Blood Manipulation in Hezekiah’s Re-inauguration of the Temple in Chronicles

Abstract

According to 2 Chronicles 29.20–24, Hezekiah’s re-inauguration of the temple involved a purification offering for all Israel in which the blood manipulation did not include the sevenfold sprinkling of blood in front of the veil (Lev. 4.17) or daubing blood on the horns of the incense altar (Lev. 4.18), as stated in the prescriptive text of P. This article proposes that the apparent inconsistency can be explained by examining the Chronicler’s conception of YHWH as cosmic God and global king. The location of the divine presence tends to be in heaven for the Chronicler rather than from within the tabernacle, as illustrated in P. The difference in perspective constitutes a decisive theological reason for the Chronicler’s particular depiction of the blood manipulation in Hezekiah’s re-inauguration of the temple.