2 Chronicles 30:17

17 For there were many in the congregation who were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passover lambs for every one who was not clean, to sanctify them unto 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 Then they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

16 And they stood in their place according to their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites.

17 For there were many in the congregation who were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passover lambs for every one who was not clean, to sanctify them unto the LORD.

18 For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "The good LORD pardon every one

19 who prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary."