(19) Cast away.--The same word as "cast off" in 2Chronicles 11:14. The vessels so treated were the brazer altar, the brazen sea, and the lavers on the stands (2Kings 16:14; 2Kings 16:17). In his transgression.--Unfaithfulness, or apostasy. Have we prepared.--Ordered aright, put to rights. (H ???kann-, i.e., h?kinon-, 1Chronicles 29:16 here only.) The altar of the Lord.--The brazen altar in the; court. 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.Moreover, all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression,.... Not that he threw them away, being valuable, as made of gold and silver; but, as Kimchi interprets it, he removed them, and converted them to idolatrous uses; or, as the Targum, he defiled or profaned them, and made them abominable by strange idols:have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord; they had cleaned them, and fitted them for service, and had put them where they were ready for use; though the Targum is,"we have laid them aside, and hid them, and prepared others in their room,''as unfit for divine service; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers (o). (o) T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 54. 2. |