Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Chronicles 30
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 30
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 30
"And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto Jehovah, the God of Israel." — 2 Chronicles 30:1 (ASV)
Compare the note on 2 Chronicles 29:24.
"For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month." — 2 Chronicles 30:2 (ASV)
In the second month - Hezekiah and his counselors reasoned that the permission found in the Law could, under the circumstances, be extended to all the people. It had proven impossible to complete the cleansing of the temple until after the fourteenth day of the first month had passed (2 Chronicles 29:17). Therefore, it was decided to postpone the festival to the fourteenth day of the second month, which allowed time for the priests to purify themselves and for a proclamation to be made throughout all Israel.
"For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem." — 2 Chronicles 30:3 (ASV)
At that time—that is, in the first month, at the time of the events mentioned in 2 Chronicles 29.
"So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: for they had not kept it in great numbers in such sort as it is written." — 2 Chronicles 30:5 (ASV)
They had not done it... — Some prefer to interpret this as, "they had not kept it in full numbers, as it was written"—that is, for some time, the Israelites of the northern kingdom had not kept the Passover with the full attendance that the Law required.
"So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant that are escaped of you out of the hand of the kings of Assyria." — 2 Chronicles 30:6 (ASV)
The posts went - The bearers of the letters were probably the “runners” who formed a portion of the king’s bodyguard (2 Kings 10:25 note).
The kings of Assyria - Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser may all be referred to in this passage (compare the cross-reference and 2 Kings 17:3). The passage by no means implies that the fall of Samaria and final captivity of the Israelites had yet taken place.
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