2 Chronicleschapter 31
21 verses · KJV2 Chronicles book hub →
Key verse
Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
It stands in Heaps of firstfruits piled from the third month to the seventh, verses 1 to 10.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The passover crowd goes home by way of the high places: images broken, pillars cut down, Asherim and altars thrown out of Judah and Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh. Hezekiah restores the priestly courses, gives his own portion for the daily and festal offerings, and commands the people to give the priests' portion 'that they might give themselves to the law of Jehovah.' The response overflows: heaps of grain, wine, oil, honey, and tithes piled four months, and Azariah reports, 'Since the people began to bring the oblations into the house of Jehovah, we have eaten and had enough, and have left plenty.' Chambers are prepared and faithful men appointed to distribute. He did it with all his heart, and prospered.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 31 falls in Hezekiah to the exile (chapters 29–36). Hezekiah's temple cleansing and Passover; Manasseh's sin and repentance (unique to Chronicles); Josiah's reforms; the fall in three waves; the closing note of Cyrus's decree pointing forward to Ezra.
Before it: Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz, chapters 10–28.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 31The history
This is a chapter about supply chains. Priests and Levites owned no farmland, so if the tithes stopped they had to go find fields of their own, and the temple service collapsed. Hezekiah restores the courses, funds the daily, Sabbath, new moon, and festival offerings out of his own property, and then commands the people of Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and Levites, the stated reason being 'that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.'
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The response follows the harvest calendar exactly. The firstfruits of grain, new wine, oil, and honey came in from the third month, the grain harvest, and the piling up continued until the seventh month, when the fruit and olive harvest ended. The heaps stood in the open until someone thought to ask about them.
So chambers were prepared in the house of the LORD and the produce was brought in, with named officers: a Levite over the stores, his brother second, and ten more appointed under them, plus a keeper of the east gate over the freewill offerings.
The distribution list shows why registers mattered. Portions went out to the priests by their family enrolment and to the Levites from twenty years old by their courses, and to their whole households, including children from three years old, since these were families living entirely on the system.
The summary line is that they distributed 'to great and small alike' by their divisions, and that in every work the king began, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
What it meant to them
Nehemiah found the exact opposite state of affairs a few centuries later: the portions not given, the Levites and singers gone back to their fields, and the house of God forsaken, so he gathered them and put them back in their places and appointed treasurers over the storehouses.
This chapter is that same fix, done right the first time. For its readers it was not administration; it was the difference between a temple with staff and an empty building.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Heaps of firstfruits piled from the third month to the seventh
1. (v. 1)
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:1evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:1, 1 more voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:1puritan
a.in Ephraim also and Manasseh: The reform does not stop at Judah's border. It runs into Ephraim and Manasseh, territory of the fallen northern kingdom with no king left to command it, evidence that the invitation Hezekiah sent north before the Passover of chapter 30 had taken hold. Kings gives the reform one summary verse at 2 Kings 18:4; Chronicles gives the sweep across the old northern tribes and the detail that every worker went home only once the destruction was complete.
2. (vv. 2-4)
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:2evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:2, 1 more voice
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:2evangelical
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).”
Read the whole quotation
His tithe was, it seems, especially devoted to the purposes mentioned in this verse (compare the marginal reference).
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:3evangelical
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:4evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:4, 1 more voice
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:4puritan
a.in the gates of the tents of the Lord: Hezekiah restores the courses of priests and Levites David had organized in 1 Chr 24-26, so the temple service runs again in its old order, every man knowing his work and his place. He funds the regular offerings from his own portion before he asks anything of anyone else, then commands the people of Jerusalem to give the priests and Levites their due share so they can give themselves wholly to the law. The king's own giving is the first act of the law he then requires.
3. (vv. 5-7)
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:5evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:6
“By “the children of Israel” in 2Ch 31:5, seem to be intended the inhabitants of Jerusalem only (see 2Ch 31:4); by “the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah” in this verse, seem to be meant the Jews of the country districts and the Israelites who dwelt among them 2Ch 30:”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:6evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:7
“In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps.....”
Read the whole quotation
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:7reformed
2 Chronicles 31:7, 1 more voice
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.”
Read the whole quotation
In the seventh month the harvest was completed; and the last tithes and first-fruits of the year would naturally come in then.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:7evangelical
a.brought in abundance the firstfruits: Once the command goes out the response is immediate and large: firstfruits of grain, wine, oil and honey come in from Israel and Judah alike, and the tithe is laid by heaps rather than measured. Gill reads the two building months by the calendar's own feasts, the third month holding Pentecost's early harvest and the seventh month holding the ingathering of Tabernacles, so the heaps span the full agricultural year. A tithe that had lapsed under Ahaz returns to more than the temple can immediately use.
