2 Chronicles 29:3

He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

THE KING CHARGES THE LÉVITES, AND THEY CLEANSE THE HOUSE OF GOD

(2Chronicles 29:3-19).

(3) In the first month—i.e., in the month Nisan, the first month of the sacred year; not in the first month of his reign. (Comp. 2Chronicles 29:17 and 2Chronicles 30:23.)

Opened the doors.—Which his father had closed (chap. 28:24).

And repaired them.—By overlaying them with metal—bronze or gold-leaf (2Kings 18:16).

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 29:3-4. He opened the doors of the house of the Lord — Which Ahaz his father had shut, 2 Chronicles 28:24. And he brought in the priests, &c. — He found Judah low and naked, yet did not make it his first business to revive the civil interests of his kingdom, but to restore religion to a good posture. Those that begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:1-19 When Hezekiah came to the crown, he applied at once to work reform. Those who begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly. Those that turn their backs upon God's ordinances, may truly be said to forsake God himself. There are still such neglects, if the word be not duly read and opened, for that was signified by the lighting the lamps, and also if prayers and praise be not offered up, for that was signified by the burning incense. Neglect of God's worship was the cause of the calamities they had lain under. The Lord alone can prepare the heart of man for vital godliness: when much good is done in a little time, the glory must be ascribed to him; and all who love him or the souls of men, will rejoice therein. Let those that do good work, learn to do it well.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

By "the first month" is meant (compare 2 Chronicles 30:2-3) the month of Nisan, the first of the Jewish sacred year, not necessarily the first month of Hezekiah's reign.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 29:3-11. He Restores Religion.

3. in the first year of his reign, in the first month—not the first month after his accession to the throne, but in Nisan, the first month of the sacred year, the season appointed for the celebration of the passover.

he opened the doors of the house of the Lord—which had been closed up by his father (2Ch 28:24).

and repaired them—or embellished them (compare 2Ki 18:16).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which Ahaz his father had shut up, 2 Chronicles 28:24.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He in the first year of his reign, in the first month,.... And, as appears from 2 Chronicles 29:17, on the first day of the month:

opened the doors of the house of the Lord; which his father had shut, 2 Chronicles 28:24.

and repaired them; or strengthened them, the hinges, and other parts of them, being loosened and weakened; and ornamented them by overlaying them with gold, the plates of which very probably his father had taken off; for, certain it is, Hezekiah overlaid them, and very probably at this time, see 2 Kings 18:16.

Geneva Study Bible

He in the first year of his reign, in the {a} first month, opened the {b} doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

(a) This is a notable example for all princes, first to establish the pure religion of God and to procure that the Lord may be honoured and served correctly.

(b) Which Ahaz had shut up, 2Ch 28:24.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3–11 (not in 2 Kin.). Hezekiah commands to cleanse the Temple

3. in the first month] i.e. in Nisan; cp. 2 Chronicles 30:2-3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - In the first month; i.e. Nisan, the first month of the calendar year (see vers. 2, 13, 15 of next chapter), not simply the first month of the new king's reign. And repaired them. This repairing of Hezekiah was, unhappily, subsequently undone of his own hands (2 Kings 18:14-16). 2 Chronicles 29:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The purification of the temple by the priests and Levites. - 2 Chronicles 29:3. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he caused the doors of the house of Jahve to be opened and repaired (הזּק as in 2 Chronicles 24:12, where it alternates with הדּשׁ). Cf. herewith the remark in 2 Kings 18:16, that Hezekiah caused the doors of the היכל to be covered with leaf-gold. The date, in the first month, in the first year of his reign, is variously interpreted. As the Levites, according to 2 Chronicles 29:17, began the purification on the first day of the first month, in eight days had reached the porch, and on the sixteenth day of the first month had completed the work, while the king had, according to 2 Chronicles 29:4, before called upon the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves for the work, and those summoned then assembled their brethren for this purpose, and after they had consecrated themselves, began the cleansing (2 Chronicles 29:15), it would seem as if the summons of the king and the calling together of the remaining Levites had occurred before the first day of the first month, when they began the purification of the house of God. On that account Caspari (Beitrge z. Einleit. in d. B. Jesaiah, S. 111) thinks that the first month (2 Chronicles 29:3) is not the first month of the year (Nisan), but the first month of the reign of Hezekiah, who probably became king shortly before Nisan, towards the end of the year. But it is not at all likely that הראשׁון החדר is used in a different sense in 2 Chronicles 29:3 from that in which it is used in 2 Chronicles 29:17. We therefore hold, with Berth. and others, the first month, both in 2 Chronicles 29:3 and in 2 Chronicles 29:17, to be the first month of the ecclesiastical year Nisan, without, however, accepting the supposition of Gumpach and Bertheau that the years of Hezekiah's reign began with the first of Tishri, for for that way of reckoning there are no certain data in the historical books of the Old Testament. The statement, "in the first year of his reign, in the first month" (not in the first year, in the first month of his reign), is sufficiently explained if Hezekiah ascended the throne in one of the last months of the calendar year, which began with Nisan. In that case, on the first of Nisan of the new year, so few months, or perhaps only weeks, would have elapsed since his accession, that what he did in Nisan could not rightly have been dated otherwise than "in the first year of his reign." The other difficulty, that the purification of the temple began on the first day of the first month (2 Chronicles 29:7), while the preparations for it which preceded were yet, according to 2 Chronicles 29:3, made also in the first month, is removed if we take 2 Chronicles 29:3 to be a comprehensive summary of what is described in the following verses, and regard the connection between 2 Chronicles 29:3 and 2 Chronicles 29:4. as only logical, not chronological, the ו consec. (ויּבא) expressing, not succession in time, but connection in thought. The opening of the doors of the house of God, and the repairing of them (2 Chronicles 29:3), did not precede in time the summons to the priests (2 Chronicles 29:4), but is placed at the commencement of the account of the reopening and restoration of the temple as a contrast to the closing and devastation of the sanctuary by Ahaz. Hezekiah commenced this work in the first year of his reign, in the first month of the calendar year, and accomplished it as is described in 2 Chronicles 29:4-17. If we take 2 Chronicles 29:3 as a statement of the contents of the succeeding section, - as are e.g., (1 Kings 6:14; 1 Kings 7:1) the statements, "he built the house, and completed it," where in both passages the completion of the building is described only in the succeeding verses, - we need not confine the preparations spoken of in 2 Chronicles 29:4-15 to the first day of the first month, but may quite well suppose that these preparations preceded the first day of the month, and that only the accomplishment of that which had been resolved upon and commanded by the king fell in the first month, as is more accurately stated in 2 Chronicles 29:17.