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Since Israel is destroyed, Hezekiah reigns over a land extending from Beersheba to Dan. He invites persons of South and North to celebrate the Passover. Due to a lack of consecrated priests, they celebrate one month late. Hezekiah sends a letter encouraging the nation to return to worship of the Lord (30:6-9). The letter, reminiscent of 7:14, calls the people to submit to God in trust that he will stay his anger and return the captured Israelites to the land. The chronicler’s generation experienced a deliverance from exile, and such a letter would also encourage them to be faithful to the Lord.
A large crowd congregates in Jerusalem to share the Passover feast. The king prays for the ceremonially unclean people from the North. His prayer stresses the importance of internal religious motivation with regard to serving God, especially if all external requirements are not met (30:18-19). The Lord heals these people in fulfillment of his promise of 7:14. The feast, a spectacle of praise and worship, is unlike any celebration since Solomon’s dedication of the temple. Significantly, for the first time since Solomon’s days, an assembly composed of all tribes gathers to worship the Lord. After the feast, the people smash the remaining items of false worship.