2 Chronicles 29:21

And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Seven bullocks . . . rams . . . lambs.—For a burnt offering (‘ôlah). See the legal prescriptions respecting the sin offering (Leviticus 4). On the present extraordinary occasion, an extraordinary sacrifice was offered. Balak and Balaam offered seven bullocks and seven rams as a burnt offering (Numbers 23:1-2, seq.).

And seven he goats, for a sin offering.—Comp. Ezra 6:17; Ezra 8:35; and Leviticus 4:23; Leviticus 4:28; also 2Chronicles 29:23. The reigning house and the sanctuary and the people had all contracted defilement during the late period of idolatry.

The priests the sons of Aaron to offer.—In careful accordance with the rule of the Torah.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 29:21. They brought seven bullocks — The number seven is customary in sacred matters, and is here used in regard of the vast numbers and various kinds of sins, the guilt whereof yet lay upon the kingdom, which was now to be expiated. Indeed, in case of one particular sin of ignorance committed by the people, there was but one bullock to be offered, but here the sins were many and presumptuous. For a sin-offering for the kingdom — To make atonement for the sins of the king, and the royal family, and the court. And for the sanctuary — For all the idolatry and uncleanness wherewith the temple had been polluted, which, as it had been cleansed naturally by the priests’ hands, so now it was to be purged morally by sacrifices. And for Judah — For the sins of all the people of Judah. They thought it not enough to lament and forsake their sins, but they brought a sin-offering. Even our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon, but through Christ, who was made sin, that is, a sin-offering, for us.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:20-36 As soon as Hezekiah heard that the temple was ready, he lost no time. Atonement must be made for the sins of the last reign. It was not enough to lament and forsake those sins; they brought a sin-offering. Our repentance and reformation will not obtain pardon but in and through Christ, who was made sin, that is, a sin-offering for us. While the offerings were on the altar, the Levites sang. Sorrow for sin must not prevent us from praising God. The king and the congregation gave their consent to all that was done. It is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if we do not ourselves worship with the heart. And we should offer up our spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and devote ourselves and all we have, as sacrifices, acceptable to the Father only through the Redeemer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hezekiah commenced his restoration of the Yahweh-worship with an unusually comprehensive sin-offering, embracing the four chief kinds of sacrificial animals, and seven animals of each kind: he intended to atone for the sins, both conscious and unconscious, of the king, the priests, the people of Judah, and the people of Israel. After the completion of these expiatory rites, he proceeded to the offering of the burnt-offering 2 Chronicles 29:27.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20-30. Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city—His anxiety to enter upon the expiatory service with all possible despatch, now that the temple had been properly prepared for it, prevented his summoning all the representatives of Israel. The requisite number of victims having been provided, and the officers of the temple having sanctified themselves according to the directions of the law, the priests were appointed to offer sacrifices of atonement successively, for "the kingdom," that is, for the sins of the king and his predecessors; for "the sanctuary," that is, for the sins of the priests themselves and for the desecration of the temple; "and for Judah," that is, for the people who, by their voluntary consent, were involved in the guilt of the national apostasy. Animals of the kinds used in sacrifice were offered by sevens, that number indicating completeness. The Levites were ordered to praise God with musical instruments, which, although not originally used in the tabernacle, had been enlisted in the service of divine worship by David on the advice of the prophets Gad and Nathan, as well calculated to animate the devotions of the people. At the close of the special services of the occasion, namely, the offering of atonement sacrifices, the king and all civic rulers who were present joined in the worship. A grand anthem was sung (2Ch 29:30) by the choir, consisting of some of the psalms of David and Asaph, and a great number of thank offerings, praise offerings, and freewill burnt offerings were presented at the invitation of the king.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The number of seven is famous and customary in sacred matters, and is here used in regard of the vast numbers and various kinds of sins, the guilt whereof yet lay upon the kingdom, which was now to be expiated. Indeed, in case of one particular sin of ignorance done by the people, there was but one bullock to be offered, Leviticus 4:13,14, but here the sins were many and presumptuous, &c.

A sin-offering for the kingdom; to make atonement for the sins of the king, and the royal family, and the court.

For the sanctuary; for all the idolatry and uncleanness wherewith the temple had been polluted, which, as it had been cleansed naturally by the priests’ hands, so now was to be purged morally by sacrifices.

For Judah; for the sins of all the people of Judah.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah,.... To make atonement in a typical way, having respect to the sacrifice of the Messiah, for the sins of the king, his family and court, among whom idolatry had prevailed in the times of his father; and for the cleansing of the temple, which had been polluted by the idolatries of Ahaz; and for the expiation of the whole land; seven of each sort are ordered, though only one goat was required for a sin offering by the law, because of the multitude of transgressions that had been committed, and because of the length of time in which sacrifices had been neglected:

and he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord: the altar of burnt offerings, whose business it was to do it.

