The Passover in the Second Month
1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel with his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month. 3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. 4 The thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly. 5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it in great numbers in the way it is written. 6 So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, according to the commandment of the king, saying, “You children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Don’t be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see. 8 Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For if you turn again to Yahweh, your brothers and your children will find compassion with those who led them captive, and will come again into this land, because Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.” 10 So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but people ridiculed them and mocked them. 11 Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also the hand of God came on Judah to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by Yahweh’s word. 13 Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. 14 They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook Kidron. 15 Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into Yahweh’s house. 16 They stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received of the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites were in charge of killing the Passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to Yahweh. 18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Yahweh pardon everyone 19 who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary.” 20 Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. 21 The children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness. The Levites and the priests praised Yahweh day by day, singing with loud instruments to Yahweh. 22 Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of Yahweh. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and making confession to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 23 The whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days, and they kept another seven days with gladness. 24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests sanctified themselves. 25 All the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly who came out of Israel, and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel and who lived in Judah, rejoiced. 26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem. 27 Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.
A feast is kept a month late by people who are ritually unfit, and a king's prayer asks that the heart be accepted where the purification was not.
The invitation goes to the north as well as the south, by letter and by courier, from Beersheba even to Dan 2 Chronicles 30:5. The northern kingdom has just been broken by Assyria, and Hezekiah writes to the survivors as though the division had never happened.
The letter argues rather than commands. Turn again to Yahweh... that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped; do not be like your fathers; yield yourselves to Yahweh 2 Chronicles 30:6–8. And the promise attached is not about the harvest. If they turn, their relatives in captivity will find compassion with those who led them captive, and will come again into this land 2 Chronicles 30:9.
The response is mixed and the writer records both halves. In most towns people ridiculed them and mocked them; and nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came 2 Chronicles 30:10–11.
The feast itself is irregular in two ways, and both are stated openly. It is held in the second month rather than the first, because the priests were not ready and the people had not gathered 2 Chronicles 30:3. The law had provided a second-month date for individuals prevented by uncleanness or travel Numbers 9:10–11, and the king applies that provision to a whole nation.
The second irregularity has no such provision. A large part of the assembly had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written 2 Chronicles 30:18.
That sentence does not excuse anything. It states a breach of the rule, in the rule's own words. What follows is a prayer rather than a ruling, and its terms are exact: may the good Yahweh pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God... even if they aren't clean according to the purification of the sanctuary 2 Chronicles 30:18–19.
Hezekiah does not declare them clean and does not amend the requirement. He asks for pardon, and the ground he offers is the direction of the heart. And the answer is given in eight words: Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people 2 Chronicles 30:20.
The balance here is worth holding. This is the book that watched a king struck with disease for entering the sanctuary he had no right to enter, and that traced the whole exile to neglect of the written service. It is not indifferent to form. What it shows is that the God who required the purification was free to accept those who had sought him without it, on the intercession of somebody who asked.
The practical consequence appears one verse later. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves 2 Chronicles 30:15 — the leniency shown to the people shames the professionals into doing their own duty.
The feast is extended by another seven days on a vote of the whole assembly 2 Chronicles 30:23, and the list of those rejoicing includes the northerners and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel 2 Chronicles 30:25. Nothing like it had been seen since the time of Solomon 2 Chronicles 30:26 — which reaches back over every reform in the book to the dedication itself.
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