In this episode, explore the transformative reign of King Hezekiah as documented in 2 Chronicles 29-30. We witness the dedication shown by Hezekiah and the Levites in restoring the temple and their efforts to reinstate the true worship of the Lord. Discover how this revival not only sparked spiritual renewal in Judah but also reached out to the northern tribes. Tune in for reflections on revival, personal insights, and the contagious joy brought about by a renewed devotion to God.
00:11:54 Reflection and Personal Insight on Revival
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today we are in 2 Chronicles chapters 29 and 30. Listen to Faith Comes By Hearing’s reading of these two chapters.
SPEAKER 05 :
2 Chronicles 29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was 25 years old, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east, and said to them,
SPEAKER 04 :
Hear me, Levites, now consecrate yourselves and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the holy place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.” Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that His fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers, and make offerings to Him.
SPEAKER 05 :
Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelul, and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimah, and Eden the son of Joah. and of the sons of Elazaphon, Shemriah and Jeuel, and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Madaniah, and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei, and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shimeiah and Uzziel. They gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they 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 and carried it out to the brook Kidron. They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.
SPEAKER 02 :
Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering, and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread, and all its utensils. All the utensils that King Ahaz discarded in his reign, when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.
SPEAKER 05 :
Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. And the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet. For the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. The whole assembly worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshipped. Then Hezekiah said,
SPEAKER 04 :
You have now consecrated yourselves to the Lord. Come near, bring sacrifices, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER 05 :
And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. And the consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings. So until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished. For the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the peace offerings and there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored, and Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had prepared for the people, for the thing came about suddenly. Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month. for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem. And the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed.”
SPEAKER 04 :
So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord, and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.” For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.
SPEAKER 05 :
So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun. But they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord. And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the Kidron Valley. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. They took their accustomed posts according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the Lord. For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying,
SPEAKER 04 :
May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.
SPEAKER 05 :
And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness. And the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the Lord. And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the Lord.” So they ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers. Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness. For Hezekiah king of Judah gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for offerings. And the princes gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. And the priests consecrated themselves in great numbers. The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.
SPEAKER 03 :
What a joyous couple of chapters as Hezekiah brings revival to Judah and Israel. Because of the length of the reading I’ll just share one journal way back in 1983 at 28 years old. Listen to this insight on these chapters. Hezekiah brings revival to Judah and then I wrote steps of revival, cleansing, offerings, worship, song and music, Praise, thanks, rejoicing. Praise God for revival. We need it. I need it. If you need your spirit revived today, go back and listen to this recording again or get your Bible out and read these two chapters of the revival of Hezekiah. Maybe you noticed, too, that he reached out to Israel, meaning he wasn’t just reviving Judah. He reached out to the other ten tribes of the northern kingdom. Though he was scorned by some, some actually came and celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem. Yes, revival means reaching up to God. It means reaching within us, and it means reaching out to others. Father, we thank you for the joy of these two chapters, the joy of revival, how you use people who have a heart for you to revive other people. May we be revived by these chapters. May our spirit leap because we’ve been in 2 Chronicles 29 and 30. May we be so stirred that we want to also help others have a revival. Let the joy of the Lord in our hearts be contagious to others. And we’ll give you the praise in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. To support AdBible, visit EzraProject.net, the donate button. For a one-time gift of $39 or more, we will send you a free copy of one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. And for a gift of $100 a month, we will send you the entire 11-volume series covering all 66 books of the Bible chapter by chapter. You will get a book a month for the first 11 months of your $100 a month contribution. So support the Ezra Project today by going online and hitting the donate button at ezraproject.net.
