2 Chronicles 30King James Version
Hezekiah sends letters throughout Israel and Judah calling everyone to come keep the Passover in Jerusalem. The runners are laughed at in some places but in others people come. The feast is kept for seven days and then extended another seven. There has been nothing like it in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon.
Hezekiah invites all Israel and Judah, including the remnants in the north after Assyria's conquest, to keep the Passover in Jerusalem. Couriers go throughout the land with letters. Most in the north mock them; some come. A huge assembly gathers in Jerusalem for the Passover, the first great celebration since Solomon. Many eat while ritually unprepared; Hezekiah prays for them. God hears and heals the people. They celebrate for fourteen days and cannot stop.
Passover is not just a calendar event but a declaration of identity: Hezekiah calls the scattered remnants back to the story that defines them, and even the north is invited.
9: "For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him." The Passover letter's core appeal: return is possible.
The Passover normally happened in the first month; Hezekiah holds it in the second because there was not enough time to prepare. The law provides for this. He finds the mercy clause and uses it. The two-week celebration with its singing and joy is the longest liturgical party in Chronicles. Then on the last day, they go out and destroy the high places. Worship and reform are two parts of the same movement.
Hezekiah, who writes and sends and prays; the couriers, mocked in the north and received in the south; the assembly from both kingdoms; the people who eat while unclean and are healed by Hezekiah's intercession.
The Passover invitation to the northern kingdom is remarkable given that Assyria had just deported its population. Hezekiah is reaching across a political and religious divide to include the remnants of the destroyed kingdom. The Chronicler, writing for a community that has its own identity questions after exile, reads this as the prototype of inclusive restoration: the invitation goes out even to those scattered by judgment.
For when you want to come back but feel unworthy because the preparation is not what it should be. The unclean people who eat anyway and are healed by intercession are the heart of this chapter. God responds to the direction of the heart more than the state of the ritual.
1And 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 unto the LORD God of Israel.
2For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.
3For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
4And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
5So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.
6So 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 the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
8Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
9For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.
10So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
11Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
12Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.
13And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
14And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.
15Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.
16And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites.
17For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the LORD.
18For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one
19That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
20And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
21And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the LORD.
22And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.
23And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.
24For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
26So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.
27Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.