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King Hezekiah Repairs the Damage
Hezekiah came to the throne determined to save Judah from the
fate that was overtaking the northern kingdom. The prophets offered
no halfway measures. Judah could avoid the threatened judgments
only by a genuine reformation.
No sooner had Hezekiah ascended the throne than he began to
plan and execute. He determined first to restore the temple ser-
vices and solicited the cooperation of priests and Levites who had
remained true. “Our fathers have trespassed,” he confessed, “and
done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God; they have forsaken Him.”
“Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of
Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us.”
2 Chronicles
29:6, 10
.
The king reviewed the situation—the closed temple and the
suspended services; idol worship practiced in the streets of the city
and throughout the kingdom; the apostasy of multitudes who might
have remained true if the leaders had set a right example; and the
decline of the kingdom and loss of prestige among the surrounding
nations. Soon the northern kingdom would fall completely into the
hands of the Assyrians and be ruined. This fate would come to
Judah as well, unless God would work mightily through His chosen
representatives.
Hezekiah appealed to the priests to unite with him in bringing
about reform. “Do not be negligent now,” he exhorted them, “for
the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him.” “Now
sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your
fathers.”
Verses 11, 5
.
The priests began at once. Enlisting the cooperation of others,
they put heart and soul into cleansing and sanctifying the temple.
Remarkably soon, they were able to report their task completed.
They had repaired the temple doors and thrown them open, assem-
bled and put in place the sacred vessels, and made everything ready
for reestablishing the sanctuary services.
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