2 Chronicles 30:3
For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
This verse belongs to Hezekiah's first Passover, his effort to revive the Passover as a national gathering at Jerusalem. The division of the kingdom had made such a shared celebration seem impracticable, and the feast had not been kept nationally for many years. This Passover took place nearly a century before the eighteenth year of Josiah.
The Passover could not be kept at its usual appointed time because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently and the people had not yet gathered themselves together in Jerusalem. Hezekiah therefore held the feast as soon as possible and invited people throughout both Judah and Israel to attend. At this Passover, teaching priests gave the people public instruction from the law, reading the book of the law to them every day. Observance of the statutes recorded by Moses, especially those in the book of the covenant in Deuteronomy, made Hezekiah's reign prosperous.