Chapter Thirty-One

1–21. The efforts of Hezekiah to restore the rotation of priestly service and to provide the sources of maintenance for the Levites and priests.

2 Chronicles 31:1. And when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and hewed down the sacred poles and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their own towns, every one to his possession. The religious zeal of Hezekiah for the destruction of the belongings of pagan worship, and not only within the boundaries of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kgs 18:4), but also in the territory of the kingdom of Israel (which was approaching its last days of independent political existence), could find sympathetic response from the last Israelite king Hosea. Both kings could with equal zeal carry out the corresponding prescription of the law (Deut 7:5).

2 Chronicles 31:2. And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, everyone according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the house of the Lord. The assignment of priests and Levites to the rotations of sacred service was carried out in its time by David (1 Chr 24:19), but under the impious successors of David on the Judean throne, like all the performance of the worship of the Lord, it could not remain intact, especially under Ahaz, when the temple itself was shut. Hezekiah, for the sake of the proper course of daily and festival worship, restored the priestly and Levitical rotations for serving “at the gates of the house of the Lord” (Heb. bishaare machineot Yehova, Vulgate: en portis castrorum Domini), i.e., the temple (LXX: ἐν ταῖς πύλαισ (ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς) ὄικου Κυρίου).

2 Chronicles 31:3. And the king assigned from his own resources meat for the burnt offerings: for the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed festivals, as prescribed in the law of the Lord. The custom of kings supplying materials for the sacrifices of the temple probably had its origin from David. Regarding Solomon, this is directly asserted in (2 Chr 8:12-13), and is equally presupposed in the account of the visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon (1 Kgs 10:4-5). In the prophet Ezekiel, the supplying of sacrificial materials to the temple is spoken of as a duty of the prince (Ezek 45:16-17). After the exile, in the absence of a national king or prince, the Jewish community established an annual poll tax: one-third shekel for the maintenance of daily worship (Neh 10:32-33).

2 Chronicles 31:4. And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord. By ensuring the normal and continuous performance of sacrifices (verse 3), Hezekiah also cares for the support of the clergy (cf. Neh 13:10), in accordance with the requirements of the law on this matter ((Num 18:20-32); “Explanatory Bible”, vol. I, pages 549–550)

2 Chronicles 31:5. As soon as the word went out, the people of Israel gave abundantly of the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. 2 Chronicles 31:6. The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps. 2 Chronicles 31:7. In the third month they began to lay down the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 2 Chronicles 31:8. When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. 2 Chronicles 31:9. And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. Among the abundant theocratic offerings of the people, who responded with great readiness to the king’s appeal, honey is mentioned – probably fruit honey, forbidden by the law (Lev 2:11) only as material for sacrifice, but not as a kind of theocratic tribute (“Explanatory Bible”, vol. I, page 415). The collection of offerings began in the third month – called after the exile Sivan ((Esth 8:9); around the festival of Pentecost – the festival of harvest: (Exod 23:16)) and continued until the seventh month – Tishri, when among other things the Feast of Booths was celebrated, the festival of gathering in fruit (Exod 23:16) (see “Explanatory Bible”, vol. I, pages 483–486).

2 Chronicles 31:10. And Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said: “Since they began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left over, for the Lord has blessed his people. Out of what is left we have this great abundance. 2 Chronicles 31:11. And Hezekiah commanded them to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord. And they prepared them. “Of the house of Zadok” (verse 10) – the well-known from the beginning of history in chapter (1 Kgs 1-2) high priest Zadok, from the line of Eleazar, son of Aaron (1 Chr 24:3). Solomon built numerous side structures beside the temple, in which various storehouses were placed ((1 Kgs 6:5-6); “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, page 388). By Hezekiah’s time some of them may have fallen into ruin or been completely destroyed, and Hezekiah had to build new ones to house the abundant offerings from the people for the benefit of the clergy.

2 Chronicles 31:12. And they brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things; and Conaniah the Levite was the chief officer in charge of them, with his brother Shimei as second. 2 Chronicles 31:13. And Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the supervision of Conaniah and his brother Shimei, at the command of King Hezekiah and Azariah the chief officer of the house of God. 2 Chronicles 31:14. And Kore son of Imnah the Levite, gatekeeper on the east side, had charge of the freewill offerings to God, and to distribute the contributions reserved for the Lord and the most holy offerings. 2 Chronicles 31:15. Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah in the priestly cities, to distribute the portions to their brothers, both the great and the small, according to their divisions, 2 Chronicles 31:16. in addition to those enrolled by genealogies, all the males from three years old and upwards, to every one who entered the house of the Lord, according to the daily portion required for their service in their various offices, 2 Chronicles 31:17. to the enrolled priests by their fathers’ houses and the Levites from twenty years old and upwards, in their various offices according to their divisions, 2 Chronicles 31:18. and to those enrolled together with their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole multitude; for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. 2 Chronicles 31:19. And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of the common land belonging to their cities, men were appointed in every city to distribute portions to every male among the priests and every Levite enrolled. A similar collection of theocratic offerings into the storehouses of the temple is recorded in the book of Nehemiah (Neh 9:35-40) regarding the time after the exile. “Chief officer of the house of God” (verse 13), see (1 Chr 9:11) – the high priest (Vulgate: pontifex domus Dei) or a special official in charge of the reception and distribution of offerings. Verse 17. The initial age for Levitical service here and in (1 Chr 23:3) is determined as twenty years old; in the legislation of Moses it is set at thirty (Num 4:3) or twenty-five years old (Num 8:24). Apparently, David found it necessary to call the Levites into service at an earlier age (twenty), and such practice was maintained afterwards – not only under Hezekiah, but also after the exile (Ezra 3:8). However, independent responsible service of the Levites at the temple could begin according to the prescription of Moses, not before thirty years of age; until this age they could serve only as assistants to the senior Levites (see “Explanatory Bible”, vol. I, page 525). Verses 18–19. All of Hezekiah’s efforts regarding theocratic offerings were directed toward ensuring that they would be distributed among priests and Levites with belonging “with complete faithfulness” – to prevent possible wrongs and deceptions of the lower members of the clergy by the higher. In subsequent history such grievous phenomena sometimes occurred. Thus under the procurator Felix (see Acts 23-24), Josephus relates, “the high priests became so devoid of shame and reached such audacity that they dared send their servants to the threshing floors to take there the tithe intended for ordinary priests. Thus it happened that a number of poor priests died of hunger” (“Antiquities of the Jews”, book XX, chapter 8, 8). The entire section on the rotations of priestly and Levitical service introduced by Hezekiah and the sources of their maintenance, distinguished by punctually exact details and containing a whole series of names (verses 12–15), bears all the marks of documentary character and historical authenticity.

2 Chronicles 31:20. And Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. 2 Chronicles 31:21. And in every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered. Here is the highest praise of all of Hezekiah’s theocratic and worship activity, essentially identical to that given in (2 Kgs 18:3).