Hezekiah and the Law

²For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— ³for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— ⁴and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly.

Interesting that the king would know that he is breaking the law here, but that it would seem right to him, anyway. Presumably that it is better to celebrate a month late than to miss the year entirely.

¹⁵And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

So apparently in addition to being late, the sacrifices weren't made by the priests and levites!

¹⁶They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the LORD.

Presumably some of those that made the priests and levites ashamed were those sacrificing without being clean, in addition to not being levites or priests.

¹⁸For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed.

Even though some of them did not offer the sacrifices unclean, they still ate of the passover unclean.

So, to summarize the points of breaking the law,

1. The passover was held in the wrong month.
2. The lambs were sacrificed (initially) by ordinary people.
3. (Some of) the people sacrificing were not clean.
4. The majority of the people ate without being clean.

I'm not sure how big of a deal #2 is in the law, but the others seem to be emphasized fairly strongly. And yet, what is the outcome?

For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD pardon everyone ¹⁹who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness." ²⁰And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

So seeking God, and asking forgiveness for the wrong ways we do it, brings healing.

And in the end, they broke/amended/added to the law one more time:

²³Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness.

I trust this was covered by Hezekiah's earlier prayer.


Edit Aug 1 2010:
I just noticed, a chapter earlier, in 2 Chronicles 29:


³⁴But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished— for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.

I guess this argues both for internships where people who aren't necessarily qualified for the work to it anyway, and for moving on with the work however you can.
In any case, I'm glad to see that there is Grace, and provision for our need.