They broke their covenant duties and fell under God’s discipline.
In this passage, King Hezekiah is explaining how Israel’s unfaithfulness incited God’s anger against them. Hezekiah ruled Judah from around 715 BC to 686 BC, after having succeeded his father Ahaz, who was an evil king responsible for reintroducing idolatry and turning the hearts of the people away from the LORD. Hezekiah, however, was a righteous king, and sought to restore proper worship of God in the temple and root out idol practices that had cropped up throughout Judah.
In 2 Chronicles 29:8, we read, “Therefore the wrath of the LORD was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes” (v.8). Hezekiah explains that the spiritual decline and the people’s forsaking God had led to this desolation, so much so that the world around them saw their downfall as a dreadful spectacle. Judah and Jerusalem were geographically set in the southern part of the divided kingdom of Israel, with Jerusalem as their capital city, a place initially fortified under kings like David and Solomon. By Hezekiah’s era, this kingdom had been repeatedly threatened by powerful empires such as Assyria, and divine punishment came upon them because they had forsaken their covenant with the LORD.
Hezekiah’s reform aimed to move the nation back into faithful worship of God. The “wrath of the LORD” was a covenant-enforcement measure, since the people agreed at Mount Sinai that if they forsook God’s commands, they would face curses and affliction (Deuteronomy 28:15). Hezekiah acknowledged this connection, pointing out that previous generations had closed the temple, worshiped false gods, and invited God’s discipline upon themselves. By urging the people to turn back to God, he hoped to restore Judah and Jerusalem from their humiliation in the eyes of foreign nations, reversing their condition as an “object of terror” with the LORD’s favor.
They faced the real consequences of captivity and economic devastation because they had broken God’s covenant. As Hezekiah reminded them, you can see the results of unfaithfulness with your own eyes (v.8). However, his reforms of reopening the Temple and reinstituting temple sacrifices signaled that even in the midst of divine judgment, there was a path to repentance and renewal.
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2 Chronicles 29:8 meaning
In this passage, King Hezekiah is explaining how Israel’s unfaithfulness incited God’s anger against them. Hezekiah ruled Judah from around 715 BC to 686 BC, after having succeeded his father Ahaz, who was an evil king responsible for reintroducing idolatry and turning the hearts of the people away from the LORD. Hezekiah, however, was a righteous king, and sought to restore proper worship of God in the temple and root out idol practices that had cropped up throughout Judah.
In 2 Chronicles 29:8, we read, “Therefore the wrath of the LORD was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes” (v.8). Hezekiah explains that the spiritual decline and the people’s forsaking God had led to this desolation, so much so that the world around them saw their downfall as a dreadful spectacle. Judah and Jerusalem were geographically set in the southern part of the divided kingdom of Israel, with Jerusalem as their capital city, a place initially fortified under kings like David and Solomon. By Hezekiah’s era, this kingdom had been repeatedly threatened by powerful empires such as Assyria, and divine punishment came upon them because they had forsaken their covenant with the LORD.
Hezekiah’s reform aimed to move the nation back into faithful worship of God. The “wrath of the LORD” was a covenant-enforcement measure, since the people agreed at Mount Sinai that if they forsook God’s commands, they would face curses and affliction (Deuteronomy 28:15). Hezekiah acknowledged this connection, pointing out that previous generations had closed the temple, worshiped false gods, and invited God’s discipline upon themselves. By urging the people to turn back to God, he hoped to restore Judah and Jerusalem from their humiliation in the eyes of foreign nations, reversing their condition as an “object of terror” with the LORD’s favor.
They faced the real consequences of captivity and economic devastation because they had broken God’s covenant. As Hezekiah reminded them, you can see the results of unfaithfulness with your own eyes (v.8). However, his reforms of reopening the Temple and reinstituting temple sacrifices signaled that even in the midst of divine judgment, there was a path to repentance and renewal.