Hezekiah's Reform
2 Chronicles Chapter 29
2 Chronicles 29:25 is used as Proof text that God commanded Israel to worship with instrumental music therefore that God commanded US to do "instrumental praise" and that we must not "disobey." However, the Law of Moses, the king, kingdom and animal sacrifices were imposed on Israel when God turned them over to worship the starry host (Acts 7). Therefore, there is nothing in this system which was part of God's plan. All of those who have imposed instruments on peaceable churches of Christ have appealed to the plague removing animal slauther, have ignored the prophets who give the view of the Spirit of Christ and have not researched the pagan religious system the Levites practiced in Egypt and brought with them and began it just out of the Red Sea.
Plutarch: When all the company requested and earnestly begged it of him; first of all (says he), the time and manner of the greatest and most holy solemnity of theJews is exactly agreeable to the holy rites of Bacchus; for that which they call the Fast they celebrate in the midst of the vintage, furnishing their tables with all sorts of fruits while they sit under tabernacles made of vines and ivy; and the day which immediately goes before this they call the day of Tabernacles.In 728 B.C. The Temple had been polluted by Assyrian worship so that the priests conducted animal sacrifices OUTSIDE of the walls: this was a violation of the law and caused God to send a plague on the nation. Hezekiah needed the people who had fled to take cover in Jerusalem because of an impending invasion.Within a few days after they celebrate another feast, not darkly but openly, dedicated to Bacchus, for they have a feast amongst them called Kradephoria, from carrying palm-trees, and Thyrsophoria, when they enter into the temple carrying thyrsi.
What they do within I know not; but it is very probable that they perform the rites of Bacchus. First they have little trumpets, such as the Grecians used to have at their Bacchanalia to call upon their gods withal.
Others go before them playing upon harps, which they call Levites, whether so named from Lusius or Evius,--either word agrees with Bacchus.
And I suppose that their Sabbaths have some relation to Bacchus; for even now many call the Bacchi by the name of Sabbi, and they make use of that word at the celebration of Bacchus's orgies.
And this may be discovered out of Demosthenes and Menander. Nor would it be out of place, were any one to say that the name Sabbath was given to this feast from the agitation and excitement [Greek omitted] which the priests of Bacchus display.
Hezekiah becomes King of Judah and the Temple was not a "house of worship" but the capital shrine of a national government which was identical to that in Tryre and Babylon.. So, here is what happened in the minds of our fatal proof-text system:
And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the kings seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. 2 Chronicles 29:25The "house" is never the Holy Place or the Most holy place: any singer or instrumentalist who entered the Holy Place as a type of the body or Church of Christ would be executed. They could not COME NEAR any holy thing. They were in the court making noise to serve the priests who were in the midst of blood, dung, urine and burning flesh.:
> I have heard from many who read that verse and declare that God commanded instrumental music under the law.
> God did not change his mind and issue a change of the law which says: "Thou shalt not worship with instrumental music."
> Therefore, we have proof-text authority for instrumental music in the Christian assembly.
> And if you resist me you are a Pharisee, hypocrite, legalist and sectarian, and "we need to root you out."
But, back up over 400 years for the "authority."
In 1048 B.C. David defeated the Jebusites and Jerusalem became the capital of Israel. Because of David's census without redeeming the men, a great plague broke out. God gave some options for the king to pay for the king's sins by wishing a plague on his own people. Because both Solomon and Nehemiah connect this to David's effort to PAY FOR HIS OWN SINS, any attempt to restore the Law may be a confession that their system does not work anymore.
Gad was not a "prophet of God" but the king's seer. What is a seer.
Chozeh (h2374) kho-zeh'; act. part. of 2372; a beholder in vision; also a compact (as looked upon with approval): - agreement, prophet, see that, seer, stargazer.What did God command through Gad?
And the Lord spake unto Gad, Davids seer, saying, 1 Chronicles 21:9 [David was not God's religious leader]
Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 1 Chronicles 21:10
So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee 1 Chronicles 21: 11
Either three years famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel.Whatever value this has as a proof-text, I don't want to go through the plague just to get to burn animals and make a loud noise with instruments. When the plague forced David to recognize his evil fall from Grace, God stopped the plage at a PAGAN HIGH PLACE.
Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. 1 Chronicles 21: 12
Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that
David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 1 Chronicles 21: 18
> And David went up at the saying of Gad,Jerusalem is also a city set on seven hills. It is called "dueling mountains" and identified with Sodom and Egypt.Jerusalem Becomes the Alternative Shrine for the King
> which he spake in the name of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 21: 19
And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. 1 Chronicles 21: 26
And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. 1 Chronicles 21: 27
At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 1 Chronicles 21: 28If you will, Gibeon where God must be sought became like a "garden of Eden" with flaming cherubim which, in David's Mind, radically separated the king and kingdom from God's presence. Giving David a pagan center of worship was because God had turned the nation over to "worship the starry hosts" (Acts 7). When the elderd demanded a king "God gave them kings in His anger."
For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the HIGH PLACE at Gibeon. 1 Chronicles 21: 29
But David could not go before it to enquire of God:
for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 21: 30
Acts 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?It is obvious that the Jews in Jerusalem were practicing a religion based on rejecting the Word and replacing it with their own myths:
Acts 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan,
figures which ye made to worship them:
and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Freemasons noting that there is no evidence of a Hebrew temple in Jerusalem:Remember that the kings had been permitted to Israel as an alternative ruler so that they could worship like the nations (Eze 28:32) in a national shrine: the temple in Jerusalem. The prophecy was that the kings would lead Israel into captivity and death.
The name of Solomon is made up of the three ancient Sun names: The Roman SOL, the Hindu OM, and the Chaldeo-Egyptian ON.
1.) The founders of Jerusalem were the Turanian Hurrians. The Bible calls them Jebusites. Manetho the Egyptian priest (300 BC.) called them Royal Shepherds, he also called them Royal Scythians and Phoenices The city which they founded was called Solyma. Alexander the Great put the world "Iero" or "Hiero" (Holy) in front of the city's name and pronounced it "Hiero-solyma". The city was called Solyma or Hierosolyma for many years. Josephus Flavius the Hebrew historian (37-100 AD.) in his writings always uses the name Solyma instead of Jerusalem. In 70 AD. when the Roman Titus destroyed the Temple and demolishing the city, the soldiers were shouting "Hierosolyma est perdita!" meaning "Hierosolyma (Jerusalem) is destroyed!"
2.) In 1,015 BC. David purchased a small part of the city of Uru-Salem from Urukhi or Uriah, king of the Jebusites. The Bible says: "and the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day" (Judges 1:21). So, the Jebusites still dwelled Jerusalem in the 7th century AD. in the period when the Masoretic Bible was constructed. The Jebusites shared their Sun-God Temple with the Hebrews, who were worshipped Tammuz Moloch and other gods.This Temple was built on Mt .Moriah to the Jebusites' Sun-God "Nib-Utu" (Shamash)
See Tammuz Worship with music in Ezekiel 8 with an early sun rise ceremony
Acts 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed,
speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
Acts 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles,
whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Acts 7:46 Who found favour before God,
and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Acts 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Acts 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool:
what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Acts 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Because Solomon spent more time and money building other temples for his idolatrous wives, we cannot believe that God would literally dwell in such a place which John in Revelation 18 calls SODOM.
Of David's Original Covenant in a spiritual sense:
Before he died, David called a National Convention to provide a smooth transition to Solomon as civil king and with Jerusalem as capital of the nation and the Temple as sole place for sacrifices.
Because the Monarchy kingdom had been changed from a Theocracy to a "like the nations" kingdom as military capital, the nature of the Levites were changed. This is a national system connected only to the Civil-Military-Clergy complex whom the Spirit of Christ through Nehemiah and the prophets called robbers and parasites.
