2 Chronicles 29:17

17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD. So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

2 Chronicles 29:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 29:17

Now they began on the first day of the first month to
sanctify
Either of the reign of King Hezekiah, or rather of the year; the month Ab or Nisan, as the Targum expresses it: and on the eighth of the month came they to the porch of the Lord;
they seem to have begun cleansing the inner part of the temple first, and so came forward until they came to the porch which led into it: so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days;
the holy place, and it may be the most holy place, and the court of the priests: and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end;
it took them eight days more to cleanse the outward porch, and the buildings and chambers belonging to the temple; according to Jarchi, it required so much time, because Ahaz had framed pictures of idols upon the walls of the temple, which could not be defaced sooner.

2 Chronicles 29:17 In-Context

15 And they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and 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 to carry it out abroad into the Brook Kidron.

17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD. So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, "We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering with all the vessels thereof, and the showbread table with all the vessels thereof.

19 Moreover all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD."