Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Hezekiah sends messengers throughout all Judah and through the ten tribes, inviting all to celebrate the solemn Passover, and this was done with the greatest solemnity for fourteen days.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 30:1-27
1. Hezekiah also sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem and keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. 2. So the king and his princes and the whole assembly in Jerusalem took counsel to keep the Passover in the second month. 3. For they had not been able to keep it in its proper time, because the priests who could suffice had not been sanctified, and the people had not yet been gathered in Jerusalem. 4. And the proposal pleased the king and the whole multitude. 5. And they decreed to send messengers throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come and keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem; for many had not kept it as it was prescribed by law. 6. And the couriers went with letters from the king's command and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, according to what the king had ordered, proclaiming: Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, and He will return to the remnant who have escaped the hand of the king of the Assyrians. 7. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who departed from the Lord God of their fathers, who delivered them to destruction, as you yourselves see. 8. Do not harden your necks as your fathers did; submit yourselves to the Lord and come to His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever. Serve the Lord God of your fathers, and the fury of His wrath will be turned away from you. 9. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find mercy before their masters who led them away captive, and they will return to this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and He will not turn His face away from you, if you return to Him. 10. So the couriers went swiftly from city to city, through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but they laughed at them and mocked them. 11. Nevertheless some men of Asher, and Manasseh, and Zebulun, accepting the counsel, came to Jerusalem. 12. In Judah indeed the hand of the Lord was at work to give them one heart, to do according to the commandment of the king and the princes, the word of the Lord. 13. And many people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread in the second month. 14. And they rose up and destroyed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they overthrew all the things on which incense was burned to idols, and cast them into the brook Kidron. 15. And they immolated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests also and the Levites, finally sanctified, offered holocausts in the house of the Lord. 16. And they stood in their order according to the arrangement and the law of Moses, the man of God; and the priests received from the hands of the Levites the blood to be poured out, 17. because a great multitude had not been sanctified; and therefore the Levites immolated the Passover for those who had not been able to be sanctified to the Lord. 18. A great part also of the people from Ephraim, and Manasseh, and Issachar, and Zebulun, who had not been sanctified, ate the Passover not according to what was written; and Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: The good Lord will be merciful 19. to all who seek the Lord God of their fathers with their whole heart; and He will not impute to them that they were less sanctified. 20. And the Lord heard him and was appeased toward the people. 21. And the children of Israel who were found in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great joy, praising the Lord every day — the Levites also and the priests, with the instruments that were suited to their office. 22. And Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites who had good understanding concerning the Lord, and they ate for the seven days of the feast, sacrificing peace offerings and praising the Lord God of their fathers. 23. And it pleased the whole multitude to celebrate seven more days; and they did so with great joy. 24. For Hezekiah king of Judah had provided the multitude with a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes had given the people a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; therefore a very great multitude of priests was sanctified. 25. And all the multitude of Judah was filled with gladness — both the priests and Levites, and the whole assembly that had come from Israel; as well as the proselytes from the land of Israel and those dwelling in Judah. 26. And there was a great celebration in Jerusalem, such as had not been in that city since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. 27. And the priests and Levites arose, blessing the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer reached the holy dwelling place of heaven.
Verse 2: In the Second Month
2. IN THE SECOND MONTH. — For this is commanded in Numbers 9:10, namely that those who were unable to celebrate the Passover in the first month, on account of uncleanness or some other impediment, should celebrate it in the second month.
Verse 3: The Priests Had Not Been Sanctified
3. THE PRIESTS WHO COULD SUFFICE HAD NOT BEEN SANCTIFIED (that is, consecrated) — for in order to be priests and be able to offer sacrifice, they first had to be consecrated as priests by the rite prescribed in Leviticus 8.
Verse 15: Finally Sanctified
15. FINALLY SANCTIFIED. — The Hebrew says: they were ashamed; because amid such great eagerness of the people they had been slow in their sanctification and purification, whereupon they immediately sanctified and cleansed themselves.
Verse 16: The Priests Received the Blood
16. AND THE PRIESTS RECEIVED THE BLOOD TO BE POURED OUT FROM THE HANDS OF THE LEVITES — for all the blood of the victim had to be poured out on the ground to God by the priest, to signify that He is the lord of death and life of all. "From the hands of the Levites," who at that time were sacrificing by dispensation, because the consecrated priests who were clean were fewer than could sacrifice so many victims — therefore the Levites assisted them, slaughtering the victims and giving the flowing blood to the priests, so that they might pour it out beside the altar.
