judah, and the people responsively bowed their heads in lowly

* This reference t o the two great Psalmists not only indicates the existence of their Psalms at that

time, but seems to imply such an activity on the part of Hezekiah in regard to the canon of Holy

Scripture then existing as is expressly mentioned in connection with the Book of Proverbs.

** For the musical part of the Temple services, its time and manner, see The Temple and its

The more direct sacrificial offerings for the people were followed, at the king's suggestion, by

thankofferings (comp. Leviticus 7:11, 16), also of a public character, to which "as many as were of

upright heart" - probably they who had stood aloof from the idolatry of the previous reign - added

burntofferings. As these thankofferings were brought by the congregation as a whole, the victims

were not slain and flayed by the offerers, as was the case when brought by private individuals

(Leviticus 1:5, 6); but this part of the service devolved on the priesthood, who called in, as in such

case they might, the assistance of the Levites. When we remember that, besides the special "burnt-

offerings" of individuals (70 bullocks, 100 rams, and 200 lambs), the "thankofferings" of the

congregation amounted to no less than 600 oxen and 3,000 sheep (2 Chronicles 29:32, 33), we

scarcely wonder that the prie sts alone should not have sufficed for the service. And as the text

significantly marks, recalling the special defection of the priesthood, from the high-priest Urijah

downwards (comp. 2 Kings 16:15), the number of priests who had as yet sanctified themselves

was proportionally smaller than that of the more faithful Levites. "So the service of the house of

Jehovah was established. And Hezekiah rejoiced and all the people, because of that which God