The Book of 2 Chronicles

Word Study

"turn again," Hebrew shuvu (שׁוּבוּ) from shuv, to turn back, return, repent. Hezekiah's invitation reaches even to the shattered northern kingdom, a "remnant... that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria," for Assyria had already begun carrying Israel away. And the heart of the message is the great word of repentance: "turn again (shuv) unto the LORD." He appeals to "the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel," the covenant God who had never cast off His covenant. Even these tribes, guilty of generations of calf-worship and now under Assyrian judgment, are invited home. No sinner is too far gone for this summons; the remnant escaped from Assyria is exactly who it is for.

"he will return," ve-yashov, the same verb, God turning back to them. The promise answers the command: "he will return (shuv) to the remnant of you." The same verb describes both movements: when the people turn back to God, God turns back to them. This is the promise of repentance in its purest form. The door Hezekiah opened in the temple (chapter 29:3) he now flings open to the whole nation: turn, and He will turn to you.

Explanation

Hezekiah sent messengers with letters throughout all Israel, even into the territory of the northern tribes already being deported by Assyria, with a simple, powerful call: turn back to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and He will turn back to you. The invitation reached the most guilty and the most broken, the "remnant" who had survived the Assyrian invasions. The promise is beautifully reciprocal: if they would return to God, God would return to them. It is the gospel of repentance in miniature.

Gospel Focus

"Turn again unto the LORD... and he will return to the remnant of you" is the timeless promise of repentance, and it rings all through Scripture. "Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted" (Isaiah 31:6); "Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you" (Zechariah 1:3); "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8). The movement of grace is always this: our smallest step homeward is met by God's running to meet us, as the father ran to the prodigal "when he was yet a great way off" (Luke 15:20). And note who is invited: not the righteous, but a broken "remnant... escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria", the guilty, the scattered, the barely-surviving. This is the Gospel: "the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). However far you have "deeply revolted," however much of your life Assyria has already carried away, the summons stands: turn again unto the LORD, and He will return to you. He is only waiting for you to turn.

Word Study

"gracious," Hebrew channun (חַנּוּן). Hezekiah grounds his appeal not in the people's worthiness but in God's character: "the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him." Channun is one of the very words God proclaimed of Himself to Moses: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). Grace is not a mood God is talked into; it is what He declares Himself to be.

"merciful," rachum (רַחוּם), compassionate; rooted in rechem, the womb, a mother's yearning tenderness. Rachum stands beside channun in the same self-revelation God gave to Moses. "Merciful," it comes from the word for the womb; it is the deep, visceral tenderness of a parent for a child. And the promise is stunning: "he... will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him." The only condition is returning; the moment they turn back, His face is toward them, never away. Even the captives would "find compassion before them that lead them captive", God's mercy would move even the hearts of their conquerors. The whole appeal rests on who God is: not reluctant, not grudging, but gracious and merciful by His very nature.

Explanation

Hezekiah gives the deepest reason to return: God's own character. He is "gracious and merciful," and He "will not turn away his face" from anyone who returns to Him. Even the exiles would find compassion from their captors and be allowed to come home. The whole appeal stands not on the people's goodness but on God's tender, fatherly, motherly mercy. The only condition is to turn back; the instant they do, God's face is toward them in favor, not turned away.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him", here is the very heart of the Gospel. Salvation rests not on our worthiness but on God's character, on the fact that He is "gracious and merciful." This is the same God who came to us in Jesus Christ, in whom "the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared" (Titus 3:4). The Lord Jesus embodied this promise perfectly: "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). No one who turns to Him finds His face turned away. "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us" (Ephesians 2:4) does not merely tolerate returning sinners; He runs to embrace them. If fear of God's wrath or a sense of your own unworthiness keeps you from turning to Him, hear this verse: the only condition is returning, and He "will not turn away his face." The God who is rachum, tender as a mother toward the child of her womb, is waiting to receive you. Turn, and you will not find a closed face but an open embrace.

Word Study

"the hand of God," Hebrew yad ha-Elohim (יַד הָאֱלֹהִים), God's active power at work. While the northern scoffers "laughed them to scorn, and mocked them" (v10), in Judah something different happened: "the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment." The willing, unified response of Judah is not credited to Hezekiah's eloquence or the people's natural goodness but to "the hand of God." This is the divine side of revival, running underneath the human side. Hezekiah issued the call; the posts carried the letters; but the reason Judah responded as one was that God moved on their hearts.

"one heart," lev echad (לֵב אֶחָד), a single, united heart. God Himself gave them "one heart" (lev echad), a single, undivided will to obey. It echoes the promise God would later give through the prophets: "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you" (Ezekiel 11:19). Obedience that is real and unified is itself a gift; the very willingness to obey "the commandment... by the word of the LORD" came from the hand of God.

Explanation

In contrast to the northern tribes who mostly mocked, the people of Judah responded to Hezekiah's call as one. But the Chronicler is careful to name the true cause: "the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment." Their unity and willingness to obey came from God working in them. Even the good response of God's people to God's call is itself a work of God's grace, not merely human decision.