Geneva Study Bible

And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. they brought] Acc. to Leviticus 4:3; Leviticus 4:23; Leviticus 4:32 the sin offering might be a bullock or a he goat or a lamb. As the sacrifice was not for an individual but for a whole people the sin offering on this occasion consisted of seven of each of four different sacrificial animals.

for the kingdom] i.e. for the kingly house.

for the sanctuary] i.e. for the Temple (cp. Leviticus 16:16), but probably inclusive of the personnel of the Temple, i.e. the priests and Levites, since otherwise they would have been passed over in the great sin offering.

on the altar of the Lord] Not on the altar of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:11).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - There is diversity of opinion, whether the seven bullocks (פָרִים), seven rams (אֵילִים), seven lambs (כְבָשִׁים) were burnt offering (עולָה), or, with the seven he-goats (צְפִירֵי עִזּים), were sin offering (חַטָּאת). Some think (as, for instance, Canon Rawlinson) that they were sin offering, as the account of the offering of them (ver. 22) takes priority for them over the he-goats; others (as Bertheau, Professor J. G. Murphy, etc.), that they were certainly burnt offering. It scarcely appears as though much stress can be laid upon what is apparently the chief reason of Canon Rawlinson's opinion, in face of the immediate language of the last sentence of our ver. 24, "for the king commended the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel." The fact of no mention of burnt offering in our present verse, and of the natural construction of the description, "for a sin offering for the kingdom," etc., as applying to all that had preceded, seems the better argument, and all that is necessary, unless something moderately decisive be forthcoming to rebut it. The solution of all, however, is probably to our hand in Ezra 8:35, which is a very close and significant parallel to our present verse. The first mention of the sacrifice of פָרִים, or "young bullocks" is found in Exodus 24:5, and afterwards in Exodus 29:1, 3; Leviticus 4:3, etc.; Leviticus 8:2, 14, etc. The first mention of the sacrifice of אֵילִים is Genesis 22:13; and, after, Exodus 29:15-18, 19-21, etc.; Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 8:2, 22, etc. The first mention of the sacrifices of the כְבָשִׁים is Exodus 12:3-7, and, after, Exodus 29:38, etc. The first mention of the sacrifice of צְפִירֵי עִזּים is the present passage; and, after, Ezra 8:25. But the mention of sacrifices of goats is found in Leviticus 1:10; Leviticus 3:12, and often besides. For the kingdom; i.e. probably for "all that are in authority," viz. the king and rulers, the Hebrew word (מַמְלָכָה) designating here those exercising dominion (1 Kings 11:11; 1 Kings 14:8; 1 Samuel 28:17) rather than the country under dominion (Joshua 10:2; 1 Samuel 27:5). It is, however, possible that allusion to the whole kingdom of Judah and Israel is made here. For the sanctuary; i.e. those who officiated in holy things. For Judah; i.e. for all the people. 2 Chronicles 29:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The re-dedication of the temple by offering sacrifices. - 2 Chronicles 29:20. Probably on the very next morning Hezekiah went with the princes (heads) of the city into the house of the Lord, and brought seven bullocks, seven rams, and seven lambs for a burnt-offering, and seven he-goats for a sin-offering, "for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah," i.e., as expiation for and consecration of the kingdom, sanctuary, and people. These sacrifices were offered by the priests according to the prescription of the law of Moses, 2 Chronicles 29:22-24. The burnt-offerings are first named, as in the sacrificial Torah in Leviticus 1-6, although the offering of the sin-offering preceded that of the burnt-offering. The laying on of hands, too, is mentioned only with the sin-offering, 2 Chronicles 29:23, although according to Leviticus 1:4 the same ceremony was gone through with the burnt-offerings; but that is not because a confession of sin was probably made during the laying on of hands, as Bertheau conjectures, adducing Leviticus 16:21, for from that passage no such conclusion can be drawn. The ceremony is mentioned only in the one case to emphasize the fact that the king and the assembly (the latter, of course, by their representatives) laid their hands upon the sacrificial beasts, because the atonement was, according to the king's words, to be for all Israel. "All Israel" are probably not only all the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah, but Israelites in general (the twelve tribes), for whom the temple in Jerusalem was the only lawful sanctuary. דּם את חטּא signifies to bring the blood to the altar for an atonement, in the manner prescribed in Leviticus 4:30, Leviticus 4:34.