29:1 希西家登基的時候年二十五歲,在耶路撒冷作王二十九年。他母親名叫亞比雅,是撒迦利雅的女兒。
29:2 希西家行耶和華眼中看為正的事,效法他祖大衛一切所行的。
29:3 元年正月,開了耶和華殿的門,重新修理。
29:4 他召眾祭司和利未人來,聚集在東邊的寬闊處,
29:5 對他們說:「利未人哪,當聽我說:現在你們要潔淨自己,又潔淨耶和華─你們列祖上帝的殿,從聖所中除去污穢之物。
29:6 我們列祖犯了罪,行耶和華─我們上帝眼中看為惡的事,離棄他,轉臉背向他的居所,
29:7 封鎖廊門,吹滅燈火,不在聖所中向以色列上帝燒香,或獻燔祭。
29:8 因此,耶和華的忿怒臨到猶大和耶路撒冷,將其中的人拋來拋去,令人驚駭、嗤笑,正如你們親眼所見的。
29:9 所以我們的祖宗倒在刀下,我們的妻子兒女也被擄掠。
29:10 現在我心中有意與耶和華─以色列的上帝立約,好使他的烈怒轉離我們。
29:11 我的眾子啊,現在不要懈怠;因為耶和華揀選你們站在他面前事奉他,與他燒香。」
29:12 於是,利未人哥轄的子孫、亞瑪賽的兒子瑪哈,亞撒利雅的兒子約珥;米拉利的子孫、亞伯底的兒子基士,耶哈利勒的兒子亞撒利雅;革順的子孫、薪瑪的兒子約亞,約亞的兒子伊甸;
29:13 以利撒反的子孫申利和耶利;亞薩的子孫撒迦利雅和瑪探雅;
29:14 希幔的子孫耶歇和示每;耶杜頓的子孫示瑪雅和烏薛;
29:15 起來聚集他們的弟兄,潔淨自己,照著王的吩咐、耶和華的命令,進去潔淨耶和華的殿。
29:16 祭司進入耶和華的殿要潔淨殿,將殿中所有污穢之物搬到耶和華殿的院內,利未人接去,搬到外頭汲淪溪邊。
29:17 從正月初一日潔淨起,初八日到了耶和華的殿廊,用八日的工夫潔淨耶和華的殿,到正月十六日才潔淨完了。
29:18 於是,他們晉見希西家王,說:「我們已將耶和華的全殿和燔祭壇,並壇的一切器皿、陳設餅的桌子,與桌子的一切器皿都潔淨了;
29:19 並且亞哈斯王在位犯罪的時候所廢棄的器皿,我們預備齊全,且潔淨了,現今都在耶和華的壇前。」
29:20 希西家王清早起來,聚集城裡的首領都上耶和華的殿;
29:21 牽了七隻公牛,七隻公羊,七隻羊羔,七隻公山羊,要為國、為殿、為猶大人作贖罪祭。王吩咐亞倫的子孫眾祭司,獻在耶和華的壇上,
29:22 就宰了公牛,祭司接血灑在壇上,宰了公羊,把血灑在壇上,又宰了羊羔,也把血灑在壇上;
29:23 把那作贖罪祭的公山羊牽到王和會眾面前,他們就按手在其上。
29:24 祭司宰了羊,將血獻在壇上作贖罪祭,為以色列眾人贖罪,因為王吩咐將燔祭和贖罪祭為以色列眾人獻上。
29:25 王又派利未人在耶和華殿中敲鈸,鼓瑟,彈琴,乃照大衛和他先見迦得,並先知拿單所吩咐的,就是耶和華藉先知所吩咐的。
29:26 利未人拿大衛的樂器,祭司拿號,一同站立。
29:27 希西家吩咐在壇上獻燔祭,燔祭一獻,就唱讚美耶和華的歌,用號,並用以色列王大衛的樂器相和。
29:28 會眾都敬拜,歌唱的歌唱,吹號的吹號,如此直到燔祭獻完了。
29:29 獻完了祭,王和一切跟隨的人都俯伏敬拜。
29:30 希西家王與眾首領又吩咐利未人用大衛和先見亞薩的詩詞頌讚耶和華;他們就歡歡喜喜地頌讚耶和華,低頭敬拜。
29:31 希西家說:「你們既然歸耶和華為聖,就要前來把祭物和感謝祭奉到耶和華殿裡。」會眾就把祭物和感謝祭奉來,凡甘心樂意的也將燔祭奉來。
29:32 會眾所奉的燔祭如下:公牛七十隻,公羊一百隻,羊羔二百隻,這都是作燔祭獻給耶和華的;
29:33 又有分別為聖之物,公牛六百隻,綿羊三千隻。
29:34 但祭司太少,不能剝盡燔祭牲的皮,所以他們的弟兄利未人幫助他們,直等燔祭的事完了,又等別的祭司自潔了;因為利未人誠心自潔,勝過祭司。
29:35 燔祭和平安祭牲的脂油,並燔祭同獻的奠祭甚多。這樣,耶和華殿中的事務俱都齊備了(或譯:就整頓了)。
29:36 這事辦的甚速,希西家和眾民都喜樂,是因上帝為眾民所預備的。
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5 and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. 6 Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. 10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”
12 Then these Levites set to work:
from the Kohathites,
Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah;
from the Merarites,
Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel;
from the Gershonites,
Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;
13 from the descendants of Elizaphan,
Shimri and Jeiel;
from the descendants of Asaph,
Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14 from the descendants of Heman,
Jehiel and Shimei;
from the descendants of Jeduthun,
Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord. 16 The priests went into the sanctuary of the Lord to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the Lord. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. 17 They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the Lord. For eight more days they consecrated the temple of the Lord itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles. 19 We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”
20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the Lord. 21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering[a] for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the Lord. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it against the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and splashed their blood against the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and splashed their blood against the altar. 23 The goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24 The priests then slaughtered the goats and presented their blood on the altar for a sin offering to atone for all Israel, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.
25 He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets. 26 So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments, and the priests with their trumpets.
27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the musicians played and the trumpets sounded. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.
29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. 30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.
31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred male lambs—all of them for burnt offerings to the Lord. 33 The animals consecrated as sacrifices amounted to six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats. 34 The priests, however, were too few to skin all the burnt offerings; so their relatives the Levites helped them until the task was finished and until other priests had been consecrated, for the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been. 35 There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings.
So the service of the temple of the Lord was reestablished. 36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done so quickly.
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希西家做王因為內心歸向上帝,所以才有潔淨聖殿和乎傅大為時代敬拜的舉動。因此,內在的更新通常在外在的作為之前。也因為這樣,我們盼望教會的復興,就要先求聖靈是信徒都能悔改歸向上帝!
其實今日教會之所以認為情感是復興的表現,完全是受士萊馬赫的影響,尤其是衛斯理教會從聖潔運動走到靈恩教會,這一連串的作為都是受到「情感」的影響。情感是外顯的,不是內在的。但是許多基督徒認為內在的改變要用感情表現出來,於是造成了信仰的誤導,使教會認為激情就是復興!
其實希西家史猶大復興和恢復大衛的敬拜方式,是內心體認到要敬畏上帝而有的行動,不是情感上的機動!然而在情感上的機動,就容易有虛偽和不看重真理的事,反而是亂象,就像過去的靈恩運動一般!
感謝主,也因為過去的紛亂,讓基督徒再次回到聖經去尋求真正的復興,再次讓加爾文和馬丁路德等改教家的精神重現,也就是回到聖經和聽從聖靈,而不是聽某某牧師或使徒,這也是上帝的保守和賜福!