WWUTT 684 Hezekiah Reforms Judah?

Hezekiah Brings Reforms to Judah and Calls for Right Worship

King Hezekiah brought many great reforms to Judah, leading the people back to right worship of the Lord God. We need to pray for that as well, not for a king to lead us, but godly teachers in our churches when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the book of 2 Chronicles, and we're up to Chapter 29 today. The chronicler spends more time talking about the reign of Hezekiah than he has talked about the reign of any other king since David and Solomon.

And what we read about Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles is quite a bit different than what we read about Hezekiah in 2 Kings. There in 2 Kings, we were focusing mainly on the crisis with the Assyrians that took place at about 700 BC.

Here in 2 Chronicles, we're going to be looking at primarily the reforms that Hezekiah brought to Judah, particularly restoring temple worship and celebrating the Passover. So remember, picking up from where we left off last week, Hezekiah is the successor to Ahaz, which up to this point has been the most wicked king in Judah.

In fact, Hezekiah is bookended by two of the most wicked kings, Ahaz and then Manasseh is going to be the next one that comes up after Hezekiah passes away. So Hezekiah begins to reign, as we see here at the start of Chapter 29, when he was 25 years old and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.

You know, I was actually thinking about this recently, studying through the kings in both Kings and Chronicles. You'll have some really righteous, awesome kings that bring some great reforms to Judah and the nation is plentiful because of what the king does for the nation and also because of his honor and worship to the Lord.

And their reign will last for several decades. That's great and it's beneficial for the people. When you have a king that is that righteous, bringing that many blessings upon the nation that he has been appointed to rule.

But let's say you've got a wicked king, a wicked king comes along and he's worshiping false gods. He encourages people to worship false gods. The Lord's wrath comes upon the people because that king worshiped false gods and then that king is reigning.

Sometimes it wasn't very long because God would bring judgment against that king, but other times he would reign also for several decades. So there are pluses and minuses to a system of monarchy. If you've got a righteous king, boy, you could ride that horse for a long time all the way to prosperity.

But if you had a wicked king, it was going to be some time before God delivered that people out of the judgment that had come upon them because of the wickedness of that king. And there was no guarantee when that king died that the next king who came along was going to be more righteous than he was.

The Proverbs talk about this, by the way. Proverbs 28, 2 says, when a land transgresses, it has many rulers. But with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue. Proverbs 28, 15, like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

Proverbs 28, 16, a ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor. But he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. And Proverbs 29, 12, if a ruler listens to falsehood, all of his officials will be wicked.

And by the way, we owe thanks to Hezekiah for some of the Proverbs that we have in Proverbs chapter 25, verse one. These also are Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah copied. So thanks to Hezekiah for some of the wisdom that we have collected in Proverbs, whether we have righteous rulers or wicked rulers.

We are told in first Timothy chapter two that we need to pray for our rulers, no matter what system of government you are under, whether you have a king or a governor or a president or a prime minister.

Here's what we read in first Timothy two, starting in verse one. First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Peter likewise wrote that we need to show honor to the emperor.

And who was emperor at the time that Paul wrote this to Timothy and Peter wrote what he did to the churches in Asia Minor? It was Nero who was the emperor, one of the most wicked emperors there had ever been against the Christian church.

Now at this particular time, Nero wasn't as bad as he was going to get, but nonetheless, he was not a righteous ruler. And yet Paul is telling Timothy, who is instructing the church as the Holy Spirit instructs us now that we are to pray for all kings and all who are in high positions, because this is godly and dignified in every way.

No matter who our rulers happen to be, may we pray for them because God desires all people to be saved, people from all statuses of life, whether they're at the very tippy top or down at the way down bottom, the holy nation of God, his church being sanctified in Christ Jesus is made up of all kinds of people.

Hezekiah Opens the Temple and Cleanses It for Worship

Second Chronicles chapter 29, I'm going to start in verse one once again, Hezekiah began to reign when he was 25 years old and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David, his father had done in the first year of his reign. In the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.

He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east. And he said to them, hear me, Levites, now consecrate yourselves and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the holy place.

For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord, our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turn their backs.

They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 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.

For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.

My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him. So as Hezekiah mentions here that because of the wickedness of our fathers, some of our brothers and sisters have been dragged away and taken into captivity.

This was but a taste, a foreshadowing of a greater captivity that was to come at the end of the time of Judah, when God would send the Babylonians, the Chaldeans against Judah and would conquer them, would even sack Jerusalem.

So as Hezekiah is describing these things here, for a person in Israel at this particular time who would have been reading this story in a post-exilic period, this would have all been foreshadowing to something that they knew was coming.

Judah would not turn from their wickedness and ultimately God would turn them over to their enemies to be fully exiled out of the land that he had previously given to their fathers. So this should stir in the hearts of Israel hearing this story repeated again.

We need to get our ducks in a row and we need to honor the Lord our God with all that we are, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And this would cause us even to pay attention to what we might otherwise think to be little things like as Hezekiah was detailing some of the practices in the temple that were not being followed.

And this is part of the reform that he's going to bring into Judah. So starting in verse 12, you have a list of the names of the Levites that responded to Hezekiah's charge. And then skipping to verse 15, they gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord.

The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it and carried it out to the brook Kidron.

They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month. And on the eighth day of the month, they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days, they consecrated the house of the Lord. And on the 16th day of the first month, they finished.