David (king), together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: 1 Chronicles 25:1
Payne insists that the Hebrew of 1 Chronicles 25:1 unambiguously identifies these leaders as militarycommanders, an interpretation favoured by several Bible translations. (Payne, p 423-4; NASB, NIV, NKJV, NRSV, Jerusalem Bible) If military commanders had a particular interest in the appointment of musicians, it suggests a strong link between music and warfare.True worship under the law was just as it is in the Christian dispensation: the task is to "seek the Lord" or "give attendance to the Word" and meditate on it. In the future animal sacrifices, after the carnage is over then the people "worship" by bowing down or falling on their face. The Levites were not "musicians" but "prophesiers" which meant to afflict self or others. Their service was:
"The trained musicians which eventually appear around the time of David and Solomon mark a distinctive change in the history of Jewish music. Before this time much of the music was made by women." (Zondervan Pict., Music p. 313).
"Before the establishment of the kingdom under Saul, it was the women who, as in every young civilization, played a major part in the performance of music. Such figures as Miriam, Deborah, Jephtha's daughter, and the women hailing the young hero David have become almost archetypes of female musicians. Characteristic of all these cases is the familiar picture of a female chorus, dancing and singing, accompanied by frenzied drum-beating. This is the scene known to the entire Near East, and not even the severe rule of Islam could wholly suppress this age-old practice." (Int Dict of the Bible, Music, p. 457).
"Women and girls from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and musicians. The understanding of this service was universal: these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." "The Catholic Johannes Quasten in Pagan and Christian Music tells it like it is)
"Indeed not before David's time do professional musicians appear in the Bible. From where did they come?
Considering the apparent connection of professional musicians with the institution of Monarchy, we must bear in mind that in the neighboring countries, Egypt and Assyria, the professional musician was an old and familiar figure. It seems that the midrash alludes to an ancient tradition when it relates that King Solomon's Egyptian wife, daughter of the Pharaoh, carried in her dowry a thousand foreign instruments.
Yet an instrument is of no use without a musician able to play it. Hence, we may assume that the systematic import and subsequent training of professional musicians took place in the era of David and Solomon." (Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, p. 457).
Abodah (h5656) ab-o-daw'; from 5647; work of any kind: - act, bondage, / bondservant, effect, labour, ministering (-try), office, service (-ile, -itude), tillage, use, work, * wrought
Abad (h5647) aw-bad'; a prim. root; to work (in any sense); by impl. to serve, till, (caus.) enslave, etc.: - * be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, / husbandman, keep, labour (-ing man), bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve (-ing, self), (be, become) servant (-s), do (use) service, till (-er), transgress [from margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper.
1 Chron 25:2 Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.
Prophesying or the "praise" word meant to make yourself vile as a threat to the enemy to turn them into cowards: with respect to God the "worship of the starry host" to which God had abandoned Isreal because of musical idolatry, then and now people believed that you could appease the "gods" because God will not punish insanity.H623 ’âsâph aw-sawf' From H622 ; collector; Asaph, the name of three Israelites, and of the family of the first:---Asaph.
H622 ’âsaph aw-saf' A primitive root; to gather for any purpose; hence to receive, take away, that is, remove (destroy, leave behind, put up, restore, etc.):--assemble, bring, consume, destroy, fetch, gather (in, together, up again), surely, take (away, into, up), X utterly, withdraw.
"The Hithpa'el of nb', in the ancient texts, refers to ecstasy and delirium rather than to the emission of a 'prophecy'." (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, p. 243 DoubledayBecause of the huge number of animal carcases to be moved and burned, the Levites along with the porters did hard time on the "rock pile" to do what we lust to do as free people under Christ who has removed the burden.
"Maniac inspirations, the violent possession which threw sibyls and priestesses into contortions--the foaming lip and streaming hair and glazed or glaring eyes-- have no place in the self-controlling dignity of Christian inspiration. Even Jewish prophets, in the paroxysm of emotion, might lie naked on the ground and rave (1 Sam. xix. 24); but the genuine inspiration in Christian ages never obliterates the self-consciousness or overpowers the reason. It abhors the hysteria and stimulation and frenzy which have sometimes disgraced revivalism and filled lunatic asylums." (Pulpit Commentary, 1 Cor., p. 460).
