| II Chronicles 29:34
| But the priests were few, and were not enough to slay the holocausts: wherefore the Levites, their brethren, helped them till the work was ended, and priests were sanctified, for the Levites are sanctified with an easier rite than the priests.
| Holocausts, as the law required, Leviticus 1:6. See 2 Paralipomenon 35:11. The skin might be taken off other victims, by laics. --- Priests. Syriac, "The Levites were more timid, or reserved than the priests, to purify themselves." (Calmet) --- Both are indirectly accused of negligence, 2 Paralipomenon 30:15. The Hebrew seems to give the preference to the latter, "for the Levites were more upright of heart, (Septuagint, willing) to purify themselves than the priests." But the Alexandrian Septuagint may well agree with the Vulgate. The ceremonies attending the purification of both, may be seen [in] Exodus 29:1., and Numbers 8:6. (Haydock) --- The priests had not sufficient time to collect themselves with the purity required, on such a short warning; and the paucity induced the king to put off the Passover till the next month, 2 Paralipomenon 30:3, 15.
|