NOTES for Ch2 30:1-27

Hezekiah strives to restore worship in all its details, and it is all the more telling that for him literal observance of the rules is not an end in itself. Unable to celebrate Passover at the proper time, the king, the officials, and the representatives of the people collectively make an inspired decision to celebrate it on another day. In that situation, however, failing to observe the calendar date was not a sin. It is, of course, very important to observe the rules precisely, but it is even more important to remember what the rules are meant to serve. Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man; likewise, the calendar must not take first place, but faith in the One who set the course of time, through which the calendar helps us find our bearings.

By inviting the faithful from the kingdom of Israel to Passover, Hezekiah clearly showed that he did not intend to reject brothers divided from Judah by earthly hostility. Abraham only hoped that righteous people might be found in Sodom, even if there were few of them; Hezekiah, however, knows firmly that the faithful remnant has not disappeared from Israel, and this seems to give the king hope that the whole people will return to the Lord.

Everything that had been dedicated to idols was thrown into the Kidron. Centuries will pass, the waters of the Kidron will wash away the traces of pagan idols, and the Son of Man, going to uproot the power of sin, will cross the waters of the Kidron.