2 Chronicles 29:7

Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) The porch.—Of the holy place, or nave of the Temple; the only entrance to the two holy chambers.

Put out the lamps.—Of the great golden stand, in the holy place.

Have not burned incense.—On the golden altar. Literally, And incense they have not burned, and burnt offering they have not offered in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is not the holy place, or larger chamber of the Temple, but it includes the whole sacred precincts, courts as well as buildings. The burnt offerings presented on the new Syrian altar of Ahaz (2Kings 16:15) are here counted as nought, because they were irregular. (Comp. also 2Kings 16:14.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:1-19 When Hezekiah came to the crown, he applied at once to work reform. Those who begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly. Those that turn their backs upon God's ordinances, may truly be said to forsake God himself. There are still such neglects, if the word be not duly read and opened, for that was signified by the lighting the lamps, and also if prayers and praise be not offered up, for that was signified by the burning incense. Neglect of God's worship was the cause of the calamities they had lain under. The Lord alone can prepare the heart of man for vital godliness: when much good is done in a little time, the glory must be ascribed to him; and all who love him or the souls of men, will rejoice therein. Let those that do good work, learn to do it well.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sanctify now yourselves - Compare the marginal reference. Hezekiah follows David's example, knowing, probably, that the priests had in the preceding time of idolatry contracted many defilements.

The "filthiness," or "uncleanness" 2 Chronicles 29:16, might consist, in part, of mere dust and dirt, in part, of idolatrous objects introduced by Ahaz before he finally shut up the temple 2 Kings 16:10-16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6, 7. our fathers have trespassed—Ahaz and the generation contemporary with him were specially meant, for they "turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord," and whether or not they turned east to the rising sun, they abandoned the worship of God. They "shut up the doors of the porch," so that the sacred ritual was entirely discontinued.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Also they have shut up the doors of the porch,.... So that there was no entering into the temple, 2 Chronicles 28:24.

and put out the lamps; for the priests not being able to go in morning and evening to light them, and dress them, they in course went out; the Jews say (n), that on the eighteenth of Ab, which answers to part of July and August, the western lamp was extinct in the days of Ahaz, for which a fast was kept on that day:

and have not burnt incense, nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel; but had done these in the high places to idols, 2 Chronicles 28:3.

(n) Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. the lamps] Cp. 2 Chronicles 13:11; Exodus 25:31 ff.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - This verse is the answering echo of 2 Chronicles 28:24. 2 Chronicles 29:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Even (גּם) the doors of the porch have they shut, and caused the service in the sanctuary, the lighting of the lamps, and the sacrifices of incense, to cease; see on 2 Chronicles 28:24. The words, "and they brought not burnt-offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel," do not imply the complete cessation of the legal sacrificial worship, but only that no burnt-offerings were brought to the God of Israel. Sacrifices offered upon the altar of burnt-offering built after a heathen pattern by Ahaz were not, in the eyes of the author of the Chronicle, sacrifices which were offered to the God of Israel; and it is also possible that even this sacrificial worship may have more and more decayed. קדשׁ, 2 Chronicles 29:7, is the whole sanctuary, with the court of the priests.