2 Chronicles 30:17

17 Many people in the assembly had not made themselves holy. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all who weren't clean and couldn't make their lambs holy for the LORD.

2 Chronicles 30:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 30:17

For there were many in the congregation that were not
sanctified
Or purified from uncleanness, contracted either by idolatry, or through such things which, according to the ceremonial law, made them unclean, and from which they had not now time to cleanse themselves according to the law:

therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers
for everyone that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord;
this they did for the masters of families, who were ceremonially unclean, who otherwise might have killed their passover lambs themselves, see ( Exodus 12:6 ) , but now the Levites did it for them, that their passovers might be sanctified and consecrated to the Lord; for, as Philo the Jew says ^F18, one day in a year the whole sacrificed, everyone acted as a priest, and brought and slew his own sacrifice, meaning at the passover.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 686. & de Decalogo, p. 766.

2 Chronicles 30:17 In-Context

15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they brought burnt offerings to the LORD's temple.

16 They stood in their regular places as instructed by Moses' Teachings. (Moses was a man of God.) The priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites.

17 Many people in the assembly had not made themselves holy. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all who weren't clean and couldn't make their lambs holy for the LORD.

18 Many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean. So they ate the Passover, but not in the way the written instructions said they should. Hezekiah prayed for them: "May the good LORD forgive

19 those who have their hearts set on dedicating their lives to serving God. May the LORD God of their ancestors do this for those who are not clean as required for the holy place."