2 Chronicleschapter 31
21 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
When all this had ended, the Israelites in attendance went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own property.
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 2 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a people being asked to support a priesthood their fathers had stopped supporting. It tells what a reform needs once the crowds go home. Much of it is a record of offerings, storerooms and the officers who managed them. Listen for who gives first, and for how long the heaps of gifts took to pile up. Notice what the chief priest reports when he is asked about them. The last verse sums up the whole reign in one sentence.
Context
- Who
- A people being asked to fund a priesthood their fathers had stopped supporting
- What
- The destruction of the high places after the Passover, the restoring of the priestly divisions, and the gathering and sharing of tithes and offerings.
- Where
- Judah and Benjamin, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, and the storerooms of the temple in Jerusalem.
- When
- About 715 BC, from the third month to the seventh of the year after the Passover.
- Why
- To show that faithful worship has to be provided for, and that the LORD blesses a people who give.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to Hezekiah and to the officers he appoints. Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok speaks its one quoted sentence, and eighteen further men are named over the stores and the shares.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The time runs from the third month to the seventh of one agricultural year, soon after the Passover of the chapter before. The chapter gives the months and leaves the year to be read from the reign.
The place is the whole country and then one set of rooms. The purge runs through Judah and Benjamin and on into Ephraim and Manasseh, and the income ends up in chambers prepared inside the temple.
The occasion is what a reform needs after the crowds go home. The courses had to be set in order again, the offerings had to be funded, and the tithe had to have somewhere to go.
A first hearer knew the calendar behind verse 7. The third month held the feast of weeks and its early harvest, and the seventh held the ingathering, so heaps that began in one and finished in the other covered the farming year. A hearer also knew that a priest and his household had no land of their own and lived on the portion the law assigned them. A lapsed tithe therefore meant a priesthood that had to find other work.
Significance
For Judah this chapter said that obedience had to be paid for and that the king paid first. Hezekiah funds the regular offerings from his own portion before he asks anything of anyone else.
Show the rest of the significance, 2 more paragraphs
The answer they were given was a surplus. The chief priest reports that since the people began bringing in the offerings there had been enough to eat and plenty left over, which was the evidence that the reform had reached ordinary households.
The last verse gave them the measure of the reign in one sentence, a king who sought his God with all his heart and prospered.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
Chronicles stands among the Writings in the Hebrew canon, and the annual cycle of Torah portions and their Haftarot draws on other books. A Jewish reader meets this chapter in study rather than in a reading appointed for a Sabbath or a feast, and the site's own reading data records the same for every chapter.
This chapter is about the dues that keep a priesthood alive, and Rashi names them one by one. The people brought the first of corn, wine, oil and date honey (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:5:1). The Levites then gave the priests a tithe of their own tithe, on the law of Numbers (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:6:1). Chambers were prepared in the house to hold what came in (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:11:1). The king gave a portion from his own possessions for the offerings (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:3:1).
Rashi gives the reason behind the order in the fourth verse. The people of Jerusalem were told to give the priests their portion so that the priests could hold to the law with their whole strength. He adds the teaching he takes it from. The law was given to those who ate manna and, after them, to those who eat the heave offering (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:4:1, citing Mekhilta Beshallach 17 and Midrash Tanchuma Beshallach 20).
How it is read
The size of the heaps is read as a puzzle the king had to ask about. Rashi has Hezekiah reasoning that the priests and Levites can hardly have taken their share, since the stacks are still so large (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:9:1). The word for the laying of their foundation he reads from the ordinary sense of a beginning, as the foundation of a house is its beginning (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:7:1).
Rashi also works out who was fed from the stores. The registered priests and the Levites with their wives and children were supported from the heave offerings and the tithes (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:17:1). So were the priests of a course not yet on duty, living in the open country around their cities. The blessing of the people in the eighth verse he reads as a blessing on the One who moved Israel to separate their dues at all (Rashi on II Chronicles 31:8:1).