Then they went into Hezekiah the king and they said to him, we have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all of its utensils and the table for the showbread and all its utensils, all the utensils that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.

Now, not to put too fine a point on it, but the number eight actually does have some significance in holy practices, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. You know that the number seven is the number of God.

It is the number of completion, but the number eight signifies a new beginning. Oftentimes the number eight signifies a new beginning. So you think of, uh, of passion week of holy week with Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins and then rising again from the grave.

That week begins with Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of Hosanna. It ends with Christ being crucified on Friday, and then he's in the tomb Saturday.

That's seven days. Sunday to Saturday is seven days. And then the next day, Sunday morning, Jesus rises again from the grave. You could also consider that day eight. So it is a day of new beginning. So eight sometimes signifies a new beginning.

And that happens to be the usage of the number here. The reason why eight is so significant in the consecration of the temple and cleansing out all the old stuff is because reform is being brought into temple worship and into right worship in Jerusalem and in Judah.

So that's the significance of the eight and the 16 that we read about there. So now verse 20, then Hezekiah, the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.

And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary. And for Judah, again, seven being the number of completion or the number of God.

And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So they slaughtered the bulls and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams and their blood was thrown against the altar.

And they slaughtered the lambs and their blood was thrown against the altar. Sorry, the first one was rams. I say lambs twice. They slaughtered the rams, then they slaughtered the lambs. Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and to the assembly.

And they laid their hands on them. And the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

And if you'll remember back to the law, when it came to slaughtering an animal for a sin offering, the head of the household, the patriarch of the home, would lay his hand on the animal's head while the blood was being spilt.

And this was to signify that his sins were being transmitted to that animal whose blood was being spilled on behalf of those sins. It took blood to pay for sins, to be an atoning sacrifice. And all of this, of course, was pointing forward to Christ, who was the true spotless lamb who died on the cross for our sins.

Remember that great verse in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God. So our sins were put on Christ on the cross and God crushed him. And the wrath that was due us for our sinfulness against God was paid for by the blood of Christ.

And Christ gave us his righteousness. So when God looks at us, he sees not the sinfulness that has aroused this anger against us. What he sees is the righteousness of Christ that we have been clothed with.

This is a doctrine that is known as double imputation. And it is a beautiful, gorgeous doctrine for we know that because of what Christ has done for us on our behalf, the perfect spotless lamb of God, we are able to stand before God as adopted sons and daughters.

We're no longer his enemies. We're not the objects of his wrath. But by faith in Jesus Christ, we've been adopted into the family of God and have become fellow heirs of the promise of his kingdom. And so this is kind of the picture that we're being given here with this reformation that's coming about in this kingdom and the people placing their hands on the animals as they're being slaughtered for the sins of Israel.

Congregational Singing and the Restoration of Temple Worship

So now verse 25, and he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king seer and of Nathan the prophet. For the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets.

Then the Levites stood with the instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also and the trumpets accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel.

The whole assembly worshipped and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When the offering was finished, the king and all who are present with him bowed themselves and they worshipped and Hezekiah, the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer.

And they sang praises with gladness and they bowed down and worshipped. Now this wasn't just a chaotic noise of worship that we're reading about here. This was a very organized worship service. All the people were not singing whatever it was that their heart desired.

There were particular songs that they were led in. This was congregational singing. What was it that they were singing? Well, they would have been singing some of the Psalms that we read in the Old Testament.

Now of course this would have been done in Hebrew and whatever the music sounded like, we don't know. We don't know the exact tune of the Psalms that's been lost to the years. The names of the Psalms also, it wouldn't have been by number.

So it wouldn't have been like somebody was going, okay, everybody turn to Psalm number 23. We're going to sing a rousing chorus of Psalm 23. Actually, the Psalms were identified by the first line. So somebody would have said, let us sing together, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

And Israel had these choruses all memorized and knew the tunes as well. So this is the kind of worship that was going on in the temple as it was being consecrated under the direction of Hezekiah. Verse 31, then Hezekiah said, you have now consecrated yourselves to the Lord.

Come near, bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought sacrifices and thanks offerings and all who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. So this is after the consecration ceremony has been completed and after sin offerings have been lifted up and the people have lifted up their voices in worship.

Now they can bring whatever offerings they want to add to what has been done in worship to God. And so people from a willing heart were even bringing more to give thanks unto the Lord that he would bless them and forgive the sins of the people for the wickedness that they had done under King Ahaz.

So now verse 32, the number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord and the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3000 sheep.

But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings. So until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers, the Levites helped them until the work was finished for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.

Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the peace offerings and there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored and Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people for the thing came about suddenly.

A Call for Reformation in the Church and Faithful Teaching

Now when it comes to reformation that needs to happen in our own nation, wherever it is that you are listening from, this is not necessarily going to come at the hands of the king. We don't quite live in a system of a theocracy like we read about here in the Old Testament in Judah, but we do need to pray for godly men who will rise up in our churches to lead the people in right worship and a right understanding of the Word of God.

We need to ask God's forgiveness for running to teachers that tickle our ears instead of listening to the Holy Spirit who convicts our hearts and consecrates us before the Lord. Let us love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and devote ourselves to the faithful teaching of the Word of God that we may know Him more and become more like Christ.

God give us faithful men who will teach the Word and will also warn the people about those false teachers who have maligned the Word. Make us to love what you have said so we would be made more in the image of Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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