And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
The verse belongs to the account of Hezekiah's first Passover. That Passover took place nearly a century before Josiah. At that Passover, provision was made for teaching priests to read the book of the law publicly to the people every day. Keeping the statutes recorded by Moses, especially those given in the book of the covenant in Deuteronomy, is what made Hezekiah's reign prosperous.
The verse shows that God heard Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people who had gathered to seek Him. Those who had prepared their hearts to seek God found pardon. This reveals His mercy toward people turning back to Him.
Applied to the present, the verse calls God's people to give themselves wholly to the Lord, and the Lord blesses those who respond. In response to that call, children and people of all ages came forward, many speaking with deep feeling.
The verse belongs to the account of Hezekiah's first Passover. That Passover took place nearly a century before Josiah. At that Passover, provision was made for teaching priests to read the book of the law publicly to the people every day. Keeping the statutes recorded by Moses, especially those given in the book of the covenant in Deuteronomy, is what made Hezekiah's reign prosperous.
The verse shows that God heard Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people who had gathered to seek Him. Those who had prepared their hearts to seek God found pardon. This reveals His mercy toward people turning back to Him.
Applied to the present, the verse calls God's people to give themselves wholly to the Lord, and the Lord blesses those who respond. In response to that call, children and people of all ages came forward, many speaking with deep feeling.