Metzudat David comments at 31:1:1, 31:2:1, 31:3:1, 31:12:1, 31:14:1, 31:15:1, 31:18:1, 31:20:1 and 31:21:1. Malbim comments at 31:1:1, and Radak at 31:13:1 and 31:16:1. The corpus holds no English text for any of them, so all three stand cited and unquoted.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries twenty-one locators on this chapter and holds the locator alone for each. The Babylonian Talmud carries it at Chullin 130b:5 and 130b:7, Nedarim 55a:2 and Sanhedrin 90b:4. Ein Yaakov carries it at Khullin 10:1, Sanhedrin 11:2 and Makkot 3:8, and the Glick Edition at Sanhedrin 11:3. The Jerusalem Talmud carries it at Maaser Sheni 5:3:7, Bikkurim 1:3:4 and Shekalim 5:2:2. Midrash Lekach Tov carries it at Exodus 36:7:2 and Numbers 4:22:2 and 18:21:1. The rest are Midrash Tanchuma Buber Appendix to Re'eh 1:1, Otzar Midrashim The Order of Arakim 1:10, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 233:6, 636:1, 759:2, 915:6 and 915:7.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Chronicles, the Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg (Sefaria, CC-BY); Malbim, Malbim on II Chronicles 31, cited by ref from the Sefaria corpus, which holds no English version of it; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Chronicles 31, cited by ref from the Sefaria corpus, which holds no English version of it; Radak, Radak on II Chronicles 31, cited by ref from the Sefaria corpus, which holds no English version of it; The Sefaria corpus on disk, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/2-chronicles/31.json, fetched 2026-09-19; The reading data of this site, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed in this lane: 2-chronicles parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, hasSynagogueReading true for 0 of 36 chapters.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Heaps of firstfruits piled from the third month to the seventh
as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh: The reform does not stop at Judah's border. It runs into Ephraim and Manasseh, territory of the fallen northern kingdom, evidence that the invitation Hezekiah sent north had taken hold. Kings gives the reform one summary verse at 2 Kings 18:4; Chronicles gives the sweep across the old northern tribes.
2 Chronicles 31:1
“They destroyed all: they utterly destroyed all; they spared none through favour or affection either to the images or to their worshippers; though ever so ancient, ever so costly, ever so beautiful, and ever so well patronised, yet they must all be destroyed. Note, Those that sincerely set themselves against sin will set themselves against all sin.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Chronicles 31:1
“Jerusalem had been cleansed 2Ch 30:14; now the land had to be purged. Hezekiah therefore gave his sanction to a popular movement directed as much against the “high places” which had been maintained since the times of the patriarchs, as against the remnants of the Baal-worship, or the innovations of Ahaz. See 2Ki 18:4 note.”
2 Chronicles 31:2-4
singing praises at the gates of the LORD’s dwelling: Hezekiah “reestablished the divisions of the priests and Levites” that David had organized in 1 Chronicles 24 to 26. He funds the regular offerings “from his own possessions” before he asks anything of anyone else. Then he commands the people of Jerusalem to give the priests and Levites their share.
2 Chronicles 31:2
“The tents - Within the gates of the house of the Lord: which is here called tents, because the host of the Lord, the priests and Levites, encamped there. And perhaps to intimate, that it was shortly to be removed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:2
“In the gates of the tents of the Lord - That is, in the temple; for this was the house, tabernacle, tent, and camp, of the Most High.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
from his own possessions: The list follows the calendar of Numbers 28 and 29: the daily burnt offerings, then the Sabbaths, New Moons and feasts. Albert Barnes notes that the tithe had fallen out of use in the years of neglect. The wealth listed in chapter 32 paid for it.
2 Chronicles 31:3
“The king’s portion - Amid the general neglect of the observances commanded by the Law, the tithe system had naturally fallen into disuse. Hezekiah revived it; and, to encourage the people to give what was due, cheerfully set the example of paying the full proportion from his own considerable possessions (compare 2Ch 32:28-29). His tithe was, it seems, especially devoted to the purposes mentioned in this verse (compare the marginal reference).”
devote themselves to the Law: The portion freed the priests and Levites from farm work so they could teach the Law, the task Jehoshaphat gave them at 17:7 to 9. Nehemiah 13:10 shows what happened when the portions stopped. The Levites went back to their fields.