Canaan, Jerusalem, the temple was the only place God permitted this like the nation's government to exist. At the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai, the people were labeled "strangers" to the Tabernacle and the newly-assigned clergy. Even at the time of Christ, the common people never "worshiped" in the temple nor came near when sacrifices were made.
All later Jews understood that the only way you could use Hezekiah as proof text would be to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and restore the priesthood and animal sacrifices.
Now, forward to Hezekiah 328 years later:
If this is a pattern for religious worship then you should follow the Bible and perform it every two or three hundred years: certainly not every Lord's Day after He HAS BEEN sacrificed and "made dumb before the slaughter" by the same Levite class.
2 Chronicles 29:25 has some other verses connected to it.
Therefore, notice the sequence as Hezekiah opened the closed temple and told the priests that the place was so polluted that:
Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. 2 Chron 29:8
Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. 2 Chronicles 29:10Hezekiah, like David, made a covenant to turn away the fierce wrath from Jerusalem and its temple specifically so that the outlying people could take sanctuary behind the walls.
Notice that the "people's congregation" is never involved in the temple rituals. After making many sacrifices, the blood was sprinkled on the altar. Neither the king nor the "city council" could go INSIDE of the temple without suffering death:
Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city,Take notice that this was for the kingdom, the temple and the little nation of Judah. Israel in the north was not the sanctuary for the nation of Judah and therefore it did not, indeed could not, as a nation be a place for God's presence.
and went up to the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 29:20
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. 2 Chronicles 29:21The Levites did not participate in the offering of killing or sprinkling of the blood. NO MUSICAL NOISE.
So they killed the bullocks, and
the priests received the blood,
and sprinkled it on the altar:
likewise, when they had killed the rams,
they sprinkled the blood upon the altar:
they killed also the lambs,
and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. 2 Chronicles 29:22
Only Judah and Jerusalem were involved in the first part of shedding blood and sprinkling it on the altar.
There were two nations: Judah at Jerusalem and Israel in the north with a temple on Mount Gerezim. David had been king of the whole nation.
The nation of Israel had separated in a civil war CAUSED by the slavery of building Solomon's temple. Amos, Isaiah and Acts 7 define their worship as "dedicated to the starry host" because that is what God had turned them over to and when the elders demanded a king God promised that the kings would enslave them and carry them into captivity and death. One of the curses would be that the king would take the young men to make and blow instruments before the chariots as they went into warfare.
Israel was in fact worshiping Azazel who had taught mankind how to do musical rituals: the Scapegoat was introduced as a result of the Nadab and Abhihu incident.
Israel was not there because Hezekiah would later invite them to a Passover festival.
Therefore, to try to reconcile Israel to Judah they were now included:
And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering
before the king and the congregation (representatives only);
and they laid their hands upon them: 2 Chronicles 29:23
And the priests killed them,
and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar,
to make an atonement for all Israel:
for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering
should be made for all Israel. 2 Chronicles 29:24
Matthew Henry notes that: "Some think that goats were chosen for the sin-offering because, by the disagreeableness of their smell, the offensiveness of sin is represented: others think, because it was said that the demons which the heathens then worshipped often appeared to their worshippers in the form of goats, God therefore obliged his people to sacrifice goats, that they might never be tempted to sacrifice TO goats.
