Hezekiah Opens the Doors of the Templeby emmanuel_higgins

2 Chronicles 29:15

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 verse describes immediate and wholehearted obedience to the call for reform. The priests at once gathered their brethren, enlisting other priests and Levites who had not been present when Hezekiah first issued his appeal. Together they united to cleanse and sanctify themselves and to cleanse the temple.

That cleansing demanded untiring labor in the face of many difficulties. Those difficulties had accumulated through years of desecration and neglect of the house of the Lord. Yet the work was completed in a remarkably short time by repairing and opening the temple doors and by assembling and setting in place the sacred vessels, so that the sanctuary services could be reestablished.