Hezekiah Reopens the Temple

About the same time Pekah, king of Israel, died through the treachery of a friend of his named Hoshea, who held the kingdom nine years but was a wicked man and a despiser of the worship of God. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, marched against him and overcame him, for Hoshea did not have God’s favor; he made him his ally and ordered him to pay a fixed tribute. In the fourth year of Hoshea’s reign, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz began to reign in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, a citizen of Jerusalem. His nature was good, righteous and devout; for when he came to the kingdom, he thought nothing came before the worship of God, or was more necessary or more to the advantage of himself and his subjects. So he called together the people, the priests and the Levites, and made a speech to them, saying, “You know how, through the sins of my father, who violated the sacred honor due to God, you have experienced many great miseries, while your minds were corrupted by him and you were led to worship those whom he supposed to be gods. So I urge you, who have learned by sad experience what a dangerous thing impiety is, to put it out of your minds at once; and I urge that the priests and Levites purify themselves from their former pollutions, and then gather and open the temple, cleanse it with the customary sacrifices, and restore it to the ancient honor our fathers paid to it. For by this means we may make God favorable, and he will put away the anger he has had toward us.” [a]

When the king had said this, the priests opened the temple; and when they had set the vessels of God in order and thrown out what was impure, they laid the customary sacrifices on the altar. The king also sent through the country under him and called the people to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for it had been neglected a long time because of the wickedness of the kings already mentioned. He also sent to the Israelites and urged them to give up their present way of life and return to their ancient practices and worship God, for he gave them leave to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread all together as one body. This, he said, was by way of invitation only, to be done of their own free will and for their own good, not out of obedience to him, because it would make them happy. But when the envoys came and laid before the Israelites the message they had from their own king, the Israelites were so far from complying that they laughed the envoys to scorn and mocked them as fools. They also insulted the prophets who gave them the same advice and foretold what they would suffer if they did not return to the worship of God, until at last they seized them and killed them. Nor did even this degree of lawbreaking satisfy them; they devised more wicked things than have been described, and they did not stop until God, as a punishment for their impiety, brought them under their enemies. But of that more later. Many, however, of the tribes of Manasseh, Zebulun and Issachar obeyed what the prophets urged them to do and returned to the worship of God. All these came hurrying to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah, to worship God. [e]

When these men had come, King Hezekiah went up into the temple with the rulers and all the people, and offered for himself seven bulls and as many rams, with seven lambs and as many young goats. The king himself and the rulers laid their hands on the heads of the sacrifices and let the priests complete the sacred rites over them. So the priests both killed the sacrifices and burned the burnt offerings, while the Levites stood around them with their musical instruments and sang hymns to God and played on their harps, as David had taught them to do; and meanwhile the rest of the priests answered the music by sounding the trumpets they held in their hands. When this was done, the king and the people threw themselves face down and worshiped God. He also sacrificed seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred lambs. He gave the people sacrifices to feast on as well, six hundred oxen and three thousand other cattle; and the priests did everything according to the law. The king was so pleased with all this that he feasted with the people and gave thanks to God. When the Feast of Unleavened Bread had come, and they had offered the sacrifice called the Passover, they offered other sacrifices after it for seven days. The king gave the people, besides what they consecrated themselves, two thousand bulls and seven thousand other cattle, and the rulers did the same, giving them a thousand bulls and a thousand and forty other cattle. This festival had not been so well kept since the days of King Solomon as it was now, kept for the first time again with great splendor and magnificence. When the festival was over, they went out into the country and purged it, and cleansed the city of all the pollution of the idols. The king also ordered that the daily sacrifices be offered at his own expense and according to the law, and directed that the people give the tithes and the firstfruits to the priests and Levites, so that they might attend constantly on the divine service and never be drawn away from the worship of God. So the people brought all kinds of their produce together to the priests and the Levites. The king also built granaries and storehouses for this produce and distributed it to every one of the priests and Levites, and to their children and wives; and so they returned to their old form of divine worship. When the king had settled these matters in the way described, he made war on the Philistines, beat them, and took possession of all the enemy’s cities from Gaza to Gath. But the king of Assyria sent to him and threatened to overturn his whole dominion unless he paid him the tribute his father had formerly paid. King Hezekiah was not troubled by his threats, but relied on his piety toward God and on Isaiah the prophet, through whom he inquired and accurately knew all future events. This is enough for the present about King Hezekiah. [f]