Of the He Goats which are:
8163. saiyr, saw-eer´; or sabir, saw-eer´; from 8175; shaggy; as noun, a he-goat; by analogy,
a faun:--devil, goat, hairy, kid, rough, satyr
8175. saar, saw-ar´; a primitive root; to storm; by implication, to shiver, i.e. fear:--be (horribly) afraid, fear,
hurl as a storm, be tempestuous, come like (take away as with) a whirlwind.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Re.18:2
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. Isaiah 13:21
Rev. 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
they claim they are Jews #2453 Ioudas - Judas; in Hebrew 3063 - Yehudah - a descendant of Judah. The paid their way into the Herodian ruling class. The Saducean priesthood during the first century were not of Aaron but consisted of four families: Boethus, Hanan, Kimchit, and Phiabi. They intermarried with the Herodians, the Royal Rulers of the State of Israel, who were, themselves Edomites (Idumeans) from the Petra region (or Edom) and descendants of Esau (or Seir, which means "shaggy, he-goat, devil"), thus the "synagogue of Satan" leaders claimed to be Jews but were Edomites appointed by the Herodian rulers under Rome; Herod Antipas, for instance, and Pontius Pilate held the same governmental position for Rome, the reason for much rivalry between them); since Esau was "red and hairy" his nickname was Edom, and he lived in Seir where Ham's descendants settled.The A cappella from the Pope's Sistine chapel is from CAPER from a military shrine made of the cloak of a SKINNED GOAT. Probably smelled. These were the Pope's Castrated music team.
Don't forget that God had abandoned Israel to captivity and death in Babylon because of musical idolatry. Therefore, all of history notes that the Temple worship was Babylonian or Egyptian. The Levites speak of Levius or Dionysus:
Don't doubt it: this is what they prayed for and what God granted to them.
AEGA (Aigê), according to Hyginus (Poet. Astr. ii. 13) a daughter of Olenus, who was a descendant of Hephaestus. Aega and her sister Helice nursed the infant Zeus in Crete, and the former was afterwards changed by the god into the constellation called Capella...Her name is either connected with aix, which signifies a goat, or with aïx, a gale of wind; and this circumstance has led some critics to consider the myth about her as made up of two distinct ones, one being of an astronomical nature and derived from the constellation Capella, the rise of which brings storms and tempests (Arat. Phaen. 150), and the other referring to the goat which was believed to have suckled the infant Zeus in Crete.The Mother of Harlots in Revelation points to the worship of Zeus and other pagan "gods" always with GOATISH singers and musicians. Zeus and Dionysus were the gods in the temple as the abomination of desolation.
Notice that there is two sets of commands: one for the king and kingdom but another one from Nathan. We will show parallel passages later. Because the monarchy had been abandoned to worship the starry host called Sabazianism, God used Gad a STARGAZER to instruct David about an alternative altar at a Jebusite High Place or pagan altar.
Tragedy: 1.) The epithet tragikoi is already given to these choruses, although there was as yet no actor distinct from the chorus. The saturoi (=tituroi, he-goats ) were woodland beings, half man, half beast, who attended on Dionysus, and who were conventionally represented with pointed ears, budding horns, a snub nose, and a tail.
Some allusion to the satyrs was evidently involved in tragikos, as an epithet of the chorus, and in tragôidia, as a name for their song.
But it is hardly doubtful that these terms also refer directly to the association of an actual goat with the Dionysiac worship. It was the goat that suggested the conventional type of the saturoi, not the latter that prompted the use of the terms tragikos and tragôidia.
Saturos 2. Leud, goatish fellow, a play in which the Chorus consisted of Satyrs. Satyric Drama
And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. 1 Chron 21:19
And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. 1 Chron 21:20"By taking over and adapting Jerusalem's ancient cult, David provided Israel with a new worship, one that featured his own status and its sacral significance. Britannica
"The original altar of Burnt-offering continued at Gibeon with the Tabernacle (2 Chr. 1:3, 5). David must have erected a new altar for sacrifice at Jerusalem.
> The sacrifices commanded by the Law were, it appears, offered at the former place (Gibeon);
> at the latter were offered voluntary additional sacrifices." (Albert Barnes, 1 Chron, p. 347).What? And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps,If instruments were commanded by God it was after and because He had abandoned them to worship the starry host including Saturn whose number is 666.
Authority: according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the kings seer,
What?: and Nathan the prophet:
Authority: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. 2 Chronicles 29:25
This is the correct interpretation as proven by the next verse:
So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments,Nehemiah understood this to be a Plague Stopping animal slaughter done by David because he was too fearful to go before God in the commanded Tabernacle:
and the priests with the trumpets. 2 Chronicles 29:26
And Hezekiah (the king) commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar.
