2 Chronicles 29:21

2Ch 29:21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer [them] on the altar of the LORD.

Ver. 21. And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams.] Hezekiah being to dedicate, and, as it were, anew to consecrate the temple by solemn sacrifices, bringeth seven of a sort of all kinds of clean beasts, to denote the community or whole body of the kingdom.

To offer them on the altar of the Lord.] God sanctified the altar, {Exo 29:44} and the altar sanctified the gift. {Mat 23:19} We Christians also have an altar, {Heb 13:10} but not as our late altar-men would have had it, and we believe that our sevenfold manifold sins shall be taken away by that perfect and absolute sacrifice of the Messiah, that Lamb without blemish and without spot. {1Pe 1:19}

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 29:21. They brought seven bullocks — The number seven is customary in sacred matters, and is here used in regard of the vast numbers and various kinds of sins, the guilt whereof yet lay upon the kingdom, which was now to be expiated. Indeed, in case of one particular sin of ignorance committed by the people, there was but one bullock to be offered, but here the sins were many and presumptuous. For a sin-offering for the kingdom — To make atonement for the sins of the king, and the royal family, and the court. And for the sanctuary — For all the idolatry and uncleanness wherewith the temple had been polluted, which, as it had been cleansed naturally by the priests’ hands, so now it was to be purged morally by sacrifices. And for Judah — For the sins of all the people of Judah. They thought it not enough to lament and forsake their sins, but they brought a sin-offering. Even our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon, but through Christ, who was made sin, that is, a sin-offering, for us.

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

29:21 The bulls, . . . rams, and lambs were for the burnt offering, and the male goats were for the sin offering (see Lev 1; 4:1–5:13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. They brought seven bullocks, c.] This was more than the law required see Le 4:13, c. It ordered one calf or ox for the sins of the people, and one he-goat for the sins of the prince but Hezekiah here offers many more. And the reason appears sufficiently evident: the law speaks only of sins of ignorance; but here were sins of every kind and every die-idolatry, apostasy from the Divine worship, profanation of the temple, c., c. The sin-offerings, we are informed, were offered, first for the KINGDOM-for the transgressions of the king and his family secondly, for the SANCTUARY, which had been defiled and polluted, and for the priests who had been profane, negligent, and unholy and, finally, for JUDAH-for the whole mass of the people, who had been led away into every kind of abomination by the above examples.

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

(21) Seven bullocks . . . rams . . . lambs.—For a burnt offering (‘ôlah). See the legal prescriptions respecting the sin offering (Leviticus 4). On the present extraordinary occasion, an extraordinary sacrifice was offered. Balak and Balaam offered seven bullocks and seven rams as a burnt offering (Num_23:1-2, seq.).

And seven he goats, for a sin offering.—Comp. Ezr_6:17; Ezr_8:35; and Lev_4:23; Lev_4:28; also 2Ch_29:23. The reigning house and the sanctuary and the people had all contracted defilement during the late period of idolatry.

The priests the sons of Aaron to offer.—In careful accordance with the rule of the Torah.

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

21. they brought] Acc. to Lev_4:3; Lev_4:23; Lev_4:32 the sin offering might be a bullock or a he goat or a lamb. As the sacrifice was not for an individual but for a whole people the sin offering on this occasion consisted of seven of each of four different sacrificial animals.

for the kingdom] i.e. for the kingly house.

for the sanctuary] i.e. for the Temple (cp. Lev_16:16), but probably inclusive of the personnel of the Temple, i.e. the priests and Levites, since otherwise they would have been passed over in the great sin offering.

on the altar of the Lord] Not on the altar of Ahaz (2Ki_16:11).

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.

And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation,.... Which were to make atonement for the sins of both:

and they laid their hands on them; signifying thereby that they were vicarious sacrifices to be offered up in their own room and stead, and that they deserved to die, as these creatures would: transferring as it were hereby their sins unto them, for which they were to be sacrificed, and to make atonement, as an emblem of the imputation of the sins of the Lord's people to Christ, sacrificed in their stead.

