are here referred to, as we learn from 2Ch 29:9.
Verses 10-11
To turn away this anger of God, Hezekiah wishes to make a covenant with the Lord, i.e., to renew the covenant with Jahve by restoring His worship (לבבי עם as in 2Ch 6:7; 2Ch 9:1; 1Ch 28:2, etc.), and therefore calls upon the Levites not to neglect the performance of their duty. בּני he calls the Levites, addressing them in kindly language; cf. Pro 1:8, etc. תּשּׁלוּ in Niph. occurs only here, and denotes to avoid a thing from carelessness or laziness, - from שׁלה, to draw forth; Job 27:8. On 2Ch 29:11, cf. Deu 10:8; 1Ch 23:13.
Verses 12-14
This address was heard with gladness. The Levites present assembled their brethren, and set to work, after they had all sanctified themselves, to purify the temple. In 2Ch 29:12-14 fourteen names are mentioned as those of the audience, viz.: two Levites of each of the great families of Kohath, Merari, and Gershon; two of the family of Elizaphan, i.e., Elzaphan the son of Uzziel, the son of Kohath, Exo 6:18, who in the time of Moses was prince of the family of Kohath, Num 3:30; and then two Levites of the descendants of Asaph (of the family of Gershon); two of Heman's descendants (of the family of Kohath); and two of Jeduthun's (of the family of Merari): see on 1Ch 6:18-32. Of these names, Mahath, Eden, and Jehiel occur again in 2Ch 31:13-15; several others, Joah ben Zimmah and Kish ben Abdi, have occurred already in the genealogy, 1Ch 6:5. and 2Ch 29:29, for in the various families the same name often repeats itself.
Verse 15
These fourteen heads of the various families and branches of Levi assembled their brethren (the other Levites who dwelt in Jerusalem); then they all sanctified themselves, and went forward, according to the command of the king, with the work of cleansing the temple. יהוה בּדברי belongs to הם כּמצות, according to the command of the king, which was founded upon the words of Jahve, i.e., upon the commands of Moses' law; cf. 2Ch 30:12.
Verse 16
The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord (into the holy place, probably also into the most holy place) to cleanse it, and removed all the uncleanness which was there into the court, whence the Levites carried it out into the valley of the brook Kidron (חוּצה, out of the precincts of the temple). The Levites were forbidden by the law to enter the holy place, and this command was strictly observed. Of what nature the uncleannesses were which the priests found in the holy place (היכל)