(Ordained by God) And when the burnt offering began,
the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets,
(Ordained by the King) and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. 2 Chron 29:27
The whole assembly (only those called) bowed in worship,
while the singers sang and the trumpeters played.
All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed. 2 Chr 29:28
And both the singers and the porters kept the ward (sentry) of their God, and the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. Nehemiah 12:45The HE GOATS were offered in a political move to RECONCILE with Israel. The authority came from when David was the king of Israel before the civil war caused by Solomon's Temple building:
For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. Nehemiah 12:46
God promised David a TENTBecause the Temple building had cause Israel to split off from Judah, it can be understood why they would not come to the temple which CAUSED the civil war just because they sacrificed
But, Solomon built God a house
But, God is not worshipped in houses build by human hands or by the works of human hands.
Worship in this sense was to bow or fall prostrate on the ground while the animals were being sacrificed.
"All had hitherto been preparatory. Now Hezekiah gave orders that 'the burnt offering--i.e. the daily morning sacrifice should be offered upon the Brazen Alter 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." (Barnes, p. 416).The "assembly" was not the nation of Israel nor the nation of Judah nor the people of Jerusalem. The assembly was those whom Hezekiah had gathered to go to the temple which, to this point, was not a place of Jewish worship but of pagan worship. In addition to the priests and Levites,
When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. 2 Chr 29:29Worship is "seeking God" but animal sacrifices are seeking forgiveness for sins paid for by the sinners own sacrifice.
Worship was not possible until sins had been paid for with the blood of animals. Then the burning of animals began with a loud noise. Only then would God accept the worship of the king, priests, Levites and rulers of the city.
Remember that the Levites were under the king and the commanders of the army or officials. The Lord did not commanded GAD to institute the playing of various instruments. Therefore, 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 (they) bowed their heads and worshiped. 2 Chr 29:30Only when the regular Temple service was established would it be proper for people to approach with the confidence that they would not be destroyed and their service would be accepted.
"Since the Scripture expressly states that the musical instruments sounded 'until the burnt-offering was finished' the congregational praise which followed must have been a Capella." (Notes on The Biblical Doctrine of Worship, Presbyterian Church of N.A.).Finally, the nation and "buildings and grounds" have been purified to make the restoration of regular sacrifices possible.
Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord.Edersheim notes that when the instruments began for the nation, the people were put outside the gates or outside the camp. After the state sacrifices were complete individuals could make offerings but there was no music involved.
And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart, burnt offerings. 2 Chron 29:31
Remember that the burning with music seems connected to Israel. We know that Judah and Israel were separate nations and the "congregation" was the civil rulers and clergy:
AND Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh,Other Parallels
that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,
to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel. 1 Chronicles 30:1
For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children
shall find compassion before them that lead them captive,
so that they shall come again into this land:
for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful,
and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him. 2 Chron 30:9
So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun:
but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. 2 Chr.30:10
The Syriac Version of Hezekiah's Wrath Stopping Sacrifice
Hezekiah appointed the Levites in the house of the Lord,This agrees with the Temple-Dedication ritual.
with instruments of music, and the sound of harps, and with the hymns of David,
and hymns of Gad, the King's prophet;
for David sang the praise of the Lord his God, as from the mouth of the prophets" (Syriac Version).
The First Temple was completed in 957 BC. There were other sanctuaries which continued until Josiah (reigned c. 640-609 BC) abolished them and established Jesuralem as the only place in Judah where sacrifices could be made.
The court yard was very large, the porch;
the Holy Place (hekhal) as the main room of religious service;
and the Holy of Holies (devir) where the Ark rested.
Hezekiah looked all of the way back to David's "plague stopping" ceremony which did not use instruments. David's plan for the Temple connected to the Civil state did not use instruments until Solomon's (king) dedication.
NOW when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 2 Chron 7:1This did not matter because God's promise was to listen to the prayers from OUTSIDE the temple and answer from HEAVEN. The worship was bowing down and not listening to "music."
