THE CONSECRATION COMPLETED BY ADDITIONAL SACRIFICES

(2Chronicles 29:31-36).

(31) Answered and said.--See 1Chronicles 12:17. The phrase is used as we should use it in Exodus 4:1; 2Kings 7:13.

Ye have consecrated . . .--Literally, ye have filled your hand for Jehovah, a phrase used of the consecration of priests (Leviticus 7:37). Here it is addressed to the whole assembly, as the following words prove (unless the text be unsound). The congregation, as well as the sacerdotal order, had consecrated themselves anew to Jehovah, by their presence and participation in the previous solemnities. Others suppose that these words are spoken to the priests only, and that then the king turns to the congregation with the words "Come near," &c. (There should be a semicolon after "the Lord.")

Sacrifices and thank offerings (zebahin we thodoth).--The first word means "thank-offerings" ( = zebahim shelamim); the second, a peculiar species of thank-offering, apparently accompanied by a special kind of psalms called todoth ("thanksgivings"). "Sacrifices and thank-offerings" therefore means "sacrifices, that is, thank-offerings." (See Leviticus 7:12; Leviticus 7:16, for the three kinds of thank-offerings.)

As many as were of a free heart.--Literally, Every free-hearted one (1Chronicles 29:6; 1Chronicles 29:9).

Burnt offerings were a token of greater self-denial and disinterestedness than thank-offerings, because they were wholly consumed on the altar, whereas the worshippers feasted upon the latter.

Verse 31. - Ye have consecrated yourselves. The Hebrew text is (with the margin of both Authorized and Revised Versions), "have filled your hands to Jehovah." Our somewhat awkward and somewhat misleading reproduction in English of the Hebrew text is, nevertheless, on the whole defensible. The phrase occurs some seventeen times (Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:9, 29, 33, 35; Exodus 32:29; Leviticus 8:33; Leviticus 16:32; Leviticus 21:10; Numbers 3:3; Judges 17:5, 12; 1 Kings 13:33; 1 Chronicles 29:5; 2 Chronicles 13:9; Ezekiel 43:26), and in some of these instances is most conveniently represented by the rendering "consecrate." The plural noun הַמִּלֻאִים, or חַמִּלוּאִיִם, is found thirteen times, in three of which places it is spoken of "stones to be set," as e.g. "for" or "in the ephod" (Exodus 25:7; Exodus 35:9, 27; 1 Chronicles 29:2); and in the other ten, of "consecration," as e.g. "a ram of consecration," "the ram of Aaron's consecration" (Exodus 29:22, 26, 27, 31, 34; Leviticus 7:37; Leviticus 8:22, 28, 29, 31, 33). Some think our text, "Now ye have consecrated yourselves," glances at the sacrifices of a propitiatory sort, which had just been completed; others, that the reference is by anticipation - to the fact that the people invited to draw near had, in an honourable, holy, and sincerely devoted way, armed themselves with worthy offerings. The sacrifices and thank offerings were sacrifices "of thank offerings," in the nature of the peace offerings (Leviticus 7:11-21, 29-36). The burnt offerings marked the "free heart," inasmuch as there was nothing of them reserved from the consuming of the altar for use. As many as were of a free heart; Hebrew, וְכָל־נְרִיב לֵב. Among some sixty occurrences of this word, in its verb, noun, or (as hero) adjective form, perhaps the most touching and beautifully expressive is that of Psalm 60:12, "Uphold me with thy free Spirit." Sacrifices; Hebrew, זְבָחִים. This is the plural of זֶבַח- a word that expresses the generic idea, as e.g. the feast of sacrifice; again, the act of slaying and sacrificing a victim; again, the victim itself; again, those kinds of sacrifices that were expiatory or eucharistic, but not holocaustic (Leviticus 7:12). Thank offerings; Hebrew, תּודות. This word occurs about thirty-two times; in about two-thirds of that number denoting the spiritual acts of giving of thanks, even when accompanied by the figurative idea of "sacrifices" (Psalm 56:13; Psalm 107:22; Psalm 116:17), the genuine adoring praise or thanksgiving constituting the sacrifice; and in the other third denoting strictly sacrificial offerings, as several times in Leviticus (Leviticus 7:12; 22:29) and here. Our 2 Chronicles 33:16 classifies these with "peace offerings" (שְׁלָמִים), as do many other passages with "burnt offerings" generally (Judges 20:26; Judges 21:4; 1 Samuel 13:9; 2 Samuel 6:17; 1 Chronicles 16:1; 1 Chronicles 21:26).

29:20-36 As soon as Hezekiah heard that the temple was ready, he lost no time. Atonement must be made for the sins of the last reign. It was not enough to lament and forsake those sins; they brought a sin-offering. Our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon but in and through Christ, who was made sin, that is, a sin-offering for us. While the offerings were on the altar, the Levites sang. Sorrow for sin must not prevent us from praising God. The king and the congregation gave their consent to all that was done. It is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if we do not ourselves worship with the heart. And we should offer up our spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and devote ourselves and all we have, as sacrifices, acceptable to the Father only through the Redeemer.Then Hezekiah answered and said,.... Or proceeded to say, as follows:

now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord; having entered anew on the performance of their office, filling their hands with sacrifices, as the words signify:

come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord; which the people were to put into their hands to offer for them:

and the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; peace offerings, part of which the offerers had to feast on with their friends so expressing their joy and thankfulness on this occasion:

and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings; of which they had no share, but were wholly the Lord's; and which was a greater proof of their liberality, and so of their sincere and cordial thankfulness.