2 Chronicles 29:5

And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Hear me.—2Chronicles 15:2; 2Chronicles 20:15.

Sanctify now yourselves.—See Note on 1Chronicles 15:12; 1Chronicles 15:14.

Sanctify the house.—By removing all symbols of idolatry.

Carry forth the filthiness.—Niddah denotes personal impurity (Leviticus 12:2; Ezekiel 18:6); and so anything loathsome (Ezekiel 7:19); here probably idols, and things connected with their worship.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 29:5. Hear me, ye Levites; carry forth the filthiness — That filthy altar which Ahaz had put in the place of God’s altar, (2 Kings 16:11,) and the idols, or other abominable things, which were there; out of the holy place — The temple, or the priests’ court, which also is often called a holy place.

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

Sanctify now yourselves - Compare the marginal reference. Hezekiah follows David's example, knowing, probably, that the priests had in the preceding time of idolatry contracted many defilements.

The "filthiness," or "uncleanness" 2 Chronicles 29:16, might consist, in part, of mere dust and dirt, in part, of idolatrous objects introduced by Ahaz before he finally shut up the temple 2 Kings 16:10-16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. the east street—the court of the priests, which fronted the eastern gate of the temple. Assembling the priests and Levites there, he enjoined them to set about the immediate purification of the temple. It does not appear that the order referred to the removal of idols, for objects of idolatrous homage could scarcely have been put there, seeing the doors had been shut up [2Ch 29:3]; but in its forsaken and desolate state the temple and its courts had been polluted by every kind of impurity.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That filthy altar, which Ahaz had put in the place of God’s altar, 2 Kings 16:11, &c., and the idols or other abominable or polluting things which were there.

Out of the holy place; the temple, or the priests’ court, which also is called a holy place, Leviticus 6:16 10:13 Numbers 28:7.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And said unto them, hear me, ye Levites; sanctify yourselves,.... By washing their bodies and their garments, that no pollution might attend them in their service, see Isaiah 52:11.

and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers; by carrying out of it all manner of uncleanness, as they did, 2 Chronicles 29:16,

and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place; or the abomination; the altar, like that at Damascus, which Ahaz, removing the altar of the Lord, had placed in the court of the priests; or, as Kimchi thinks, an idol, which he had set upon that altar.

Geneva Study Bible

And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth {c} the filthiness out of the holy place.

(c) Meaning, all the idols, altar groves and whatever was occupied in their service and with which the temple was polluted.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. sanctify now yourselves] Cp. Exodus 19:10-15.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Sanctify... yourselves; Hebrew, הִתְקַדְּשׁוּ. Note the absence of any such direction in 1 Chronicles 13, and see 2 Chronicles 15:11-14, with our note on ver. 12 in particular. The filthiness; Hebrew, אֶת־הַגְּדִּה. This word occurs twenty-seven times, and is rendered "separation" fifteen times, "flowers" twice, "put apart" three times, "uncleanness" or "filthiness" six times, and "menstruous" once. The term, therefore, is among the strongest that could be used, and glances probably at the abominations, of whatsoever sort, that Ahaz's idolatries had entailed (comp. ver. 16). 2 Chronicles 29:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Hezekiah gathered the priests and Levites together "into the open space of the east," i.e., in the eastern open space before the temple, not "in the inner court" (Berth.), - see on Ezra 10:9 -and called upon them (2 Chronicles 29:5) to sanctify themselves, and then to sanctify the house of the Lord. To purify the temple they must first sanctify themselves (cf. 2 Chronicles 29:15), in order to proceed to the work of sanctifying the house of God in a state of Levitical purity. The work was to remove all that was unclean from the sanctuary. הנּדּה is Levitical uncleanness, for which in 2 Chronicles 29:16 we have הטּמאה; here the abominations of idolatry. The king gave the reason of his summons in a reference to the devastation which Ahaz and his contemporaries had wrought in the house of God (2 Chronicles 29:6, 2 Chronicles 29:7), and to the wrath of God which had on that account come upon them (2 Chronicles 29:8, 2 Chronicles 29:9). "Our fathers" (2 Chronicles 29:6), that is, Ahaz and his contemporaries, for only these had been guilty of displeasing God in the ways mentioned in 2 Chronicles 29:6 and 2 Chronicles 29:7, "have turned away their face from the dwelling of Jahve, and turned their back (upon it)." These words are a symbolical expression for: they have ceased to worship Jahve in His temple, and exchanged it for idolatry.