The laggart priests and Levites, who from want of zeal for the Yahweh-worship, or from actual inclination to idolatry, had neglected to purify themselves (2 Chronicles 30:3 and marginal reference), were now shamed by the general ardor, and sanctified themselves for the Paschal festival.

And brought in the burnt offerings - Received them, i. e. from the offerers at the doors of the inner court, and took them up to the brass altar in front of the porch. No part of the burnt offerings was ever taken inside the temple building.

Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month,.... For though they could not keep it in the month in which it should have been kept, for the reasons before given, yet they kept it on the day of the month in which it was observed:

and the priests and the Levites were ashamed; of their negligence and backwardness to service, and to fit themselves for it, when they saw the people so forward and ready to attend to it:

and they sanctified themselves; by washing their bodies and their garments:

and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord; to be offered up on the altar of burnt offerings, to expiate their own sins, and the sins of the people; though some take these to be the passover offerings; but they were not offered until the fifteenth day, and besides were peace offerings, mentioned 2 Chronicles 30:22, rather these were the daily sacrifices.

When they slaughtered the passover on the 14th, the Levites and priests also were ashamed, i.e., had sanctified themselves under the influence of a feeling of shame, and offered the sacrifice in the house of the Lord; i.e., they performed the sacrificial functions incumbent upon them at the passover in the temple, as is stated more in detail in 2 Chronicles 30:16. The clause וגו והכּהנים is a circumstantial clause, and the statement points back to 2 Chronicles 30:3. The mention of Levites along with the priests here is worthy of remark, since in 2 Chronicles 29:34 it is said that at the celebration of the dedication of the temple the Levites had sanctified themselves more zealously than the priests. But these two statements do not contradict each other. In 2 Chronicles 29:34 it is the Levites and priests then present in or dwelling in Jerusalem who are spoken of; here, on the contrary, it is the priests and the Levites of the whole kingdom of Judah. Even though, at the former period, the Levites were more zealous in sanctifying themselves for the dedication of the temple, yet there must certainly have been many Levites in Judah, who, like many of the priests, did not immediately purify themselves from their defilement by the worship in the high places, and were only impelled and driven to sanctify themselves for the service of the Lord by the Zeal of the people who had come to Jerusalem to hold the passover.

Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were {l} ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

(l) Seeing their own negligence (who should have been most prompt) and the readiness of the people, 2Ch 29:36.

30:15 Ashamed - Their negligence and remissness being upbraided by the general forwardness of the people. The zeal which we observe in others, should make us ashamed of our own coldness, and quicken us not only to do our duty, but to do it with our might.

15. the priests and the Levites were ashamed-Though the Levites are associated in this statement, the priests were principally referred to; those of them who had been dilatory or negligent in sanctifying themselves (2Ch 29:34) were put to the blush and stimulated to their duty by the greater alacrity and zeal of the people.

30:13-20 The great thing needful in attendance upon God in solemn ordinances, is, that we make heart-work of it; all is nothing without this. Where this sincerity and fixedness of heart are, there may yet be many things short of the purification of the sanctuary. These defects need pardoning, healing grace; for omissions in duty are sins, as well as omissions of duty. If God should deal with us in strict justice, even as to the very best of our doings, we should be undone. The way to obtain pardon, is to seek it of God by prayer; it must be gotten by petition through the blood of Christ. Yet every defect is sin, and needs forgiveness; and should be matter to humble, but not to discourage us, though nothing can make up for the want of a heart prepared to seek the Lord.