And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory (heaviness) of the Lord had filled the Lords house. 2 Chron 7:2
And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down,The Levitical musicians were under the KING and the COMMANDERS of the Army. The temple was the shrine of the Temple-State which God allowed when the elders "fired" Him and demanded a king "like the nations" so that they could "worship like the nations."
and the glory of the Lord upon the house,
they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement,
and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Chron 7:3
Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 2 Chron 7:4
Because the cloud filled the house which meant that the people could never come before God again, including most of the priests, all of their service was OUTSIDE in the court yard.
Click to see more on King Solomon's Temple and the cloud which disabled the temple and the parallel in Revelation 22 where access to God is stopped until the PLAGUES have been poured out. The Levites were made into a SACRIFICIAL OFFERING when He abandoned them at Mount Sinai. The CAPPELLA or the GOAT SINGERS are also the sacrificial offering because they claim to be able to lead you into the presence of God.
And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep:
1. so the king and all the people (clergy and officials only) dedicated the house of God. 2 Chronicles 7:5The LIV: The priests were standing at their posts of duty, and the Levites were playing their thanksgiving song, "His Loving-Kindness Is Forever," using the musical instruments King David himself had made and had used to praise the Lord.
2. And the priests waited on their offices: (Religious)
1A. the Levites also with instruments of musick of the Lord,
which David the king had made to praise the Lord, because his mercy endureth forever,
when David praised by their ministry;
2A. and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood (only those called to be present or stand fast). 2 Chronicles 7:6
Then, when the priests blew the trumpets, all the people stood again. 2 Chron 7:6LIV
It is clear that the court where sacrifices were made with a loud noise in service of the priests was a type of the World where Jesus was sacrificed with musical mocking "outside the city" or outside the gates.
The Holy Place was a type of the body or church of Christ: the bread of remembrance, the seven LIGHTS (seven Spirits of God) and the incense altar looking into the Most Holy Place. This is replaced by individual prayers. Jesus built an ekklesia or synagogue or school of Christ which became the church.
NO SINGER OR MUSICIAN COULD EVER ENTER INTO THE TYPE OF THE CHURCH-Not even in the most vile pagan temple.
Worship now occurs in the NEW PLACE which is the human spirit as it GIVES HEED to the Words of Christ. This is the only clear worship word Paul used. No singers or musicians could evern enter.
Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat offerings, and the fat. 2 Chronicles 7:7When the Jews returned the Temple was rebuilt and compled in 515 BC. From Solomon's dedication to the return was over 390 years. Until the dedication of the Second Temple was 442 years.
Note NOT in the Holy Place or the Most Holy Place
God: Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch, 2 Chronicles 8:12
Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. 2 Chronicles 8:13
David: And he appointed, according to the order of David his father,
the courses of the priests to their service,
and the Levites to their charges,
to praise and minister before the priests,
as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate:for so had David the man of God commanded. 2 Chronicles 8:14
After the return from Captivity Nehemiah had to look all the way back to David and Asaph for an example of purifying the temple.
What you see is a pattern of dedication or purification of the HOUSE or Temple built by Solomon by slave labor when Stephen knew that God had only permitted David an alternative altar at Zion because he was too fearful of ever returning to Gibeon which is where the Tabernacle and Ark had been as proof that God "tabernacles among men" and cannot be locked up in a house. If David had a pattern for the Temple it would have come through Gad the Star Gazer. However, it was built by Hiram the Masonic Architect of Tyre where pagan gods were worshipped. Ezekiel and Isaiah identify their king as "Lucifer the singing and harp playing prostitute in the garden of Eden."And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited. Nehemiah 12:44
And both the singers and the porters
kept the ward (sentry) of their God,
and the ward of the purification,according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. Nehemiah 12:45
For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers,
and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. Nehemiah 12:46
Jesus was never permitted to enter into the slaughter court, Holy Place or most holy place. A baptized believer has accepted the blood sacrifice of Christ, has been washed in the Laver and only then added to the church typified by the closed Holy Place. Only those permitted to come into the Holy Place can worship God in the place of the human spirit by offering incense as the "fruit of the lips."
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