II Chronicles 30, Passover Again!

The date is about 725 BC. The northern kingdom is disappearing, conquered by Assyria. Hezekiah is king of Judah and has had the temple cleansed and temple worship reestablished.

2 Chronicles 30: 1-3, Ephaim and Manasseh invited

Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month. They had not been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.
 

People from the northern kingdom are invited to worship in Jerusalem. This is an attempt to unite the tribes in worship, especially under the various outside threats. This may even be while Assyria is besieging Samaria in the three years from the seventh to ninth years of Hoshea's reign (2 Kings 18:9-10.) 

The Passover is supposed to be celebrated in the first month of the year but there were not enough consecrated priests at that time and so Passover had to be postponed a month.

2 Chronicles 30:4-9, From Beersheba to Dan

The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly. They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.

At the king's command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: "People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

Do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see.

Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to the LORD. Come to the sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.

If you return to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him."
 

People are invited to Jerusalem, "from Beersheba to Dan", that is, from the southern border of Judah to the northern tribe of Israel.

2 Chronicles 30:10-11, Some come

The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but the people scorned and ridiculed them. Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.

Some come from Ephraim and Manasseh, even further. Tribes mentioned include Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun. These people may be refugees, leaving their homes behind, attracted to Jerusalem by the renewal of the covenant worship and fleeing the Assyrian incursion in the north. The Elephantine documents describe refugees on Elephantine Island in Egypt decades later, during the reign of Manasseh.

The main reaction to the invitation is scorn. If the invitation is made to a nation under threat by Assyria then most of the people have been worshiping other idols for some time. If Assyria has already moved in to the northern kingdom then the Assyrian idolatry is replacing the old Canaanite idolatry. Either way, there have been now centuries of resistance to Jerusalem and thus to temple worship.

2 Chronicles 30:12-14, Feast of Unleavened Bread

Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD. A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month.

They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

The three mandatory feasts are being established again. As before, the items used in the worship of idols form part of a trash heap in the Kidron Valley (see 2 Chronicles 15:16, 2 Chronicles 29:16.)

2 Chronicles 30:15-17, Passover

They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the LORD. Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood handed to them by the Levites.

Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate [their lambs] to the LORD

After the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the Passover. A comment is made about the priests and Levites being ashamed -- either because of the zeal of the people or because of the long apathy in celebrating these feasts. Payne points out that the second month is a month late for the celebration of the Passover, but, to use a modern saying, "Better late than never"!

The Levites hand containers of blood to the priests who sprinkle the people with it, as had been done in past times, representing the time in Egypt when the blood of the slain lamb saved the people from the angel of death.

2 Chronicles 30:18-20, Grace given to those who were strangers

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God--the LORD, the God of his fathers--even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

The refugees from the northern tribes had not followed the purification requirements but celebrated the Passover anyway. Hezekiah asks for YHWH to forgive that violation and YHWH gave the refugees grace.

2 Chronicles 30:21-27, Great joy

The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests sang to the LORD every day, accompanied by the LORD's instruments of praise.

Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the LORD. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the LORD, the God of their fathers. The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully.

Hezekiah king of Judah provided a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats for the assembly, and the officials provided them with a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep and goats. A great number of priests consecrated themselves. The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel, including the aliens who had come from Israel and those who lived in Judah.

There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.

The phrase "priests and Levites" in the last verse is an example of a hendiadys. A hendiadys is a two words joined with "and", that really represent one single concept. For example, "pain and suffering" really means "painful suffering", "sound and fury" really means "furious sound." It is a poetical technique used in both modern English and ancient Hebrew. Here (says Payne), "priests and Levites" means "Levitical priests".

As before, when the covenant worship was renewed, there is great joy and worship. Because of this, the worship continues an extra seven days! The author says that there had not been such joy since the time of Solomon.