2 Chronicles 31:4
“That they might be encouraged ... - i. e. to devote themselves wholly to their proper work, the service of the sanctuary and the teaching of God’s Law 2Ch 17:7-9, and not engage in secular occupations. Compare Neh 13:10-14.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:4
“This had been long neglected, which made the work to be neglected (for a scandalous maintenance makes a scandalous ministry); but Hezekiah, having himself been liberal, might with a good grace require his subjects to be just to the temple service.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 31:5-7
The tithes are laid “in large heaps”. John Gill reads the two months by the feasts, the third holding the early harvest of Pentecost and the seventh the ingathering of Tabernacles. The heaps span the full harvest year, and a tithe that had lapsed under Ahaz returns in abundance.
2 Chronicles 31:5
“Honey - See the margin. It is doubtful whether bee-honey was liable to first-fruits. The sort here intended may therefore be that which, according to Josephus, was manufactured from dates.”
who lived in the cities of Judah: Verse 5 speaks of the people of Jerusalem, and this verse turns to the country towns. Albert Barnes takes the Israelites here as northern families living in Judah, like the guests at the Passover of chapter 30. Both groups gave.
In the third month: Hezekiah's Passover was kept in the second month, by the ruling of 30:2. Albert Barnes notes that the first heaps began within weeks of its close. The giving then ran five months, to the end of harvest.
2 Chronicles 31:7
“In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps..... The month Sivan, as the Targum, in which month was the feast of Pentecost, called the feast of the harvest, Exo 23:16, for then barley harvest was ended, and wheat harvest began, and the firstfruits were brought: and finished them in the seventh month; the month Tisri, as the Targum, in which was the feast of tabernacles, sometimes called the feast of ingathering, of the fruits of the earth, the wine, oil, &c. and so a proper time for bringing the tithes of all.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:7
“The third month - Compare 2Ch 29:3; 2Ch 30:2, 2Ch 30:13. The events hitherto described - the destruction of the high places, the re-appointment of the courses, and the re-establishment of the tithes followed so closely upon the Passover, that a month had not elapsed from the conclusion of the Feast before the gifts began to pour in. In the seventh month the harvest was completed; and the last tithes and first-fruits of the year would naturally come in then.”
2 Chronicles 31:8-10
they blessed the LORD: When Hezekiah and his officials see the heaps, “they blessed the LORD and His people Israel”. Then Azariah gives the answer: “we have had enough to eat and there is plenty left over, because the LORD has blessed His people”. The surplus shows that the reform reached the people’s hands.
2 Chronicles 31:8
“And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps,.... Of the tithes and firstfruits: they blessed the Lord; for the great increase of the fruits of the earth, and for making the people so willing to bring in the dues to the priests and Levites: and his people Israel; wished all happiness and prosperity to them, being found in the way of their duty.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:8
“The Maintenance of the Priests. 11 Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the L ORD ; and they prepared them, 12 And brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hezekiah questioned the priests and Levites: The king asks before he acts. Barnes reads the question as a check that the priests and Levites had been fed from the tithes, so the heaps were a true surplus. Only then does Hezekiah order the storerooms of verse 11.
2 Chronicles 31:9
“Hezekiah questioned” in order to know whether the ministering priests and Levites had had their maintenance out of the tithes, and whether the accumulation which he saw was clear surplus.
Azariah, the chief priest: If this Azariah is the priest who stood against Uzziah at 26:17 to 20, Albert Barnes reckons he had served at least 33 years. His answer traces the surplus to the harvest itself. The LORD had blessed the fields, and the tithe grew with them.
2 Chronicles 31:10
“They did not hoard these heaps for covetousness, but to show what plentiful provision God by his law had made for them, if they could but have it collected and brought in, and that those who conscientiously give God his dues out of their estates bring a blessing upon all they have: Since they began to bring in the offerings the Lord has blessed his people.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:10
“If this Azariah was the same as he who resisted Uzziah 2Ch 26:17-20, he must have held his office at least 33 years. Compare 2Ch 27:1; 2Ch 28:1. The Lord hath blessed his people - i. e. God has made the harvest unusually abundant, and hence the great amount of tithes and first-fruits.”
Storerooms prepared and faithful men set over the distribution
2 Chronicles 31:11-13
prepare storerooms in the house of the LORD: Hezekiah orders chambers made ready in the temple to hold the heaps. Cononiah the Levite is set over them with his brother Shimei next under him, and ten further men are named as overseers beneath them. Chronicles keeps the names because the reform's success is carried by faithful hands.
