'And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to
Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord
at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel. 2. For
the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation
in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. 3. For they
could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified
themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves
together to Jerusalem. 4. And the thing pleased the king and all the
congregation. 5. So they established a decree to make proclamation
throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should
come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem:
for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was
written. 6. So the posts went with the letters from the king and his
princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the
commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again
unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to
the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of
Assyria. 7. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren,
which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore
gave them up to desolation, as ye see. 8. Now, be ye not stiffnecked,
as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter
into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever: and serve the
Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from
you. 9. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your
children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so
that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is
gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if ye
return unto Him. 10. So the posts passed from city to city through the
country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: but they laughed
them to scorn, and mocked them. 11. Nevertheless divers of Asher and
Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. 12.
Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the
commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.
13. And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of
unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.'--2
CHRON. xxx. 1-13.
The date of Hezekiah's passover is uncertain, for, while the immediate
connection of this narrative with the preceding account of his
cleansing the Temple and restoring the sacrificial worship suggests
that the passover followed directly on those events, which took place
at the beginning of the reign, the language employed in the message to
the northern tribes (vers. 6,7, 9) seems to imply the previous fall of
the kingdom of Israel, If so, this passover did not occur till after
721 B.C., the date of the capture of Samaria, six years after
Hezekiah's accession.
The sending of messengers from Jerusalem on such an errand would
scarcely have been possible if the northern kingdom had still been
independent. Perhaps its fall was thought by Hezekiah to open the door
to drawing 'the remnant that were escaped' back to the ancient unity
of worship, at all events, if not of polity. No doubt a large number
had been left in the northern territory, and Hezekiah may have hoped
that calamity had softened their enmity to his kingdom, and perhaps
touched them with longings for the old worship. At all events, like a
good man, he will stretch out a hand to the alienated brethren, now
that evil days have fallen on them. The hour of an enemy's calamity
should be our opportunity for seeking to help and proffering
reconciliation. We may find that trouble inclines wanderers to come
back to God.
The alteration of the time of keeping the passover from the thirteenth
day of the first month to the same day of the second was in accordance
with the liberty granted in Numbers ix. 10, 11, to persons unclean by
contact with a dead body or 'in a journey afar off.' The decision to
have the passover was not taken in time to allow of the necessary
removal of uncleanness from the priests nor of the assembling of the
people, and therefore the permission to defer it for a month was taken
advantage of, in order to allow full time for the despatch of the
messengers and the journeys of the farthest northern tribes. It is to
be observed that Hezekiah took his subjects into counsel, since the
step intended was much too great for him to venture on of his own mere
motion. So the overtures went out clothed with the authority of the
whole kingdom of Judah. It was the voice of a nation that sought to
woo back the secessionists.
The messengers were instructed to supplement the official letters of
invitation with earnest entreaties as from the king, of which the gist
is given in verses 6-9. With the skill born of intense desire to draw
the long-parted kingdoms together, the message touches on ancestral
memories, recent bitter experiences, yearnings for the captive
kinsfolk, the instinct of self-preservation, and rises at last into
the clear light of full faith in, and insight into, God's infinite
heart of pardoning pity.
Note the very first words, 'Ye children of Israel,' and consider the
effect of this frank recognition of the northern kingdom as part of
the undivided Israel. Such recognition might have been misunderstood
or spurned when Samaria was gay and prosperous; but when its palaces
were desolate, the effect of the old name, recalling happier days,
must have been as if the elder brother had come out from the father's
house and entreated the prodigal to come back to his place at the
fireside. The battle would be more than half won if the appeal that
was couched in the very name of Israel was heeded.
Note further how firmly and yet lovingly the sin of the northern
kingdom is touched on. The name of Jehovah as the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, recalls the ancient days when the undivided people
worshipped Him, and the still more ancient, and, to hearers and
speakers alike, more sacred, days when the patriarchs received
wondrous tokens that He was their God, and they were His people; while
the recurrence of 'Israel' as the name of Jacob adds force to its
previous use as the name of all His descendants. The possible
rejection of the invitation, on the ground which the men of the north,
like the Samaritan woman, might have taken, that they were true to
their fathers' worship, is cut away by the reminder that that worship
was an innovation, since the fathers of the present generation had
been apostate from the God of _their_ fathers. The appeal to
antiquity often lands men in a bog because it is not carried far
enough back. 'The fathers' may lead astray, but if the antiquity to
which we appeal is that of which the New Testament is the record, the
more conservative we are, the nearer the truth shall we be.
Again, the message touched on a chord that might easily have given a
jarring note; namely, the misfortunes of the kingdom. But it was done
with so delicate a hand, and so entirely without a trace of rejoicing
in a neighbour's calamities, that no susceptibilities could be
ruffled, while yet the solemn lesson is unfalteringly pointed. 'He
gave them up to desolation, as ye see.' Behind Assyria was Jehovah,
and Israel's fall was not wholly explained by the disparity between
its strength and the conquerors'. Under and through the play of
criminal ambition, cruelty, and earthly politics, the unseen Hand
wrought; and the teaching of all the Old Testament history is
condensed into that one sad sentence, which points to facts as plain
as tragical. In deepest truth it applies to each of us; for, if we
trespass against God, we draw down evil on our heads with both hands,
and shall find that sin brings the worst desolation--that which sheds
gloom over a godless soul.
We note further the deep true insight into God's character and ways
expressed in this message. There is a very striking variation in the
three designations of Jehovah as 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel' (ver. 6), 'the god of their [that is, the preceding
generation] fathers' (ver. 7), and 'your God' (ver. 8). The relation
which had subsisted from of old had not been broken by man's apostasy,
Jehovah still was, in a true sense, their God, even if His relation to
them only bound Him not to leave them unpunished. So their very
sufferings proved them His, for 'What son is he whom the father
chasteneth not?' But strong, sunny confidence in God shines from the
whole message, and reaches its climax in the closing assurance that He
is merciful and gracious. The evil results of rebellion are not
omitted, but they are not dwelt on. The true magnet to draw wanderers
back to God is the loving proclamation of His love. Unless we are sure
that He has a heart tender with all pity, and 'open as day to melting
charity,' we shall not turn to Him with our hearts.
The message puts the response which it sought in a variety of ways;
namely, turning to Jehovah, not being stiff-necked, yielding selves to
Jehovah, entering into His sanctuary. More than outward participation
in the passover ceremonial is involved. Submission of will,
abandonment of former courses of action, docility of spirit ready to
be directed anywhere, the habit of abiding with God by communion--all
these, the standing characteristics of the religious life, are at
least suggested by the invitations here. We are all summoned thus to
yield ourselves to God, and especially to do so by surrendering our
wills to Him, and to 'enter into His sanctuary,' by keeping up such
communion with Him as that, however and wherever occupied, we shall
still 'dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.'
And the summons to return unto God is addressed to us all even more
urgently than to Israel. God Himself invites us by the voice of His
providences, by His voice within, and by the voice of Jesus Himself,
who is ever saying to each of us, by His death and passion, by His
resurrection and ascension, 'Turn ye! turn ye! why will ye die?' and
who has more than endorsed Hezekiah's messengers' assurance that
'Jehovah will not turn away His face from' us by His own gracious
promise, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'
The king's message met a mingled reception. Some mocked, some were
moved and accepted. So, alas! is it with the better message, which is
either 'a savour of life unto life or of death unto death.' The same
fire melts wax and hardens clay. May it be with all of us as it was in
Judah--that we 'have one heart, to do the commandment' and to accept
the merciful summons to the great passover!