Hezekiah Part 1 II Chronicles 29

II Chronicles 29:1 "Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. V2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done."

We will notice first that Hezekiah is the son of a very bad king named Ahaz. Next we see that his mother is mentioned, her name was Abijah. It is the grace of God that Hezekiah was such a good king after the example he had but his mother must have surely taught him for many years before he was king.

A lot is written about Hezekiah and it takes several chapters to tell his story. So much so that some have mistakenly said that there is a book of the Bible called Hezekiah. Indeed more is written of him by the prophet Isaiah as noted in chapter 32 verse 32. See Isaiah chapters 36-39.

v3 "He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them."

The Levites are called in to prepare themselves to do service in the house of the LORD. Hezekiah recounts the wrongs that have been done and encourages them to do the work.

v15 "And they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD."

It took them eight days to sanctify the house of the LORD. v17 They went to work on the vessels and got everything in order.

v20 "Then Hezekiah the king, rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.

So the brought sacrifices and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They brought forth goats for the sin offering and made reconciliation with their blood on the altar. v23-24. All Israel was included in these offerings. v24. It was Hezekiah's intention to bring all Israel together at the house of the LORD.

With the house of the LORD prepared, they began the worship service.

v28 "And all the congregation worshipped and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished."

Much was done that day. They sang the songs of David and Asaph and offered the offerings as in Leviticus 7:12, the thank offerings.

v35b "...So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order."

v36 "And Hezekiah rejoiced and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly."

So, Hezekiah started to rebuild Judah and reached out to Israel by first getting the house of the LORD in order and the hearts of the people turned toward God again. The faith of the people was centered on the house of the LORD and when it was in disarray so was their faith.

Next we continue with Hezekiah in chapter 30. What did he do next?

Psalm 34:11 "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Hezekiah, a good king of Judah, starts to rebuild.

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