After celebrating the Passover in the previous chapter, Hezekiah now gets down to some serious business of removing all the idolatrous sacred stones and Asherah poles through the land of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, 2 Chronicles 31:1 / 2 Kings 18:4 / 2 Chronicles 29:15-19 / 2 Chronicles 30:14 / / 2 Kings 18:22.
This was a joint effort which we haven’t seen up to this point, which tells us that the celebration of the Passover must have seriously moved people’s hearts toward God and His ways.
Hezekiah’s next move was to organize the priests and Levites to assume their responsibility to lead spiritually the people and to carry out their responsibilities of ministry in reference to their physical duties to the people, 2 Chronicles 31:2. These divisions of the families of Levites to assigned tasks goes back to David, 1 Chronicles 23-26 / 1 Chronicles 28:13 / 1 Chronicles 28:21 . 2 Chronicles 28:13.
In order to encourage the priests and Levites, they were to devote themselves to work in the temple and teach God’s law, 2 Chronicles 31:2 / 2 Chronicles 17:7-9 / Nehemiah 13:10-14 / 1 Timothy 5:17-18. The burnt offerings were free-will gifts which were totally burned on the altar of sacrifice, Leviticus 1.
Gill, in his commentary, says the following concerning the burnt offerings, 2 Chronicles 31:2.
‘For the burnt offerings, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the daily sacrifice offered morning and evening, which had been neglected, but now revived and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and the new moons, and for the set feasts, when beside the daily sacrifice there were additional ones, as it is written in the law of the Lord, Numbers 28:9.’
The fellowship offerings, 2 Chronicles 31:2, were free will gifts of which a part was burned and given to God, a part was given to the priest, and a part was given to those who made the offering but had to be eaten within three days, Leviticus 3.
Notice that Hezekiah himself gave an offering, which would set the example for everyone else, 2 Chronicles 31:3 / Ezekiel 45:17 / Ezekiel 45:22 / Ezekiel 46:2 / Ezekiel 46:16-18.
The continual sacrifice, the Sabbaths, at the New Moons, 1 Chronicles 23:21 / 2 Chronicles 2:3 / 2 Chronicles 8:13 / 2 Chronicles 31:3. All of which were written in the law, 1 Chronicles 23:21 / 1 Chronicles 6:89 / 2 Chronicles 8:13 / 2 Chronicles 34:14 / 2 Chronicles 35:6 / 2 Chronicles 35:12.
As a way of encouraging the priests and Levites, he commands that everyone who lives in Jerusalem should also contribute, 2 Chronicles 31:4 / Numbers 18 / Numbers 18:21-24. Notice that God’s people were to support the temple and its servants.
They brought a tenth of the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil, and honey and all that the fields produced, 2 Chronicles 31:5. They brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to God, 2 Chronicles 31:6.
The priests were to have their portion, Numbers 18:8-20 and the Levites were to have their portion, Numbers 18:21-32. They brought tithes, Numbers 18:12-13, tithes of oxen, and sheep, which were in accordance with the law, Leviticus 27:32 / Leviticus 27:30-33 / Numbers 18:31.
They began doing this in the third month and finished in the seventh month, 2 Chronicles 31:7. When Hezekiah and his officials saw the heaps, they simply praised God for working in the hearts of all those who willingly gave support for the priests and Levites, 2 Chronicles 31:8 / Deuteronomy 12:19 / Deuteronomy 14:22-29 / 2 Kings 8:66 / 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 / 2 Corinthians 9.
Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps, and Azariah, the chief priest, 1 Kings 2:26-27, tells him that since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because God has blessed His people, and this great amount is left over, 2 Chronicles 31:9-10.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning Azariah the chief priest, 2 Chronicles 31:10.
‘If this Azariah was the same as he who resisted Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:17-20, he must have held his office at least 33 years, 2 Chronicles 27:1 / 2 Chronicles 28:1.’
The distribution of the freewill offerings was well organised, as certain people were chosen to ensure the offerings were evenly distributed between the priests and the Levites, 2 Chronicles 31:11-18 / Leviticus 6:25 / Leviticus 7:1-6 / Acts 6:1-7.
We see that the contributions, the tithes, the dedicated things, and the freewill offerings were brought to the temple, 2 Chronicles 31:12 / 2 Chronicles 31:14. By the appointment of Hezekiah and Azariah, eleven men were placed in charge of the temple, 2 Chronicles 31:13.
Kore was the keeper of the eastern gate, which was the main entrance to the temple area and he was in charge of the freewill offerings given to God, distributing the contributions made to the LORD and also the consecrated gifts, 2 Chronicles 31:14 / Leviticus 6:24-30 / Leviticus 7:1-6.
The towns of the priests were actually Levitical cities, 2 Chronicles 31:15 / Joshua 20-21. While some had gone into decay, others, as Libnah and Beth-Shemesh, 2 Chronicles 21:10 / 2 Chronicles 28:18, had been lost, so that the original number, thirteen, was now, apparently, reduced to six.
Gill, in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 31:16-18.
‘As to the priests registered according to their families from the age before observed, a portion was given so to the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, in their charges, by their courses, for though originally they were not admitted into the tabernacle till twenty-five years of age, nor to officiate till thirty, but in David’s time they were allowed at twenty years of age and upwards, 1 Chronicles 23:24.’
The priests were given their portion of the gifts from ‘twenty’ years up, 2 Chronicles 31:17, and the gifts were shared with the priests and Levites’ families, 2 Chronicles 31:18. Notice that not all of the Levitical families lived close to Jerusalem, but still everything was shared with them, 2 Chronicles 31:19.
Hezekiah was doing what was good and right and faithful before God, 2 Chronicles 31:20. Hezekiah sought God and worked wholeheartedly, 2 Chronicles 31:21.
In other words, he was totally committed to God and doing His will, 1 Chronicles 22:19 / 1 Chronicles 28:9 / 2 Chronicles 15:17 / 2 Chronicles 22:29 / 2 Chronicles 11:16 / 2 Chronicles 19:3 / Matthew 22:37, and the reward was prosperity.
Coffman, in commentary, says the following.
‘This paragraph, 2 Chronicles 31:2-10, pictures Hezekiah, not only as a second Solomon, but as a second David. There was a wholesale reordering of the religious life and personnel of Israel. The freedom provided by these events gave the Levites time to devote themselves to the Law of Jehovah, thus making it absolutely certain that during the times of Josiah, less than seventy-five years later, there would be countless persons left in Israel who were thoroughly familiar with the entire Mosaic covenant and the precious ‘Book of Moses’ that attended it.’