Study Desk

Jotham remained faithful to the Lord his God and became a very powerful king.

and was as sinful as the kings of Israel. He made idols of the god Baal,

Ahaz and the people of Judah sinned and turned away from the Lord , the God their ancestors had worshiped. So the Lord punished them by letting their enemies defeat them. The king of Syria attacked Judah and took many of its people to Damascus as prisoners. King Pekah of Israel later defeated Judah and killed one hundred twenty thousand of its bravest soldiers in one day.

Oded lived in Samaria and was one of the Lord 's prophets. He met Israel's army on their way back from Judah and said to them: The Lord God of your ancestors let you defeat Judah's army only because he was angry with them. But you should not have been so cruel!

But God was punishing Judah with these disasters, because Ahaz had disobeyed him and refused to stop Judah from sinning.

In every city and town in Judah he built local shrines to worship foreign gods. All of this made the Lord God of his ancestors very angry.

and said: It's time to purify the temple of the Lord God of our ancestors. You Levites must first go through the ceremony to make yourselves clean, then go into the temple and bring out everything that is unclean and unacceptable to the Lord .

Some of our ancestors were unfaithful and disobeyed the Lord our God. Not only did they turn their backs on the Lord , but they also completely ignored his temple.

So I have decided to renew our agreement with the Lord God of Israel. Maybe then he will stop being so angry at us.

And we have brought back all the things that King Ahaz took from the temple during the time he was unfaithful to God. We purified them and put them back in front of the altar.

Hezekiah and the people of Judah celebrated, because God had helped them make this happen so quickly.

Passover wasn't celebrated in the first month, which was the usual time, because many of the priests were still unclean and unacceptable to serve, and because not everyone in Judah had come to Jerusalem for the festival. So Hezekiah, his officials, and the people agreed to celebrate Passover in the second month. Hezekiah sent a message to everyone in Israel and Judah, including those in the territories of Ephraim and West Manasseh, inviting them to the temple in Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover in honor of the Lord God of Israel.

Hezekiah's messengers went everywhere in Israel and Judah with the following letter: People of Israel, now that you have survived the invasion of the Assyrian kings, it's time for you to turn back to the Lord God our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped. If you do this, he will stop being angry.

Don't be stubborn like your ancestors. Decide now to obey the Lord our God! Come to Jerusalem and worship him in the temple that will belong to him forever. Then he will stop being angry,

and the enemies that have captured your families will show pity and send them back home. The Lord God is kind and merciful, and if you turn back to him, he will no longer turn his back on you.

God also made everyone in Judah eager to do what Hezekiah and his officials had commanded.

Then, on the fourteenth day of that same month, the Levites began killing the lambs for Passover, because many of the worshipers were unclean and were not allowed to kill their own lambs. Meanwhile, some of the priests and Levites felt ashamed because they had not gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean. They immediately went through that ceremony and went to the temple, where they offered sacrifices to please the Lord . Then the priests and Levites took their positions, according to the Law of Moses, the servant of God. As the Levites killed the lambs, they handed some of the blood to the priests, who splattered it on the altar.

Most of the people that came from Ephraim, West Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean, but they ignored God's Law and ate the Passover lambs anyway. Hezekiah found out what they had done and prayed, " Lord God, these people are unclean according to the laws of holiness. But they are worshiping you, just as their ancestors did. So, please be kind and forgive them."

Hezekiah thanked the Levites for doing such a good job, leading the celebration. The worshipers celebrated for seven days by offering sacrifices, by eating the sacred meals, and by praising the Lord God of their ancestors.

The priests and Levites asked God to bless the people, and from his home in heaven, he did.