What Does 2 Chronicles 29:15 Mean in the King James?
And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The house is cleansed only after its keepers set themselves apart, joining the state of those who tend it to the state of the dwelling.
THE MEANING
Restoration begins in the people tending what is sacred: they become set apart, then the LORD’s house is cleansed. What is tended outwardly is joined to the condition of those tending it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a sacred place can be restored while the people serving it remain unchanged.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְקַדָּשׁוּ
wayyitqaddāshū
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
q-d-sh
Set apart; consecrate as belonging to the sacred.
“sanctified themselves” in this verse is wayyitqaddāshū. The Hebrew describes the people setting themselves apart before they cleanse the LORD’s house. The same root appears in מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdāsh, sanctuary), joining consecrated people with a consecrated dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
The people’s own consecration carries the same root idea as what is set apart as sacred.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary; set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
This branch links the setting apart of people with the sacred place they are preparing to cleanse.
לְטַהֵר
ləṭahēr
GROWS FROM
ט־ה־ר
ṭ-h-r
Be clean or pure; purify.
“cleanse” in this verse is ləṭahēr. The verse’s cleansing is more than surface tidying: the root speaks of purity. The people first set themselves apart, then carry that work of purification into the house.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhōr: Clean; pure.
טָהוֹר
The adjective shows the state toward which the house is being cleansed.
ṭohŏrāh: Cleanness; purity.
טָהֳרָה
This noun names the purified condition that the verb in the verse works toward.
THE PATTERN
What is being prepared for sacred work is made ready through consecration and cleansing.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,The Hebrew root ק־ד־שׁ (q-d-sh, set apart) appears in both verses. Here, setting apart and cleansing prepare the people for encounter; in 2 Chronicles, the same sequence prepares them to cleanse the LORD’s house.
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