“And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.” — 2 Chronicles 29:4-5
Some years ago, four members of our family decided to go together and purchase a house to fix up and resell. The asking price of the property was right. The house was nearby, making it convenient for us to put in a few hours there after a regular workday. It was in a good neighborhood and was structurally sound. The cost of putting it in sellable condition was within our budget, and we had the skills to do the needed renovation. In short, the house checked all the boxes for a good investment property to rehab and then put back on the market.
There was only one downside to taking on this project. Inside, the house was a terrible, dirty, disgusting mess! It looked like it had been ransacked by vandals—vandals who wrote on the walls, broke up the furniture, stuffed refuse down the heating vents, and left rotting food on the floor. Disintegrating carpet, scummy appliances, and peeling wallpaper added to the picture of extreme neglect and misuse. And the smell was awful; there was no question that animals had inhabited the place as well. Obviously, the first step in the restoration project was to order a dumpster, hold our noses, and begin shoveling out debris!
In our text today, we read about a similar cleaning process that took place over 2,500 years ago—the cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem under the direction of Hezekiah, king of Judah. The doors of the Temple had been fastened shut during the reign of Ahaz, Hezekiah’s ungodly father. At the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign, the new king found the Temple in a shocking state of disrepair. How grievous it must have been for him to realize that this sacred place—the place where God had met with His people—had been so defiled! Restoring it was one of the first steps he took to turn his nation back to God.
The work of repairing and cleansing the Temple had to be done by its appointed personnel, so Hezekiah summoned the priests and Levites to meet with him east of the Temple area. Our focus verses record that the king instructed them to “carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.” Not only were they to clean out the dirt and debris that had accumulated in the Temple since the suspension of worship, but they were to remove all evidence of the idolatry that had defiled it and cleanse all the implements of worship.
The priests and Levites did as they had been instructed. They spent eight days repairing the doors and working in the courtyards of the Temple, and then they went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, and “brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord” (verse 16). It must have been horrifying for those who loved God to see what had been found in His house, but it was all brought out into the open—like a gigantic public confession. Nothing was hidden. And then, the refuse was carried out to the Kidron Valley area southwest of the Temple, to be disposed of near the garbage dump of the city in the Valley of Hinnom.
There is a lesson here for us. God will not coexist with uncleanness; we find that principle from the beginning of God’s Word to the end. God is holy, and He requires purity and holiness in His sacred dwelling place. This does not apply only to physical structures. Since we are the temples of God on this earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:16), He is not indifferent to our spiritual condition. As saved and sanctified individuals, we must not allow anything that defiles into His temple.
What kind of condition is your temple in today? Are things in order so God can be worshipped properly—is there holiness within? True cleansing of our hearts and lives does not take place on a superficial level—on the outside where man sees—but in the deepest part of our innermost being. When that inner man is properly tended to, the result will be great blessing.
After Hezekiah set the house of God in order, he commanded the Levites to sing praises unto the Lord. They bowed their heads, worshipped, and offered burnt offerings in abundance. Then we read, “Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly” (verse 36). We too will find great joy when our temples are properly prepared for God’s Spirit to dwell within.
Chapters 29 through 32 of 2 Chronicles are a record of the twenty-nine-year reign of King Hezekiah, the fifteenth king of Judah. Hezekiah is considered by many Bible scholars to be the greatest of the reformer kings of the nation, since Scripture includes more about him than any of the other kings of Judah. Chapter 29 focuses on the religious reforms Hezekiah made at the beginning of his reign. It begins with a description of the king’s character (verses 1-2), and goes on to describe in verses 3-19 his restoration and cleansing of the Temple, and in verses 20-36, the reinstatement of Temple worship.
Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah at the very end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In the first month of his reign, he began his efforts to turn the people back to God (see verse 3). His first step was to reopen and repair the doors of the house of the Lord, which had been shut by his father Ahaz (see 2 Chronicles 28:24). Then he called together the priests and Levites and charged them to cleanse the Temple. While the command for them to “carry forth the filthiness” (verse 5) meant they were to remove the debris that had accumulated in the house of God, it also alluded to the ceremonial cleansing of the implements of worship that had been defiled (see verses 15-17). The time frame noted in verse 17 reveals the extent of the disarray in the Temple; it took sixteen days just to carry out the rubbish that had accumulated there and sanctify the house of God. In verses 18-19, the priests and Levites reported to Hezekiah that the task had been done.
Following the cleansing of the house of God, Hezekiah immediately convened the civil leaders and led them in bringing offerings to the Lord. His zeal for God’s glory is evidenced by the statement in verse 20 that “the king rose early.” Verses 23-24 indicate that the sin offering was made first; this was required because fellowship and worship of God could not occur until a sacrifice was made for sin. Once that was done, the burnt offering (verse 27) was made. Verses 28-30 indicate that there was great rejoicing during this time of praise and worship.
Hezekiah then encouraged the people themselves to “bring sacrifices and thank offerings” (verse 31), and the response was overwhelming. They came with so many sacrifices that the priests could not process all of them, so other Levites who had sanctified themselves were called upon to assist in the task. The Temple—a place for personal sacrifice and worship—had been restored, and the result was rejoicing.
III. The history of the kings of Judah
M. The reign of Hezekiah
1. The character of his reign (29:1-2)
2. The reformation during his reign
a. The purification of the Temple (29:3-19)
b. The restoration of Temple worship (29:20-36)
(1) The Levites cleansed (29:20-30)
(2) The people cleansed (29:31-36)
As saved and sanctified individuals, we want to maintain purity of heart so that we can worship God properly and receive His blessing.
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