17. BECAUSE A GREAT MULTITUDE (of priests) HAD NOT BEEN SANCTIFIED (that is, purged from irregularity and legal uncleanness through the lustration prescribed by law in Numbers 19): AND THEREFORE THE LEVITES IMMOLATED THE PASSOVER FOR THOSE WHO HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO BE SANCTIFIED TO THE LORD. — The Septuagint reads: who could not be purified to the Lord; who, namely, being occupied with other things, came late to be sanctified, that is, to be cleansed from legal uncleanness. Note: "Passover" signifies first, the Paschal lamb, which was sacrificed to God at Passover; second, the Paschal victims, which were sacrificed to God during the seven days of Passover — and this sacrifice belonged to priests alone. But the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb belonged to each father of a family, who in this regard retained the ancient priestly right originally attached to the firstborn, and to any father of a family in his household, provided he was clean; but if he was unclean and defiled — then the Levites sacrificed the lamb in his place, as is said here and in 1 Ezra 6:10. The unclean also could not eat of the Paschal lamb or other victims; but because this was a public solemnity and a restoration of lapsed religion, and the number of unclean persons was great, a dispensation was granted to them likewise so that they might eat of them, with Hezekiah praying to God for them, as follows. See the commentary on Exodus 12:6. Therefore, on account of the necessity arising from the scarcity of priests who were clean, and on account of the multitude and devotion of the people flocking in from all Israel, and on account of the abundance of victims to be sacrificed, it seems that a dispensation was granted to the Levites, so that they might sacrifice not only the Paschal Lamb, but also other victims. For this is what is expressly stated in verse 15: "The priests also and the Levites, finally sanctified, offered holocausts in the house of the Lord." I would believe, however, that the priests alone slaughtered the victims — that is, they killed them in God's honor, slew them, and poured out the blood, in which the essence of sacrifice properly consisted, and which was an easy task requiring little effort; and then they handed over the victims they had killed to the Levites, so that these might skin them, wash them, cut them into pieces, arrange the pieces duly on the altar, and burn them by lighting a fire beneath. For the priest who performed the sacrifice could not suffice for all these tasks, and so he was compelled to make use of the help and labor of the Levites, as I said at Leviticus 1:3. Hence, for "they offered holocausts," the Hebrew has יאכיו iabiu, that is, "they brought in," as the Septuagint, Vatablus, and Pagninus translate it: holocausts into the house of the Lord. And so it was done at the solemn Passover which Josiah celebrated some years later, chapter 35, verse 11, where it says: "And the Passover was sacrificed, and the priests sprinkled the blood with their own hands (on the altar, as was the custom), and the Levites stripped the skins from the holocausts."
Finally, the fathers of families who were unclean yielded the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb to the Levites; yet they themselves also ate of it on account of the most joyful solemnity of the feast. For greater purity was required for the sacrifice of the lamb than for eating it — just as now greater purity is required in the priest who celebrates than in the layperson who receives Communion — especially because these unclean persons could not be purified so quickly, and they approached the sacred feast of the lamb with great interior devotion, which God requires and regards more than external purification.
A GREAT PART OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD NOT BEEN SANCTIFIED (that is, purified and cleansed from legal uncleanness) ATE THE PASSOVER. — The Hebrews, according to St. Jerome, report that many of those who had eaten the Passover while unclean were killed by a plague sent from heaven by God; but when Hezekiah prayed and pleaded the people's ignorance and pious intention, God spared the rest. And therefore verse 20 states that God heard him and was appeased toward the people.
AND THE LORD HEARD HIM — by some sensible sign, for example, by sending fire from heaven that burned the victims of Hezekiah, as He did for Abel in Genesis chapter 4, for Aaron in Leviticus chapters 8 and 9, and for Solomon in 3 Kings chapter 8. For unless there had been a sensible sign here, the unclean would not have eaten of the Passover either with confidence or with such great joy. So Cajetan.
Verse 22: Hezekiah Spoke to the Levites
22. AND HEZEKIAH SPOKE TO THE HEART OF ALL THE LEVITES (flattering them and praising them, because they had...) GOOD UNDERSTANDING CONCERNING THE LORD — that is, because they were skilled in their office, namely knowledgeable and careful in singing psalms to God. Cajetan interprets it differently: He spoke to them, he says, words penetrating to the heart, so that they would undertake and continue the task of instructing the people.