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

Hezekiah commenced his restoration of the Yahweh-worship with an unusually comprehensive sin-offering, embracing the four chief kinds of sacrificial animals, and seven animals of each kind: he intended to atone for the sins, both conscious and unconscious, of the king, the priests, the people of Judah, and the people of Israel. After the completion of these expiatory rites, he proceeded to the offering of the burnt-offering 2Ch 29:27.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Seven. Only one was prescribed for sins of ignorance, Lev. iv. 13, 22. S. Jerom, Trad. --- But the late transgressions were of a different nature; and the king consults his zeal, rather than what he was absolutely obliged to do. --- Juda, to expiate the sins of the royal family, of priests, and people.

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).

The number of seven is famous and customary in sacred matters, and is here used in regard of the vast numbers and various kinds of sins, the guilt whereof yet lay upon the kingdom, which was now to be expiated. Indeed, in case of one particular sin of ignorance done by the people, there was but one bullock to be offered, Lev 4:13,14, but here the sins were many and presumptuous, &c.

A sin-offering for the kingdom; to make atonement for the sins of the king, and the royal family, and the court.

For the sanctuary; for all the idolatry and uncleanness wherewith the temple had been polluted, which, as it had been cleansed naturally by the priests’ hands, so now was to be purged morally by sacrifices.

For Judah; for the sins of all the people of Judah.

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

There is diversity of opinion, whether the seven bullocks ( seven rams ( seven lambs ( were burnt offering (hl; wO), or, with the seven he-goats ( yreypix), were sin offering (taF; j). Some think (as, for instance, Canon Rawlinson) that they were sin offering, as the account of the offering of them (ver. 22) takes priority for them over the he-goats; others (as Bertheau, Professor J. G. Murphy, etc.), that they were certainly burnt offering. It scarcely appears as though much stress can be laid upon what is apparently the chief reason of Canon Rawlinson"s opinion, in face of the immediate language of the last sentence of our ver. 24, "for the king commended the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel." The fact of no mention of burnt offering in our present verse, and of the natural construction of the description, "for a sin offering for the kingdom," etc., as applying to all that had preceded, seems the better argument, and all that is necessary, unless something moderately decisive be forthcoming to rebut it. The solution of all, however, is probably to our hand in Ezr_8:35, which is a very close and significant parallel to our present verse. The first mention of the sacrifice of or "young bullocks" is found in Exo_24:5, and afterwards in Exo_29:1, Exo_29:3; Lev_4:3, etc.; 8:2, 14, etc. The first mention of the sacrifice of is Gen_22:13; and, after, Exo_29:15-18, Exo_29:19-21, etc.; Lev_5:15 Lev_8:2, Lev_8:22, etc. The first mention of the sacrifices of the is Exo_12:3-7, and, after, Exo_29:38, etc. The first mention of the sacrifice of yreypix is the present passage; and, after, Ezr_8:25. But the mention of sacrifices of goats is found in Lev_1:10 Lev_3:12, and often besides. For the kingdom; i.e. probably for "all that are in authority," viz. the king and rulers, the Hebrew word (hklm) designating here those exercising dominion (1Ki_11:11 1Ki_14:8; 1Sa_28:17) rather than the country under dominion (Jos_10:2; 1Sa_27:5) It is, however, possible that allusion to the whole kingdom of Judah and Israel is made here. For the sanctuary; i.e. those who officiated in holy things. For Judah; i.e. for all the people.

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

Seven - The number seven is customary in sacred matters, and is here used in regard of the vast numbers and various kinds of sins, the guilt whereof yet lay upon the kingdom, which was now to be expiated. Indeed, in case of one particular sin of ignorance done by the people, there was but one bullock to be offered, but here the sins were many and presumptuous. Kingdom - To make atonement for the sins of the king and the royal family, and the court. Sanctuary - For all the idolatry and uncleanness wherewith the temple had been polluted. They thought it not enough to lament and forsake their sins, but they brought a sin-offering. Even our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon, but thro' Christ, who was made sin, that is, a sin-offering for us.

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

and seven kids, etc. This was a temporary provision.

on the altar of the Lord but not on those altars that his father Ahaz had made.

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.