CHAPTER XXX _Hezekiah invites all Israel and Judah, and writes letters to_ _Ephraim and Manasseh to come up to Jerusalem, and hold a_ _passover to the Lord_, 1-4. _The posts go out with the king's proclamation from Dan to_ _Beer-sheba, and pass from city to city through the coasts_ _of Ephraim... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:2. _IN THE SECOND MONTH._] In _Ijar_, as they could not celebrate it in _Nisan_, the _fourteenth_ of which month was the proper time. But as they could not complete the purgation of the temple, till the _sixteenth_ of that month, therefore they were obliged to hold it now, or... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:6. _SO THE POSTS WENT_] רצים _ratsim_, the _runners_ or _couriers_; persons who were usually employed to carry messages; men who were _light of foot_, and _confidential_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:9. _AND WILL NOT TURN AWAY_ HIS _FACE FROM YOU_] Well expressed by the _Targum_: "For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not cause his majesty to ascend up from among you, if ye will return to his fear." The _shechinah_, of which the Targumist speaks, is the _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:18. _A MULTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE - HAD NOT CLEANSED THEMSELVES_] As there were men from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, they were excusable, because they came from countries that had been wholly devoted to idolatry. _THE GOOD LORD PARDON EVERY ONE_] "The Lord, who is g... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:22. _SPAKE COMFORTABLY UNTO ALL THE LEVITES_] On such occasions the priests and Levites had great fatigue, and suffered many privations; and therefore had need of that encouragement which this prudent and pious king gave. It is a fine and expressive character given of these men... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:25. _THE STRANGERS THAT COME OUT OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL_] That is, the _proselytes_ of the _covenant_ who had embraced Judaism, and had submitted to the rite of _circumcision_, for none others could be permitted to eat of the passover.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:26. _SINCE THE TIME OF SOLOMON _- THERE WAS _NOT THE LIKE IN_ _JERUSALEM._] For from that time the ten tribes had been separated from the true worship of God, and now many of them for the first time, especially from Asher, Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, joined to cel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 30:27. _AND THEIR VOICE WAS HEARD_] God accepted the fruits of that pious disposition which himself had infused. _AND THEIR PRAYER CAME UP_] As the smoke of their sacrifices ascended to the clouds, so did their prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings, ascend to the heavens. The... [ Continue Reading ]