2 Chronicles 29:36

2Ch 29:36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was [done] suddenly.

Ver. 36. For the thing was done suddenly.] Which showed that there was much of God in it. Church businesses usually go on but slowly. Sed nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia, saith Ambrose. The Spirit makes quick work.

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_29:36

For the thing was done suddenly.

Quickly done

I. That God very often appears to work with a suddenness that is startling.

1. In the realm of nature.

(1) Storms.

(2) Earthquakes.

(3) The transition of the seasons.

2. In the realm of providence.

(1) Israels deliverance at the Red Sea.

(2) The elevation of Saul to the throne of Israel.

(3) Nebuchadnezzars humiliation.

3. In the realm of grace.

(1) The conversion of Manasseh, of Saul the persecutor.

(2) Revivals in churches.

II. The fact that although gods works may appear to be marvellously sudden, yet at the same time, they have been preceded by a preparation that has perhaps lasted for years. It was so in this particular case. Hezekiah thanked God for having prepared the people. Do you ask me how they were prepared? I think I could venture to answer that question by saying they were prepared by the very openness of the sin of the previous monarch. Ahaz had gone to such a tremendous length in iniquity that his very excesses of crime had awoke a counter-feeling amongst the people. So is it in everything. First in the realm of nature. The storm that comes with racehorse speed across the sky might doubtless be traced back to atmospheric agencies far, far remote. The storm is only a climax. As in the realm of nature, so in the realm of providence. The deliverance at the Red Sea--it appeared sudden--it was not. It was only one link in a long chain. From the very beginning God had determined how He would deliver His people. Is not it specially so in the realm of grace? Look at Manasseh, whom we have used as an example of sudden conversion. It at your leisure you refer to his history, you will find in the thirty-third chapter, eleventh and twelfth verses, the account of Gods preparation. And Manasseh was caught in the thorns, and was taken a captive to Babylon; and in his distress he sought the Lord. Take the case of Pentecost. If you read the second chapter of the Acts attentively, you will see that God had brought together at Jerusalem at one time an immense number of people out of every country, and I read they were devout men; that is, they were inquirers after the truth. God had heaped together prepared fuel, then He made Peter strike the spark which resulted in the grand Pentecostal blaze. So is it in revivals. A revival appears sudden, and yet it is only the result of previous preparation. You are revived and you say that you are revived suddenly. Let me ask you a question or two, and I think you will see there has been prior working. Did you have any troubles in your business? Did you lose a child? Were you sick? What an encouraging thought it is to every worker for God that mighty things can thus be accomplished in a moment. (A. G. Brown.)

Suddenly

Observe the conjunction of words: prepared--suddenly. That is the true order of progress--preparation as to process, suddenness as to revelation. As the volcano, it is always gathering its heat, the moment of explosion is sudden; it always comes unexpectedly; it is like death itself, for though we have reckoned about the time death will come, when he does come his white ghastliness makes us forget our preparation and say, It was so sudden at the last! Have some of us not had preparation enough? Is it not time now for enthusiasm? We have heard thousands of discourses; we have attended thousands of religious services; we have even gone so far as to criticise the services we have attended. Has there not been preparation enough? Is it not time for a little suddenness, outburst, genuine enthusiasm? The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host; and yet all the ages had been preparing for that one moment. Eternity had been waiting for that crisis, and yet even then it was said, And suddenly. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, a sound as of a rushing, mighty wind. . . . Yet, though apparently so unexpected, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. (J. Parker, D.D.)

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

2Ch 29:36. Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people — In this blessed turn of affairs, and the new face of religion which the kingdom had put on. That God had prepared the people — Had changed their hearts by his Almighty Spirit. For it was plain his hand was in it, both because so many of those who, in the last reign, had doted on the idolatrous altars, were now so much in love with God’s altar; and because the thing was done suddenly; was brought about in so little time, and with little or no opposition. Those that go about the work of God in faith, and with resolution, will often find there is not that difficulty in it which they had apprehended. Only let magistrates and ministers do their parts toward the reforming of a land, and then let them trust God to do his, and ascribe to him the glory of what is done.

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

He showeth that religion cannot proceed except God touch the heart of the people.

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

Verse 36. And Hezekiah rejoiced] Both he and the people rejoiced that God had prepared their hearts to bring about so great a reformation in so short a time; for, it is added, the thing was done suddenly. The king's example and influence were here, under God, the grand spring of all those mighty and effectual movements. What amazing power and influence has God lodged with kings! They can sway a whole empire nearly as they please; and when they declare themselves in behalf of religion, they have the people uniformly on their side. Kings, on this very ground, are no indifferent beings; they must be either a great curse or a great blessing to the people whom they govern.

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

(36) And Hezekiah rejoiced.—So of David and his people (1Ch_29:9; 1Ch_29:22). (Comp. also 2Ch_7:10.)

That God had prepared.—In the Hebrew the article is used instead of the relative: a construction characteristic of the chronicler (1Ch_26:28). Render: “And Hezekiah rejoiced . . . over that which God had set in order for the people,” viz., the long-suspended ordinances of the Temple worship (1Ch_12:39; 1Ch_15:1). Perhaps, however, lâ‘âm, “for the people,” is the mere accusative after the verb, and the sense is “rejoiced because God had prepared the people” (2Sa_3:30).

For the thing . . . suddenly.—Literally, for on a sudden happened the matter. “On a sudden,” be-pith’om, here only; elsewhere simply pith’om. Comp. the synonymous règa’ and be-règa’ (Psa_6:10; Job_21:13). The hand of God was seen in the speed with which the revolution was effected, and the sudden turn of the princes and people from indifference to glad alacrity. (Comp. 2Ch_30:12.)

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

36. that God had prepared the people] R.V. because of that which God had prepared for the people. It was God, not Hezekiah, who had done it all.

suddenly] In the very first year of Hezekiah’s reign (2Ch_29:3).

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.

Because. Heb. and Sept. "that the Lord had disposed his people, for the thing was done suddenly," (H.) to place no obstacle to this sudden change from one extreme to the other, at a time when the king was scarcely established on the throne. C. --- Thus the people of England rejoiced, when the Catholic religion was re-established by the means of queen Mary and cardinal Pole. Philips. 9. --- But the minds of the people are very fickle. Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis. Still the joy may show, that all love for truth is "not extinct," as the Cardinal argued from the people’s conduct. Poli. ep. H.

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).

It was, as a very great, so a sudden change, that the people, who but the other day were so ready to comply with wicked Ahaz in his idolatrous and impious prescriptions, were now so free and forward in God’s service; whereby it plainly appeared to be the work of the Almighty God changing their hearts by his Holy Spirit.

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

(Comp. Pro_16:1)

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

Rejoiced - It was, as a very great, so a sudden change, that the people, who but the other day were so ready to comply with wicked Ahaz in his idolatrous presumptions, were now so free and forward in God's service: whereby it plainly appeared to be the work of God, changing their hearts by his Holy Spirit.

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

over that which God had prepared for the people to serve Him and to do His will, similar to below (30:19): “His whole heart he set to seek, etc.,” and they also rejoiced because they were suddenly inspired in the first year of his reign to return to the Lord, and they returned immediately.

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.