2 Chronicles 31:11
“Private individuals brought their own first-fruits to the temple; but the tithes were levied by the Levites, who kept a faithful account of them in their several places of abode and transmitted the allotted proportion to the priests.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
they faithfully brought in the contributions: The word faithfully marks this verse and returns in verses 15 and 18. It follows the gifts from the people's hands into the storerooms and out to the priests' towns. Each step had a named man answerable for it.
2 Chronicles 31:12
“And brought in the offerings, and the tithes, and the dedicated things, faithfully,.... Kept nothing back for their own private use, but faithfully delivered in and laid up the whole that was brought which remained; this was done by the priests and Levites, in whose hands and care they were: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next; these two had the charge and care of the whole, the one as deputy to the other.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:12
“Shimei - was the next - He was assistant to Cononiah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:12
“The laying up in store what was brought in was an encouragement to people to pay in their contributions. That will be given cheerfully by the public which appears to be well husbanded. That they should be faithfully laid out, according to the uses they were intended for.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
by appointment of King Hezekiah: Ten overseers under two chiefs made a chain of account from the storerooms to the priests' towns. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe the Levites keeping records where they lived and sending on the priests' share. The king and the chief priest made the appointment together.
2 Chronicles 31:13
“And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother,....”
2 Chronicles 31:14-19
in charge of the freewill offerings given to God: Kore is set over the offerings, and six men distribute the priests’ share by the genealogical rolls the book spent nine chapters compiling. The portions reach “all the little ones, wives, sons, and daughters”, in the towns and on the farmlands. A consecrated household is provided for as a household.
2 Chronicles 31:14
“And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter towards the east,.... At the east gate of the temple; see 1Ch 26:17. was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the Lord; to the priests and Levites, for whose use they were; or to deliver out the fine flour, oil, and wine, and frankincense, for the meat and drink offerings: and the most holy things; which belonged to the priests only to eat of, as the remainder of the meat offerings, the sin and trespass offerings, and the shewbread.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:14
“The porter toward the east - i. e. the chief door-keeper at the east gate, where the proper number of the porters was six 1Ch 26:17. The most holy things - The sin-offerings and trespass-offerings Lev 6:25; Lev 7:1-6.”
to their fellow priests in their cities: Joshua 21 gave the priests thirteen cities, and Libnah and Beth-shemesh had since been lost, at 21:10 and 28:18. Albert Barnes reckons that about six still stood. The six men named here served one town each.
2 Chronicles 31:15
“The cities of the priests - i. e. the Levitical cities (compare marginal reference). Of these, some had gone to decay, while others, as Libnah and Beth-shemesh 2Ch 21:10; 2Ch 28:18, had been lost, so that the original number, thirteen, was now, apparently, reduced to six. In their set office - Rather, as in marg. These six Levites were stationed at the Levitical cities, with the trust following committed to them.”
Albert Barnes reports a second way to read the opening of this verse. On that reading the officers gave portions to every family of the priests except the males then serving at the house of the LORD. Those men took their share at the temple.
2 Chronicles 31:16
“Beside their genealogy of males ... - Some translate it: “Excepting the list of males,” etc. i. e. they distributed to all the members of the priestly families, excepting to those who at the time were performing the duties of their office at Jerusalem. These persons no doubt obtained their share at the temple itself.”
twenty years of age or older: The Levites are counted at twenty years of age, the rule David set at 1 Chronicles 23:24. The law of Moses had started their service at thirty and at twenty-five, in Numbers 4 and 8. John Gill traces the change.
2 Chronicles 31:17
“Both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers,.... 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, 1Ch 23:24.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:17
“Both to the genealogy of the priests ... - Some prefer: “And as for the list of the priests, it was according to the houses of their fathers, and that of the Levites was from twenty years,” etc. The writer states the nature of the lists which guided the officers who made the distributions. Three lists are enumerated one of the priests made out according to families; one of the Levites, including all above 20 years of age (see the marginal reference), and made out according to courses; and a third 2Ch 31:18 of the priestly and Levitical families.”
all the little ones, wives, sons: The last clause can point two ways. Albert Barnes renders it as the officers dealing faithfully with the holy things, so the honesty of the men kept every family on the list. The same word stood over the storeroom work in verse 12.
