2 Chronicles 26-30

And we're back with more Chronicles goodness!

With Amaziah dead, his son Uzziah becomes king. He was a rather good and prosperous king, overseeing many building projects. But then Uzziah gets too big for his britches. He enters into the temple and attempts to make an offering by himself. Only the priests are allowed to do such things. They stop the the king and some sort of skin rash instantly appears on Uzziah's head. Uzziah leaves and spends the rest of his days separated from people, due to his "unclean" condition. His son Jotham takes the throne. He continues the building projects of his father and is eventually followed by his son Ahaz.

We all remember Ahaz, right? Evil king Ahaz? No? Well, if that's the case, you're in luck. Cause now we go over his reign again! This is a double delight for all you Ahaz enthusiasts out there. Ahaz starts off by worshiping other deities and following the rituals of these foreign gods. In response, God allows the Arameans to be victorious when they attack Judah. The Arameans take a bunch of people back to Damascus with them. The same thing happens when Israel and Edom later attack Judah. This pattern seems to foreshadow the eventual exile of all of Judah to Babylon.

Ahaz offers tribute to the king of Assyria so that he might come to Judah's aid. Instead, Assyria comes to fight and oppress Judah. Following these defeats, Ahaz abandons the Lord completely. He starts worshiping the gods of Aram thinking those gods gave Aram victory of Judah, so perhaps they'd help out Ahaz as well. They don't. Ahaz dies.

Boom. Enter Hezekiah. Remember Hezekiah, one of the greatest kings of Judah? Remember the song about him? Well, Hezekiah does good in the sight of the Lord, and immediately repents of the sins of his father Ahaz. He reverses all the evil policies of Ahaz and fixes up the temple. Then, with great haste, Hezekiah arranges for the people to celebrate the Passover festival, for the people had been rather lax in observing it*

But, since they begin the festival so soon, many don't have time to fulfill the prescribed preparations. They aren't sanctimoniously clean and shouldn't be allowed to participate. Hezekiah realizes this, but doesn't turn such people away. Instead, he prays that "the good Lord pardon all who set their hearts to seek God, the Lord the God of their ancestors, even though not in accordance with the sanctuary's rules of cleanness."** God heard Hezekiah's prayer and is totally cool with the unclean people coming to worship Him (30:18-20). So the people held a big old festival.


*Wait a minute. You're probably thinking, "But Smitch, didn't it say in 2 Kings that Josiah held the first Passover since the time of the judges?" And my heart warms a little as I hear you say such a thing. Ah, the thinking person, actually reading the text critically and stopping to say, "hey, this doesn't jive!"

You are absolutely correct. So how do we address this issue? What possible hypothesis do you hold? Maybe the Chronicler has a man crush on Hezekiah and wants to make him cooler? Or, maybe the author of Kings was the one with the man crush on Josiah and made him hold the Passover? Maybe it's just an innocent error?

Maybe you should just skip ahead to the Chronicler's coverage of Josiah and see what it says about it there!

Gasp! Could it be? Someone implying that we read this in light of the context of the larger book? Oh, you know how to make me feel all warm and fuzzy, don't you? All right then, let's do just that.

Over in 2 Chronicles 35 it talks about Josiah's Passover. While Hezekiah was able to get the people of Judah to observe it, Josiah got all of Judah and Israel to participate. Josiah's Passover was incredible grand in scale and accurate (the lost book of the Law he finds in he Temple may have included more details about the festival which had been forgotten), the likes of which not seen since before the monarchy. So with this info we see that both versions are correct without any real contradiction. Hezekiah held a Passover, yes, but Josiah held a mega-Passover that hadn't been seen centuries. CIE, folks. Context is everything.

**Do you think the teaching of Jesus echoes this verse at all? I think Hezekiah's little prayer pretty much sums up the teaching of Jesus. So you haven't fulfilled every requirement of your religion. So what? It's the attitude of your heart that matters. In the Gospels, it's the Pharisees and religious leaders who fulfill all the requirements of the law. But Jesus isn't impressed at all. For it's the tax collectors, prostitutes, and dregs of society that possess the heart that's willing to seek after God. And this is more important than any sacrament or ritual that may be imposed upon you.