What's Happening: Hezekiah is a good, godly king of Judah. His very first action as king is to call the priests together and have them clean out and purify God's temple. (The temple had fallen into disuse by the previous ungodly kings.)
Ready to learn more about Hezekiah? Then let's get back into the Bible! Open your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 30. That's where we'll be spending most of our time today.
Last week we discussed how Hezekiah had purified the temple and reinstated its services. But that wasn't enough; he also wanted to reinstate the Passover. So the king and his officials wrote up a letter, inviting anyone in Judah or Israel to come to the Passover at Jerusalem. The letter went as follows:
“People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the LORD. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you. If you return to the LORD, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”
~ 2 Chronicles 30:6-10
The couriers met with mild success in their mission; some men from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun were persuaded to attend the Passover feast. But, unfortunately, despite the very tender and pleading letter that Hezekiah had written, most of the Israelites scorned the message. They ridiculed the couriers, and most definitely didn't come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Sad, very, very sad. Hold that thought, because we'll be coming back to it in a minute!
Nevertheless, "[a] very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem" (v. 13) for the Passover. They helped finish up the cleansing of the Temple, and throwing the idol altars into the Kidron Valley dump. On the fourteenth day of the second month the Passover lamb was slaughtered. The priests gladly took up their positions and roles as prescribed in the law of Moses, and everyone in general rejoiced.
"Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the LORD. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the LORD, the God of their ancestors." (v. 22)
Hezekiah encouraged the people throughout the feast to serve the Lord faithfully, and when the Passover came to a close, everyone decided to extend it for an additional week! In the words of the Bible, they "celebrated joyfully." (v. 24)
There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place. (v. 26-27)
Did you really read that passage above? Did you catch what God did? God heard them. The people repented of their sins, and did their best to get right with God, to do what He wanted them to do. And God heard them. Wow. Wow. Wow! And just the same, God can hear you, too! Don't ever forget or doubt that!
The other lesson that I'd like to bring out of this story of the scorning/rejoicing thing that I talked about midway through this article. When Hezekiah sent his couriers out to spread the word about the upcoming Passover, most of the people ridiculed the message. They didn't come. That has got me thinking. Do we ridicule God's message, or His messengers sometimes? Don't pay any attention to God's Word? That's not supposed to be a rhetorical question, but it's not exactly an easy one to answer either. This week, try to more than ever respect and learn from God's Word, the Bible. You never know what God might be trying to tell you through it!
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