2 Chronicles 30:17

17 For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, ¹the Levites were over the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean *, in order to consecrate them to the LORD.

2 Chronicles 30:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 30:17

For there were many in the congregation that were not
sanctified
Or purified from uncleanness, contracted either by idolatry, or through such things which, according to the ceremonial law, made them unclean, and from which they had not now time to cleanse themselves according to the law:

therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers
for everyone that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord;
this they did for the masters of families, who were ceremonially unclean, who otherwise might have killed their passover lambs themselves, see ( Exodus 12:6 ) , but now the Levites did it for them, that their passovers might be sanctified and consecrated to the Lord; for, as Philo the Jew says ^F18, one day in a year the whole sacrificed, everyone acted as a priest, and brought and slew his own sacrifice, meaning at the passover.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 686. & de Decalogo, p. 766.

2 Chronicles 30:17 In-Context

15 Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth of the second month. And the priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD .

16 They stood at their stations after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites.

17 For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, the Levites were over the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean , in order to consecrate them to the LORD .

18 For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD pardon

19 everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary."

Cross References

• 1. 2 Chronicles 29:34