HEZEKIAH PURIFIES THE TEMPLE

PROCLAMATION

“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. … they began on the first day of the first month … and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.”  2 Chronicles 29:15-17 (KJV)

EXPLANATION

After Ahaz died his twenty-five year old son Hezekiah reigned as king of Judah.  Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of The Lord. (2 Chronicles 29:1-2)  He opened the doors of the house of The Lord, and repaired them.  He gathered the priests and the Levites together, and told them to sanctify themselves, and then sanctify the house of The Lord. (2 Chronicles 29:3-5)  He reminded them how they had come to that point in time.  He told them that he intended to make a covenant with The Lord God of Israel, hoping that He would turn away His fierce wrath from them.  He also told them that they had been chosen to stand before God and to serve Him. (2 Chronicles 29:6-11)  Then he listed the names of the head of each family.  When the Levites had assembled and consecrated themselves, they began to purify the house of The Lord as the king had ordered.  They brought out of the temple every unclean thing that they found in the house of The Lord.  All total, it took them sixteen days to purify the temple. (2 Chronicles 29:12-17)  When they had finished, they told King Hezekiah.  Then he gathered the officials and offered a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah.  They made reconciliation for all of Israel by sprinkling the sacrificial goat blood on the altar.  The Levites took up the instruments of David, and the priests took up the trumpets, and the made music as the congregation sang and worshiped. (2 Chronicles 29:18-29)  Then Hezekiah commanded that they offer burnt offerings upon the altar, and that they sing praise unto The Lord using the words of David and Asaph the seer.  The number of burnt offerings was threescore and ten bullocks, one hundred rams, two hundred lambs, six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.  And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced. (2 Chronicles 29:30-36)

APPLICATION

The house of God should be clean.  We should keep the house of God cleaner than we keep our own house.  There is an old saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” (John Wesley)  However that phrase is not found in The Bible.  Jesus, The Christ, valued internal cleanliness and criticized the Pharisees for being clean on the outside but unclean on the inside. (Matthew 23:25-28)  God’s house should be clean inside and outside.  Our bodies are also God’s temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19)  We should be careful regarding what we let into our body, including the amount and type of food that we eat and drink, what we inhale, and that which we see that enters our mind through our eyes.  Let us keep God’s house clean, inside and outside.