“For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Chronicles 30:9 Mean?
"For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him." Hezekiah's message to the northern tribes — an invitation laced with PROMISE: if you RETURN to God, your exiled family members will find COMPASSION from their captors and come HOME. The return to God produces the return of the captives. The spiritual turning triggers the physical restoration. Repentance unlocks release.
The phrase "your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive" (acheikem uvneikhem lerachamim liphnei shoveihem — your brothers and children will find compassion before their captors) promises that CAPTORS will show COMPASSION: the enemies who hold the exiles will be moved to release them. The mechanism is supernatural — God changes the HEARTS of the captors. The political situation responds to the spiritual decision. The turning of Israel's heart changes the disposition of Assyria's heart.
The phrase "the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you" (channun verachum YHWH Eloheikhem velo yasir panim mikkem — gracious and merciful is the LORD your God and He will not turn away His face from you) quotes the EXODUS creed (Exodus 34:6) and applies it to the CURRENT situation: the same God who identified Himself as gracious and merciful at Sinai is STILL gracious and merciful now. The character hasn't changed. The offer still stands. The face won't turn away.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What simple turning toward God would unlock compassion in circumstances you can't control?
- 2.What does captors showing COMPASSION (because of your repentance) teach about spiritual decisions producing political results?
- 3.How does 'gracious and merciful, will not turn away His face' (the same creed from Sinai) describe God's unchanging character?
- 4.What direction are you facing — and what would RETURNING look like right now?
Devotional
IF YOU RETURN — your captive families will find compassion. Your exiled children will come home. The spiritual decision produces the political result. The turning of YOUR heart changes the disposition of the CAPTOR'S heart. Repentance doesn't just affect YOU. It affects the people holding your family hostage.
The promise that CAPTORS will show COMPASSION is extraordinary: Hezekiah is saying that the Assyrian empire — the most ruthless military machine in the ancient world — will be moved to mercy if Israel returns to God. The mechanism is supernatural. God doesn't just forgive the repentant. He changes the CIRCUMSTANCES of the repentant. The turning inward (toward God) produces change outward (in the captors).
The creed — 'gracious and merciful, will not turn away His face' — reaches back to SINAI: God's self-identification in Exodus 34:6. The same character, the same compassion, the same availability. Centuries have passed. Kingdoms have risen and fallen. Exile has come. And God is STILL gracious. STILL merciful. STILL facing you. The face doesn't turn away. The character doesn't change. The invitation is perpetual.
The 'IF YE RETURN' is the condition — and it's the ONLY condition: not 'if you sacrifice enough,' not 'if you're good enough,' not 'if you wait long enough.' Just RETURN. Turn back. Face God again. The condition is directional, not performative. It's about WHICH WAY you're facing, not how much you've accomplished. The return IS the repentance.
What return — what simple turning back toward God — would unlock compassion in circumstances you can't control?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun,.... Through all…
And will not turn away his face from you - Well expressed by the Targum: "For the Lord your God is gracious and…
Here is, I. A passover resolved upon. That annual feast was instituted as a memorial of the bringing of the children of…
shall find compassion Cp. Psa 106:46 (a similar phrase in Heb.).
so thatthey shall come again R.V. and shall come again.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture