Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 29:1-11
Here is, I. Hezekiah's age when he came to the crown. He was twenty-five years old. Joash, who came to the crown after two bad reigns, was but seven years old; Josiah, who came after two bad reigns, was but eight, which occasioned the delay of the reformation; but Hezekiah had come to years, and so applied himself immediately to it. We may well think with what a sorrowful heart he beheld his father's idolatry and profaneness, how it troubled him to see the doors of the temple shut, though, while his father lived, he durst not open them. His soul no doubt wept in secret for it, and he vowed that when he should receive the congregation he would redress these grievances, which made him do it wi…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 29:10
Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God--Convinced of the sin and bitter fruits of idolatry, Hezekiah intended to reverse the policy of his father, and to restore, in all its ancient purity and glory, the worship of the true God. His commencement of this resolution at the beginning of his reign attests his sincere piety. It also proves the strength of his conviction that righteousness exalteth a nation; for, instead of waiting till his throne was consolidated, he devised measures of national reformation at the beginning of his reign and vigorously faced all the difficulties which, in such a course, he had to encounter, after the people's habits had so long been moulded t…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 29:10
To make a covenant - To renew the covenant under which the whole people were constantly considered, and of which circumcision was the sign; and the spirit of which was, I will be your God: Ye shall be my people.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 29:11
My sons,.... So, as the father of his people, he speaks of them in the most tender and affectionate manner:
be not now negligent; backward to this good work, slothful, sluggish, and remiss in it; according to Jarchi and Kimchi, the word has the signification of error, and the sense may be, do not continue in the error in which you have been, in neglecting the service of God:
for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense; on the altar of incense, which was the work of the priests, and for which they were selected from the rest of their brethren; and Hezekiah's discourse was directed to them, as well as to the Levites,…