4. (vv. 8-10)
2 Chronicles 31:8
“And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps,....”
Read the whole quotation
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:8reformed
2 Chronicles 31:8, 1 more voice
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:8puritan
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.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:9evangelical
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:10evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:10, 1 more voice
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…”
Read the whole quotation
Since they began to bring in the offerings the Lord has blessed his people.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 31:10puritan
a.they blessed the Lord: Hezekiah and the princes see the heaps and bless the Lord before a single question is asked about them, gratitude coming before accounting. When the king does ask, Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok gives the answer the reign is remembered for: since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty. The surplus itself is the evidence that the reform reached the people's hands and not only the king's intentions.
B. Storerooms prepared and faithful men set over the distribution
1. (vv. 11-13)
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:11reformed
2 Chronicles 31:12
“Shimei - was the next - He was assistant to Cononiah.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 31:12evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:12, 2 more voices
2 Chronicles 31:12
“And brought in the offerings, and the tithes, and the dedicated things, faithfully,....”
Read the whole quotation
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:12reformed
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:12puritan
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,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:13reformed
a.prepare chambers in the house: Storage has to be built for what devotion produced, so 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 by the king's own commandment. Chronicles keeps the names because the reform's success is carried by faithful hands, not by the king's zeal standing alone.
2. (vv. 14-19)
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.”
Read the whole quotation
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:14reformed
2 Chronicles 31:14, 1 more voice
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:14evangelical
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.”
Read the whole quotation
These six Levites were stationed at the Levitical cities, with the trust following committed to them.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:15evangelical
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:16evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:17
“Both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers,....”
Read the whole quotation
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:17reformed
2 Chronicles 31:17, 1 more voice
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.”
Read the whole quotation
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.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:17evangelical
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:18evangelical
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.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 31:19evangelical
a.over the freewill offerings of God: Kore, a gatekeeper at the temple's east gate, is set over the freewill offerings and the most holy things, and under him six further Levites distribute the priests' share in the Levitical cities, sorted by the genealogical rolls the book has already spent nine chapters compiling. The distribution reaches 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, in the towns and in the outlying fields alike. Chronicles counts the youngest child of a consecrated family as owed a portion, because a household that keeps itself in holiness is provided for as a household.
C. He did it with all his heart, and he prosperedvv. 20-21
a.good and right and truth: The chapter's actions collapse into one closing sentence: Hezekiah wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. Verse 21 names the manner rather than another deed, in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered, the seeking refrain the book measures every king by, stated here at its fullest. Wesley and Henry both read the verse as the summary the Chronicler gives his best kings, obedience carried through rather than begun and left.
2 Chronicles 31:20
“And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah,....”
Read the whole quotation
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:20reformed
2 Chronicles 31:20, 1 more voice
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:20evangelical
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.”
Read the whole quotation
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.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 433: “Life In Earnest” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862)· 2 Chronicles 31:21Particular Baptist
2 Chronicles 31:21, 3 more voices
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.”
Read the whole quotation
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. It is the same in religion as it is in other things. I would not have you treat religion as though it were a business. But I would have you put as much force and power and energy and heartiness and earnestness into religion as ever you do into business, and, I might add, that it deserves far more. How is it that false religions have spread? What made Mohammedanism once so mighty in the earth? It was because Mahomet himself, when he preached, was as sincerely deluded as any of his followers—when he was pelted in the streets he still persevered and when assassins dogged his footsteps he counted not his life dear unto him that he might proclaim what he thought to be a revelation from Heaven. As for his followers, they were not sleepy professors. They drew their scimitars from their scabbards and swore that they would not rest till they had brought men by edge of steel to the faith of their prophet. On they dashed, till their religion, like a mighty rising ocean, swept all before it, nor could its rising wave be driven back till it was met by an equal enthusiasm to withstand its progress. Look again on Roman Catholic missions.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 433: “Life In Earnest” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862)· 2 Chronicles 31:21Particular Baptist
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.”
Read the whole quotation
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)· 2 Chronicles 31:21evangelical
2 Chronicles 31:21
“And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 31:21reformed
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 31. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826); Albert Barnes; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 433: “Life In Earnest” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; John Wesley and Matthew Henry.