2 Chronicles 29:17

2Ch 29:17 Now they began on the first [day] of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

Ver. 17. Now they began on the first day.] See 2Ch 29:3; 2Ch 29:5. Some by the first day here understand the first day of the year, which fell out toward the latter end of the first year of Hezekiah’s reign.

And in the sixteenth day.] What a deal of trash and filth was here contracted and got together in the temple in the so short reign of Ahaz, that so many men were so long busied in ridding of it! What wonder, then, that in so long reign of Antichrist, all was so much out of order in the Church, and that the noble reformers had, and still have, so much ado to purge it?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch_29:17

Now they began on the first day of the first month

A new year in Jerusalem

Let us consider--

I.

The work done (2Ch_29:18-19). What a grand work of an analogous character is thereby suggested--as a work, that may possibly be accomplished in the beginning of this year (1Co_3:16).

II. How it came to pass that it was done, and done suddenly.

1. God has prepared the people (2Ch_29:29).

2. In so doing He had rendered the priests and Levites greatly useful (2Ch_29:12-16).

3. King Hezekiah greatly influenced the spirit of the priests, the Levites, and the people, as evident from the character of his address (2Ch_29:5-11). But there is another king, one Jesus, who builds the temple of the Lord, and cleanses it, to whom we are all invited to look, and who shall bear the glory.

III. Some immediate results.

1. A great impulse given to the spirit of worship (2Ch_29:28-30).

2. Extension of a spirit of liberality in connection with the worship and service of the Lord (verse35).

3. Great joy. And that how valuable!

(1) In itself.

(2) In relation to moral improvement--for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

(3) In relation to trials (Heb_3:17-18).

(4) In relation to usefulness (Psa_51:12-13).

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 29:17. Now they began on the first day of the first month — A happy beginning of the new year! Thus should every year begin with a reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away of all the defilements contracted the foregoing year. In the sixteenth day they made an end —

Cleansing the house, and porch, and courts, and all the chambers belonging to the temple, in sixteen days. This is mentioned to signify, partly the universal abuse and defilement of all the parts of it by Ahaz, to remove which so much time was required; and partly the diligence of the priests in this work.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which contained part of March and part of April.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 17. On the first day] "They began on the first day of the first month Nisan." - Targum.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) The time the work took. Beginning on the 1st of Nisan with the purification of the courts, they had cleansed them by the 8th of the month, and “came to the porch of the Lord,” i.e., to the entry of the holy place. The following eight days were spent in cleansing the two holy chambers, and by the 16th of Nisan the work of purification was done.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. to sanctify … so they sanctified] Two periods of eight days each were spent in “sanctifying,” the courts apparently occupying eight days and the house itself eight days.

in the sixteenth day] The LXX. translators read τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ, i.e. on the thirteenth day, perhaps because the fourteenth day of the first month was the Day of the Passover, a day on which no work could be done.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Moreover, all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression,.... Not that he threw them away, being valuable, as made of gold and silver; but, as Kimchi interprets it, he removed them, and converted them to idolatrous uses; or, as the Targum, he defiled or profaned them, and made them abominable by strange idols:

have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord; they had cleaned them, and fitted them for service, and had put them where they were ready for use; though the Targum is,"we have laid them aside, and hid them, and prepared others in their room,''as unfit for divine service; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers (o).

(o) T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 54. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Month, Nisan, corresponding with our March, (M.) when Ezechias began his reign. Salien, the year of the world 3309.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In sixteen days purging the house, and porch, and courts, and all the chambers belonging to the temple. This is noted to imply partly the universal abuse and defilement of all the parts of it by Ahaz, which required so much time to remove; and partly the diligence of the priests in this work.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. They began on the first day… and in the sixteenth day… they made an end — Their exact order of procedure is to be gathered from the whole passage, and the supposable natural order of things. First, of course, the priests and Levites were assembled and addressed by the king, (2Ch_29:4-11;) next they sanctified themselves, (2Ch_29:15;) then they proceeded to repair the doors and cleanse the courts of the temple, and had this work done on the eighth day of the month. The cleansing of the temple itself occupied another eight days, so it was not until the sixteenth of the month that their work was accomplished.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They began to sanctify. This is not the hithp, conjugation (ver. 5), and the whole verse probably purports to speak only of the sanctification of things, not of the self-sanctifying of the official persons, which, whether it occupied longer or shorter time, had been already done. The sanctifying of all outside, then, to the threshold, or porch, took eight days. So, manifestly, should be rendered, in the van here found, and. The sanctifying of the interior occupied another eight days, and the legitimate feast-day of the Passover, viz. the fourteenth day of Nisan, became overlapped by two days. Nevertheless, many may have observed the Passover on its strict date.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The first day - A happy beginning of the new year! Thus should every year begin with the reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away of all the defilements contracted the foregoing year.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

first month

i.e. April.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They commenced on the first of the first month etc., they sanctified the House of the Lord for eight days This is why they prolonged the cleansing to cleanse it so long, because Ahaz had painted all the walls with images, as it is written (Ezek. 23:14): “Images of Chaldeans, engraved with types of drawings,” and they prolonged it for eight days until they destroyed the likeness of the images from the walls, and on the sixteenth day of the month, they completed everything, the Temple and the forecourt.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.