Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’?
Parallel translations
- WEB Hasn’t the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall worship before one altar, and you shall burn incense on it?’
- KJV Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?
- NKJV Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it”?
- NASB Is it not the same Hezekiah who removed His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense”?
- NLT Don’t you realize that Hezekiah is the very person who destroyed all the Lord’s shrines and altars? He commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the altar at the Temple and to offer sacrifices on it alone.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Sennacherib argues that Hezekiah's removal of the high places proves he has offended their God. It matters because he misrepresents true reform as an offense against the Lord.
Overview
The Assyrian twists Hezekiah's faithful removal of idolatrous high places into evidence that he has angered God. He fails to grasp that centralizing worship at one altar was obedience, not offense. His confusion shows how the world misjudges true devotion, mistaking faithfulness for folly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 2 Chr 31:1When all this had ended, the Israelites in attendance went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own property.
- Exod 27:1–8“You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
- Exod 40:26–29Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the veil,
- Deut 12:13–14Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;
- Deut 12:26–27But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose.
- 2 Kgs 18:22But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
- 2 Kgs 18:4He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.
- 1 Kgs 7:48Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;
- 2 Chr 4:1He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
- Exod 30:1–6“You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense.
- Isa 36:7But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?
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Christ at the center
Temple, priesthood, and the repeated need for a faithful king who seeks the LORD all point past every imperfect reign to the King and Temple who finally and fully dwell with God's people.
How 2 Chronicles 32:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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