2 Chronicles 30:1–31:1

The end of the northern kingdom resulted in both the rapid increase in Judah’s population due to the influx of refugees and also the opportunity to call those in the north back to worship at the Jerusalem temple. Thus far, temple cleansing and restoration had involved those in Jerusalem: king, priests and Levites, and “officials of the city.” But the “sin offering with their blood” was to “make atonement for all Israel” (2 Chron. 29:24). Now Hezekiah made arrangements for a Passover celebration involving “all Israel and Judah” (30:1). He continued to provide leadership, but again communal involvement in decision making and implementation was to the fore (Hb. qahal [“assembly”] occurs thirteen times in chs. 29–30: 29:23, 28, 31, 32; 30:2, 4, 13, 17, 23, 24 [2x], 25 [2x]).¹

Whereas the whole of Kings mentions Passover only once, and that briefly as part of Josiah’s reforms (2 Kings 23:21–23), the Chronicler provides extensive details of Passover celebrations as part of the restoration of temple worship by both Hezekiah and Josiah (2 Chron. 30:1–27; 35:1–19), and earlier he had summarized Solomon’s offerings that had included those for the “annual . . . Feast of Unleavened Bread” (8:13). Elsewhere in the OT, specific celebrations of the Passover also occur at key points of new beginnings: at the exodus itself, at Sinai, on entering the land, and upon the dedication of the rebuilt temple after exile (Exodus 12; Num. 9:5; Josh. 5:10–11; Ezra 6:19–22). The Chronicler’s emphasis on this festival speaks to his audience: a religious celebration would be acceptable to the Persians, but to Jews the Passover itself is a remembering of past deliverance that gives hope of freedom (cf. Neh. 9:36–37). The festival places the worshipers’ present situation within the greater story of God’s purposes.²

The all-embracing nature of “Israel” is like a drumbeat throughout the account. Royal letters were sent to “all Israel and Judah” (2 Chron. 30:1), with proclamation “throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan” (30:5, 6). The people of the north were reminded that they shared the ancestry of “Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,” and thus the same God as well (30:6). The appeal was to “the remnant of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria,” for the Lord would “turn again” to those who “return to” him and would also show compassion to “your brothers and your children” who had been taken captive (30:6, 9). Explicitly named were the regions of Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulun, Asher, and Issachar (30:10, 11, 18; none from Transjordanian tribes, which experienced longer Assyrian domination and massive deportation, 1 Chron. 5:26).

God also enabled the people of Judah to have “one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded” (2 Chron. 30:12), which would include a welcoming of those who were not Judahites. Potential social divisions were brought together: “the whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel [following the proclamation], and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel [non-Israelite refugees as well as those who had come earlier from the north; e.g., 11:16], and the sojourners who lived in Judah [from various backgrounds]” (30:25; cf. Ex. 12:47–48).

The unity of “all Israel” is demonstrated in their all coming to the “house of the Lord at Jerusalem” (2 Chron. 30:1; “Jerusalem” is mentioned ten times in ch. 30); to assemble there was to affirm common allegiance to him. In Jerusalem the nation was reunited in worship at the one “house of the Lord,” as it had been under Solomon. The call to united worship is also a “proclamation” (30:5) for the Chronicler’s contemporaries in other potential centers of worship.³

Commitment to hold the Passover in a way that enabled all to attend is evident in the easing of two prescriptions: although the temple restoration went beyond the Passover’s typical date, the leaders agreed to celebrate a month later (30:2–4), and even though “a majority” of those from the north “had not cleansed themselves,” Hezekiah prayed that the Lord would pardon them and enable their participation; “the Lord heard Hezekiah” (30:17–20; cf. Solomon’s intercession at the temple dedication and the Lord’s answer, 6:12–42; 7:12–22).

The celebration was more than a formality that simply conformed to ritual requirements, for it was with a willing “heart” (30:12, 19, 22 [lit., “spoke on the heart”]; contrast Isa. 29:13). The “priest and Levites” sang “with all their might to the Lord” (2 Chron. 30:21), and Hezekiah and the leaders were generous in their provisions, enabling the feast to continue for a further seven days (30:23–24), matching the two weeks of celebration when Solomon dedicated the temple (7:9). The Chronicler brings together some of his favorite words, especially from 7:14: “faithless” (maʻal; 30:7), “humble themselves” (30:11), “pray” (30:18), “seek” (30:19), God’s “turning” as people “[re]turn” to him (30:6, 8, 9), “hear” (30:20, 27), and “healing” (30:20). Accompanying the events is the people’s “gladness/joy/rejoicing” (simkhah/samakh; 30:21, 23, 25, 26).

Significantly, the statement concluding the feast itself turns from human action to divine response: “Their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven” (30:27; cf. 6:21, 23, 25, etc.). That was not the end of the people’s response, however, for “all Israel who were present” then actively destroyed “all” objects and places of pagan worship in both Judah and the north. Only then did “all the people of Israel return,” each to his own property. Unlike Kings, which mentions only Hezekiah as destroying pagan objects (2 Kings 18:4), although obviously others implemented his orders, the Chronicler describes the purging as the people’s spontaneous communal response to the Passover celebrations. Worshiping the Lord “who brought you out of the land of Egypt” led to “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2–3). “Heart” worship with “joy,” praising the God of the exodus, led to the removal of idolatry.

1. IV.A. Reforms, Passover, and Answered Prayer under Hezekiah (29:1–32:33) . . .
   1. 2. Passover Celebrated with Joy (30:1–31:1)

As in the OT, Passover celebration in the NT is associated with a key turning point: the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the Passover Lamb (Matt. 26:1–19//Mark 14:1–16//Luke 22:1–22; John 13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14; 1 Cor. 5:8). At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24), but this is a “dangerous memory.”⁵ An observer might see no more than a religious activity, but as with the celebration of Passover in the postexilic period, Christian celebration of the Lord’s Supper at its core proclaims realities that critique all human sin and pride, all pretensions to dominate, and any favoring of one social, ethnic, or national group. Whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female (Gal. 3:28), we recognize that it was when we were “ungodly” and “still sinners” that “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6–8). We participate as “one body” in the forgiving, atoning grace of God; as we “eat and drink,” we identify and align ourselves with Christ as Lord (not Caesar or any human ruler or ideology), committing ourselves to his way, for he is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah [who] has conquered,” “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Rev. 5:5–6).

The Chronicler’s focus on “heart” and rejection of idolatry is echoed in the way Paul uses the sacrifice of “Christ, our Passover lamb” and “unleavened bread” as reason for putting away “malice and evil” and practicing “sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7–8). Later in the same letter he argues that participation in the Lord’s Supper implies single-mindedness in “flee[ing] from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14–22) and in intentional concern for one another (1 Cor. 11:17–34). Appropriately, the Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662) includes the invitation: “Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life. . . . Draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort.”