Passover to Pentecost – Hezekiah’s Passover     Week 5 Day 3

A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. 2 Chronicles 30:13 (NIV)

     Hezekiah was reviving the worship of God in Israel.  The Temple was still there and so were the priest; they just were not being used according to God’s Word.  The priests were not ready to do their job at the first month Passover, which was to slaughter the lamb and sprinkle the blood.  Another other reason was “all” of the people were not together.  This is why it was decided to use the second Passover date.  Hezekiah used this delay to invite the rest of Israel to join Judah in Jerusalem.

To put this story in the “big picture” of Passover we need to look at Chapter 29.  Hezekiah had just reopened the Temple, and the priest had to clean it out.  This started on the first day of the first month and was not finished until the sixteenth of the month; they had cleaned all the way through the “first Passover.”  This cleaning is the “removing of the yeast” that would have taken place normally before Passover.

It is recorded that members from five tribes joined Judah and Benjamin in Jerusalem.  There were aliens with them so the crowd may have been very large.  Hezekiah had to pray for these people because they had not “purified” themselves and was facing problems.  The pray acknowledged the goodness of God, and prayed for mercy on those who were seeking God.  The “purification” may have been yeast or circumcision.  God heard the prayer and healed them.

God showed up and showed out as the people were so overwhelmed with His presence that they finished the first week and wanted to stay for a second week.  This lead the people to destroy sacred stones, Asherah poles, high places, and altars that were in the country.

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