2 Chronicles 29:30

Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) With the words of David, and of Asaph.—Heb., in the words. This appears to mean that the singing (2Chronicles 29:28) consisted in chanting Davidic and Asaphite psalms, and it is usually so explained. But the expression “in the words of David and of Asaph” may be compared with “in the words of Jehovah,” 2Chronicles 29:15, and “in the command of David and Gad the king’s seer,” 2Chronicles 29:25; and so may be understood to assert merely that the singing was in accordance with the arrangements of David and Asaph. (1Chronicles 25:1-2; 1Chronicles 25:9.)

Asaph the seer.—So Heman is called (1Chronicles 25:5); and Jeduthun (2Chronicles 25:15).

With gladness.—Literally, unto exultation—i.e., rapturously.

And they bowed their heads.—When the song was ended (2Chronicles 29:29).

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

All had hitherto been preparatory. Now Hezekiah gave orders that "the burnt offering" - i. e. the daily morning sacrifice - should be offered upon the brass altar in front of the porch, thus restoring and reinstituting the regular temple-service. A burst of music gave notice to the people of the moment when the old worship recommenced.

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

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord, with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer,.... Making use of psalms composed by the one and the other; Jarchi takes it to be the one hundred and fifth psalm, which begins, "O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name"; as in 1 Chronicles 16:7.

and they sang praises with gladness; the king and all the people:

and they bowed their heads and worshipped; made another adoration of the Divine Being, as deeply impressed with a sense of his greatness and goodness.

Geneva Study Bible

Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the {o} words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

(o) With the psalm mentioned in 1Ch 16:8.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. to sing praise] R.V. to sing praises. Since (1) the Heb. word for “Psalms” means “Praises,” and (2) the words of David and Asaph are specially mentioned in this verse, it is clear that the Chronicler by this phrase means “to sing Psalms.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - With the words of David, and of Asaph. We can scarcely exclude from our thought the impression that loving human reverence for their own past religious helpers of song and music, and enthusiasm for the memory of them, were here glanced at. The king's and the princes supplementary (moreover) injunction and instruction to the Levites as to what words they should put on their lips. Asaph the seer. This is the only place in which Asaph is thus distinctly named seer, but it is contained virtually in 1 Chronicles 25:2; and for the substantive title given to two colleagues, see 1 Chronicles 25:5; 2 Chronicles 35:15. The princes (see their growing prominence in 2 Chronicles 24:17; 2 Chronicles 28:21; 2 Chronicles 30:2, 6, 12, 24; 2 Chronicles 32:3). 2 Chronicles 29:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words (psalms) of David and of Asaph; and they sang praise with joy, and bowed themselves and worshipped. This verse does not mean that the Levites began to sing psalms at the king's command only after the sacrificial act and the instrumental music (2 Chronicles 29:27.) had been finished, but it forms a comprehensive conclusion of the description of the sacrificial solemnities. The author of the Chronicle considered it necessary to make express mention of the praising of God in psalms, already implicite involved in the משׁורר השּׁיר, 2 Chronicles 29:28, and to remark that the Levites also, at the conclusion of the song of praise, knelt and worshipped. Asaph is here called חזה, as Jeduthun (Ethan) is in 2 Chronicles 35:15, and Heman, 1 Chronicles 25:5.