2 Chronicles 31:18
And to the genealogy of all their little ones ... - Or, “And as to the list of all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, it extended to the whole body, for they dealt with the holy things faithfully.”
men were designated by name: The farmlands were the pasture grounds Numbers 35 set around each city of the Levites. Albert Barnes reads the verse as care for the priests who lived outside the towns. Men chosen by name carried their share out to them.
2 Chronicles 31:19
“The country priests and Levites are here distinguished from those who dwelt in the towns. The writer means to note that not even were they neglected.”
He did it with all his heart, and he prospered
2 Chronicles 31:20-21
good and upright and true: The chapter’s acts gather into one sentence: “He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God”. He was diligent “in the service of the house of God, and in the law and the commandments, in order to seek his God”.
2 Chronicles 31:20
“And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah,.... Settled the courses of the priests and Levites, and made a provision for them and their families: and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God: or did that which was truly right and good, according to the law and will of God, in the sincerity and uprightness of his soul, and as in the presence of the omniscient God, he approving and accepting it for Christ's sake.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:20
“Wrought - good and right and truth - Here is the proper character of a worthy king: he is Good, and he does good; he is Upright, and he acts justly and maintains justice; he is truly Religious, and he lives according to that truth which he receives as a revelation from God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
And so he prospered: The chapter closes on the words he prospered, and the next verse brings the king of Assyria into Judah. Chronicles sets the invasion after these acts of faithfulness at 32:1, so the trial follows the work Hezekiah did for the house of God. A faithful king still meets an enemy.
2 Chronicles 31:21
“He did it with all his heart - In every respect he was a thoroughly excellent man, saw his duty to God and to his people, and performed it with becoming zeal and diligence. May God ever send such kings to the nations of the world; and may the people who are blessed with such be duly obedient to them, and thankful to the God who sends them!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 31:21
“The same thing is true if we leave mercantile pursuits and survey any other of the walks of life. If a man would make discoveries in science, he does not hit upon them by accident. But, being in the way, science meets with him. If a man would become eminent as a physician, he must walk the hospitals. If he would attain position at the bar, he must give days and nights to the folios of law. There is no hope for a man in these times, in anything, unless he proceeds to it with all his heart.”
How this psalm is built
The form: A narrative of one administration, told as a purge, a restored roster, an income and the officers set over it, and closed by a summary verdict on the reign, as Matthew Henry, with Albert Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Ephraim also and Manasseh | Verse 1 carries the purge into territory of the fallen northern kingdom, where no king was left to command it. The site's exposition note on that verse records the point the detail makes, that the invitation Hezekiah sent north before the Passover had taken hold. The same reform gets one summary verse at 2 Kings 18:4, which names no ground outside Judah.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, cited by the site's exposition note on 2 Chronicles 31:1. | 2 Chronicles 31:1, 2 Chronicles 30:11, 2 Chronicles 31:5 |
| The king's own portion first | Verse 3 has Hezekiah funding the regular offerings out of his own substance, and verse 4 has him commanding the people to give the priests and Levites their due. The order is the chapter's argument. The site's exposition note on 31:2 to 4 records that the king's own giving is the first act of the law he then requires of everyone else.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, cited by the site's exposition note on 2 Chronicles 31:2 to 4. | 2 Chronicles 31:3, 2 Chronicles 31:4, 2 Chronicles 31:5 |
| Heaps, counted twice | The word heaps runs through verses 6 to 9 and carries the chapter's evidence. The tithe is laid by heaps rather than measured, the king and the princes bless the LORD at the sight of them, and the chief priest's answer names what the heaps mean. The site's exposition note on 31:5 to 7 records John Gill dating the two building months by the calendar, the third month holding Pentecost and the seventh holding the ingathering of Tabernacles.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, cited by the site's exposition note on 2 Chronicles 31:5 to 7. | 2 Chronicles 31:6, 2 Chronicles 31:7, 2 Chronicles 31:8, 2 Chronicles 31:9 |
| Cononiah, Shimei, Kore and the ten | Verses 11 to 19 name the men set over the chambers and the distribution, from Cononiah the Levite and his brother down to the ten overseers and the six who served in the Levitical cities. The site's exposition note on 31:11 to 13 records why Chronicles keeps them, because the reform is carried by faithful hands rather than by the king's zeal standing alone. Verses 14 to 19 reach the youngest child of a consecrated household, and the note records that a household kept in holiness is provided for as a household.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, cited by the site's exposition note on 2 Chronicles 31:14 to 19. | 2 Chronicles 31:12, 2 Chronicles 31:13, 2 Chronicles 31:14, 2 Chronicles 31:16 |
The historical value
15 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter is the book's most detailed picture of how a temple economy worked. It names the sources of income, firstfruits of grain, wine, oil and honey, and the tithe of all things. It names the calendar of collection, beginning in the third month and finishing in the seventh. The site's exposition note on 31:5 to 7 records John Gill reading those months by the feasts, Pentecost at one end and the ingathering at the other. It names the storage built for the surplus and the officers set over it by name and by rank.
