Day 182: The Passover Renewed

Hezekiah gets busy with his reforms. Isaiah and Hosea have been shouting themselves hoarse, and at least temporarily, people are listening.
A warning
Isaiah 28:1-6
The drunken prophets of Judah
Isaiah 28:7-13
A cornerstone for Zion
Isaiah 28:14-22
God’s wisdom
Isaiah 28:23-29
A warning against idolatry
Hosea 5:1-7
Judgement on Judah and Israel
Hosea 5:8-15
The people’s insincere repentance
Hosea 6:1-11
Preparations for the Passover
2 Chronicles 30:13-22
The Passover is celebrated
2 Chronicles 30:13-27

The prophets rail against the unfaithfulness of Judah and Israel, Hosea in particular expresses God’s frustration with them - even their repentance doesn’t last. I remember my Old Testament teacher saying it’s like having teenage children, and she was right (I’ve reached that stage myself!) They can arouse such feelings of anger and frustration, because they know you too well, they see through your threats and they aren’t impressed. They aren’t impressed with anything.
So with that in mind, I turn to read about the restoration of the Passover. Seems that the people had “forgotten” to keep their most important festival for a while now. The way Chronicles tells it, there was great joy at this return to faithfulness, at least in Judah, because although Hezekiah invited Israel to come too, they mostly didn’t. Nevertheless, Judah thought it was the best since Solomon’s time. As if they’d always wanted to do the right thing, but their kings had led them astray. Well, I don’t want to be too harsh - teenagers are similarly very good at saying and doing the right things (sometimes) and very bad at remembering to keep doing it for long. Rooms will be tidied thoroughly, amidst promises to do it every week, until the next time angry parents flip their lid and send in the fumigation squad to recover all the dirty clothes and plates and cups that have been festering under the bed for months ...