2 Chronicles 30:6-16

6 So runners went with the letters from the king and his officers throughout all Isra'el and Y'hudah. They conveyed the king's order: "People of Isra'el! Turn back to ADONAI, the God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov! Then he will return to those of you who remain, who escaped capture by the kings of Ashur.

7 Don't be like your ancestors, or like your kinsmen who sinned against ADONAI the God of their ancestors, with the result that he allowed them to become an object of horror, as you see.

8 Don't be stiffnecked now, as your ancestors were. Instead, yield yourselves to ADONAI; enter his sanctuary, which he has made holy forever; and serve ADONAI your God; so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.

9 For if you turn back to ADONAI, your kinsmen and children will find that those who took them captive will have compassion on them, and they will come back to this land. ADONAI your God is compassionate and merciful; he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him."

10 So the runners passed from city to city through the territory of Efrayim and M'nasheh, as far as Z'vulun; but the people laughed at them and made fun of them.

11 Nevertheless, some from Asher, M'nasheh and Z'vulun were humble enough to come to Yerushalayim.

12 Also in Y'hudah the hand of God was at work, uniting their hearts to do what the king and the leaders had ordered in accordance with the word of ADONAI.

13 Thus, many people assembled in Yerushalayim to keep the festival of Matzot in the second month, a huge crowd.

14 First they set about removing the altars that were in Yerushalayim, and they also removed all the altars for incense and threw them in Vadi Kidron.

15 Then they slaughtered the Pesach lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. Ashamed of themselves, the cohanim and L'vi'im had consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of ADONAI.

16 Now they stood at their stations, as prescribed in the Torah of Moshe the man of God; the cohanim splashed the blood given to them by the L'vi'im.

2 Chronicles 30:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 30

Hezekiah having consulted his nobles about keeping the passover the second month, and determined upon it, sent messengers throughout Israel and Judah, to acquaint them with it, at which some mocked, and others seriously attended to it, 2Ch 30:1-12 so it was celebrated in a solemn manner, though some were not qualified for it according to the law, and for whose pardon Hezekiah prayed, and it was granted, 2Ch 30:13-20, also the feast of unleavened bread was kept seven days, and a festival of seven days more was likewise observed with great joy and gladness, 2Ch 30:21-27.

messengers to them, not only to the subjects of his own kingdom, Judah, but to all the Israelites that dwelt in it, who were come thither for the sake of religion, and the worship of God:

\\and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh\\; which are put for all the ten tribes, as appears from 2Ch 30:10,11 and are distinguished from Israel in the preceding clause:

\\that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem\\; not that he laid his commands upon them to come, they not being his subjects, namely, those of the ten tribes; but he hereby admonished them of their duty, and gave them a kind invitation, signifying the doors of the temple were open for them, and they were welcome to come thither:

\\to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel\\; to the glory of his name, who was the common Lord of them all, and whose command it was to keep the passover, and that at Jerusalem, and nowhere else, see De 16:1-6. 19787-950128-1141-2Ch30.2