The distribution of verses 14 to 19 is the sharpest detail. Shares reach priests from twenty years old, and further still to every male from three years old and to every wife, son and daughter of a priestly household, sorted by the genealogical rolls. The rolls in question are the ones the book's first nine chapters spent their length compiling, so this chapter is where that material is shown in use.
The book's dossier carries no archaeological find bearing on this chapter. The five it holds stand behind chapters 12, 32, 33 and 34.
The debated concept
The chapter states a claim that the book's second contested point bears on directly. Verse 10 has the chief priest report a surplus, and verse 21 credits the king's prosperity to his seeking. The pedagogical reading of the book holds that this tight link between obedience and outcome is deliberate teaching for a community that needed to understand why the exile came. The critical reading, associated in the guide with Sara Japhet, holds that the Chronicler at points supplies material that explains judgments and blessings his sources leave unexplained.
The guide's own flag states where the two readings meet. Selecting and arranging true material for teaching is compositional method, and that observation stands apart from doubt about the underlying events. A reader weighing this chapter has the concrete detail on one side, the named officers and the calendar of collection, and the shape of the argument on the other.
One smaller question stands in verse 1. The purge runs into Ephraim and Manasseh, territory under Assyrian control after 722 BC. How a king of Judah exercised that reach is a matter the text leaves unexplained, and the site records the action without supplying a mechanism the chapter does not give.
The divine connection
The chapter puts its theology in the order of its own events. Hezekiah gives from his own portion at verse 3 before he commands anyone at verse 4. The site's exposition note on 31:2 to 4 records that the king's giving is the first act of the law he requires. The response at verse 5 is immediate and larger than the command asked for.
Verses 8 and 9 hold the chapter's one scene of worship. The king and the princes see the heaps and bless the LORD before a single question is asked about them. The site's exposition note on 31:8 to 10 records the order, gratitude first and accounting second. It reads the chief priest's answer as the evidence that the reform reached the people's hands rather than the king's intentions alone.
Verse 21 states the book's test in its fullest form. The verb is the seeking verb the guide's keynotes call the book's single most load-bearing word. The verse attaches three measures to it, the whole heart, the service of the house, and the law and the commandments.
How the rest of Scripture reads this chapter
The parallel is one verse. At 2 Kings 18:4 Hezekiah removes the high places, breaks the images, cuts down the groves and breaks the bronze serpent. That verse says nothing of the courses, the tithe or the officers. Everything in this chapter beyond that verse stands in this book alone.
The courses Hezekiah restores at verse 2 are the ones David organised at 1 Chronicles 24 to 26, and the site's exposition note on 31:2 to 4 makes that link. The law behind the command of verse 4 is the provision for the priests and Levites in the Pentateuch. The verse names the purpose of that portion, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the LORD.
Azariah of verse 10 is named as chief priest of the house of Zadok, which ties the chapter to the priestly line the book traces from 1 Chronicles 6 onward. The same house will surface again in the next generation, since Hilkiah finds the book of the law at 34:14 under Josiah.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Matthew Henry, with Albert Barnes, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Notes on the Old Testament, cited together by the site's exposition note on 2 Chronicles 31:2 to 4 and the site's 2 Chronicles guide, the APEX table of `Book2ChroniclesGuide.tsx`, the Hezekiah panel at 29:1 to 32:33, and the temple row of its THEMES table at chapters 29 to 31.
The exposition
Albert Barnes; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.