Gospel Focus

"The hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment" teaches the deep truth that even our obedience is a gift of grace. Left to ourselves we are divided, scoffing, unwilling; that unified, willing heart to obey God comes from His hand. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). This is exactly the new-covenant promise fulfilled in Christ: "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19). The Gospel does not merely command us to obey; it gives us, by the Spirit, a new heart that wants to. So we pray for that "one heart", for ourselves and for the church, "unite my heart to fear thy name" (Psalm 86:11). When you find in yourself any real desire to obey God, thank Him, for that desire is itself the hand of God upon you. And where hearts are hard and divided, pray, for the same hand that gave Judah one heart can give it still.

Word Study

"prepareth his heart," Hebrew hekhin levavo (הֵכִין לְבָבוֹ) from kun, to fix, establish, set the heart. A tender problem arises: a multitude, especially from the northern tribes, ate the passover "otherwise than it was written," not having "cleansed themselves" by the ceremonial purifications. Strictly, the law was broken. But Hezekiah looks past the ceremonial defect to the heart and prays a remarkable prayer: "The good LORD pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God... though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary." He appeals to God's goodness ("the good LORD") and pleads that a prepared heart (kun) matters more than perfect ceremony.

"healed," va-yirpa (וַיִּרְפָּא) from rapha, to heal, restore. The answer is immediate and gracious: "the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people." God did not demand ritual exactness from hearts that were seeking Him; He "healed" rather than condemned. This does not abolish God's holiness or His commands; rather it reveals the principle that runs through all true religion: "the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). Sincere seeking covered by intercession and met by mercy, that is the story here.

Explanation

Many worshippers, especially the newly-returned northerners, ate the passover without having gone through the proper ceremonial cleansing, technically a violation. But Hezekiah, seeing that their hearts were sincere, prayed that God would pardon everyone who "prepareth his heart to seek God" even if not ritually clean. And God answered: He "hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people." God valued the prepared, seeking heart above ceremonial perfection. Sincerity of heart in seeking God, joined to a mediator's prayer, found mercy rather than judgment.

Gospel Focus

Hezekiah's prayer, "The good LORD pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God... though he be not cleansed," and God's answer, "the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people," beautifully anticipate the Gospel. God has always looked on the heart: "the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7); "for I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6), the very verse the Lord Jesus quoted against those who exalted ceremony over compassion (Matthew 9:13). The seeking heart, not the flawless ritual, is what God receives. And notice the pattern: sinful, unclean people are pardoned because a mediator prays for them and God hears. That is exactly our salvation. We come unclean, unable to cleanse ourselves according to any "purification of the sanctuary," but we have a Mediator who "ever liveth to make intercession" for us (Hebrews 7:25), and through Him "the good LORD" pardons and heals. Do not stay away because you feel unclean; prepare your heart to seek God, and trust the great Intercessor. God receives the seeking heart and heals the sincere sinner who comes through Christ.

Word Study

"great joy," Hebrew simchah gedolah (שִׂמְחָה גְדוֹלָה), great gladness, rejoicing. The chapter that began with mockery ends in unmatched joy: "there was great joy in Jerusalem." The feast, extended to a second week (v23), overflowed into a gladness the city had not known for generations. Revival, when it is real, produces joy, "great joy." This is no grim, forced religion; the return to God, the atoning sacrifices, the restored song, the pardoning mercy, all issue in overflowing gladness. And it is corporate: "all the congregation of Judah... and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers... rejoiced" (v25), even outsiders were swept into the joy.

"not the like," nothing comparable. "Since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem." The gladness of these days had no equal in the roughly two and a half centuries since Solomon dedicated the temple. The verse deliberately reaches back to Solomon, the golden age, and says this was its equal in gladness. When God's people truly return to Him and worship is restored, the fruit is a joy that recalls the best days and gathers in even the stranger. The passover Hezekiah kept became the happiest Jerusalem had seen in generations.

Explanation

The passover produced such gladness that the people extended it another seven days, and the joy in Jerusalem was greater than anything since the golden days of Solomon, over two centuries earlier. Even foreigners living among them shared in it. Real return to God and restored worship bring real joy, not gloom. The chapter that opened with couriers being mocked closes with a whole city, and the strangers among them, rejoicing together before the LORD.

Gospel Focus

"There was great joy in Jerusalem" is the natural fruit of true revival, and it points to the joy of the Gospel. When sinners turn again to the LORD and find Him "gracious and merciful," the result is gladness: "thou hast put gladness in my heart" (Psalm 4:7); "in thy presence is fulness of joy" (Psalm 16:11). The kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17). When Philip preached Christ in Samaria, "there was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:8), the very echo of this verse. And heaven itself rejoices: "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:7). Hezekiah's passover, of course, points to the true Passover, "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7); and the joy of a restored feast foreshadows the greater joy of those who feast on the Lamb of God. Notice too that "the strangers" rejoiced, a foregleam of the Gentiles brought into the joy of God's people through Christ. If your walk with God has grown joyless, the path back to gladness is the path of this chapter: turn again unto the LORD, prepare your heart, feast on the true Passover, and great joy will return.