6 So runners went with letters from the king and his chiefs through all Israel and Judah, by the order of the king, saying, O children of Israel, come back again to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may come again to that small band of you which has been kept safe out of the hands of the kings of Assyria.
So the men went out on the quick-running horses used on the king's business, wasting no time and forced on by the king's order; and the order was given out in Shushan, the king's town.
One man, running, will give word to another, and one who goes with news will be handing it on to another, to give word to the king of Babylon that his town has been taken from every quarter:
In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali; and he took the people away to Assyria.
Then Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to him, but was a cause of trouble and not of strength to him.
If you will come back, O Israel, says the Lord, you will come back to me: and if you will put away your disgusting ways, you will not be sent away from before me.
And the God of Israel put an impulse into the heart of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who took them away as prisoners, all the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to Halah and Habor and Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.
And even if there is still a tenth part in it, it will again be burned, like a tree of the woods whose broken end is still in the earth after the tree has been cut down (the holy seed is the broken end).
Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near: Let the sinner give up his way, and the evil-doer his purpose: and let him come back to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for there is full forgiveness with him.
Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the evil-doer; it is more pleasing to me if he is turned from his way and has life: be turned, be turned from your evil ways; why are you looking for death, O children of Israel?
Samaria will be made waste, for she has gone against her God: they will be cut down by the sword, their little children will be broken on the rocks, their women who are with child will be cut open.
But even now, says the Lord, come back to me with all your heart, keeping from food, with weeping and with sorrow: Let your hearts be broken, and not your clothing, and come back to the Lord your God: for he is full of grace and pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, ready to be turned from his purpose of punishment. May it not be that he will again let his purpose be changed and let a blessing come after him, even a meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 30
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 30 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 30
In this chapter we have an account of the solemn passover which Hezekiah kept in the first year of his reign.
By this the reformation, set on foot in the foregoing chapter, was greatly advanced and established, and that nail in God's holy place clenched.
2Ch 30:1-12
Here is,
2Ch 30:13-20
The time appointed for the passover having arrived, a very great congregation came together upon the occasion, v. 13. Now here we have,
2Ch 30:21-27
After the passover followed the feast of unleavened bread, which continued seven days. How that was observed we are here told, and every thing in this account looks pleasant and lively.