Year 2, Week 5, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 5, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 2 Chronicles 30-31.

Today’s reading stays in 2 Chronicles as continues recording the extensive religious reforms attempted by Hezekiah: “Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel” (2 Chronicles 30:1). 2 Chronicles 30 reports on Hezekiah’s efforts to bring all of Israel together for the celebration of the Passover. While the nation had been divided into two Kingdoms, the Passover celebration reflected the reality that it was for “all of Israel and Judah.” With the recent demise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the opportunity to gather as the newly rededicated Temple marked a new day: “So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed” (2 Chronicles 30:5). The Passover renewal would represent the opportunity for something of a reunification of the nation. 2 Chronicles 31 notes the extensive reorganizational efforts that Hezekiah enacted among the priesthood and their priestly duties: “And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the LORD and to give thanks and praise” (2 Chronicles 31:2).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was how the renewal of the Passover served as an important occasion for the people to renew themselves to the LORD: “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria…For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him” (2 Chronicles 30:6b,9). The invitation to turn to and return to the LORD was accompanied by a rebuke: “Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you” (2 Chronicles 30:7-8). The nation did not have to live under the anger of the LORD; they could turn again to the LORD. Hezekiah’s words were reminiscent of the LORD’s promise: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Hezekiah’s words are strong but they provide hope rooted in God’s faithfulness.

The response to Hezekiah was mixed. Some rejected his words: “So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them” (2 Chronicles 30:10). While others embraced his words: “However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 30:11). More importantly, God was pleased to use Hezekiah’s words: “The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 30:12). But among those who did come, there were some who were not properly prepared to be there: “For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves” (2 Chronicles 30:17). Thus Hezekiah prayed: “For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness” (2 Chronicles 30:18b-19). It was not merely the attendance at a religious ritual that was important, but having a heart posture seek toward the LORD that mattered most.

The Old Covenant celebration of Passover, which was a remembrance of the LORD’s work of deliverance from Egyptian captivity, has correspondence to the New Covenant celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which includes remembering Christ’s work of salvation on our behalf. And like the Passover, the Lord’s Supper requires consecration to the Lord: “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The Lord’s Supper, which focuses us on the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord, calls for single-mindedness: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21). It is important to participate in the Lord’s Supper—not a an eternal ritual—but out of heart that seeks the Lord: “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:28-29).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe