2 Chronicles 30:19

2Ch 30:19 [That] prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though [he be] not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary.

Ver. 19. That prepareth his heart.] As well as he is able, though he fall far short of what he should be. The bent, frame, and tendencies of the heart show what the man is.

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 30:19. That prepareth his heart to seek God — The great thing required in our attendance on God in his ordinances is, that we prepare our hearts to seek him; that the inward man, the spirit, be engaged; that we make heart-work of our religion. All is nothing without this. Hezekiah does not pray that this might be dispensed with, or that the want of other things might be pardoned or overlooked, where this was not. For this is the one thing needful, and God is not, cannot be sought acceptably, without it. But he prays that where this was, other deficiencies and omissions, especially such as were of an external and ritual nature, might be pardoned. Though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary — With that purification which was required of them that came into God’s sanctuary. So he calls it, to distinguish it from that internal purity which they are here acknowledged to have.

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

(19) That prepareth.—Hath directed. The division of verses here is obviously incorrect. (The mistake was doubtless caused by the omission of the relative in the Hebrew between kol, “every one,” and lĕbâbô hçkîn, “his heart he hath directed.” The construction is parallel to that in 1Ch_15:12, “unto the place that I have prepared for it;” so LXX.) The prayer is, “Jehovah the Good atone for every one who hath directed his heart to seek the true God, even Jehovah, the God of his fathers, albeit not (literally, and not) according to the holy purifying”—i.e., although he hath not rigorously observed the law of purification.

Purification of the sanctuary.—Or, holy purification: a phrase only found here (comp. 1Ch_23:28).

The prayer evinces a preference of spiritual sincerity to mere literal observance of legal prescriptions, which is all the more remarkable as occurring in a writer whose principal aim is to foster a due reverence for the external ordinances and traditional customs of religion.

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

And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah,.... Heard his prayer, and accepted of it, and granted what he desired:

and healed his people; that is, forgave their sins, as Kimchi interprets it; forgiveness being expressed by healing, for which he refers to Psa 41:4 to which may be added Psa 103:3 and which was known either by a prophet sent to declare it, or by not punishing them for their offence.

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

i.e. With that ceremonial purification which was required of them that came into God’s sanctuary. So he calls it, to distinguish from that moral and internal purity which they are here acknowledged to have.

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

The sanctuary - With that purification which was required of them that came in God's sanctuary. So he calls it to distinguish from that internal purity which they are here acknowledged to have. The great thing required in our attendance on God's ordinances is, that we prepare our heart to seek him; that the inward man be engaged, that we make heart work of it. All is nothing without this.

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

who has set his whole heart So it is explained in the Baraitha of Rabbi Eleazar the son of Rabbi Jose the Galilean which commences: Wherever you find the words of Rabbi Eleazar the son of Rabbi Jose the Galilean in Aggadah, listen attentively, as it is said (Prov. 2:2): “To make your ear attentive to wisdom” of the thirty-two methods by which the Aggadah is expounded, and this is one of them:. If the sequence was separated, e.g. this one: The good Lord will atone for anyone who has set his whole heart to seek God to perform His Passover sacrifice, to offer up his sacrifice—even though they did not offer it with the purity of sacred things, for they had not purified themselves; the entire Judah had purified themselves because they were near Jerusalem, and they could cleanse themselves and consecrate themselves and return to Jerusalem, but many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun were not so much to blame in the matter, because the matter was far away for them through letters, and they did not have time to wait and to delay their coming until they consecrated themselves. They therefore came and were not purified. And because it was not their fault, therefore atone for them. Similarly, (Isa. 35:1f.): “Desert and wasteland shall rejoice over them, etc.”: the sequence is separated.

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.