(17) The time the work took. Beginning on the 1st of Nisan with the purification of the courts, they had cleansed them by the 8th of the month, and "came to the porch of the Lord," i.e., to the entry of the holy place. The following eight days were spent in cleansing the two holy chambers, and by the 16th of Nisan the work of purification was done.

Verse 17. - They began... to sanctify. This is not the hithpael conjugation (ver. 5), and the whole verse probably purports to speak only of the sanctification of things, not of the self-sanctifying of the official persons, which, whether it occupied longer or shorter time, had been already done. The sanctifying of all outside, then, to the threshold, or porch, took eight days. So, manifestly, should be rendered, in the van here found, and. The sanctifying of the interior occupied another eight days, and the legitimate feast-day of the Passover, viz. the fourteenth day of Nisan, became overlapped by two days. Nevertheless, many may have observed the Passover on its strict date.

29:1-19 When Hezekiah came to the crown, he applied at once to work reform. Those who begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly. Those that turn their backs upon God's ordinances, may truly be said to forsake God himself. There are still such neglects, if the word be not duly read and opened, for that was signified by the lighting the lamps, and also if prayers and praise be not offered up, for that was signified by the burning incense. Neglect of God's worship was the cause of the calamities they had lain under. The Lord alone can prepare the heart of man for vital godliness: when much good is done in a little time, the glory must be ascribed to him; and all who love him or the souls of men, will rejoice therein. Let those that do good work, learn to do it well.Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify,.... Either of the reign of King Hezekiah, or rather of the year; the month Ab or Nisan, as the Targum expresses it:

and on the eighth of the month came they to the porch of the Lord; they seem to have begun cleansing the inner part of the temple first, and so came forward until they came to the porch which led into it:

so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; the holy place, and it may be the most holy place, and the court of the priests:

and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end; it took them eight days more to cleanse the outward porch, and the buildings and chambers belonging to the temple; according to Jarchi, it required so much time, because Ahaz had framed pictures of idols upon the walls of the temple, which could not be defaced sooner.