Context No. 2605 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 29:12-19: in context

12Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the LORD’s words, to cleanse the LORD’s house. 16The priests went into the inner part of the LORD’s house to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the LORD’s temple into the court of the LORD’s house. The Levites took it from there to carry it out to the brook Kidron. 17Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the LORD’s porch. They sanctified the LORD’s house in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace and said, “We have cleansed all the LORD’s house, including the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the table of show bread with all its vessels. 19Moreover, we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels which King Ahaz threw away in his reign when he was unfaithful. Behold, they are before the LORD’s altar.”

The new king Hezekiah, whose father Ahaz had shut and defiled the temple, sends the Levites to reopen and cleanse it. They first sanctify themselves, then go in and carry out all the uncleanness that had accumulated, hauling it down to the brook Kidron. It takes them sixteen days. And they restore even the vessels that Ahaz had thrown away in his unfaithfulness, setting them back before the LORD's altar.

Two things are worth catching. The Levites sanctify themselves before they clean the house; the ones doing the cleansing prepare their own hearts first. And they do not only remove filth; they recover the discarded vessels, the holy things Ahaz had cast aside, and restore them to use. Nothing God had set apart was too far gone to be reclaimed. There is hope in that for anyone who has let a part of their life fall into neglect, or thrown away a gift or a calling. The neglected can be cleaned out, and the discarded can be brought back and set again before God.

Is there a neglected, defiled part of my life, or a gift I have thrown away, that God is calling me to clean out and restore to his use?

Sources

2 Chronicles 29:15: They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in... to cleanse the LORD's house.
2 Chronicles 29:16: The priests went into the inner part of the LORD's house to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness.
2 Chronicles 29:19: we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels which King Ahaz threw away in his reign when he was unfaithful. Behold, they are before the LORD's altar.